Question About Lighting

T

texastoker88

Member
I'm about to try and grow for the first time. I've read everywhere that MH Lights are best for vegetative stage and HPS is best for flowering...but I was wondering, would I be able to grow using HPS only without the MH lights?

Thanks :)

Edit: Side Note: I am not looking to have a massive grow room or anything like that. Just grow a couple plants for my own personal enjoyment...its too hard to find here. :(
 
420blazeit

420blazeit

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't do that. The metal halide lights put out the right spectrum for vegative growth and the high pressure sodium for budding. Get a ballast that excepts both mh and hps... HPs for the whole grow would be no bueno.
 
Guerrilla[\/]oNkeY

Guerrilla[\/]oNkeY

Member
Absolutely mate. The HPS can carry you all the way through to harvest :) where as the MH is not recognized as a good "spectrum" we'll say for flowering, only vegging, so if you're going to keep costs down, and get one light, go with the HPS. If you want, I believe I have some good lighting info saved somewhere if you wish to know more on the subject :) GL either way.
 
xXOnyxXx

xXOnyxXx

Well-Known Member
yea ya can use hps for veg and flower ... i use 150hps for veg and a 600hps to flower .. the hps will keep your plants short with tight node spacing and very little stretch when ya flip to flower.
 
thexception

thexception

Well-Known Member
yep sure can, in fact some growers prefer the HPS all the way through. now having said that I think having the best of both worlds (MH for veg, HPS for flower) is the way to go & easily obtained at a reasonable cost when you purchase a dual interchangeable ballast. I went with Nextgen. BTW, the best lights for early veg up to or through week 3 are T5 flourescents. I use a small system from Hydrofarm, then switch to MH, then to HPS. Good luck & Welcome to RIU.
 
Guerrilla[\/]oNkeY

Guerrilla[\/]oNkeY

Member
420blazeit said:
I wouldn't do that. The metal halide lights put out the right spectrum for vegative growth and the high pressure sodium for budding. Get a ballast that excepts both mh and hps... HPs for the whole grow would be no bueno.
Click to expand...
HPS grows have been documented and have done well with ONLY an HPS. that's not to say you're a bit short changed on the veg a bit, so yes a split mh/hps would work as well. You seem so sure on the hps being a no, have you had any problems with an only HPS grow? I mean you can 12/12 from seed and/or clones and just use an hps to flower so...are you saying he's not vegging enough? just curious about what influenced your remark? i have yet to hear anything bad about an all hps grow??
 
C

ChillCat

Well-Known Member
I use a 150 hps for my whole grow start to finish and even though I may not yield as much as some people here, it works fine. I would rather have only a hps than only a mh, but that may just be my opinion.
 
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