I've just bought some blue cheese seedlings and i'm wondering if they will be okay with a 400 watt metal halide rather than a 125 watt cfl, There will be 10 seedlings hopefully but i will be halving them when they get to first node or so, Will 400watt metal halide be too much for a seedling? or perfect if at correct height?
Metal halide for seedlings
- Thread starter kneegrow
- Start date
StonerThor
Well-Known Member
I would definitely go with the cfl for seedling and then move them under the MH after they've grown a couple nodes. HID can be a bit much for them when they're new to the world.
PTSD 4 ME
Well-Known Member
Im running a MH on my seedlings right now. I have started them all under MH never using CFL and the plants look great. Shit it only took 10 days and they had 3 nodes. Mine is actually a 600W MH but I am running it at 75% so its like 450W. Just set it at a good height mine is about 15'' away might be a little close but temps aint a problem.
Ripples
Well-Known Member
If you choose to go with the MH be sure to watch for signs of stress... (they will show signs if they don't like it, mainly wilting) It will kick off much more heat than the CFL. Keep a safe distance away and keep watch... If your in a tent pump up the ventilation and keep the air flowing! I prefer to start under CFL for a week or so till they get established then I go to my 1000 MH for the rest of veg.
In my veg room where I've generally got all different sizes growing under a MH, I keep the little ones shaded slightly under the big ones. Which is exactly the way they'd be in nature. Shade cloth or some other diy shade would work too, if you wanted to go to the trouble - or else just keep them a fair distance away and watch their health, like the other guys said. 
rillos
Well-Known Member
I'm cheap, 250w cfl for veg, unless i'm doing a SCROG grow then 600w MH at 75%.
It's nice to have a dimmable ballast. I have mine at anywhere from 300-650w, mostly depending on what's going on in the flowering room and whether I need them to grow fast or slow at the time. But in terms of plant size I always have a mix of everything vegging in there.
