Question about mixing mh and hps for veg stage

[Revshot]

hi all,

ive just put together a 4x8 deep water hydro set up and plan to have 32 plants

supported by 2 400 watt MH's and 2 400 watt HPS.

my question is duing the veg stage can i run both lights in some sort of sequence?
i was thinking to try and mimic natural sunlight entensity have my two mh's on 18 hours a day and run my hps's 24/7 then come flowing time run just the hps for 12 hours or possibly run the mh's for 12 hours as well.


what does everything think of this lighting plan? or should i just stick to mh's for veg and hps for flower?

 

[Revshot]

thinkin a little more sober today i think my new game plan would be to run 3 lights total.

for the veg stage run 1 400 watt mh then a 400 watt HPS then a 400 watt MH across the tray, then for flower stage run 400 watt hps, 400 watt MH then another 400 watt HPS

how does this set up sound guys?

 

[Droopy Dog]

Sounds sort of confusing and expensive. LOL

I DO use a combo of HPS and MH in flowering, but I veg with T-5HO. Much cheaper to run and easier to cool.

Save the HID's for flowering.

DD

 

[SnowBender]

use CMH (ceramic metal halide) in four hps ballasts and keep it simple

 

[Revshot]

use CMH (ceramic metal halide) in four hps ballasts and keep it simple

can you elaborate?

all of my equitment is sitting there not being used currently and im not really concerned with heat, power useage ect.... what i want is the BEST possible growth at no expense.

i figured even in peak summer months natural sunlight still has red and yellow spectrum and as the season passes to fall the red and yellow intensifes.

thats really the logic i see in running 2 400 watt MH's and an HPS for veg, i wanna give them the best spectrum of light to grow healthy and fast.

then when its time for flowers i swap them out and run 2 HPS for more red yellow spectrum and 1 MH for the blue spectrum.

no one had tried this before?

 

[Droopy Dog]

Before we go any farther into CMH's 2 important facts. 1. The most important. They can only run on MAGNETIC HPS ballasts. 2. They only go up to 400w at this time.

The biggest upside with CMH is that they render a spectrum closer to natural sunlight than either MH or HPS.

If your HPS ballasts are magnetic, you might want to research this some.

DD

 

[Revshot]

Before we go any farther into CMH's 2 important facts. 1. The most important. They can only run on MAGNETIC HPS ballasts. 2. They only go up to 400w at this time.

The biggest upside with CMH is that they render a spectrum closer to natural sunlight than either MH or HPS.

If your HPS ballasts are magnetic, you might want to research this some.

DD

that sounds like a great idea, thank you!

 

[Growing247]

I would run all the MH and HPS during veg. Not so sure about flowering but you can flower under a MH so I don't see why it would be a problem. I think the plants will love it because they will have light in such a wide spectrum. Just my opinion. Personally, what I do is veg using a HO T5 for the first 3 weeks in 1 gallon pots, then transplant them to 3 gallon smart pots then veg the last week or two using a 1000 watt MH and then switch to a 1000 HPS for flowering. However, I have seen Marijuana grown start to finish on MH. Everyone has their own method. Whatever works best for you and get the best results.

 

[mssmokey]

I would jus use one 400MH forsure then if U want to add a mix one 400HPS unless u have a huge veg room you'll be wasting alot of extra money and bulb life costing u more in long run. in flowering room i would just use HPS light not MH

 

[whitey78]

The more the better, it sounds like you have a lot of equipment there, get it up and running. More light isnt gonna hurt it unless you are too close and actually burn the plants, keep em spaced right and start it up. More is better with light I am learning. I havent gotten past the veg stage of my first grow but if you dont care about running costs, screw it dude, get them all going, set up half your plants under 2 mh's, then set up the other half under an HPS and a MH. Whats there to lose, keep them semi close and all the ambient light will hit each set of plants, cover the outer perimeter or how ever you are going to lay down the reflective material and get it on...... and then setup a journal and add pics so I can follow along....