Newbie whose is tired of heresay....what really works?

I'm new to indoor and bought a grow package with a HPS bulb...But after reading I understand that MH bulbs should be used for vegging. The hydro shop i purchased it says they swear that HPS bulbs can be used for vegging too. Whats best for cannabis? MH or HPS?

Color spectrums matter but only to an extent. I've grown plants from seed to flower under a MH bulb but in my expierience I had better results with the HPS but thats mainly because HPS bulb has more lumens than an MH bulb of the same wattage. I personally run my MH during veg then add an HPS during flowering so they get both the blue and the red but mainly because the more lumens the better!

oh to answer your question, you'll be fine with an hps you don't need to worry about an MH just starting out or ever if you decide. There are plenty of people who only use hps. I use both because

I remind myself that we are trying to mimic mother nature inside and the sun has all sorts of light spectrums so the more a plant gets the better right?

GL

Yeah, you're good.

oh okay..thought i got ripped off for a second there.

so basically i wont need to change bulbs then, just the hours of light?

the best option is a high output spectrally enhanced hps bulb for veg and flower imo. its all i use and they are not that much more expensive than a normal hps bulb and cheaper than buying a mh and hps bulb. athough in this case i suppose it doesnt matter as youve already bought the bulb. I'd honestly consider going back and seeing if he wont work with you and take the bulb back and let you buy a high output blue and violet spectrum added hps bulb instead. well worth the money imo. however, yes, a normal hps bulb will work ok. youve already invested into this so why not try for optimal results for just a bit more money though?

Metal Halides are usually used to veg b/c of the high kelvin count on the spectrum scale. it gives the plant that day light shine to make the plants reach for the light. Hps bulbs are used to flower b/c of the lox kelvin count on the spectrum scale. this is more of a warm penetrating light that helps the plant to produce dense flowers. Hope i could help, Happy Growing Dante

darkdestruction420 - i purchased the hortilux super HPS 1000w bulb. so you use this for both stages, huh? have you ever seen a difference in vegging using the MH?

I notice the "reaching for the light" doensn't happen like when i was doing outdoors which to me says its not the same light as the spring and summer. But if experienced growers like yourself say the super hps bulb works for both stages...i'll accept it

oh, awesome. right on. Yeah, ive tried both mh and normal hps and cmh(ceramic metal halide, a mh that has added red spectrum and only works in non-digital hps ballast,only available in 400w as far as i know but its been awhile since i looked at cmh's so the technology may have advanced finally, also i should clarify a bit, the vast majority of cmh will not work in digital ballasts, however from my understanding their are a few made specifically for digital ballast you just need to make sure the bulb specifically says that its ok to use in digital ballasts) and h.o. hps for both parts of the grow and when vegging i do get bushier faster growing plants with more branch development compared to a mh bulb and to a slightly lesser extent compared with normal hps, ceramic mh was pretty similar to the h.o but didnt really grow as fast as it so it would be my 2nd choice if i couldnt use h.o. Another interesting bulb ive yet to try but cant wait to start the experiment(i want to use it from the very beginning and ive currently got plants going in the veg area i will be using and flower area is not ready to be chopped yet) is a dual hps/mh 2 in 1 bulb. its a bulb with both mh and hps parts. the mh and hps parts are 300w each for a total of 600w. should be interesting.

i see that hortilux makes a dual bulb like that called the SUPER BLUE. It's only available in 1000w.

thanks for you help!