So I was cruising home depot a couple days ago and I saw metal halide and hps bulbs that fit right into lamp sockets, like instead of all the wiring i could just popem in. Now, the highest wattages were around 400 both and each about $20. Would buying them prove a drastic increase even though they're no the full things? How many plants could I grow?
What are you talking about? What is the difference between the bulbs you are asking about and "the original thing"? Those bulbs do not fit into a regular household socket.
I meant more would they have the same color range and lumens if anyone knew?and How many plants could I grow?
Same as what? You are asking about comparing something to something else, but you have only identified one of the things. This is like the old Marx Brothers line: what's the difference between a duck? Yeah, a duck and what? That's why it's supposed to be funny. Clarify.
The bulbs at home depot still require a ballast to make them work. There r no hps or mh bulbs that r self ballast. U can buy smaller wattage bulbs setups that have the ballast in the hood, but all require a ballast. I wish it was that easy, to just buy a bulb and screw it in, sorry dude.
Yah, you deffiently cant just plug those bulbs into a regular light socket and get them to work. All "High intensity Discharge" bulbs or HID, which both MH, and HPS are, require a different ratio or Voltage and current then normal light bulbs, and they require a "starter Cap" to initiate them. Basicly the Ballasts increase the Voltage, and lower the amperage of your mains power, to the requirements HID need. They may still use 400 watts, just like 400w's of "the original thing", but they are using the power much differently. As far as lumens go, yes, they provide MUCH more light energy your plants can use than LED's, CFL's, or even "the original thing". Infact you can pump so much light out of HID's, that its possible to "Sun Bleach" your plants white, something the Sun's not even really capable of doing To answer the question on how many plants you can grow, the Rule of thumb is 100watts of HID, per plant. You should increase the wattage of lights per plant if your using LED's, CFL, or "the original thing", as the rule of thumb was created by growers using the more powerfull HIDs.
So all of them need one and I should just ignore the " self balisted" ones? How much would a 400+ watt metal halide and balist cost?