How much light does a 16 day old sprout need? 24/24? 12/12? just a real simple grow, regular miracle grow soil, normal halo. and that's another thing: Is MH or HPS better for veg growth? i've done some reading and it seems people just have their own opinions no solid standing on which one seems better. i'm doing the grow for exprience, not for commercial or money gain. i say all these things because some people have asked too many questions just for a SIMPLE answer. how much light/MH or HPS? thanx guys
cannabis plants when in their vegetative growth stage will grow fastest when they are given 24\0 light. you would never use 12\12 for vegetative growth as you will cause stress to the plant and raise you chances of hermaphrodites. a minimum of 18 hours should really be provided. 12\12 comes in when your plants are mature enough to flower. you allow flowering by turning your light of for 12 hours per day. i have read many books and it is clear that for vegetative growth the blueish spectrum of light the MH bulbs enhances growth over HPS. whilst for flowering the redish spectrums promote best flower production. many growers, including me, use two different lights for different periods in the growth cycle. MH for Veg and HPS for flowering. if you are only going to use one light than you should buy a HPS. good luck
You can also use cfl bulbs. I use 1 150w 6400K + 3 20w cfl for vegetative growth of two plants and then I'm using 400w HPS for flowering. But one question. What's the minimum age of a plant to go into flowering?
technically there is no minumum age for flowering. Some people flower the plants from day one but the guideline to start flowering is when the nodes begin to alternate
as mentioned above, MH is best for veg while HPS is best for flowering. this is pretty well agreed on by all growers. as for how much...it depends on how big you want your plant. a 250w HPS would suffice for a single plant, maybe 2 smaller ones. in my single plant grows i use a 250w HPS plus a couple of CFL's to cover some of the darker sides of the plant. although both MH and HPS bulbs require their own special ballasts, you can buy conversion bulbs to make one type of bulb work on the opposite ballast. i use a MH conversion bulb on my HPS ballast for veg, then switch to a normal HPS bulb on the HPS ballast for veg. works great, and saves having to buy 2 different ballasts. hope that is useful.
that was indeed very helpfull. couple more small questions: DO i need a Ballast for a HPS bulb? there's no way i can twist it into a normal socket? AANd...what IS a ballast? how does it work what's it intended for..etc. thankyou again
Yes u need a ballast. The ballast is needed to make these types of lights work by regulating voltage to what the bulb needs. It is plugged into the wall and then plugs into its own socket that in turn powers the bulb. If you don't want to use a ballast u should go with cfl (energy saving bulbs) these bulbs have the ballast on them (the white part between the bulb and the part u screw into the socket). Cfls screw right into your home socket and u can get either low wattage ones, (look at the first number (23w = 100w incandescent, means the bulb has 23w of light usable to the plant) You can find high wattage ones at 1000bulbs.com but they are more expensive. Also use the daylight cfls 5600K for vegging and the soft white for flower.
indicaandy is right about this. there is no way you can twist an HPS or MH bulb into a normal socket. a ballast setup is absolutely needed, and looks something like this: you can screw the HPS bulb into the socket that you see in the picture on the left, which plugs into the large silver box (the ballast). the ballast then plugs into the wall like any normal appliance. a ballast is designed to be either MH or HPS, although you can buy higher end units that are switchable between the two. they also come with a set wattage, which must match the bulb wattage. for example, you can only put a 600w HPS bulb on a 600w HPS ballast. the only exception to that rule is that you can also use a MH conversion bulb on an HPS ballast, but the wattages must still match. there are several online vendors that sell ballasts, including ebay. a typical 400w HPS ballast will probably run you around 150-200$. they are designed to last a long time though.
Actually i just did some calling around, aaand home depot sells the 250watt HPS(where lowes does not)and lowes can just sell me a simple fixture that the bulb will screw into. Now: why can'y i just do that? and wire the fixture to a plug, dangle it 6' above my plant plug it in and start rockin?
is this the one you're thinking of? looks like it should work if you know how to wire it to a plug. i have only two reasons to be hesitant with that purchase though. first, the price (200$) is slightly steep. you can buy brand new switchable ballasts (that do both MH and HPS) for less than that on ebay, and they come with a nice reflector whereas the home depot setup doesn't look like it'll reflect quite as well. second, ballasts give off a good bit of heat, and since the ballast is attached to the bulb you're going to add a good bit more heat to your grow room. external ballasts are convenient because you can keep them outside the closet or grow room. having said that though, it certainly looks like the home depot setup would work if you don't mind those two downsides. those are just things to consider is all...
yes and no. No that's not the one. i called lowes and they have fixtures that can house a hps OR a mh. and i asked the price he said they start at around 28.99 I just called today to home depot and lowes and home depot has the right bulbs, but lowes has the cheap fixture. Lowes DOES NOT carry hps over 150. so no worries buddy! but seriously thankyou for your help it is much appreciated!
......regardless of the fact that you have found a fixture to screw the bulb into u need an actual ballast to convert your home electricity into the useable amount needed for the specific bulb type i.e the rectangular shaped part
What happens if I connect a HPS bulb straight to the socket without a ballast? And what happens if I use a 400w bulb on a 250w ballast?
the fixture has a ballast in it, that's the point. all he would have to do is wire the ballast to be able to plug into household socket. no and no.
I asked what happens if you connect HPS bulb straight to the socket and what happens if you use a 250w ballast for a 400w bulb. I didn't ask if it was ok. So doesn't anyone know what happens?