Ok so I have 2 grow tents... DR90s. This is my first season growing. I started with 6 T5s in the veg tent and a 400 watt HPS in the flower tent. after not liking the T5s I decided to Upgrade to a 400Watt MH in the veg tent. Things look fine but... I have decided to do an test. 4 seedlings, Jack Herer Apple Jack fem seeds. All germinated at the same time. Placed 3 in the veg tent and one in the flower tent. the one in the flower tent is growing like gang busters and is about 18 inches tall after 2 weeks and the 3 in the veg tent are like... Eh maybe 5 inches tall. My Question is... Has anyone vegged under a HPS and also gotten better results then with the MH? Like I said this is my first grow, but I think it's strange that the seedling in the flower tent is 3 times the size on 12/12 vs the veg at 18/6. The only difference between the tents is the lamps and the nutes. Using Dyna-grow "Grow" - veg and Dyna-grow Bloom - flower. Would it be worth just getting another 400w HPS to veg under and lose the MH? Any feedback would be really helpful and appreciated.
One time I grew 2 plants same type and age under different lights, 1 under cool white cfl and the other under warm white cfl, and it's the same with you, the one under the warm white 2700 kelvins- ish just jumped up, as with the other under blue light was short and stumpy, but great lush leaves, see the blue light encourages horizontal growth , the red vertical growth, all the reason to blend the 2 color bands (kelvins) peace "V"
Vostok... Interesting. So maybe I should add like a 250 Watt HPS to the 400 Watt MH in the same tent? Doesn't sound like such a bad idea... other then temp control. Or do you think just a warm CFL bulb might help?
[quote name='"Obscure010"']Vostok... Interesting. So maybe I should add like a 250 Watt HPS to the 400 Watt MH in the same tent? Doesn't sound like such a bad idea... other then temp control. Or do you think just a warm CFL bulb might help?[/quote] Having a MH and HPS together is great for balancing the light spectrum. You want the more blue/white spectrum like MH or T5. And the yellow spectrum during flower. But a balance of both for the cycle is fine as well. But with proper ventilation anything is possible.
That doesn't seem strange at all. Your plants in your flower tent are on 12/12 according to what you said. Due to the lack of light, they will want to stretch to that light. Also the plant is probably thinking "oh crap, fall is coming, I better hurry up and veg before winter". The plants that are vegging in the longer daylight hours are probably stretching less and are probably growing more nodes. Is it possible to use MH for vegging and then switch your bulb to HPS for flowering? If you don't want to veg and flower in the same area, I would suggest to just get another light so you can veg under MH and flower un HPS.
i've heard of people growing start to finish with a mh, but not a hps. the reason the plants in flower under the hps are so much bigger, is because the plants do some stretching in flower vs veg. they'd stretch in flower under a mh too.
Gentlemen:...This ain't rocket science, just ROTATE the plants each week or 12 hours, so they get the same amount of light each, initially though you will have to have stumpy under the red, and stretch under the blue for 2 weeks or so at first or until they are about the same height. good luck "V"
Hi all, thanks for all the replies. I do rotate my plants, 1/4 turn 4 times a day in both the veg and flower rooms. I can clearly see that this helps. But the seedling i have in the flower tent is going crazy, actually starting to get worried it will be to large when it's finished. These tents are only 54 sq ft each (3 x 3 x 6). Like I said this was a test just to see what would happen. I'm really surprised by what's going on so I wanted to ask what others have experienced. Vostok, I'm going to add a lower watt HPS to the veg tent in conjunction to the 400w MH that's in there and see if that gives me a little more height but not as much as the seedling in the flower tent. My goal is to use the taller plant to be the mommy. I like this strain so I wanna keep it going. I did have 4 t5s in there for about a week with the 400w MH and growth completely stopped so I Pulled that lamp. Now to figure out what to do with the extra T5s since I don't like them at all. But I do like the idea of adding the HPS. Learning new ways of doing this is fun for me since im new to this, but I also want a great end result so I can share any knowledge I pick up as I'm going. Thanks!!!
Ive actually heard the reverse and also did the reverse. When I had my HID all I left in was the HPS light. Everything turned out fine
I agree with rhapsod, the MH will kill your yield if used during flower. Your plants will stretch under the HPS during veg but will more than make up for it in increased lumens during flower, why not do a SOG in both tents, and run both with HPS, go straight from clone, and double your output and cut your turn around in half.
@Logy, I am working on getting to the SOG point, but all the plants were started at different times so there is no even canopy yet. I will use an HPS in the veg tent though as soon as I can afford to add another lamp. maybe in a week or so. I'm also in the process of building a new room to house these ladies in. I'm kinda confined in the tents. I'm cloning in the veg tent as well which is taking up valuable room. Since this is my first grow, I started out wrong as far as designing the space correctly. So the new room should optimize the space and create better air flow. Also if anyone has any suggestions. I'm thinking about creating the new room sealed in the garage which can get hot. I can vent to the attic, but the ambient temp in the garage is about 90 degrees most of the year. I have an ac unit i plan on putting in the room to cool it down, but since it's 2 rooms, I'm wondering how I could use the same unit to cool both. the space will be 8 x 6 x 7 (Flower will be 5' x 6')(Veg 3' x 6') which is a nice upgrade from my (2) 3 x 3 x 6 tents. I want to add the HPS to the veg room in conjunction to the 400w MH already in there. I'm thinking a 250w HPS will do fine as an added lamp. But I do want more height on these plants. But not over kill.
nice, bet you cant wait to get out of those tents. I just tore my whole room down and rebuilt from the ground up. If I can give you any advice its to use legit framed doors for all entry ways. My old doors into my flower and veg were homemade of stryofoam and made my life hell. As for your heat problems, You could just frame in a window unit into the wall and have it vent into your garage. Insulate the exterior walls of your grow room and you can have a climate controlled room inside your garage. Also you can find window units for cheap. The only problem I could forsee doing that is your garage will be a little hotter. Take that savings on the AC and look into a 1000 watter for the flower. You get way better canopy penetration with the 1000 over the 400 and will tripple your yields. If you are a for profit grower.. I would just turn that whole 8x6x7 room you are gonna build into the flower room with 2 1000 watt HPS and 2 4x4 ebb flow tables.Use one of your tents and lights for your mothers and the other tent for your clones and short veg. Run a perpetual grow, and find a good 8 week strain. Keep your plant number under 99 plants at any given time. It is a very labor intensive way to grow, but you could pull a lb a month off the above method.. trust me If this is your first grow, than definitly wait till you get one successfull grow under your belt before you build any permanent structures. Because what looks good now might not look so good filled to the brim with bud.
A few things: You're growing from seed, diffetent phenotypes grow differently. HPS causes more stretching in veg while MH produces plants with nodes closer together. The difference in yield between MH and HPS is quite small, believe it or not. Plants flowered under MH will have more trichomes, and have more bag appeal, but a few grams less weight. Heath Robinson flowers under MH and often produces well over 1g/w. MH produces more heat than HPS. CMH is a suitable MH replacement, runs cooler than both mh amd hps, nut can only run on magnetic ballasts
This is only for my head. Move to a new place and can't find any so I figured I'd just grow it. But my setup is difficult to manage in the tents. Plus it's in my office at home making it impossible to actually work in there. It was built with a 30 gallon tub and an 18 gallon tub on top. Homemade rdwc. But to change the nutes I have to take all the plants out, carry the tubs to the patio to clean them. The hose reaches my office so I can refill in place. And then put all the plants back in. In a 3 x 3 space it's unmanageable. So the room idea was born. The wife said use as much of the garage as I want as long as she can still fit the car in there. I think she wants to turn the office into a functioning bedroom. Lol. I'd be estatic with a z a month to myself, but I'm getting into this and learning as much as I can. I have an ac unit in the office venting into both tents. I can use that. But I'm thinking if I put it through the wall it will only cool one room. And I don't want to use two units. I was thinking sliding closet doors to max the floor space. This is roughly 240 sq feet. So not sure if I need that much light. I do have a 220 line next to where I'm going to build so I can split that into 2 110s. I still have 2 t5 fixtures and 4 4' floresnt fixtures floating around. I was thinking use the t5s for clones. At least one of them. I don't mind the garage getting hot as long as the rooms are controlled. I can vent the rooms to the attic with 2 400 cfm vortex fans which I purchased last week. So the reason I asked the original question was should I spring for another hps and swap out the mh? Or just add an hps to the mh? Since I like what I'm seeing in the flower tent. I plan on starting construction this week and I wanted to get all my ducks in a row before I start. The room itself isn't going to be perminantly attached to a wall. Kinda free standing box so if I choose to ever sell the house I can knock it down and take it with me.
Considering tents cost more than buckets, consider investing in more manageable containers. 5 gallon buckets filled with coir solves all your problems, and if care is taken, you'll mever need to remove plants. Hydro nutes are needed so no need to buy anything else, can be watered from your hose where they sit, and yes, its still hydroponics.
This is only for my head. Move to a new place and can't find any so I figured I'd just grow it. But my setup is difficult to manage in the tents. Plus it's in my office at home making it impossible to actually work in there. It was built with a 30 gallon tub and an 18 gallon tub on top. Homemade rdwc. But to change the nutes I have to take all the plants out, carry the tubs to the patio to clean them. The hose reaches my office so I can refill in place. And then put all the plants back in. In a 3 x 3 space it's unmanageable. So the room idea was born. The wife said use as much of the garage as I want as long as she can still fit the car in there. I think she wants to turn the office into a functioning bedroom. Lol. I'd be estatic with a z a month to myself, but I'm getting into this and learning as much as I can. I have an ac unit in the office venting into both tents. I can use that. But I'm thinking if I put it through the wall it will only cool one room. And I don't want to use two units. I was thinking sliding closet doors to max the floor space. This is roughly 240 sq feet. So not sure if I need that much light. I do have a 220 line next to where I'm going to build so I can split that into 2 110s. I still have 2 t5 fixtures and 4 4' floresnt fixtures floating around. I was thinking use the t5s for clones. At least one of them. I don't mind the garage getting hot as long as the rooms are controlled. I can vent the rooms to the attic with 2 400 cfm vortex fans which I purchased last week.