newbie light help!!!!!!!!

Lights

I strongly suggest using a combination of cool white and warm white florescent bulbs for growing your newly hatched plants. Place the lights about an inch away from the lights. Its ok if the plant grows into and touches the light a little since florescents don't get very hot. You will be fine. Just try to keep an average of one inch away. In less than a week you should see the roots working their way to the bottom of the cup. After this stage you can upgrade pots. I would suggest a gallon pot for your next transplant. You can continue using the florescent bulbs but they really don't put off enough light for fast growth. CXompact florescent bulbs (cfl's) work good too. You will want a bunch of them .

I like to use mh (metal halide) lights for my vegetative cycle. They emit a lot of the blue spectrum which the plant likes for root, stem and leaf growth. Depending on the size of your garden will determine what wattage you should use. I do it big so I use 1000 watt bulbs. They come in 250, 400 and 600 watts and a few others. Your plant will love this light.

Hps (high pressure sodium) bulbs are like mh lights but they put out a lot of red light. The plant likes this light when flowering. It also is a little bit brighter than a mh light of the same wattage. A 1000 watt mh puts out around 80,000 lumens and the hps put out about 125,000 lumens. And yes brighter is better. These lights are not cheap and if you can only afford one then just get the hps light.

The mh and hps lights (High intensity discharge) put out lots of heat. You will need a good ventilation system or a good a/c to keep the room from getting too hot. Some light hoods have built in vents you can hook up an a/c duct to exhaust the heat. Another thing that should be addressed here is a light mover. I talked my friend into buying one for his crop and he yielded 3 times more than normal. We use the light tracks that go back and forth across the room but they also make sun circles that twist in a circle. Either way you will get the whole crop good light instead of just a few plants directly under the light with a stationary light.

For a stationary light you will want to keep it at least 14-24 inches away from the tops of your plants. With a track you can lower the lights to 12 inches or less. With the hood we use we can touch the tops of the plants with the light hood without burning the plant. These cool tube hoods are not cheap but they seem superior to everything else I have used. See pic. But a good rule of thumb is to place your hand under the light and if it burns your hand it will burn your plant.
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