Hello everyone i have been growing for 8 months indoors and would like to know how many poeple use metal halides for budding ,,,,is a 400 watt agrosun metal halide equal to a 400 watt high pressure sodium ,,,i sit back and look at some different pics and my buds are not dense and they are not large, would a hps solve this or could this be not enough ferts the light is around 3'6" off the floor and i put the clones in at around 10"-12" the plants grew right to the light within two week then they stopped growing and started to bud ,,,, but not with what i wanted, dense and large buds,,,,,,has anyone had this problem with metal halide lights or should it work fine with the agrosun bulb ,,, did i waste $80 on a junk light bulb ,,,,,,hope someone can help me before i start smashing shit ,i'm a little upset with the end product of my first plant good smoke just not much of it,,,,,i did learn how to clone pretty well only losing 1 out of 15-20 ,,,,,,my end product smells like pinesol is this normal for indoor grown any help please ???????????
from what i understand you can use MH for flowering, but i dont think the end result is as good as if with HPS. most specifically because of the different light spectrum. look at it this way, with the MH your plants are getting strong doses of blue spectrum, this basically would simulate the sun rising or being directly overhead. when the sun sets, the light from the setting sun is red. this red light is the determining factor of when a plant will start its final life cycle. as you already know after the summer solstice, the days get shorter, and the plants start flowering or preparing for there end this red light is absorbed by the plant of course allowing for bigger flowers, bigger buds. dont destroy anything because your MH is still very good for vegn.
I have also read that MH are good for veg growth. That is exactly what I will be doing... using a 400w MH for veg, and a 400w HPS for flower.
what do you think about adding a 150 to the 400mh would this help or just cost me more elec bill ,,,,i have a 150 hps i could put it in the hood with the 400 the hood is 23"x30" looks like a hydro farm 1000watt hood but homemade ,,,,total lumes 55,000 lumes for both lights so maybe add the red specturm and this might work ,,,what do you guys think
the only thing you will do is supplement with 150 watts of hps lighting. could work with one plant, 2 would be stretchn it. im sure you can get the dough together to get atleast a 400watt hps. then you would have a harvest i would envy vegn 8 months was it? shit with a 400 mH and 400 hps, your harvest would pay for everything in less than 5mins (i do not promote the sale of anything illegal either) this is the 400 hps i use and i love it! http://www.hydroponics.net/_scripts/_lists/details.asp?i=389575
i have 2 400 mh's one for vegging and one i have been using to bud with ,,,8 months of growing ,cloning,sexing,trail and error,,, set up for one harvested plant a week so i'll have 8-10 plants budding a one time and a bunch more sexing and grow to get mothers for next spring so i can have allot of clone to"spead around" so next fall will be a real thanksgiving harvest ,,,,,,you know what i mean??? i can produce more clones than i have room for so ,,,,,i will get some nice moms around over the winter so i can supply my small room plus a couple other peoples rooms and still some to spread out side right now i can pull 15-20 clones off the one mother i have every 4 weeks,,that number goes up everytime i pull clones too,,,,there is close to 30-40 tops right now 4-6 inches in lenght ,,,,everytime i pull i leave another node so two sprout insteed of one,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i will have to start over sometime this plant will get big this way it is twice the size of a basket ball,,,,,,,,,,any more ??????????just let me know,,,i have the growing down just have to work on the budding any input please??????????
right. HPS r better than MH 4 2 reasons. 1, watt 4 watt they give out more lumes. 2, the light they give out is a better colour. a argosun is better than a norm MH but not as good as HPS. from this post it sounds like u just put ur plants under the light and let them grow into it. if thats wot u have done its wrong WRONG WRONG!... at the start of the grow the plants r to far from the light and will streach and at the end of the grow they will b to hot and will streach, the heat will make ur buds whispy, thats ur main prob not the light. adding 150w of HPS per 400w of MH will make a difrance, it will give a similer result to a 400HPS but still not quite as good even tho u have more watts and lumes.
bottom line:there is no reason what so ever that there should be a MH anywhere near a flowering plant.
some of the plants are taller than the others i have lowered the light as much as possible i have a fan right on it max temp 90 at the most
its like you said a learning curb, but at least you will still get a harvest and it sounds like you have plenty of clones to work with, i guess you need to set it up and see what works. and like Barnaby said, dont let the plants gro into the light, thats like being fed through a straw. you wouldnt like that would you?
as i move out the taller plants i will lower the light so they dont get stretched out is it ok to work the light at one hieght trying to do a plant or two a week like a contance harvest so plants will be a different hieghts ,,,,,,,or should i scrap that idea and move the light up as they grow and do one crop every three months???????????? what do you think????????????
all thats up to you, whatever is easiest id say. with my gro, i have my pots sitting on top of wooden boxes. i can also adjust the light, i felt it would be easier to move the boxes when the plants get to close to the light and lower. i still have a good 10 inches from the floor to work with, and i can adjust my lights to go higher when i remove the boxes if necessary. with what you want to do, id just make the light stationary with some ability to adjust it to go higher perhaps and use items to adjust the plants as they grow.