No. More power would also imply BIGGER SURFACE if you put the bulb up higher so they are good for more/wider plants. I'm all with Dier when it comes down to fluro's (check my sig). Especially for vegging traditional HPS is true horror spectrum wise. Only a green incadescent would be worse. MH vegges quite well (I see other peoples grow journals) but they do get mighty hot (=bigger distance) and they die pretty quick. I read they live only 6 months in comparison to fluro tubes 10000 hours. (about 2 years of growing on 18/6 and 12/12) HPS is king of flowering however, big power very good spectrum, providing you can get rid of the heat. MH and HPS combo's are mandatory for the illegal MJ industry. The biggest downside of fluro's is that they do not work very well at distance over 1 foot. This is why the key to vegging and flowering with fluro's is LST. Ofcourse large scale growers (those that supply drugdealers) don't have the time to do LST, so they all use HPS/MH. Have a nice grow!
O yeah 1 more thing : fluros = proximity I know from experience Lumens you read on the bulbs package are measure at 1 foot. So 40K lumen 'on the package' is 10K lumen at 2 foot and 4444 lumen at 3 foot. I can grow up to 1 cm (0.4 inch) distance @ 30C (86F) or I can grow up to 2.5 cm (1 inch) distance @ 38C (100F) without problems. If you LST like mad and keep the plant within 2-3 inches from the fluro bulb(s) max, your plant will take off like a rocket. This whole LST thing does require things like : work, love/care/attention for the plant which may scare some of you away from the whole idea. The same goes for setting up fluro-arrays.
thanks. what do you think of the hps/mh conversion bulbs? you could veg on mh and then switch the bulb to hps and then you could use floros for clones..wouldn't that be a great setup?
IRONY: While fluro grows are actually cheaper in the long run, they are no-no for those who grow to sell because of the number of plants they need means they cannot spend much time per plant. People who grow to sell, grow it for the money and they can't use the most economical option!
Technically speaking: Conversion bulbs are good stuff! I see many fast paced growers use that! Personally speaking: I'm convinced I can grow enough to smoke with my 216W fluro setup. I aim for 5 month grow cycle 30 grams per month. Being the maniac I am (LST-ing and all that happily tweaking and fiddeling) if I'd be playing with a 400W HPS and a 400 MH bulb I'd end up with way to much pot to smoke. There's only 1 thing a man can do with large quantities of excess MJ........ and I don't wanna go there being a husband and a father and all. Its your choice!
just wanted to say thanks to whom put the time into making this thread. tons of info, easy to understand. A++
You're welcome buddy! Please thank me using the 'Add to urgr8estfear reputation' button. Its the weighingscale icon on every post made by me. The icon looks like this :