What's the point of high power/quality lighting during veg?

[Pfffffff]

So I rarely ever have to ask questions as everything has been asked at one point or another. One thing I can't find an answer to is why I would want to use higher power/quality lighting during veg. If I can use a couple T5 costing $50 bucks or a 125W CFL for $65ish, why would I get anything that costs more and consumes more power? Hell, I could spend $20 at Wally World and get something that would suffice. But I see people with 400W (or larger) hid or some pretty awesome LED units costing easily 5 times that much solely for vegetative. Unless I'm trying to grow some real monsters, I can't see the point. Can somebody clarify this for me?

Thanks!

 

[419Hemperor]

It's all about the lumens! Fluorescents put out decent lumes, but they're really only effective up close, so the strength of the light fades much faster with distance as compared to a HID or high output LED. HID's are just more powerful. They produce way more light which penetrates further into the plant and increases photosynthesis. I'm not saying fluorescents don't work well, just that HID's work better. So, I guess it's a matter of whether or not you can afford it. If you're on a tight budget, T5's will get you there, but you'll definitely get better growth with HID's/high output LED's.

 

[209 Cali closet grower]

My plants grow faster under a 600w then 400w, from my experiencing.If you need plants to grow faster, then that's the way to go.If not , then yes lower watt light can grow some nice veg, and if heat is a concern .

 

[vilify]

its not all about the lumens.

i havent seen large enough differences in veg time between my old 1000w mh and my new 324w ho t5's
to keep going with MH

 

[cannabineer]

Faster veg. cn

 

[Dalek Supreme]

At what height do you veg before flower?
Veg hids are for tighter node structure on a larger plant aswell.
Vegging beyond 12" like say 24" or more I can start seeing the advantage of a veg hid.

 

[419Hemperor]

its not all about the lumens.

i havent seen large enough differences in veg time between my old 1000w mh and my new 324w ho t5's
to keep going with MH

That's good to know! I've only used basic fluorescents before. Do you know what the lumen output is compared to the MH? And how much does the high output setup cost (to buy, it's obviously cheaper to run)?

 

[Pfffffff]

Yeah I guess I wasn't so much considering penetration...Doesn't take much to do just a small handful. Node spacing doesn't really affect me either. T5 don't seem to hurt right up next to em.

Does it do anything to bud production or potency or anything of that nature, or is that 100% flowering?

 

[bigsteve]

The big lights are more important flowering than vegging. It takes close to 10 times as many lumens to flower than to veg.
So growers are going to buy the lights that do the best job.

BigSteve.

 

[intenseneal]

HPS or MH HID for veg will give much faster growth in less time than a CFL or T5 setup would. However on the other side of things HID costs more to run and produce large amounts of heat. I was planning on using a 400W MH for veg but in the space I was using the temps went to over 100 degrees in a hurry. I am now using some T5s and they work just fine.

 

[Wetdog]

its not all about the lumens.

i havent seen large enough differences in veg time between my old 1000w mh and my new 324w ho t5's
to keep going with MH

^^^Word^^^

Except in my case it was a 400w MH.

I now use 2 of those 2 bulb, 2' PLL-55 fixtures from HTG. They were $69 each and use 115w of power for 10,000 lumens (5,000/bulb).

The MH got moved into the flower room. I've been using them going on 2 years now and am more than happy with them.

Wet

 

[cindysid]

I prefer to veg with cfl's or flourescents because of the heat issues, and I flower outdoor so it isn't an issue. I veg them for about a month indoors, then out they go. I hope someday to be able to afford the more powerful lights for flowering, but in my present situation, I have found that this works very well for me.

 

[PetFlora]

If you go to my journal you will see plants grown from very young seedlings (sprouted under ~70 watt UFO) through to ~ 2 weeks left to harvest. I am using a Quantum Bad Boy HO T5 (4ft x 8 bulbs - 432 w). Each set of bulbs has their own reflector.

I can use just 2 bulbs at a time. During early veg I use 2 bulbs (108 w). Once they hit ~ 18" with my strain, I up it to 4 bulbs (216w). Early flower 6 bulbs (324w): I finish 6-8 weeks under all 8. I am considering adding a pair of 1-2 bulb x 4ft for side lighting. That gets me up to 540- 648w.

I have pretty good weight for 3 plants, but I think ~600w is minimal to kick ass when growing in a 2 X 4 X 4ft plant height.

For small stealth growers there are a couple threads here using 40- 60w LEDs with awesome results Some are getting ~ 1gm/w in ~ 20 X 26" X ~ 2ft plant height. Most of these are DIY LEDs: one is using a pretty cool commercial LED. Imagine getting ~ 45-60gms of carefully cultivated mj every 3 months.

For most personal use smokers that should be plenty

 

[cannabineer]

If you go to my journal you will see plants grown from very young seedlings (veged under ~70 watt UFO) through to ~ 2 weeks left to harvest, using my Quantum HO T5 BB (4ft x 8 bulbs - 432 w). Each set of bulbs has their own reflector.

I can use just 2 bulbs at a time. During early veg I use 2 bulbs (108 w). Once they hit ~ 18" with my strain, I up it to 4 bulbs (216w). Early flower 6 bulbs (324w): I finish 6-8 weeks under all 8. I am considering adding a pair of 1-2 bulb x 4ft for side lighting. That gets me up to 624- 708w

PetFlora, it's been a while since we've spoken ... how do you like the pure-T5 setup? Have yields been good? I've read discouraging things about LED grows and "sugary/starchy? bud ... have you had any reason to confirm or dismiss those for T5s? cn

 

[full of purple]

My buddy flowered with t5s and 23w cfls for a few veg and flowers, The buds are just like hps or mh only lacking in density.
They produce airy buds its hard to get rock hard buds under t5s some will say im wrong but its not worth it the end product is lacking weight

 

[PetFlora]

My buddy flowered with t5s and 23w cfls for a few veg and flowers, The buds are just like hps or mh only lacking in density.
They produce airy buds its hard to get rock hard buds under t5s some will say im wrong but its not worth it the end product is lacking weight

If you squeezed my nuggz you would know the right T5s produce rock hard nuggz. There is a big difference in ballasts AND bulbs. I am using a Quantum Bad Boy + a mix of bulbs from the aquarium industry to improe on both intensity and spectral balance