seedlings/lighting issue

[ltz40055]

I have 13, 3 day old seedlings and was wondering when I could put them under a 400w mh?
I have them under cfls right now. I was wanting to know what it would do if I put them under the 400w mh. I have only vegged with the cfls due to only having one ballast that I use for flowering. Nothing is in flower right now and I would like to make the vegging process better and faster. Any help would be appreciated. here are some pics of what i have .

 

[KP2]

use the 400 now, keep it up 20-24 inches, and lower it by the day.

 

[ltz40055]

thanks .... i did not know how soon i could place seedlings under that much light without killing them.

 

[KP2]

thanks .... i did not know how soon i could place seedlings under that much light without killing them.

mine sprout under a 1k....

 

[nunof]

The only reason to put such small plants under so much light when you could use CFL's early on is to raise your electric bill. It works....but whats the point. You CLEARLY have enough light for those little babies with your CFL's, and until you have leaves shading leaves there is no viable reason to put it under an HPS.

Also, HPS produce yellow/red spectrum light which is best for flowering. It works with the veg stage but its not as efficient as blue spectrum light from your daylight CFL's. The down in dirty is it will work, but your CFL's will work better at your plants current size. Wait like a week or two, save money on power, and grow under the correct spectrum of light for best results.

 

[ltz40055]

No one said anything about HPS, the seedlings are going under MH's. I have both MH and HPS bulbs with a switchable ballast. MH is a 6000k. The best cfl i could get is only a 5500k. i can't see where i would save much money running 8 27w cfls
v.s 1 400w mh . plus the added benefit of extra growth i could get with mh's.
im not knocking cfls the have there place and do a good job. my first grow was
with cfls and it worked out ok . but ...... i want more then just OK.

 

[nunof]

Right on, I missed the mh and I'm sorry about the confusion. Metal Halide is fine for vegging, I was really only saying that at this stage of the seedlings I wouldn't change from CFL's, but you have it under control lol, and I will leave you be.

 

[Freedom23]

You should be able to just don't have the light to close , you can also use CFLs with the 400w MH bulb since CFLs can be closer to your plants with out burning them.

Just wondering. How many CFLs are you using and what are the wattages.

 

[nunof]

they look like 8 23w.....but we will have to confirm with ltz40055.

 

[ltz40055]

started with 8 27w 5500k CFL's and im now using my 400w 6000k MH.

so far so good

 

[Freedom23]

they are looking very happy now , I would still use thoes CFLs that you were using before with the light

 

[rickhorror]

only wasting electric? they cant use 400 watts its overkill wait til they get strong stems first ..if you do use the 400 better use fans as well cause theyll burn if you dont

 

[ltz40055]

they are doing fine under the 400w mh . to tell you the truth they have shown better growth using the 400w mh then i have ever seen with cfls. if anything i could give them more light then i am now as long as i keep it cool . the way i look at it i cant give any more light to them inside then the sunniest day here could give them outside.