Hey guys, so my partner and myself have been getting into some arguments regarding our grow cycles and the benefit of running plants under a 1000w halogen instead of a 6500w fluorescent for the entire veg cycle. To give a brief rundown of our set up, we have a closet with a 1000w light and ballast, along with a germination area with a 6500k fluorescent light. The last few grows we had, the plants veg the entire time under the fluorescent, then went straight to flower in the closet with a hps. So I proposed we try using the fluorescent the first 3-4 weeks of veg and then use a halogen 1000w in the closet for the remainder of veg. Then just switch the bulb and light cycle when switching to flower. We had done this in previous grows and the plants were taller at the same age for the same strains. My partners argument is that the 5 extra weeks we will have to delay our cycle by using the closet for veg instead of flower isn't worth the extra gain on the plants. From your guy's experience, what would you recommend? I promise I won't be mad if i'm wrong and my partners right . What would be the pros and cons of each in your opinion? Thanks! Edit: I'm an idiot, fixed a few things.
For germination.....I use the top of my fridge....no lights..when it pops it goes in dirt under hps. Clones are different..kinda gotta go easy with them....for a sec.....if your talking well doveloped plants....dont change bulbs and light cycles at the same time...your stunting growth.....HID ASAP.....I only use cfls for holding clones till a room opens up.
Sorry I might not have explained that well. I'm currently placing the plant under a 6500k floro from seedling till its ready to flower using 18/6 and then I move it to a 1000w hps for flower using 12/12. But would it better to instead place the plant under the floro from seedling to 3-4weeks then, while using the same light 18/6 cycle, putting a 1000w hid over them for the next 5 or so weeks until they are ready to flower?
I get it.....yes...it is better to have them under hid for as long as possible....so yes vegging under hid is better for the plants....more power.....and when you flip the lights and change your lighting at the same time you run the risk of stressing the plant and adding a week to flower time.....its good to be using the bulb well b4 switching to 12/12
1000w halogen is more efficient than 6500w fluorescent. Even allowing greater width of fluorescent bulb, you will get more light and therefore penetration from 1000w halogen. Plus the advantage of saving electricity bills and doing your small bit for the environemnt.
halogen will kill your plants do you mean hps? also do you mean watts or k if you mean hps i think 1000w would be alot i would veg for a week or two under at least 100w perplant at 6500k then move to ya 1000w hps at 2700k or do mh for veg tho never ever use halogen bad super hot light hid give much better penatration than fluro
I'll vouch for this, even being a green horn. HID (HPS/MH - not Halogen) made my grow explode. I struggled forever and fought a good fight with CFL's but the difference in growth rate is almost 2 fold. Was the best thing these crazy gardeners convinced me to do. I'm in the same dilemma your friend is tho... one HID light, and limited space. So far 3-4 weeks under CFL's doesn't hold up the show too bad, atleast till I can get a couple tents and another light kit. I used to hear the same thing all the time when I was into aquariums... "HID trumps Fluourescent in just about every way".
Dude I would just get more or a better light for your veg room. Keep that flowering room flowering!!!
Halogens are useless bro. And darkness is best for germination. Although I leave all mine in their five gals under two six hps lamps. When they come they come. IMO a thousand watt halogen is a waste of time. Floros aren't much better not for me anyway. I'm a straight hps man myself.
Halogens, really?? Besides incandescent, there's not much worse you can do for your plants, when it comes to lighting. They are literally all heat, and as far as your plants are concerned, they have a lower than 33% efficiency when compared to even standard fluoros, let alone CFLs. In other words, you need to waste three times the electricity, in order to achieve the same gain. And unless your room is very cold to begin with, you'll end up wasting money cooling the room to compensate for all that wasteful heat, too. 150w incandescent = 2,550 lumens or only 17 lumens per watt 150w halogen = 3000 lumens or 20 lumens per watt 150w Fluorescents = 9,000 lumens or 60 lumens per watt 150w Compact Fluorescents = 10,500 lumens or 70 lumens per watt 150w Metal Halide = 13,500 lumens or 90 lumens per watt 150w High Pressure Sodium = 16,000 lumens or 107 lumens per watt (Keep in mind that this chart is a few years old, and modern horti HPS bulbs can begin closer to 140 LPW these days!) Are you sure you meant halogen, and not HID/HPS??? What I do, whether I'm running the 1,000w or the 600w HPS in the veg room (I use the larger during winter, and the smaller during summer), is I'll move my plants to the larger bloom room after 2 weeks of vegging, for one final week of veg, just to let them spread out a bit before starting bloom. If you're running two kinds of light, like others have mentioned, it is good to expose them to their final light during at least the week prior to initiating 12/12. When heat isn't an issue, I absolutely prefer to veg entirely with the same basic lighting I bloom under; more light early on = a much greater yield in the same given time. Granted, I'm still moving them to a room with 2-3 1,000w lights, again depending on the time of year, but they're spread out over three or so times the foot space as the veg chamber. Hope this helps clear things up!
My plant. flowered and harvested T5HO FLORO. Can't upload a pic. Look at my thread ( MY CLONE ) Ill be back in an hour or so I'm going to where the pretty flowers grow
Dude, you got the definitive answer from Bad Kitty. But I'm not sleepy yet, so gonna elaborate on her fine advice. Use your 6500K (color rating for daylight spectrum) CFL as soon as the seeds germinate, and at least until they get two sets of true leaves. You can continue to veg under these, but you will be more satisfied with a metal halide (MH) bulb for veg. If your ballast is digital, it should support an MH bulb for veg, and a high pressure sodium (HPS) for bloom. If it's not, get a metal halide CONVERSION bulb designed to run in an HPS ballast. VERY IMPORTANT to get bulbs that are compatible with your ballast. Very bad things happen if you do not. Second choice for veg after metal halide is a good T-5 high output fluorescent. As many as you can get in your veg area. 4' 4 bulb fixtures are good; two of these would be even better. Third choice for veg, CFL's. You need a shit ton of those to veg plants enough to prepare for a 100W HPS. So for that reason, try to stay with MH or MH conversion based upon your ballast. You're probably just battling the terminology, but TOTALLY, stay away from halogen. They are OK to light a driveway basketball court, but don't belong in your grow room. Inefficient AND a fire hazard. Hope this helps and bestaluck to ya.
Halogen is junk for growing... You should germinate in total darkness,or I prefer direct in soil... Just soak your seed's 24 hour's in a cup of water,or I prefer Plain black tea.As it soften's the husk,and kill's and bacteria.Plant directly into damp soil under FLOURO'S... wait... I have 100% success everytime...