Questions on 400 watt hps grow

Of course you can run it, but it has to be about 1m away from your babies in the beginning. Then, as time passes by, you will gradually lower the light. In my first grow, i used an HPS 400w right from the beginning of their lives until their end. I haven't grown with Fox farms ocean forest before, but i believe that you should start your nutes at about week 3, maybe a bit earlier, maybe a bit later than that. As soon as you see the cotyledons slight turning to yellow is a good indication you should start nutes. If you are using distilled water in order to water them, you should use some cal\mag with earlier in the grow.

 

sure you could use it right after germination, but it would be overkill, i would just use single CFLs on each plant till about 2nd to 3rd week. dont starts nutes no earlyr than 2nd week, i waited 3 just to be safe then you can follow the nute schedule on the FF web site

 

u can grow under hps the whole time. ive heard u get less stretching with any light over cfls

 

Basically, i think this is not the case. You get more stretching if you use hps during the veg stage compared to cfl. The reason for this i believe, and someone correct me if i am wrong, is that you can put the cfl much closer to the plants than the HPS.

 

I was under the impression that plants tend to stretch when they are not receiving enough lumens. A HPS bulb will put out something like 16I lumens compared to a CFL, thus allowing more light to reach the plant at a father distance. I thought people just put CFL's because they didn't get very hot at all.

 

i veg with a 125w cfl at the moment and dont get too much stretching. but you get more stretching with cfls than an hps depending on how many lumens and how close the lights are. a cfl very close to a plant can still make it stretch...and an hps too far away will also do the same. ive had much faster better growth using an hps but the temps are getting too high using these shitty all in one 150w hps lights. i use my 600w hps for veg when im not flowering anything.

 

Keep your light at least 12" away and they will be fine. as far as adding nutes you should be able to wait at least 4 weeks since you are using ffof which is packed with enough to feed your plant for the first 4-6 weeks. That's not to say don't keep an eye on them. They will tell you when they are hungry if you learn to listen

 

Please don't forget it is a "weed" I have gotten some of my finest smoke off some of my more abused ladies

 

People put CFLs so close becaue there light doesnt go past a couple inches before it weakens. and because there no heat. Compared to say a 1000w hps light. Plants have a limit to how much light they can take, im sure u could find a chart for how far diff lights penetrate, but 1000w hps can give maximum light from up to like 5 feet, compared to cfls witch can only give its max light inches away from the bulb. But ya , your wrong.

 

Yes, i know that CFLs have a very low intensity and that's why they have to be put much closer. But i am speaking from my very little experience, for as long as i had a cfl 250w for 4 babies in veg i noticed minimum stretching. When i switched to HPS(still in veg) i noticed much more stretching than before. It could have to do with the particular plant in every case and the light intensity, dunno

 

The stretching is in relation to the color of whatever source of light you give the plants. A hps has a color temp of (usually) 2700K - 3100K depending on brand and bulb type. This color temp emits a 'warmer' colored light which contains more red light suited for flowering. A cfl of the same color temp will do the same in terms of plant stretching because the color is the same. Lumens determines light strength, and hps emit way more lumens than a cfl bulb. Plants vigor is more dependant on lumens, our girls need at least 7000-10000 lumens. plant is full summer sun receives ~10,000 lumens

The nice part bout cfls is that they come in a wide range of color temps and can be used to create a balanced light to suit your growing needs. For example during the veg stage, plants need a 'cooler' light of a temp from 4000K - 6500K which emits more blue light. The blue in light reduces internode spacing and promotes bushiness. Metal halide emit much more blue light Which is why mh is usually used for veg, and hps is used for flower.

 

I believe you could get it closer to 2 feet(i would not do it right from the beginning, bear in mind that i had started my grow in summer and it was too hot here, so i did not want to risk burning them with temps in the tent ~85-90F)if you have adequate ventilation.

Well, personally i am using distilled water, it has 0 ppm and you have total control over what you give to your babies. Besides that, it usually has a PH of 7.0 which is pretty close to the ideal range you want for the aborption of nutrients. The only disadvantage it has, is that it is pure water, so a mild dose of cal/mag is recommended. Take care not to mix cal/mag with your regular veg nutes.

If i were you, i would give them distilled water with cal/mag in one watering, and in the other i would give distilled water with veg nutes(when you see that you need them, don't make the mistake to start them very early). A reverse osmosis filter would save you from having to buy gallons of distilled water every few days, its costy at first but in a period of time it should pay off. I keep on using distilled water and not ro water because i grow in a rented house.

Good luck with your grow, make sure to update for any question or problem you may face