How about using Both for flower?? I have a 600 watt hps lamp going in my 5x5x8 flowering room and was thinking of adding a 400 watt mh that I have laying around for more light.. I've got 8 plants going which I know is an overkill for the 600 watter so I figure The 400 mh might help out.. What do you think GC??
im using two 400 watt mh in my grow for flowering right now and they seem to be making nice dense buds so far but we will see what happens with the final result
I am not sure if anyone has read Ed Rosenthal's "Marijuana Growers Handbook" but in it he talks about all the different type of light and goes into detail. According to his research, it is incorrect that the type of light from HPS will make a plant "stretch" or whatever because it does not produce the type of red light that would make a plant do that, it is a very common misunderstanding. HPS puts out about 10% more light than MH and can be used during veg and flower. HOWEVER, MH can be used as well for all stages and actually produces a specific type of blue spectrum light that makes the buds more potent. When all is said and done either will be just fine it is just that HPS from what his research has shown is the most efficient but there are advantages to all. I am thinking that using HPS for everything and maybe the last few weeks or so switching to MH might be a way to take advantage of that but who knows... If anyone does not believe me read the book he is an expert in the field of growing.
I wonder how many people in this thread who claim that MH bulbs make airy,wispy less dense buds have ever taken the time to do a side by side grow. I bet a lot of this is pure stoner myth/logic. I have read for the last 25 years that HPS is the only way to flower but as memory serves I have seen very few actual case studies or comparative grows.
Considering they make HPS bulbs with blue spectrum now its a no brainer to not buy MH bulbs anymore IMO. That being said I have flowered with a MH before,and it worked just fine.
metal halide bulb are the best for one reason the lamps emit a balanced light,the orange-red component promotes flowering,stem elongation,and germination,while the blue content is good for vegetative growth so all around good,hps on the other hand will grow bud,but the spectrum contains little blue and more yellow-orange,they lack the proper color balance it makes the plants stretch between internodes,with the mh i use my nodes are about .5 inches a part
id just spend the money get the bulb, for the amount it will cost you it will increase your crop enought to make it worth it, and plus your gonna need one at one point anyway lol just spend the cash
Wow I figure that a lot of people on here grow with CFl lights and really have no knowledge of anything!! First off Mostly all the good grow bulbs now have enhanced spectrums of light let's say metal halide for example you can get one that emits red also in the spectrum and same with hps you can get one that has more blue in its spectrum. Now if flowering with a metal halide is so bad and will give you whispy buds then why do most people use both spectrums in flowering one is because metal halide increases resin production just a little FYI. Also people with just one light usually will switch back to metal halide the last two weeks before harvest to increase resin production. Now I have used metal halide bulbs strictly for the whole cycle and might of noticed a little bit of difference in the size of buds but nothing as all these people are claiming so if you don't have a hps bulb you are better off using just a metal halide to do your whole grow because one hps will give you lanky not really branchy plants where metal halides gives you bushes and whoever said to just use hps for whole grow I take it doesn't really grow to often of uses cfl and has no knowledge of hps because one hps when you flip your plants is what causes all your stretch that's why they say you should still use your metal halide bulbs for flip so this way they don't stretch as bad. So my advice man rock out with your metal halide and you will not be disappointed with your results. Also everyone that provided half right information don't answer unless you really know what you are talking about!
Mikenite69, are you 18+? Your wall of text, complete lack of punctuation, and blatant superiority complex seems to suggest; No, you are not. Tone it down buddy, no one wants to read your pretentious rant.
You have it right brother there is nothing wrong with flowering with metal halides I have done it a million times before when they never had switchable ballast and say I didn't have a hps bulb on hand. But I still use metal halide the last two weeks of flower in my tent to increase the uv in my room to increase resin production. But like I said if I had to choose either metal halide or hps all the way through the grow it would be metal halide all the way just because I don't know if anyone has ever tried to use hps all the way through the whole grow cycle it's not worth it in veg plants will look all strechy and in that case you will yield most likely less than just using a metal halide all the way through the grow because of the fact that metal halides keep the plants short and stacked with short internodial distance so like I said use the metal halide over the hps. Maybe people who are claiming that metal halides cannot produce good are comparing cfl blue light grows to hps grows no comparison. Now I am not saying that having the option of using both isnt good or hps is trash of course that's not the fact hps does give you great yields but also metal halides will give you better yeilds over just having to run a whole grow with just a hps because of the lanky plants that you will wind up with. So for the dude that claims running a metal halide in flower would give you whispy buds don't answer people's questions if you don't really know the answer I have seen people get whispy buds with hps and usually whispy buds is a heat related issue, air circulation, and running low wattage lighting like 100w worth of CFLs. So to sum it up metal halides will not give you whispy buds only if you are dealing with issues in your grow. Will you yield less with being able to use both a metal halide and a hps sure will it be so drastic that it's not worth to do it no you can yeild really good with a metal halide I have done it and also know people that only run metal halides through there whole grow and yeild great. Now the best situation you could have in your grow room would be a mix of both hps and metal halide.