New seedlings & MH lighting

Pitbullpal

New Member
Hey guys ...i have a question about light and new sprouts ....my last grow ended abruptly due to freezing temps but since have sprouted some new seeds ....i would like to know when i should hit them with my MH 400 watt ?
should i let them root under a cfl or put them under MH asap? this will be my 3rd grow and am learning fast with the help of all of you and searching info on the net ....anyone help?????:volcano-smiley:
 
re: New seedlings & MH lighting

The little ones are more sensitive to light but also temps and too much water and too hot of soil etc...So I would think farther away from your MH than what you normal have them at or use the CFL for first week or so. I"m still learning, but had some temp issues and my little one bounced back better once I took it out of my box with the LED grow light that I moved in from the shed and put it on top of my Video Cabinet under a CFL floor lamp, but it was majorly stressed so it may have been fine with my normal lights otherwise just a bit farther away than where I have it for Veg.
 
re: New seedlings & MH lighting

reason why i ask is because ive searched this and some say put it under cfls and some the mh ...cfls from what i read make the seedlings stretch alot and a mh does not ...so trying to see from peeps on here what they think ..pros and cons ya know
i do understand that the mh shouldnt be as close because of sensitivity to heat and such ...just hoping to get some insight on this subject ...ALWAYS LEARNING
 
I'm curious to this as well. I have my newly sprouted guys under a 250 watt CFL currently, but I am picking up a 400 watt MH setup in a week. Just curious as to when it's ok to make the switch.
 
Seedlings stretching is more a factor of light intensity. I've started all of my seedlings under 65W 6500K CFLs and my plants have very tight internodal spacing. I have two Gold Leaf hybrid photos under CFL and they are short stocky bushes.


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Well looks like plans changed. I don't have anyway to vent the heat out of the apartment I live in that HID lights make. Soooo being as the cfl reflector I am using is brand new, and I am only growing 3 plants I mise as well use it. Being as the 250 watt us 2700K I will be purchasing a 300 watt 6500k tomorrow and giving that a try. Keep in mind i am in a 3x3 tent.
 
I think I'm going to drop $70 more and go LED. Seems like a no brainer. 5 year warrenty and have veg/flower at the flip of a couple switches.

And worse case, something goes wrong with it I'll have my CFL to keep things up and running.

It all comes down to heat for me. And for $170 I can get a highly good reviewed led setup that is comparable to 600 watt HPS and uses 1/2 of the juice. Seems like a no brainer to me.

Or am I missing something huge here that no one is mentioning?
 
A lot of people get good results with LED. I'm old school myself and prefer MH / HPS.

My issue is with the reliability of these units.
 
If I had a way to vent the heat out of my place I'd be all of MH and HPS. Buuuut I dont.
And yes, reliability does concern me. I guarantee its probably made in China. But it's all one of the few lights with a full 5 star rating with a ton of reviews....is it OK to post the name of the product on here or is posting things from Amazon frowned upon?
 
If it got good reviews on amazon, it comes with a warranty and you have backup lights, then go for it.

Heat is heat. 300W of CFL will put out the same as 300W of HPS/MH
 
How do you figure? I can touch the bulb of my 250 watt cfl bulb and it doesn't even burn. I think my thermometer showed like 89* when I held the "outdoor" probe damn near touching.

I don't think you'll be grabbing any watt HPS or MH bulbs while their on and not burn the shit out of yourself. And yes, I am aware that you're not supposed to touch any light bulb lense with your oily greasy filthy mitts.... I'm just stating that MH and HPS produce a lot more heat then cfl's do.

The brand of LED is Hi Grow. I'm sure there are many others out there that blow it away. But for under $200 I'm willing to give it a try so my mind can finally rest on what f'ing light bulb to purchase.


**reminder** Do your homework BEFORE you go to the grow store and let the dude behind the counter sell you some shit that he says "is good" AND will "hook it up" if I buy blah blah along with blah.


One reason I hate Alaska. Everything is so fuckin expensive. I about cried when I looked online at amazon prices after dropping $ here in town. Oh well. I'm new. Lesson learned. And I've gone back to the same store a few times sense, actually knowing what I wanted and things turned out a lot better lol.

Enough half asleep rambling. It's 3am. I'm out.
 
A Watt is a Watt whether it's from a CFL or HID. An HID will seem hotter as it radiates heat in a more concentrated fashion, whereas CFLs radiate their heat over a larger surface area.
 
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