think this will make a huge difference?

B

bmh8938

Well-Known Member
Ok so until now I've been using strictly CFL's for my grow. I've been slowly adding more and more CFL bulbs throughout vegging and now into the start of flowering. I should have another month and a half left and should harvest by the very end of May. Right now I have 6-7 42 watt (2600 lumen) CFL's on each level of the grow (2 levels, one with 1 plant and another with 2 plants).

Thing is, I have 2 hps bulbs and 2 metal halide bulbs. Each of these bulbs are 400 watts and pump out over 20 000 lumens of red spectrum light! So I'm thinking that if i get a ballast for these bulbs as soon as possible this could be a big difference in how much bud i end up with..do you agree?

Any opinions on this are appreciated! Let me know how beneficial you think this would be.

Peace:peace:
 
darkdestruction420

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
im a cfl user myself btw.....not bashing em i love my cfls......but take a bit to look at finished plants from both cfls and hps pics and you'll see what i mean
 
old pothead

old pothead

Well-Known Member
Yes,you will be amazed at the difference.I use the big 105w cfls for vegging only,and use my hps for flowering.OPH
 
Chillums

Chillums

Well-Known Member
Definately do it if you can, but you are going to have to look in to cooltubes or serious ventiation man. Those bilbs put out ALOT of heat. Good luck.
Chris
 
B

bmh8938

Well-Known Member
Ok grreat yeah I'm really thinking i'll have this ballast by the last few weeks of flowering. I'm gunna buy it on ebay for like 150 and it works for both metal halide and hps 400 watters

heat it already a bit of an issue for me..i have to have a fan on at all times during the light hours..and im going to get an even bigger more powerful fan than the little one i have now in May to cool it even more..plus the plants can handle alot more power now that theyre past the seedling stage lol

im glad to hear itll make all the difference because right now with these cfls and my 3 plants id probably be lucky to get a quarter pound..

thanks to all you tokers
 
northeastern lights

northeastern lights

Well-Known Member
bmh8938 said:
Ok grreat yeah I'm really thinking i'll have this ballast by the last few weeks of flowering. I'm gunna buy it on ebay for like 150 and it works for both metal halide and hps 400 watters

heat it already a bit of an issue for me..i have to have a fan on at all times during the light hours..and im going to get an even bigger more powerful fan than the little one i have now in May to cool it even more..plus the plants can handle alot more power now that theyre past the seedling stage lol

im glad to hear itll make all the difference because right now with these cfls and my 3 plants id probably be lucky to get a quarter pound..

thanks to all you tokers
Click to expand...

I ran dual 400 HPS for flowering for years. Now I have a 600 HPS electronic ballast on a mover and It blows them away. I love it. just my 2 cents.
 
S

seejay

Well-Known Member
Hey, I'm not sure what type of space you are growing in.

I use 400w MH for veg, and a 400W HPS for Flower.

If you have not used any of these yet, and are already having heat problems.

I'd suggest coming up with a way to cool down your area, just getting a bigger fan
to blow more air around in the same confined space will not do.

Before I rigged up my ventilation, my temperatures at mid day were 95++
 
B

bmh8938

Well-Known Member
lol @ darkdestruction420..yeah clapclap to you my friend

i dont have any experience with metal halide/hps yet. my growing space is a tall closet (1.5 feet by 2 feet base, 8 feet tall) that i have put a shelf in the middle of and am growing 2 plants in the top half and 1 plant in the bottom. my temps get up around 88 degrees max with the 12 CFL's i have in there right now..but my closet is almost always open and air can circulate throughout my fairly large apartment. with a fan to add to that i figured it be ok, even with some seriously hot lighting
 
northeastern lights

northeastern lights

Well-Known Member
Gee then I wonder how the SUN doesn't burn out all the THC? Your wrong, go read another grow book dude There's no substitute for expierence and by the way you talk, you have very little or none.
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
northeastern lights said:
Gee then I wonder how the SUN doesn't burn out all the THC? Your wrong, go read another grow book dude There's no substitute for expierence and by the way you talk, you have very little or none.
Click to expand...


Light does degrade THC, but not totally. THC works like sunscreen for the trichome tips. Resin balls focus and magnify light rays directing them at the trichome tips and THC filters our UV rays to protect the tip. Because of that a percentage of THC is lost every time light strikes plants. But it is not total so during hours of darkness what was lost is replenished plus more so you have a slow exponential increase overall.

That is why people harvest at or before first light and why when they are going to harvest an indoor crop the next day they will turn their lights off the night before and why giving plants 72 of darkness before harvesting them will increase levels of THC.

You were right to say that experience is important but there is no substitute for a combination of both education and experience.
 
B

bmh8938

Well-Known Member
yeah ive actually heard that before too. thc kindof acts like a sort of defense mechanism for the plant..so stressing the plant by cutting of its light for a bit would actually pump out the thc. darkdestruction went over the top in saying you should give it that much darkness..but im pretty sure brick top is right in saying a good 72 hours darkness before harvest will max out the thc
 
darkdestruction420

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
1. sorry guy i yelled at. had a really bad day at work and i took it out on u, which was totally uncalled for. 2. i agree, experience is the best teacher but it pisses me off when people think they are always right just cuz they have more experience than me. this is my 3rd grow and i know some old school growers (in person not online) who i consult with often. the one guy said i should go to 8/16 for 3-4 days b4 i put it in the dark for 3-7 days before i harvest like he does cuz switching it to 10/14 then 8/16 then total dark will tell the plant its almost outta time cuz its days get shorter so its more natural. the advice ive given is all stuff the expert growers i know have shared with me and they got lots of experience so i believe they know what they are doing (at least most of the time) and the things they tell me they have experience with and can explain their reasoning for doing it the way they do.
 
northeastern lights

northeastern lights

Well-Known Member
darkdestruction420 said:
1. sorry guy i yelled at. had a really bad day at work and i took it out on u, which was totally uncalled for. 2. i agree, experience is the best teacher but it pisses me off when people think they are always right just cuz they have more experience than me. this is my 3rd grow and i know some old school growers (in person not online) who i consult with often. the one guy said i should go to 8/16 for 3-4 days b4 i put it in the dark for 3-7 days before i harvest like he does cuz switching it to 10/14 then 8/16 then total dark will tell the plant its almost outta time cuz its days get shorter so its more natural. the advice ive given is all stuff the expert growers i know have shared with me and they got lots of experience so i believe they know what they are doing (at least most of the time) and the things they tell me they have experience with and can explain their reasoning for doing it the way they do.
Click to expand...

no worries. i know quite a few "old school growers" myself.
I've been told all kinds of crazy things by them and other people. Like boiling the roots. One of my old time buddies is convincied that you have to hang the plantgs upside down so all the thc drains into the buds. :roll:
I've been doing what I do indoors for a little over a decade now. Tried lots of different methods and have held trials with the same plants to see the outcome. Makes no difference in my book. As long as your happy with the outcome, keep doing it.

PS: I do urge you to run a trial with light and no light for shits n' giggles. You may be VERY surprised in the outcome:bigjoint:

Light does degrade thc. This is really only a concern AFTER the buds have been dried. That's like saying air degrades THC, which it does, but only after it's dried. Does that mean I should have no O2 in my growroom? :bigjoint:
 
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