What companies have best HPS/MH bulbs

Im very familiar with what spectrums work best. You do what works for you. Ill stick with whats worked for me for 18 yrs.

So op in closing i have found that studying the suns diff phases throughout the entire season has lead me to starting under 5500k mh(same as alot of t-5 veg bulbs) then after say 30-40 days of veg i switch to a 7200k (30 dollar bulb btw) till i start to flip for flower. Then its hps 600 hortilux throughout the 16-8, 14-10, 12-12, 10-14,14-8....ive found these methods to be very rewarding. I should also mention im using magnetic ballasts(sunsystems) from 2008 that are still running strong. Ive been blessed i guess. Just trying to give the op exactly what he asked for.

The Hortilux 250w and 400w HPS bulbs are the best available, I've used them for veg too and they work great, you don't get leggy plants or anything. For flower I'd change them after 1 year on 12/12 with electronic ballast. Maybe 10 months if you're paranoid about losing yield.

For 600w and 1000w the best are the Philips or Gavita/Phillips bulbs that run at 400v. These 400v bulbs last much longer, still running at about 90% after 2.5 years. They're more efficient in terms of PAR per watt also. The Philips 600w HPS bulb delivers 1190 umol of PAR which blows away almost every other type of lighting.

I used MH for veg for years but have pretty much given up using MH for anything. Hortilux HPS is way more efficient and brighter for flowering. For veg I'm using some small LED bulbs, that's all I need. MH bulbs don't last long at all, they start dimming right away and by 6 months are way dimmer. They're also inherently more dangerous that HPS.

VTMi'kmaq said:

So op in closing i have found that studying the suns diff phases throughout the entire season has lead me to starting under 5500k mh(same as alot of t-5 veg bulbs) then after say 30-40 days of veg i switch to a 7200k (30 dollar bulb btw) till i start to flip for flower. Then its hps 600 hortilux throughout the 16-8, 14-10, 12-12, 10-14,14-8....ive found these methods to be very rewarding. I should also mention im using magnetic ballasts(sunsystems) from 2008 that are still running strong. Ive been blessed i guess. Just trying to give the op exactly what he asked for.

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I noticed in reading post that you seem to use a few different light cycles. Not just one for veg and one for flower. I'm interested can you shed some light ( haha) in your reasoning for doing so. I haven't been growing under lights for long and am always looking to learn something new. First time I've seen anything like that talked about it suggested. Thanks

Muleskinner said:

The Hortilux 250w and 400w HPS bulbs are the best available, I've used them for veg too and they work great, you don't get leggy plants or anything. For flower I'd change them after 1 year on 12/12 with electronic ballast. Maybe 10 months if you're paranoid about losing yield.

For 600w and 1000w the best are the Philips or Gavita/Phillips bulbs that run at 400v. These 400v bulbs last much longer, still running at about 90% after 2.5 years. They're more efficient in terms of PAR per watt also. The Philips 600w HPS bulb delivers 1190 umol of PAR which blows away almost every other type of lighting.

I used MH for veg for years but have pretty much given up using MH for anything. Hortilux HPS is way more efficient and brighter for flowering. For veg I'm using some small LED bulbs, that's all I need. MH bulbs don't last long at all, they start dimming right away and by 6 months are way dimmer. They're also inherently more dangerous that HPS.

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Noticed you said for electronic ballast. I have a digital ballast would it make a difference bulb wise like how long it's good for or which one to run? Thanks

I wanted to try to mimic the suns natural sunrise-sunset patterns that the plants would encounter in the outside sun during say april to october but we indoors guys can control our environment and which/when they recieve vegetative light cycles and varying flower cycles that range from 5:45 sunrises and 8:45 sunsets in mid summer to mid september-octoberish we start to lose that extra light and slowly creep back to 5-6 pm sunsets for example. In my experiance cannabis reacts well to this. It may seem like a pain in the azz to some folks but(i dont mean to offend anyone btw) thats what seperates the rockstars from the groupies in the grow game. This isnt a hobby for me. Its a lifestyle. I grew up poor outside a reservation and havent really ever been able to appreciate having private secure places to let my ladies thrive outdoors. Id adore it but its just not feaseable for me atm. Cannot beat natural sun for cannabis.....but ill bust my azz trying to get as close as i can indoors.

Now as for bulb life detection theres two thoughts that come to mind and ive already wake and baked so bear with me. 1. Light meter to see how many lumens its losing.
2. You can check the inner sodium tube incased in the bulb itself. Once an hps bulb gets some burntime on it it'll blacken on the edges....ill go pull my horti super hps 600 and use it for a pic comparison. Brb

heres a 600 bulb with roughly a years flowering cycles run through it.
See the blackened edges?

Now heres one with a months worth of cycle through it. I apologize for it being in the tube but i dont wanna dismantle the venting system atm.
i noticed in your op that you chose kooltubes......smartman!
So heres a hps /mh concoction im running atm and brief snaps of the mag tech i was refering to earlier. I hope this helps dude.

Pat666 said:

Noticed you said for electronic ballast. I have a digital ballast would it make a difference bulb wise like how long it's good for or which one to run? Thanks

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Shouldn't make any difference - bulbs *may* last longer with electronic ballast. That's the hype. Don't know if it's true or not.

ok, you actually said "digital" ballast - that's the same thing as electronic. With the older magnetic ones (the big heavy ones - core & coil) the bulbs supposedly don't last as long.

VTMi'kmaq said:

Now heres one with a months worth of cycle through it. I apologize for it being in the tube but i dont wanna dismantle the venting system atm.
View attachment 3739187 View attachment 3739188 i noticed in your op that you chose kooltubes......smartman!
So heres a hps /mh concoction im running atm and brief snaps of the mag tech i was refering to earlier. I hope this helps dude.
View attachment 3739190 View attachment 3739191 View attachment 3739193

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Wow that's a really cool idea man I dig it. And thanks for pics I see what ur saying.