CreepinTheDeers

I think that i am going to purchase a dual ballast HDS and MH light. Both bulbs are 400w, but i need to know if i should run them both at the same time durring veg and flowering for a total of 800w. Will this give me some significant benefits compared to just running the 400wMH durring veg, then switching to 400wHDS during flower. Can anyone give me an efficient strategy for running this kind of a system.

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420Fred

running both lamps at once will be more expensive. ideally you should run both at once, but personally i would stick to using just the MH for vegging and the HPS for flowering. of course, i don't have a dual ballast. if you've got it, go for it, its what you bought it for anyway, right - to run both at the same time. if you haven't bought it yet (which is the case as I see) i would go for a switchable system (throw a switch and switch bulbs). at least go for an HPS (or MH) system and get a conversion MH (or HPS) bulb. but you probably knew all this already... just my opinion, nothing more.

as far as improvements over running both instead of just one during vegging and flowering i can't help you- there are SO many growing conditions, i don't know if anyone can give a definative answer as to the level of improvement you can expect, but i believe that running MH and HPS at the same time is better.

Crapon

Running a HPS and a MH at the same time IS the ideal growing condition, because it gives out almost a perfect spectrum of colors that plants need. Yes it will be more expensive to run both at the same time, but you will make that up in yeild and quality. Plus the more lumens the better, so running both lights means you can have more plants too...

The only draw back to a MH and a HPS, is you need some sort of track system, where you can have the lights rotating in a circle or have two seperate tracks moving each light back and forth and opposite ends of each other in order to give every plant the same spectrum without having 50% HPS grown and 50% MH... You could move the plants like once a day, but that is tendious and may stress the plants a little.

Conclusion, run both lights and invest in a pretty simple track system that will move the lights to give the plants equal amounts of HPS and MH...

!extra note (I just thought of this so it may be incorrect or just not effecient enough) For vegetative cycle you could have the MH on the bottom, and have the HPS above it with some sort of reflectors that directed the light around the MH (make sure it doesn't get too hot or heat up the MH light), or just remove the hood from the MH and have the HPS directly above it say a 6-12inch gap between bulbs. Then come Flowering cycle you could switch the setup. Take the hood off the HPS and put the hood back on the MH and put that directly above the HPS. That should give you a pretty efficient spectrum, with a strong Blue/white in veg. with a less orange/yellow/red, then a strong orange/yellow/red during flower with a less blue/white spectrum, but enough so the plant still recieve lots of it.... This will overall give you at shat load of lumens and a very acceptable spectrum... Please have someone confirm this extra note, but to me it sounds really good..

have a fun grow... my first one is damn fun... almost 5-6 weeks from being finished... http://www.hempcultivation.com/420/s...threadid=23161

CreepinTheDeers

thx Crapon, I will look into that last idea, because it sounds like the best way to do things. thx again.

__________________
Let me take anotha choke of the reefer smoke,I gotta roll up anotha and anotha, if a dime or a double im'a hova like i'm floatin in a bubble. I smoke wit you, you smoke wit me, that endo weed, that hennesey, lets get high, touch the sky.

TCC

No need to go crazy with the electricity
I, myself, have a 250 MH I use 18/6 for Veg,
hooked up to a timer (Mother Nature doesn't
phuck up, neither should you)

When I start flowering, I am gonna hit the dual lights.

You can use the 400 HPS, but for veg and plantlings,
it really is overuse of power IMHO.

Mebbe you can get yourself a smaller MH light just for
that reason...but of course, that is funds....I just got lucky.

But if you are gonna use 400 for the veggers,
than run that one alone, when it comes flowering time,
use BOTH lights together...don't just do it....do it right.


Grow on!

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TCC
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