hsp help

Can anyone point me in the direction of a 5500k hps bulb and ballast. All i can seem to find is 2100k set ups. i'm ready to step up from cfls.

You don't want 5500k HPS. In fact I'm not sure that type of bulb produces in that spectrum. I think maybe your thinking of a Metal Halide bulb. You want HPS for flowering. And MH for vegging. However, I would use 42w cfl's @ 6500k for the veg portion.

ya bro SLY is right.. if ur steppin up i would keep the CFL's (6500k spectrum) for veg. and flower with the HPS 2000k spectrum.

i havent tryed it out yet but i have this idea to flower first with my 7200k for 2 weeks to help with the stretch, then 2 weeks of 3200k while they show pre-flowers, then last 4 weeks of flower under 2000k, so its slowly eased into the artificial "fall season"

GibbsIt89 said:

ya bro SLY is right.. if ur steppin up i would keep the CFL's (6500k spectrum) for veg. and flower with the HPS 2000k spectrum.

i havent tryed it out yet but i have this idea to flower first with my 7200k for 2 weeks to help with the stretch, then 2 weeks of 3200k while they show pre-flowers, then last 4 weeks of flower under 2000k, so its slowly eased into the artificial "fall season"

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Interesting concept here, can you explain what you mean by "help with the stretch?" and what are u using that produces in the 7200k spectrum? If i were to modify your plan, I would ADD the 3200 to the 7200, wait your 2 weeks then add your 2000k, while pulling your 7200k
over lapin your spectrums. But i have to ask, what's your thinking behind all that trouble?

http://www.igrowhydro.com/Package-Magnum-XXXL-MH-400.aspx what about this for veg, then cfls for flowering?

gopherbuddah said:

http://www.igrowhydro.com/Package-Magnum-XXXL-MH-400.aspx what about this for veg, then cfls for flowering?

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this is the hard part man, you REALLY want to do some research on this before investing a couple hundred dollars.. there are so many ways of doing things, if you want a 400watt system (they are usually the cheapest) then i would buy a 400watt MH/HPS ballast.. this is a good investment becuz you would be able to VEG. and FLOWER with this light system.

and CFLs in my opinion arent the greatest for flowering, you want an HID system for flowering, more light penetration..

Sgt.Sly said:

Interesting concept here, can you explain what you mean by "help with the stretch?" and what are u using that produces in the 7200k spectrum? If i were to modify your plan, I would ADD the 3200 to the 7200, wait your 2 weeks then add your 2000k, while pulling your 7200k
over lapin your spectrums. But i have to ask, what's your thinking behind all that trouble?

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can you re-explain what you would change..

"help with the stretch" i mean that when you flower a plant, it stretches in the first couple weeks (say you have 1' plant, by harvest time it could be 3') so in these first couple weeks the plant is still taking in the blue spectrum which is good for veg. growth right.. so therefore it should help stretch your plant that much more.

i have a 400watt MH ballast with 3' dome reflector.. i have a "Plantmax" 7200k MH bulb and a "Sunmaster" 3200k MH bulb, then i have a 1000watt HPS ballast and 2000k "General Electric" bulb. i also have a 6' light rail with light mover

so it wouldnt be much trouble.. my original plan was to have three 4 week sections to create a cycle..

(4 weeks)
-root
-root
-veg
-veg

(4 weeks)
-flower 7200k
-flower 7200k
-flower 3200k
-flower 3200k

(4 weeks)
-flower 2000k
-flower 2000k
-flower 2000k
-flower 2000k


i have came up with a WAY better plan, but this was the plan i was going to use if i did infact try this out. i would just take new clones everytime something left the veg. area.

Gopher.. it all depends on what your grow plan is, this is the most important thing u need to figure out

-how much space you have
-ventilation you might need
-are you doing it perpetually? (on going cycle)
-what kind of grow medium are you using (soil, rockwool, etc.)
-are you doing a bunch of small plants
-or are you doing a few big plants
-are you LSTing? are you topping? etc.
-are you feeding nutrients
-hydroponic systems?
-so on and so on and so on

gopherbuddah said:

Can anyone point me in the direction of a 5500k hps bulb and ballast. All i can seem to find is 2100k set ups. i'm ready to step up from cfls.

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i have never looked into this, but yes apparently you can get HPS bulbs in all different spectrums (cold, warm, nuetral, etc.) altho i am not sure if this is referring to conversion bulbs.. but either way, in my opinion just like SLY said, HPS for flower and MH for veg. so if u get a 400watt HPS ballast and not a switchable one (MH/HPS, more expensive) then make sure that you can atleast buy a conversion bulb for it which would be a MH bulb specifically made to go into a HPS ballast.. you dont want to buy just a MH ballast, cuz u can't buy conversion bulbs for them.. all they take is MH bulbs and thats it. hope this helps, i keep posting LOL.. my bad.. im subbed tho so if u reply i'll pop back in again. peace