250w hps + add-ons???

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by BiggieBG, Oct 15, 2010.

  1. Hey everyone. I recently grew a WW with a 250 HPS only. I think it gives 26,000 lumens and i know that its ideal for flowering because of the red spec. If i want to grow 2 plants, should i add a 250W MH for veg (only the MH on during veg and then switch to the HPS later), or leave this one and just add 2 bulbs CFL blue spec for veg (have the HPS and the 2 white CFL's and when its flowering i just change the CFL's to red spec) This way, during veg it will have the 250w HPS on the top, and on the sides 2 blue spec on the sides near the middle of the plants) Is 250W even enough for 1 or 2 plants? Because Im not sure i pulled max yield off my baby... although she is mega dank 2 puffs and you're gone! ALSO, when i was growin it was summer so i just left the window open and the fan blowin and didn't care about temps, or the air because the window was open and a lot of fresh air was entering , but winter time it should be a little different right? ANY ideas and tips are appreciated. Thanks
     
  2. since mj doesnt need quite as much lumens to grow well in veg, you can run a 250 halide and easily cover 3x3. You may be able to do 4x4 even. I got the conversion bulb and switch between the two when I need an extra flowering lamp. You will get less lumens from halide tho. The benefit is much more compact and bushy plants.
     
  3. so what should i do?? use the HPS and get like 2 CFL's and use that combination, or buy a MH and use that for veg, and HPS for flower? Also , i noticed in my previous grow that the middle and bottom of the plants dont get much light and therefore form popcorn buds. With the CFL - ADDON i will achieve lower level growth because i will leave them in the mid.
     


  4. what do you mean by this " I got the conversion bulb and switch between the two when I need an extra flowering lamp." I still don't know what to do help !!
     
  5. What I meant with the conversion bulb - I have two setups one flower, and one veg. The veg was using a 250 watt halide, and I got the conversion bulb that lets it run HPS in the halide ballast. I got it so that I can flower in two separate spots, one with a 600w and one with a 250 (now its 400 tho). The conversion bulb is cool because you use the existing ballast - the expensive part- and just swap the bulb. One ballast with those bulbs will run an entire grow efficiently (blue for veg, red for flower)

    The reason that you got little penetration to the lower branches is definitely light as you say. In my experience, side lights are a band aid to the problem - the plants were too tall before they were induced to flower. Avoid this in the future by flowering earlier. I don't know how many grows youve done, but its always difficult to see a plant less than foot tall and think it should be flowered. EVERY single time I thought, oh just let it veg a little longer, its still so small, I got screwed and the plant was too big for the light.

    Also there is a product called Dark Energy that will decrease the stretch and transition the plant to flowering quicker. Its good for people that want very tight control on the vertical growth of their plants. You can accomplish the same thing by training the plants, SCROGing or SoG. Those tend to be the way to go when you are using a small light were it usually doesn't penetrate deep enough to help.

    My flowering experience with 250 hps gave me on a single plant - 18" of bud, of med density, not too hard but well formed. The very bottom was fairly lit, not much fan leaves, and I still had small popcorns on the first 4". So maybe you get a foot pf usable distance from the top of the plant to the point where the nugs dont do so hot. This is just my experience with two strains, maybe there are other strains that do better with less light than some.
     
  6. A MH conversion bulb is a MH bulb designed to run off a HPS ballast. So, you can have MH for veg and HPS for flower without needing to buy a complete second light kit, you only need a second bulb.

    If your ballast is digital or switchable then you don't even need the MH bulb to be "conversion." But if you have a regular magnetic HPS ballast then you should not try to run a regular MH bulb off of it, only MH conversion bulb. They are expensive but still cheaper than an entire MH kit.
     

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