Lighting question

[typhoon]

So I purchased a florescent fixture which has built in reflectors and which hold 8 - 4 foot tubes. I can place 6 plants under it comfortably. The tubes I bought are t-8 and are 32 watts each. Philips part number F32T8/TL950 rapid start.

How would one of these compare to a MH 1000 watt with 6 plants surrounding it? I am not interested in the costs savings, just the general plant growth and yield? Can I use these light from start to finish?

Obviously the T8s only have a combined total of 256 watts however the light is more evenly distributed.

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[brucethemoose]

i use t5s for cloning and early early veg. like when im still in small cups or cubes. i would say your over all veg time will be 30 % longer than a mh. in flowering you can expect buds less dense and more airy and possible increased inner-nodal spacing. i would atleast try a 600 what hps before making up your mind. overall i would say use it for early veg and try to get some hid lighting if possible before flowering.


good luck to you.

 

[RollMeOne420]

well i have heard that t8's do pretty well in the blooming cycle, not sure about the t5's though. But a 1000 watt hps would definitely be a great piece of gear to give your plants. they not only will love you but you will enjoy that love later down that road.

 

[lordjin]

I've seen a few folks produce pretty impressive results using nothing but fluoro's, but bud grown under an hid is bud of a different order, a higher order.

 

[typhoon]

i use t5s for cloning and early early veg. like when im still in small cups or cubes. i would say your over all veg time will be 30 % longer than a mh. in flowering you can expect buds less dense and more airy and possible increased inner-nodal spacing. i would atleast try a 600 what hps before making up your mind. overall i would say use it for early veg and try to get some hid lighting if possible before flowering.


good luck to you.

Ok, I can handle the 30% longer veg time as I have one veg room for each Bud room. I plan on vegging 4-5 weeks, then flower 2 weeks under the T8, then transfer them to my flower room with 1 - 1000 hps per plant. I wonder if that would be the best way?

 

[typhoon]

well i have heard that t8's do pretty well in the blooming cycle, not sure about the t5's though. But a 1000 watt hps would definitely be a great piece of gear to give your plants. they not only will love you but you will enjoy that love later down that road.

I love love.

 

[typhoon]

I've seen a few folks produce pretty impressive results using nothing but fluoro's, but bud grown under an hid is bud of a different order, a higher order.

A higher order it is then. I am aiming for 1.5 lbs per plant per light,....in other words I am running 1 - 1000 w hps per plant. And that from a kush, lol

 

[lordjin]

A higher order it is then. I am aiming for 1.5 lbs per plant per light,....in other words I am running 1 - 1000 w hps per plant. And that from a kush, lol

1000w per plant = dynamite.

 

[typhoon]

1000w per plant = dynamite.

Thanks Jin for your response,,,,, but could you tell me this....if I veg 5 weeks, flower 2 weeks with t8s, then switch to 1000 w per plant hps, will I get as good of a crop as if I had vegged with 1000 w MH one for every two plants instead of t8s??

 

[lordjin]

Thanks Jin for your response,,,,, but could you tell me this....if I veg 5 weeks, flower 2 weeks with t8s, then switch to 1000 w per plant hps, will I get as good of a crop as if I had vegged with 1000 w MH one for every two plants instead of t8s??

Not a chance. If you start with fluoros, and then switch to mega-hid, you'll get good results for sure... But if you go hid all the way, 1000w MH for veg, 1000 HPS for flower, it would be a completely different grow. Immensely superior. But with light as serious as that, you'd better have the rest of your system lined up good and proper. And if you do run a hydro system comparable to your lights, it will be all you can do to train the monsters down. That's the kind of power we're talking here. Some of the newer fluoro tech is a big improvement over older bulb types, but for the real professional quality bud, like the stuff in the 'golden' jars at the shops going for an arm and a leg, you gotta go hid... and that's all the way. You do want that top shelf shop quality, yes?

 

[typhoon]

But if you go hid all the way, 1000w MH for veg, 1000 HPS for flower, it would be a completely different grow. Immensely superior. You do want that top shelf shop quality, yes?

Yes, of course!
Until now, I have vegged with MH and then gone with hps. The problem is it takes 5 weeks to veg and then another 9 to flower for a total of 14 weeks. I could double production if I vegged 5 weeks and flowered 2 weeks with T8s in a totally different room/area where power is limited. So in essence I would veg with a really inexpensive set up and then finish them off in top quality rooms. So even if I drop 25% quantity, I would still be ahead.
My flowering rooms are good set-ups.

Or maybe I should just veg for the right height with t8s and then place them into the hps rooms. I was hoping to get a head start flowering for a balanced 7-7 week combo. One veg room for each flowering room

 

[lordjin]

Yes, of course!
Until now, I have vegged with MH and then gone with hps. The problem is it takes 5 weeks to veg and then another 9 to flower for a total of 14 weeks. I could double production if I vegged 5 weeks and flowered 2 weeks with T8s in a totally different room/area where power is limited. So in essence I would veg with a really inexpensive set up and then finish them off in top quality rooms. So even if I drop 25% quantity, I would still be ahead.
My flowering rooms are good set-ups.

Or maybe I should just veg for the right height with t8s and then place them into the hps rooms. I was hoping to get a head start flowering for a balanced 7-7 week combo. One veg room for each flowering room

Okay, okay. It sounds like you're pretty advanced. You know what you're doing. Just do your thing!

 

[typhoon]

Okay, okay. It sounds like you're pretty advanced. You know what you're doing. Just do your thing!

Nooo, I don't know what I am doing, lol. That's why I am asking, man. lol.

I just finished my first test with 20 plants where I started outdoors in a greenhouse, then went with 2 weeks under t8s, then 2 weeks with MH, now they are 2 weeks into flower with hps,... and they look pretty good. lol. I can't believe I got this far for so little money, lol. But summer is over.

 

[lordjin]

Nooo, I don't know what I am doing, lol. That's why I am asking, man. lol.

I just finished my first test with 20 plants where I started outdoors in a greenhouse, then went with 2 weeks under t8s, then 2 weeks with MH, now they are 2 weeks into flower with hps,... and they look pretty good. lol. I can't believe I got this far for so little money, lol. But summer is over.

You are joking, right? You say you don't know what you're doing then start on about 20 plants in a greenhouse. See where I'm going with this? I should probably be asking you questions. Where's the journal and pix? Or are you one of those "shadow posters?" Lol.

 

[typhoon]

You are joking, right? You say you don't know what you're doing then start on about 20 plants in a greenhouse. See where I'm going with this? I should probably be asking you questions. Where's the journal and pix? Or are you one of those "shadow posters?" Lol.

LOL, you're a funny guy. I posted this thread is all seriousness. I know very little. A year ago I had never even seen a plant. I do not smoke the stuff. I shouldn't have posted the number 20 because someone might read this that I would prefer didn't..
All I will say is that I have a few rooms and I am playing with lighting on all of them. I am experimenting with low budget longer veg times to get the plants to 4 feet high [including the 5 gallon bucket which is 15 inches tall], (and I don't care if it takes 7 weeks with t8s rather than 4 with MH) then switching to the intense light of one 1000w hps per plant for the entire flower cycle and maybe for only 3/4 of the flower cycle. That is the test. All I was wondering is if someone knew the net result cause I am sure someone has tried this before..
If I veg to 4 foot tall, they will probably still end up 5 to 6 feet tall.
I don't mind trying to post a few pics if that would some how validate me as a real poster instead of a poser, ha ha. What is a shadow poster? lol. My guess is that it is someone who doesn't have a grow show but pretends?

 

[drgreentm]

i would say veg under the floros and flower (100%) under hid, reason is if you try to start flower under t8 i think you will get allot of spindly tops if you let them stretch under those (not a proven fact just my 2 cents). i have flowered under t12, t8 and t5 and just never got what i was looking for until i got hps lighting for flower. i have on the other hand vegged gigantic mothers, numerous times, under a 6 bulb t5 fixture one in particulate was a 5' tall by 4' wide WW mother that i vegged under that fixture for 6 months and topped so many times i couldnt even tell you how many times. she was green and vigorous until she got root bound and had to be put down. if i was you and going to be aiming for that size of plants i would use x4 600w hps's on flip flop breakers using 2 ballasts and switching to two bulbs every 3 hours to ensure every inch of the plant be covered and you would only be burning 1200w at a time, i would go with ether bare bulb vert or cool tube verts.

 

[typhoon]

i would say veg under the floros and flower (100%) under hid, reason is if you try to start flower under t8 i think you will get allot of spindly tops if you let them stretch under those (not a proven fact just my 2 cents). i have flowered under t12, t8 and t5 and just never got what i was looking for until i got hps lighting for flower. i have on the other hand vegged gigantic mothers, numerous times, under a 6 bulb t5 fixture one in particulate was a 5' tall by 4' wide WW mother that i vegged under that fixture for 6 months and topped so many times i couldnt even tell you how many times. she was green and vigorous until she got root bound and had to be put down. if i was you and going to be aiming for that size of plants i would use x4 600w hps's on flip flop breakers using 2 ballasts and switching to two bulbs every 3 hours to ensure every inch of the plant be covered and you would only be burning 1200w at a time, i would go with ether bare bulb vert or cool tube verts.

Thanks man. That tells me a lot. So I should/could veg under t8s but then switch to hps for flower. Sweet. I will post some pics, but these were vegged for the last two weeks with 1 - 1000w MH light for every 2 plants. They are now an average of 63 inches tall including the 15 inch bucket and 17 days into flower. I think they are looking great, but what do I know. This is my third attempt. SO far I've only netted 1 lb per plant but this one is looking much better.

 

[lordjin]

there's also the superiority of the vegetative growth quality with a MH over Fluoro... not just growth time. With high intensity metal halide, you will get thicker branches, broader stronger leaves... creating a much more robust foundation for flowering than any fluoro could acheive. T5, T8, call it what you will, but when you fire up a 1000w MH ballast, all those lights just become fluoros... because in the end, they're still only that.

And if any T5, T8 users have a problem with that, it's because they've never compared to an HID.

In cannabis growing, if you ever find yourself wondering, "I wonder if it could be better than this?" The answer is usually yes.

 

[typhoon]

there's also the superiority of the vegetative growth quality with a MH over Fluoro... not just growth time. With high intensity metal halide, you will get thicker branches, broader stronger leaves... creating a much more robust foundation for flowering than any fluoro could acheive. T5, T8, call it what you will, but when you fire up a 1000w MH ballast, all those lights just become fluoros... because in the end, they're still only that.

Oh gezz,... now you tell me, lol. So the 24 fixtures and 200 tubes were a waste of money, ha ha ha. (ok, those aren't my real numbers, lol.) I thought it was just a matter of growth time and stretching and I was going to over come the latter with topping and the time factor with 1 veg room per each flower room. phock!
Now to figure out how to post a pic.

 

[typhoon]

Here goes nothing, lol