Halogen, Mercury Vapor & Photosynthesis (oh my!)

Kind of wanting to get the word out on this one because no one seems to realize the truth.Yes, halogen gets hot, probably it's worst quality. If you can manage to cool one of these lamps, guess what... Hands down. Halogen lamps are able to provide the most usable (by chlorophyll) light in the 650-700 nm color band. We're always talking about how red light is so important for flowering/fruiting. Well guess what. I haven't managed to find another lamp, besides the sun, that holds a candle to a halogen lamp. Being so god damn amazing at red has one drawback, heat. Useless? Um... Not quite.Now, mercury vapor. To some extent, most, if not all (not sure) metal halide lamps are mercury vapor lamps. Mercury vapor is used to conduct the arc until the halides heat up to the point where they vaporize & at that point halides take over conducting the arc. However, metal halide lamps do not produce the same spectrum as a mercury vapor lamp alone & there is one damn special thing about a mercury vapor lamp's spectrum. It has two ENORMOUS spikes at around 400nm & 430nm. What does this mean? It means mercury vapor lamps wipe the floor. Both these lamps are overlooked & avoided, however both provide outstanding sources of light for photosynthesis & are unrivaled in their production of both red (halogen) & blue (mercury vapor).Now, I'm not saying that these lamps will replace traditional means. If you're only going to use one light, I'd suggest metal halide. What I am saying is that these two lamps could potentially add a huge boost of much needed energy for your crop. Just be careful with halogens.p.s. I grow chili peppers & such, you know... food. So, you should also know that the spectrum of light provided by mercury vapor is also the best for carotenoids & 'people consuming diets rich in carotenoids from natural foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are healthier and have lower mortality from a number of chronic illnesses.' But this is a pot forum, so yeah... chronic...

Thank you random dude with 1 post! Enjoy growing with your MV and halogens.

Oh, & yes, halides provide a broader band of blue light, but the amount of energy in that light is much, much less than that of a mercury vapor.(damn thing wont let me edit...)I had prepared a longer version of the post, but it got lost in forum hell I guess.What I intend to do is to focus on the spectrum provided by certain lamps & emulate the passage of time outside by using multiple light sources. The temp of the light outside progresses like this, 10,000K > 2000K > 3500K > 5500K > 3500K > 2000K > 10,000KSo, MV lamps are around 11,000K, HPS are around 2000K, metal halides are around 4000K... I figure halogens would probably make the best early morning/pree-HPS lamp available & since you would only be using them temporarily (15-30 minutes)... the heat probably wouldn't be much of an issue.The veg your plants until they're large enough then make them flower... well... that's just not how nature actually works. the bulk of the red light comes in the early morning & late afternoon, which makes sense... You could say that as the season progresses outside, flowering plants are triggered by the suns rays... but that's not the case with a number of plants (including pot). I suppose yield is an issue... But what is actually going on is that when you're vegging your plants under 'blue' light is you're starving them of light & they're growing in order to find more light so that they can flower. & then you blast them with just enough red light...

lol, yeah... actually, I have a 70 watt HPS & a 175 watt MV. Got halogens in the ceiling fan though...

You do realise that MV lamps are less efficient at converting electricity into light than fluorescents.

Hps lamps put out almost 7x the light that halogens do.

And we're the dummies for using them over MV and halogen. Lol yeah whatever.



Welcome to RIU I can see you're going to go far here.



J

I suppose I should share these graphs, I'm loosing my train of thought.They show the three main HID lamps & how they effect plants. MV is the yellow line, HPS is the red line & MH is the blue line.& here's the downlow on halogensAS you can see, metal halides are more than adequate in the blues & yellows (quite acceptable in the reds too), HPS is great in the yellows, but in truth is pretty meh for red, if you wanted something much more than adequate for blues & reds... MV & halogen won't disappoint. though LEDs are probably a good option too.

sure is lots of light talk these days,me likes it..

whatshuh? I didn't call anyone a dummy... bad form Peter.

I'm not trying to say anyone should replace any other light source. I'm saying that halogens are going to produce hella-red light. HPS may be able to produce more light, but is that additional light usable in the biological processes of a plant? For the most part, NO. HPS doesn't even come close to satiating a plants desire for red light. It honestly doesn't. But the problem with red is that it is HOT, so HPS tends to work well enough...

Just say fuck it and choose a magnetic ballast with CMH bulbs.

A more balanced spectral output mimicking the sun with all the added benefits of using HID lighting without wasting energy on heat.



So by your reasoning you're going to be using what like 4 different lights at 7 different times during the day to mimick what actually happens in nature.

You do realise we're all stoners and want it easy.

For heavens sake I even veg with hps and then flower with hps and have better than most harvests.


Good luck with your experiment, or is there going to be a sales pitch here somewhere?



J

Don't forget. 0% interest on all amazon orders when payed within six months.

but that's what I'm saying. You can't just mimic the sun. You also have to mimic the planet. Sunlight travels through the atmosphere & throughout the day the atmosphere changes the spectral properties of sunlight. So if you want to mimic the outdoors, you can't just use one bulb.

sales pitch? wtf, good god, no. If you look at the graphs I posted you'll understand what's going on & why I think it's important. HPS & to some extent MH bulbs provide just enough light for photosynthesis. There's nothing wrong with them, they do work. But if you really want your plants to thrive.. Well, you can provide a LOT more usable light with MV & halogens. That's not to say you should replace your MH & HPS with them... It's like what's been going on with LEDs. They focus on red & blue & that works. Well, instead of spending a fortune on LED lamps, just get a MV lamp & maybe experiment with halogens. I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just getting info out.

on efficiency.. I hadn't said it yet, but lamp efficiency is measured in lumens/watt & there is a problem with this ratio. The major portion of the spectrum we're talking about with lumens... Well, we measure brightness in green & plants don't a shit about green. You have to know the relative energy output of your lamp at specific wavelengths... So, a photosynthetic efficiency ratio isn't available, but the data is there... Now. I shall do maths. Good day.

evolve efficient vaporware if you want the most effective, cubsiquent light source. You get what you pay for.

morphemes while you do present a valid point regarding spectrum of light, there is a major component missing from those graphs. Look at the Y axis. It's not measured in any real measurement. Sun intensity is measured in moles. For those graphs to have any bit of true relevance the Y axis would need to be measured in moles. However, I doubt a bulb manufacturer is going to produce such a graph because frankly NO light type currently can mimic the output of the sun's intensity that marijuana likes to grow (strain dependent). I can appreciate the science you're trying to place behind your posit though.

morph, man ... not sounding too cynical I hope, but with all the zillions of greenhouses, botanist professors, lighting engineers and all manner of pointy head geniuses out there, just wondering why nobody uses halogens for hort applications per se....just thinking out loud...

I kinda see your point, but unless someone has one laying around, well I dunno