HPS or MH?

harjo02

harjo02

Which bulb should I use?
 
I got an Apollo 600W light for Christmas and it came with 2 bulbs:
 
HPS, 87K lumens, 2000 temp (bottom of image)
MH 68K lumens, 4200 temp (top of image)
 
The HPS is considerably 'redder' in the spectrum 550 to 700nms vs the MH that has more blue and green and a lot less reds.
 
My plants range from seedlings to 1 year olds that I'm overwintering.  Superhots, some ornamentals and a few others.
 
I currently have a bunch of T8s.  Could I use those as supplemental or do I need them at all with the HID?
 
I want good growth and flowering, pods....so basically good all around growth.  Which bulb should I use?
 
IlKFpqQm.jpg
 
Well if you're growing canna you start with MH for veg and move to HPS for flower... for peppers I'm not sure it matters. 
 
I suppose you could start with MH and once your plants start to produce flowers or get to a decent size you can switch them to HPS
 
Thanks, D3monic.  Does it do me any good to have T8s going in addition to the HPS?  I have several T8s and just hate to park them and not use them.
 
Thanks, again.
 
only if you have shadow spots... T8 isn't going to do much of anything compared to a 600w HPS.  If you're just starting seedlings i'd start with the T8's until they get a few leaves. Save a bit on the electric bill. But this coming from someone who's wife is always bitching about how much electric he uses. 
 
A 600 Hid is a beast. I ran one for two seasons.
The mh bulb will create a lot more heat than the hps bulb. JFYI. If you don't already know.
 
HPS has the best over all spectrum. I should at some point try a new MH as the one I used last year was used. but of the two, I had much better veg and flowering from the HPS.
 
HPS wins over T8s/T5s!
 
So quick update....I had the HPS at 50% for a few hours last night while I re-organized my grow room.  In that short 2 hours, all the plants turned away from the T8s (and one 24" T5) and turned towards the HPS. 
 
I'm excited to see the difference this will make.  I just need to re-do my grow space to get the most out of it.  I may put my T8s on a rack for my seedlings and smallest ones.
 
Thanks for the input, folks!
 
I thought the initial question was between Hps and mh. Hid will win hands down against tube lights everytime. There is just no contest there.
 
That was the original question.  I guess I was just surprised at such an iimmediate response to the HID vs florescents.  
 
One week in with HPS and I noticed that many of my plants slowed pushing new veg growth...I expected a little with the HPS over the MH but not this dramatically.  The HPS seemed to halt veg growth and buds started popping on everything....which was good on some of my 1 year old plants but I have a lot of 6 week old plants that stopped veg'ing and started budding.  Attached is pic of a NuMex Halloween and an Explosive Ember.
 
I switched to MH for a week to see if I can get them a little bigger and stronger first before pods.  I'll compare 1 week with HPS and 1 week with MH and see.  I'm curious to see if the buds/flowers on my 1 years will continue to grow as well under MH.
 
HM98Ce4l.jpg

 
 
 
cu3dj7gl.jpg
 
Plant mass will be the same under MH or HPS, given similar intensity at canopy, one just produces shorter plants, the other leggy, respectively.
 
Exactly
Stay with HPS, 1 week is not long enough for plants to have adjusted. growth will pick back up.
The close right corner are brown moruga under HPS. the rest of the 2014 grow is to the left. the room is lighted with 1- 1000wHPS bulb and thats it.
 
20140628_221931.jpg
 
willard3 said:
I use both HPS and MH.
Click to expand...
If $$$ was no option and hindsight being 20/20 I would do the same thing. I would rather have 2-600w systems rather then 1-1000w.
But we work with what we have.
 
I am running a 400w MH (6500k) I know that's ideal for florescents but with HID how much does the color temp matter? I am getting HUGE veg growth and I am afraid of I switch to HPS (2000k) my plants will slow down growth. I guess my question is what's a good color temp for MH and HPS for peppers? I want to upgrade my mh bulb and or my HPS but am still confused with color temps with HIDs
 
Adamkaijorg said:
I am running a 400w MH (6500k) I know that's ideal for florescents but with HID how much does the color temp matter? I am getting HUGE veg growth and I am afraid of I switch to HPS (2000k) my plants will slow down growth. I guess my question is what's a good color temp for MH and HPS for peppers? I want to upgrade my mh bulb and or my HPS but am still confused with color temps with HIDs
Click to expand...
 
 
Read here:   http://thehotpepper.com/topic/25876-article-light-101/
 
After about 3 months on HPS, I switched to MH to see the difference.  My peppers grew very slowly but popped flowers and a few pods (mostly on my ornamentals and cayenne---super hots just flower but no pods).  
 
I am giving MH a shot because I took a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and hab to work sitting under a T8 and it exploded with vegetative growth.
 
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