help shine a light on this for me

[rnwy29erclr]

hey guys kinda new here, yesterday i went down to the hydro store and bought 1- 1000 watt light with switchable ballast, i have 2 -1000 watters w/hoods the lights are mh and i have hps for flower i get such conflickting advise on what to use, i keep reading in here i think, that mh is used for veg, i have 64 plants that i want to veg, am i doing this right vegging them with 2-1000 watt mh this is a soil grow my grow area is 8'x 14' the guy at my local hydro store tells me to veg with floros, is 2-1ooo watt mh to much? thanks for the help

[aero420]

You have your light concept's correct.

MH=Blue/Cool spectrum for veg
HPS=Red/Warm spectrum for flower
Fluorescents and LED's are available in both spectrum's, and a few in between.

You're grow are is about 112 sq ft.

A good rule of thumb is around 40 or 50 watts/sq foot.

112 sq x 40 watts/sq ft desired=4480 watts for 40 watts/sq ft

If you have the whole 112 sq feet covered with plants, and do not have light movers, you will need approximately 4000 or 5000 watts. This is only a rule of thumb, if you use air-cooled canopies and can get the lights closer, you can get away with less. If you have light movers, you increase the area one light can cover and could get away with less, etc.

Fluorescents and LED's are good for veg cause they are very low temp compared to MH and HPS, so you can get the plant right up against it.

If I understand you, you have 3 lights, 2 MH and 1 HPS. You can buy conversion bulbs and use all 3 for veg and flower, giving you closer to 3000 watts. If you move the pots around yourself, you would probably be OK. I would use the 2 MH and the 1 HPS for veg, and then buy 1 MH to HPS conversion bulb, and flower with 2 HPS and 1 MH. Even thought blue is for veg, and red for bloom, either will work to a degree, and I think a good mix best replicates what the sun offers, and that is what we a re trying to do anyway.

Recently I switch my veg to all T5 fluorescent and am loving the results. I still use HPS to flower, but I added T5 fixtures with 50/50 bulbs to the side walls in the flower room and the lower branches are loving it.

[Screwnuts33]

Aero covered it well. MH = Veg, HPS = Flower. You have a large space with a ton of plants a light mover would be a very good investment.

[rnwy29erclr]

thank you aero & screwnuts, i sorta get it about light distance and mh for veg & hps 4 flower, i guess my question is or was this, are people moving away from complete vegging with mh's and now the standard is 2 veg with t-5s fluoro's? the guy at the hydro store kinda gave me the look you know like wow your still using mh 2 veg everybodys using t-5's now

[aero420]

Most everyone I know uses T5's for clones/seedlings, MH for veg and HPS for flower.

I started using T5 for veg and added T5 to HPS's for flower, but out of the people I know, I am the only one.

[Screwnuts33]

I am using T5's for vegging and having great results. This is my first grow so I have no experience with the MH as a comparison. T5 you don't have heat issues, typically lower power use, and the 6500k color the plants seem to love.

[Medifreddie]

Hey Aero...Great post dude. You seem to know your way around the lighting thing. I too use the T-5's for veg and like the results. Was wondering, do you know of a T-5 set up applicable to a light mover? My veg area is quite large and I'm lookin to improve my coverage but without the hassle of dealin with more strip lights. Thanks man...MF

[aero420]

While I have never be fortunate enough to need a light mover, I have seen several in use, and they are more or less carriage type assemblies that have an electrical outlet attached and are mounted on tracks. You could hang whatever you want from the carriage, as long as it is within the weight limits. The one track type I saw had the track energized, and the carousel was powered like a subway train. It was a few years old at the time and the track developed dead spots and you had to wiggle the carriage to get the lights to come on at some spots. The other had a pre-coiled wire, like a phone cord, that followed along with the carriage. I was reading about a carousel type recently, it looked like a ceiling fan with lights instead of blades. I would think T5's would be good with movers cause you don't have to worry about venting the hoods, and dealing with the associated ducting, which I imagine can be hard with movers.
I also found some T5 4' single bulb fixtures with no reflectors, that are pretty cheap, and have been trying to come up with a decent way to have them hanging down vertically in between plants, like stalagmites, or stalactite's, which ever one is from the top.