Which light should I pick? (+292349324 rep)

If I was to stick with one light for the entire grow, would it be better to pick a 150w hps, or a 400w mh?

Please help...

Oh and do you think this comes with a free bulb?
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-AgroMax-400-watt-Metal-Halide---6500K-Ultra-Blue-Daylight-Spectrum-Bulb.asp

what is your working space?

A closet, 3x3 or 3x4 I think. I'll hang the light from the shirt pole thing which is 5'4" or so up.

the Link above is to a bulb not the light system.
depending on your size of grow space i would go with the 400watter over the 150.
I have a 400watter in a 4x5x6.5 closet and would move to a 600 if i could afford it.
also depends on how many you wanna grow. 150w would only be good for 1 plant at most as the 400 watter you have a couple more choices.
I have 4 under mine at the moment.

a 150 hps will light about a 1.5 sq ft area effectively a 400w mh will cover about a 3x3 but MH sucks for flowering. It really depends on your set up. Please elaborate

CrossingTheStar said:

If I was to stick with one light for the entire grow, would it be better to pick a 150w hps, or a 400w mh?

Please help...

Oh and do you think this comes with a free bulb?
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-AgroMax-400-watt-Metal-Halide---6500K-Ultra-Blue-Daylight-Spectrum-Bulb.asp

Click to expand...

ok here is the science to the color of light you throw at your plant, blue+yellow make green, this means that a true green plant reflects equally blue and yellow light, however a light green leaf is reflecting more yellow light, this means that the plant is currently absorbing more in the blue spectrum than in the yellow,

now if you have a true green leaf, then most of the light absorbed will be red,

take a color wheel and compare your the color of your leaf to it, the opposing color is the most absorbed frequency of light, therefore the most productive, and yes this is red, but as you get darker greens and purples in your leaf, you will see that the specific frequency of light moves from true red.

so in the early stages of growth the plant will be a light green so its using more blue light but as the leaves darken, the plant is thirsting for that yellow-orange spectrum,

red light is constantly absorbed by the plant, blue light is an important part of the early stages of growth,

so just look at the plants you have and how they change as they age, and you will figure out the best light for your strain,

I bought my MH warm deluxe specifically because it can be used for the full cycle, but I am going to be broadening my spectrums with more lights as I build my setup, but basically seedlings like MH blue spectrum light, middle life growth really needs full spectrum blue to red, and when you start to flower the plant is gonna want more red, but still uses blue-green to some extent. though the blue specifically is reduced severely in its absorption to the leaf,

so yeah mh or hps all the way through works, but Ill bet you your crop if you supply light in a manner similar to that which I have mentioned above, yo will increase your crop.

im gonna post this in its own thread just cause i havent seen anyone explain this yet, and no im not going to check it for spelling or any of that garbage.

Will a 150 HPS get several plants along far enough to determine sex, then I can throw out all but 1 female?

CrossingTheStar said:

Will a 150 HPS get several plants along far enough to determine sex, then I can throw out all but 1 female?

Click to expand...

remember most mmj plants are going to be female, this is because one male can impregnate a whole field

Prefontaine said:

remember most mmj plants are going to be female, this is because one male can impregnate a whole field

Click to expand...

But my question is, can a 150hps grow 2-3 plants til sexing so I can be sure I have a female? (and then just grow 1 female)

CrossingTheStar said:

But my question is, can a 150hps grow 2-3 plants til sexing so I can be sure I have a female? (and then just grow 1 female)

Click to expand...

Yeah dude, you can probably swing that. Just don't expect giant buds. I wouldn't expect more than 1/4 oz per plant

Why are those the choices? Go 400w and get a switchable ballas or a conversion bulb. If you don't want 2 bulbs for some reason go CMH

You can find 400watter for around $140-160. I got mine off of ebay for $152 after taxes and with free shipping. It came with the MH for vegg and a HPS for flower, yo yo hangers and a timer.

Wait, so I can just get a 400w lamp and use hps and mh bulbs in it? Please explain. I want to try to do this, it sounds like a practical idea.

And how long do you say the bulbs last?

If you only have one light get an hps. You can get a conversion bulb that has a MH spectrum but operates on an HPS ballast. They are about $50 online for a 400 watt. They last quite a while but they will degrade as they age but should be good for a year of grows.

Also with a 150 you can get a few zips per grow but will only cover about a 20" x 16" area. I had a lowryder box that size that produced about 1 1/2 ounces per month.

Good luck.
.

CrossingTheStar said:

Wait, so I can just get a 400w lamp and use hps and mh bulbs in it? Please explain. I want to try to do this, it sounds like a practical idea.

Click to expand...

they make ballasts that can have a switch so you can use either, they also have ballasts that you switch between 400, 600, and 1000 watts

I agree go with the 400w, the 150 is useless for that space, unless you are growing 1 plant and about lollipop it.

Many new ballasts have the option to run MH & HPS... the other option is to pickup a 400w HPS (check craigslist normally very common) and use a MH conversion bulb for vegging.

Metal Halide = VEG
High Pressure Sodium = Flower

like i said, $150 on ebay one ballast 2 bulbs no worries . When done with vegg just switch out the MH bulb for the HPS and move the timer over to 12/12.

hps is probly the beter choice for one bulb for the whole grow as i did my first grow. i just recently bought a MH conversion bulb for my hps system, if you can pull that off.. but if i had to chose one, itd be the hps

lol i hate posting high, ppl post 10 posts while your peking out letters slo-mo style hehe!

Thanks a lot guys, but (this will sound dumb) can I stick a mh bulb in this? http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTGSupply-400-watt-High-Pressure-Sodium-Grow-Light.asp