Hello Grasscity, I am new here, and I know some of you will tell me do my own research and so-on. Well, I've done a lot of research but I can't find direct answers to the following questions. My friend is growing 8 plants, they are all supposed to be the same strain, the problem is they are still young, and he can't really tell if they are female or male. I know the amount of leaves does not have anything to do with sex, but in this situation, does it? can they all be the same strain and grow different amounts of leaves? and still be female? Another question, how would plants react to taking in around 4-6 hours of direct sun, then being brought indoors, and take another couple hours of 400w MH? My friends backyard is small and the angles only give his plants around 4-6 hours of sun, and that's with moving throughout the day. They could take more, but obiously he's trying to avoid any problems. Would doing this cause the plants to go into shock? or stunt their growth? And last but not least, does any Metal Halide lamp work? he is thinking of purchasing one, a 400W MH that also take HPS, I don't see why it wouldn't work, but this is his first time so he is a completely newb, and doesn't want to get PWND by a light fail. The one he is purchasing is a industrial one(the pictures are attached). Would it work for growing his plants? I know it should work, but the thing is that this was used for warehouses rather than growing plants, and looks different from your average MH or HPS lights. Thanks a lot Grass City,
I think you need to choose either direct sunlight or lamp... Makes sense?? If outside make some kind of shade.
If outside make some kinda shade? I'm not following.. Like I said, he can get about 4-6 hours of direct sunlight(which can't be fucking beat by any lighting standards) without being detected, so he definately wants to take advantage of that. Sure it still gets sun light but not directly, which I'm not sure if it will be as efficient as a 400watt MH, he's not trying to use the 400WMH for more than 4 hours a day because then his landlord might get bitchy about it(they pay the electric bill, but if from one month to the next it skyrockets, then theres going to be a conflict).
Leaf structure is no indication of sex. Even seeds out of the same bud can have different phenotypes. The best way (or rather, the fastest way) is to take a clone and put it into flowering. I think taking the plants outside would be counter productive. MH lights are the best for vegging. It'll keep your plants short and bushy (if you have the light low enough). Then you can switch to HPS during flowering and get awesome buds. A fan inside blowing on your plants will simulate wind and strengthen your stalks.
So having the plants outside for direct sunlight then brought in would be pointless? I wish I could have them indoors all day the problem is not having the landlord notice how much energy consumption I'm taking. In this situation I was thinking using t8 or t5, due to their energy consumption. Would this be suitable for it? Lithonia Lighting 2 Ft. x 4 Ft. Lamped and Flexed Troffer White Lay-in 4-Bulb 32 Watt T8 Fluorescent Fixture - 2GT8 4 32 A12 120 1/4 GESB PWS1836 LP735 at The Home Depot
Well, see if you can find out how much you pay per kilowatt of power. Then you can calculate how much it'll cost you. The national average is $0.11. 400 watts on for 18 hours is 7200 watts a day, or 7.2Kw a day. That's 80 cents a day, 23 dollars a month. In flowering, your lights will only be on for 12 hours a day, so it'll be even cheaper.
Thanks, that was a lot of help. Or what other lighting options can I use? I was thinking the using the t8 ^ I put a link up there. Problem is it only gives 32 watts, would that be efficient for up to 8 plants? Would 1 400wMH bulb be efficient for 8 plants?
The MH will work for veg yes, but general rule of thumb is to have 100 watts per plant. Come flowering time, I think your plants would really start stretching looking for more light (even with a HPS). Flourescent might be cooler and less expensive but they just can't match the penetration and efficiency of a MH/HPS combo.
You can get a conversion bulb to run it as HPS. You can also get a 8-10' length of heavy(10ga) 3wire cord and seperate the ballast from the light. It's an easy DYI and damn well worth getting the ballast weight/heat off the the light. 400w is usually advertised to cover 4x4' Eight plants would need to be small.
I was looking through craigs list and found a 400w MH for 100 with the ballast seperated, but it doesn't take HPS. I was debating to either go with that or the one I put pictures above ^^ The one I showed above also works with HPS(as shown in the pic) but it looks all industrial. I'm not so sure I would be able to remove it, but it's only going for $65, so I think it would be the best deal. MH and HPS.
Well, a remote ballast will really help if you are having temp problems and can get the ballast out of the grow space. You can get HPS conversion bulbs that work in MH ballasts and vice versa if you need to.
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