I have recently began growing indoors and have ran into a situation I have been unable to find the answer to. I started off with a small single plant closet grow using cfls, but quickly added a 1000 watt mh grow tent in my garage. Now to my problem, would it be better to finish off a single plant currently in early flowering phase under the cfls (approximately 200 watts of 2700 k bulbs) or finish off the plant under the 1000 watt mh?
Probably the cfl's the mh is the wrong spectrum for flower, i've seen people swear by it but i usually go with the masses.
That was kind of my feeling too, the only thing throwing me off is that mh is generally used for veg.
It's a rough call because i've heard people say mh can deliver great potency even though it doesn't pack on quite as much weight as a hps. For me it's all just peoples opinions as i'm on my first grow and i'm flowering with hps.
200 watts vs 1000 watts. I'd keep the MH and flower it out with that, it doesn't matter that it's the wrong spectrum with such a massive difference in power.
There is the conundrum, lower watts of the better spectrum vs higher watts of the incorrect spectrum.
It just has less of the correct spectrum, it's not necessarily the "wrong" spectrum. The 1000 watt will definitely give you a bigger yield than the 200 watts, even with the spectrum discrepancy. Or if you have $30 you can get a 1000 watt HPS bulb on Amazon, eBay, or a LHS. Then you don't have to worry about this lol.
LOL! I didn't consider the non cheapskate method! I suppose a little more explanation is due. My garage setup is currently housing three plants in early veg, but these plants are from seeds I bought and are of a higher quality than my closet grow. I bought a nice mh for the veg with the intention of getting the hps closer to the flowering cycle for these plants. The closet grow, which was first, has now become an afterthought and Im just finishing off the plant and than converting that equipment into lights for germination. The closet grow is about three weeks away from finishing, but it should still produce about an ounce ( maybe more under the 1000 w mh).
Since your other plants are in early veg you can keep them vegging for a while. You already put time into the closet plants that are now finishing flowering. If you did get the 1000 watt HPS for them you could of course use it for when you flip your garage grow over. Let me know if I missed something or misunderstood.
You gonna start a grow journal plunderfull? if you do let me know so i can sub, i'm on my first grow myself northern lights i went with.
Guesswhat, I currently only have one ballast and hood setup for the mh/hps bulb, which is being used in the garage grow. I dont want to interfere with that grow for the closet grow. Currently there is plenty of room in the grow tent in the garage, so I was wondering if tossing the closet grow in the garage tent ( I can see how this is getting confusing) for the last couple of weeks would yeild more. It would require me to manually take the plant in and out for its 12 hour cycle, but for higher yeild and potency, it would be worth it.
Oh there's already stuff growing in the tent then? If that's the case i'd just let it finish where it is for the plants safety. Wouldn't want to be walking all over the house with a plant that's done in two weeks every day. you could move the vegging plants to the cfls and the flowering plants to the mh for two weeks?
I finally get it all lol, thanks for the patience. I'm usually pretty baked when on this site. Ok I agree with Coliostroe about leaving it. I think the extra time/effort and stress on the plants may not be worth it. Also by switching the lights and leaving the plants where they are you could benefit. Meaning no moving plants around, just temporarily swapping the lights from your closet to the garage and then vise versa. The vegging plants would just slow growth going from 1000 watts to 200 watts, but not be harmed. This is assuming they are photoperiod plants and not autoflowering. This would mean your flowering plants would get the extra power from the 1000 MH and pack on more weight. Once they are done you would give the vegging plants in the garage their 1000 MH back and growth would pick back up. I really think that's the best option for higher yield and potency. If temp/humidity becomes a problem in your closet with the 1000 light you could also do this.... Leave the lights where they originally were and swap the plants (if the tents can accommodate) so the plants are under the appropriate lights and most ideal temperature/humidity conditions. Moving the plants from one tent to the other daily could also work if you were careful. Instead of moving the flowering plants though it'd be better to have the flowering plants sit in a tent under a 1000 watt MH. Put the vegging plants in with them daily and move them out after 12 hours. They would get the other 6 hours of light under the 200 watts of CFL. This way if you can't move the plants on a certain day it's ok. The flowering are still under the 12/12 1000 MH light and the vegging are under the 200 watts of CFL. Phew, I hope that makes sense/helps somewhat!
Thanks for the input guys, I think Im going to let sleeping dogs lie and let my closet grow finish off right where it's at.