400 watt hps Question

hi guys, newbie here, i bought a 400 watt hps setup http://www.igrowhydro.com/detail.aspx?ID=3193 and i was wondering how many plants i would be able to flower with this? and if i would be able to veg with it also. another questio i was wondering was whats the difference between lumens and foot candles? thank you for any input

upto 8 plants under one 400 in 2gal pots.. seen it done. true story.

Dam, my grow room isnt big enough for 8 haha, i just ordered that light and 5 Fem northern lights Auto Flower, hopefully that light will be enough for them. hopefully i can veg with it too otherwise i have to cfl it, thanks for info

Better having 4 strong plants than 8 weak, try out your 5 with it...

Any thoughts on vegging with this light? anyone?

400Mh, i have one tha is retro fitted to work in a hps ballast. www.hydrogarden.com

You can veg with HPS too. MH is said to be better for veg but the HPS will work just fine. There a lots of people that only have one light and one room to work with and they stick the plants in there with the HPS once they're well rooted and grow nice plants.

You may want to use CFL or tube flouro lights for the seedling though as the HPS will be awfully strong for seedlings. Either that or keep the light really far from the plants for a bit to decrease the intensity of the light reahcing the plants.

Id go ahead and germ all 5 and pick the 4 best, using 3 gal pots.

There AUTOs. You can throw 20 of um under a 400.

You need to go with grow bags though, no wasted space. I have 9 in my 2x4 floorplan right now. And two of the plants (northern lights regular, vegged for a month) are 24-36inches tall and bushy. They finished stretching 2+ weeks ago. Three of the other plants in there are northern lights auto *(seeds are just poking through the dirt)* and 4 blueberry lowlifes. Im coming up on 3 weeks on the blueberry's and NONE are over 12inches, in fact 2 are 3inches tall and hairy.... You just dont know what youll get, no need to go bigger then 2 gallon pots, and please go with more then 5 plants. Try and wait a month after germing/planting your NL autos, buy another strain 5 pack, germ and plant them. Keep your grow going.

You can easily grow 5 plants under that light. Your ballast will accept an MH bulb as well - if you don't want to use the HPS just get the MH conversion bulb and veg with that.

a 400w mh would be better for vegging but if you dont have the cash go for it the hps will veg just fine, the only prob. is they may stretch a little.

thanks for your thoughts, i plan on using 2 gal pot for the NL autos. Maybe ill throw some 5600k cfls for some blue spectrum. my space is 27" wide 40" long and 8ft tall, i hope its enough for them. another question i had about the autos is when i should start applying veg nutes and flowering nutes? also, would it be a good idea to top them? im a newbie as this will be my official good grow, trying some bagseed atm and its going ok but not the best lol thank you for all your guys input =)