Hey, My buddy who is helping me out is a pretty experienced grower, he says that gettting a MH/HPS ballast/bulb is a waste and using cfl's is a waste because it uses the wrong spectrum of light that the plants need (too much green or w/e). He swears by using HPS to veg. So what are your thoughts on this, using a 600 or 400 to veg 7-8 plants in a 5x7x7 closet. Is the only con the electric bill?
No, you can, but if im not mistaken its not recommended. You need an MH bulb to veg. If you only have an HPS, get 6500k CFL's, box of 5 from lowes for like 10-12 bucks, save the HPS for ripening up those fat dense buds during flowering.
False. you do not need a MH bulb to veg, and I would absolutely prefer to veg 7-8 plants in that size of a grow space with a 400-600w HPS vs. CFLs. You'll get faster denser growth with the HPS. IMHO: no need for the dual ballast or MH.
Some people use HPS all the way thru, some use MH all the way thru, it's whatever. I personally like to give my plants both all the way through. Unfortunately at the moment I'm only running 150wHPSx400wMH. When my new 150w HPS comes in it will be nice and balanced. (MH isn't as strong as HPS per watt). Either way it's unarguably best to veg with MH and flower with HPS (if you only have one ballast). I'd say get two ballasts and do both but it's whatever your wallet permits.
Not green...MH is blue. Green although is useless to plants. Well mostly they did some testing with leds and found orange and green spectrum do play a role in some micro-nutrient uptake...but thats not important to you.
I use cfl's for my clones and for about a week after I've transplanted into 4" cont. Then I use a 600W HPS that I keep at a good 3 feet away once they've started their secondary veg leaves. After that I start adding 1000W HPS as needed and placing the lights closer too tops. I should use MH for veg, but I havent' ever before due to monetary issues, and I've been amazed at my performance so far. I've recently learned that when you start changing and adding stuff, that f's things up...so if it isn't broken.... I hear that the blue spectrum (MH) is good for veg especially, but then ADD a red spectrum (HPS) once you go to bloom. It's ultimately best to have blue and red for bloom....I've heard. =)