MH, HPS, or CFL?

R

Richard Pwnsner

Thoughts?

I'm considering getting an HID light—perhaps 2—so another option would be 1 400w HPS & 1 400w MH. That would give me a better spectrum. I'm also considering growing some dwarf citrus trees inside. It's tough to find info that isn't about growing weed :).
 
I've only ever used HPS and CFL. But CFL for early veg. only, never blooming. They just don't seem to have enough punch (even high wattage growing CFLs).
I can't comment on MH from experience but I think a HPS/MH combination would well.
 
Cfl's will work just fine for blooming. Peppers "veg" and bloom at the same time all the time once they get of age.
 
millworkman said:
Cfl's will work just fine for blooming. Peppers "veg" and bloom at the same time all the time once they get of age.
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By "early veg", I really just meant from seed to having a few sets of true leaves. You will always get better results with HPS/MH than you will with CFL.
 
Raelacea said:
By "early veg", I really just meant from seed to having a few sets of true leaves. You will always get better results with HPS/MH than you will with CFL.
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That seems to be the consensus per what little research I've done, but I've seen quite a few people—albeit a minority—insist that newer CFLs, e.g. the 125w ones, or just a lot of the 42w, are superior for limited spaces because they can be arranged around the plants more carefully without concern for heat.

I'll be working within the constraints of my apartment. If I could safely move stuff off my deck in here for the winter it wouldn't be a big deal—I'd just get some flouros and overwinter—but I've heard too many stories about pests taking over small spaces. I already ordered the three trees: Keifer Lime, Washington Naval, Meyer Lemon. Amongst my decisions to be made in the next 4 days are what I'll put them in, whether I want to experiment with trying one of them in a rigged up bubble bucket, and how the hell I'm going to keep them lit. I suppose I could be super careful and quarantine them once it starts to get cold around here, but the idea of having plants indoors during the brutal cold snaps here is really appealing. Ah, impulse buys.
 
Richard Pwnsner said:
That seems to be the consensus per what little research I've done, but I've seen quite a few people—albeit a minority—insist that newer CFLs, e.g. the 125w ones, or just a lot of the 42w, are superior for limited spaces because they can be arranged around the plants more carefully without concern for heat...
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I have 100w and 150w CFLs and they do work fine. But I definitely prefer using HPS, the growth is just stronger
It can be a pain in small areas keeping heat down when using HPS, but I used to just run a duct from the window onto the bulb, and run it primarily at night.
 
I use CFL and they're ok but if you want some serious indoor blooming go for HPS, their lumens output and light penetration is superior.
With proper ventilation the heat is nothing to worry about.

Good luck

Datil
 
Willard is correct. HID will produce better results for the money. But if you are set on cfl's the 23-30 watt ones are the most efficient. They are almost on par with Metal Halide lights in terms of output per watt.
 
Here's a photo from last winter in one of my grow areas using both 400 watters (MH) and also T8's

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...and now that the plants are outdoors (over 150) their doing great with some of the 7/Pots and Bhuts over 6 ft tall, strong bright light is key to having a good jump prior to planting outdoors......
 
In a tight space (and for nothing else but lack of hassles) always go for a CFL setup. Unless you are set on installing ducting HPS or MH in a confined area are simply too hot.

A mixture of K temp range CFL's will (given enough wattage and properly installed) be great for flowering of many types of plants.

The trick (based on prior experience) with the higher wattage CFL's is to not have them above your plants only but among your plants (ie hung vertically down into your growing chamber rather then horizontally) this way the light doesn't get confined to the top of the plant only.

As long as you have adequate ventilation and the plants don't touch the bulb or ballast areas then you will be fine.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys! Alas, impulse buying took over once again: I purchased a 1000w HPS/MH system :). It's going to go in my 1 bedroom, 500 SF apartment. I am a fool, but a happy one.

So, I've read that for chiles, MH or HPS can be used interchangably. Does this mean I'd be wiser to use the MH given the citrus trees and their need for growth?

Also, what else should I try to grow?
 
A bit of technical information.

More lumens/watt lamps produces less heat total in grow area, ie, fluorescents produce more heat than HID.
HID lamp surface temp is higher than fluorescent.
 
Since I didn't want to spend a ton of money and have to buy extra equipment I went with a 400 watt MH/HPS "DUAL" ballast a cool tube hood. The dual ballast has a switch so you can run MH or HPS bulbs. All you do is flip the switch and just change your bulb.

Plus having 3 TOTAL pieces of equipment all fairly small was a big plus.

Ironically I got all my equipment directly from the feds after they seized a bunch of goodies from the pot growers. My entire setup cost less than $100 INCLUDING new eye hortilux bulbs.
 
I'm using a 400 w eye hortilux blue bulb and my plants love it they are 2 months old today and are flowering as we speak. And the nice thing about the bulb I have it hits all range of light that peppers need nicely.
 
Bigslimm said:
You should look into the 1000w bulb they have I'd bet you would get a killer grow.
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Yeah I love the eye bulbs. I'm just lucky that the pot growers also used them so I can get them for a $1 NIB!!

I wouldn't advise on the 1000 watt HPS. I actually picked up a 1000 watt HPS bulb and ballast not realizing how much MORE heat that thing puts off. I had a fan connected to the hood to pull the air off the plants, but because it wasn't going outside the room the room would heat up quickly and just over heat the plants. Best practice says to vent to another room or an attic or outside, but I didn't want to cut holes in order to vent the air.
 
willard3 said:
A bit of technical information.

More lumens/watt lamps produces less heat total in grow area, ie, fluorescents produce more heat than HID.
HID lamp surface temp is higher than fluorescent.
Click to expand...

That may be true on a watt for watt basis (but you would never try to get for example a 400watt (Real not equivalent) flouro set up anyway).

The beauty of CFL's is the exact point that you made regarding lamp surface temp, with CFL's you can have your actual light source closer to the plants without burning them and have the heat source (built in ballast) actually outside the growing setup or ducted/cooled separately (when hung vertically) thereby nullifying any heat issues entirely.
 
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