Question about veg light

[Tetros420]

Hello people. I was wondering is it beneficial to use 400/600w hps in the vegetative phase? Or is it just a waste of energy? Last crop I did 250w hps in veg and 400w hps in bloom. Now I am wondering should I increase the vegetative phase wattage or is it just a waste of energy? I will do bloom phase with 600w this time.

I would like to hear opinions from many people !

 

[Emilya Green]

Vegging plants can not take as much light as a blooming plant. You really need a LUX meter so you can see how much light is hitting your plants, and then you will no longer be guessing. Seedlings can only take about 7k LUX while vegging plants can take up to 45k LUX eventually, as they get larger. A blooming plant can take 65-70k LUX. This being said, you can use your big hps all through the grow, but you will need to back it way off during the early stages, wasting some of that light so you don't burn up your plants. Depending on the size of the area you are trying to light up, 400/600w might be overkill during the early stages of the grow. You do want a lot of light for these grows, but it is also easy to overdo it if you are not very careful.

 

[Tetros420]

I am only using a 100cmx100cm grow tent (1mx1m) so I guess then ill go with 250w hps for veg and 600w for bloom

 

[Emilya Green]

in that sized area, 600w is probably too much... the heat is certainly going to be hard to deal with

 

[Tetros420]

Yep I have tried the 600w to test the heat and its just a very little too high but with proper air conditipning I can keep the temp at the right amount cause I have a air vent that goes straight outside from the room where the tent is

 

[Tetros420]

And now that weather gets colder outside the temp wont be a problem

 

[Emilya Green]

you need a light meter, badly. By the way, welcome to the forum!

 

[Tetros420]

Thank you! Yea I will try to find one

 

[Emilya Green]

You will need to spend around $35 USD on one of the big sites... I got a LUX meter, which is easily convertible to PAR or whatever system you want to use. Telephone apps and cheaper meters can't see enough of the light spectrum to be useful.

 

[Tetros420]

Okay thanks for the tip! I can also take the tent away and use the room it is in its bigger space but harder to controll the air ventilation

 

[Emilya Green]

Okay thanks for the tip! I can also take the tent away and use the room it is in its bigger space but harder to controll the air ventilation

whatever works!

 

[Tetros420]

Yea I need to check the temp if I cant controll it I try without the tent... the rooms walls are covered with mylar anyway

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

Welcome. Natural sun is 130,000 lux or so at sea level, FYI. The main problem is the heat, as already stated. Any way you can veg under MH, instead? 6000 Kelvin is much better for veg than 3000 K.

 

[Enr0n]

Greetings looks like your question has already been replied to.

 

[Tetros420]

Yes I will try mh bulb for veg next time this time only hps

 

[bobrown14]

I ran a 600w hps in a 4x4 when I first started growing. With a dimmable balast and turned it down in VEG and turned it up in flower. worked fine but a lot of heat. I used a cool tube hooked up to exhaust that worked great for a few grows then moved on to LED cause of the heat.

 

[Tetros420]

Yea I also have a dimable 600w hps but I use 250w for veg and 600w for bloom last crop I did with 400w bloom cause of higher temp outside. I also have a cooltube and 400m3/h ventilation machine (cant remember english name for it thats why I say ventilation machine

 

[bluter]

have run a 600w hps in a 3 x 3 before. hot but it worked in my app, had to move lots of air. a 400w was much more comfy.
long time ago with magnetic ballasts.. the 600w set was the "winter bulb" lol

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

You may wish to ponder over the correct light spectrum a plant requires either in veg or flowering.

This term may be expressed by Kelvin a light spectrum as well.

Very RAINBOW effect the light spectrum.

Now in veg, seedling etc the plant uses more of the blue spectrum of light which metal halide (MH) or cfl around the 6500 kelvin mark provide equally well, but one is cheaper to run than the others as in wattage per hour

When in flowering under hps the light spectrum is higher in the red & orange.

This all has a beneficial effect on the grow & flowering production.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Now in veg, seedling etc the plant uses more of the blue spectrum of light which metal halide (MH) or cfl around the 6500 kelvin mark provide equally well, but one is cheaper to run than the others as in wattage per hour

When in flowering under hps the light spectrum is higher in the red & orange.

This all has a beneficial effect on the grow & flowering production.

Ten years ago, several people did some testing vis-à-vis MH / HPS vs. HPS / HPS and determined that the yield was higher with the HPS all the way through instead of only during the flowering phase.