STREET LIGHTS KILLING ME?

[Marquis de Sod]

all i am growing is sticks from my clones that used to be full plants. now with my seedlings growing they are like going straight up as well.

is it all because my TWO 400w MH's are the street light variety? my wife used to grow with nothing but street lights as well as another friend who swears they work as well as horticultural lights and not to waste my money on them.

are they wrong? any similar experiences? i can't think of anything else. i am sick and tired of growing rope plants!

 

[OrganicMeds]

Should be able to get more than sticks with 800w of MH!!!!!

How close are your lights?

How old are the globes?

Are you sure they are in fact MH globes?

What are you growing in?

 

[FRIENDinDEED]

well everything i use is street light variety from bulb to ballast, all home made aswell, i havent had a bad grow yet wit them, the grow i have right now i wont even claim because i didnt start the plants. this shit is so depressing i almost want to stop growing all together, but anyway

i would say if you want run them together or move the lights closer to the plants, i use floros for my moms/clones/seedlings and the like. i put my plats under teh more powerful 400's when my plants are about a foot tall, and a fan blows on them or right at the tallest plant to keep the heat from those lights off of the plants

its been a while , but you can check my gallery and see what i mean by looking at my setup hope this helps

EDIT: just saw that you were running 2x 400MH, why dont you try to run a 400MH/HPS, youve gotta get that orange spectrum in there somehow, it is truly important

 

[Johnny Bud]

Hey Dude,

i have to agree with organic, 800w of MH should do you full size monsters, if all is done right,

First thing i would check is the bulbs themselves, are they able to produce the right light spectrum, giving the correct amount of blue light and more importantly for bud red light,

im assuming you have nicked em off the side of a road or somthing and again i am assuming they would use cheap bulbs for the purpose of providing white light to humans and not the coulours plants prefer, let me know if this helps, its my first answer to anyones problems n itl feel good to know i helped a fellow stoner, peace

 

[Milwaukee]

Not all mh bulbs are equal. Some of the more expensive bulbs are designed to provide a fuller light spectrum and optimal spectal energy for vegetative growth. The initial lumen output are probably going to differ as well. That being said, you should be having better results than you are? How far are they from the top of your canopy? What is your daytime temps?

 

[touchofgrey]

hard to say what's wrong exactly but tall spindly plants are usually a light issue, used to get that all the time back in the 70's when people tried growing under incandescent or fluoros with too much red. MH should give plenty of light in the right spectrum so I'm wondering if they're really MH or maybe the bulbs are old? I veg with a 400 MH and get nice compact bushes then switch to a 400 HPS.

 

[Hank Hemp]

Using Agro grade bulbs?

Using Agro grade bulbs?

Not all mh bulbs are equal. Some of the more expensive bulbs are designed to provide a fuller light spectrum and optimal spectal energy for vegetative growth. The initial lumen output are probably going to differ as well. That being said, you should be having better results than you are? How far are they from the top of your canopy? What is your daytime temps?

 

[Dammanfu]

Just asking but are you sure they are not mercury vapor bulbs instead of MH ?

 

[Marquis de Sod]

bulbs are 4-5 mo.s old
8-12 inches above canopy
temp is about 80F all the time
fan blows on them all day and night 24/7
tried 400W MH and 400W HPS and that is what initially i think f'd them up, i will never use a HPS in veg again, only in grow. and also, with a 1000W HPS in bloom, a 400W MH with it made NO diff.
they are in 1/2 perlite, 1/2 vermiculite starts then xplanted into a larger pot with 5parts coir or spag pete, 3 parts perlite, 1 part sand, 1 part worm castings, 1 part organic compost, 1 tbl dolomite lime. nothing helps, it's carnage.

thinking of canning the two 400W and going to a 1K MH. but maybe it is the street light thing. i got them at North Coast electric. they are for street lights and they are working and they are in metal hoods.

 

[pinkskunk]

get a flouro grow lamp ultra blue spectrum,cheap to run and they dont get anywhere near as hot as the ones your using.iv been using one for my veg cupbourd and the growth rate is great,they are nice and gentle for transplanting clones and they still put out decent lumins,a fellow grower of mine has two in a single 1000watt batwing shade ang is vegging 5older mothers that are about 3.5 feet and are having no light issues what so ever. by the way these bulbs screw straight into mh/hps fixtures and all you do then is plug that into a 240 conversion plug then in to the wall plug, bobs your uncle,no ballast no excess heat or noise. look em up if you havnt heard of em,i know alot of people have turned to em here in aus.

 

[mrred]

and what soil are you using?

 

[Architechno]

maybe keep the ballasts, and get some new bulbs. Not THAT expensive. If you smoke weed you spend more on that, cut back for a second now to "invest" in your future highness.

 

[mrred]

new bulbs are always a good thing, try to get the lights closer and i'd do research on some teas with kelp and some tea for flowering, that why you know your microherd is going good, mh are going produce smaller and harder buds that a hps,

and from your soil mix i'd say your missing blood meal, bone meal, and kelp, greensand wouldnt hurt either, if their in their final pots you could add most, if not all of that with a tea

 

[Marquis de Sod]

no there are NO NUTES in my LC#1 as i have been adding them all with water. i think there is some issue with the fact that my water drips out of the pot 5 seconds after i pour it in tho!! even with the small amount of moss in them, i would expect the water to take longer to flow thru.

at first i was using Sea Grow 16-16-16 water soluble concentrate with seaweed plant food micro nutes, Botanical Extract. then switched to a similar to GH 2 part fert. now using fish extract 5-1-1 and a seaweed/kelp, 3-2-3 fert.

i have been having spider mites from hell. but not bad enuf to see any webs. i have been knocking them down with parinthiens at 2x or 3x doses, plus soap/neem oil in the water, and sometimes spraying them. they are currently under control but not all dead. very aggravating.

Oyie! what's Bobs your Uncle mean?

my plants have been so close to the lights some of them tips got slightly yellowed, so i can't get them any closer. it has to be spectrum issues.
From what i've read, the Blue Spectrum is what i want to keep down stretch, so HPS is NOT what i want to have in there. besides, like i said, i tried that and that is what helped start turn my plants from indica to sativa looking. i have 2 inches from node to node and there is NO branching out. even when i top the mother fuckers the branches that do form, just go straight up w/o branching as well. spraying them with growth retarder doesnt seem to be going well either.

i think i pretty much have no choice other than to get the high-buck glow bulbs. my plants did great when i first started and had just one, plus just used Miricle Grow and not the fancy soiless stuff and ferts i switched to as well. my only probs back then (2 years now!!) was crappy buds. But now i have the 1KW HPS for that. I got some bag seeds i've started as well and am going to stop cloning all the crap i have, it's just total crap

 

[Hazy Lady]

Marquis de Sod, Bobs your uncle means everything is sorted! but don't ask me why.
I can see why you're miffed, you have grown some stellar plants prior to this, seems like your bulbs are finished.

 

[touchofgrey]

Just asking but are you sure they are not mercury vapor bulbs instead of MH ?

but if the bulbs are only 4 months old they shouldn't be shot. I thought damnmanfu might be on to something. Mercury vapor would cause severe stretch....

 

[Marquis de Sod]

definitely MH. soon as i can i'm off to drop some coinage on the grow lights. damn! thanks for the help

 

[Immigrant]

is it all because my TWO 400w MH's are the street light variety?

Street lamps are HID, HPS and MH and are usually 21 - 150w

 

[Marquis de Sod]

uuuuuuuuuuuhhh, yeah, but NOWHERE that i'm aware of do they use horticultural GROW LIGHTS over their STREETS.

what i TRIED to say was this: i have been using CHEAPO $25 MH bulbs i got from my electrical store instead of the $100 ones that my grow-house sells that have a full spectrum of whatever in the hell it is that pot plants like the best. ya DIG? and the Original Q is: Is THIS why my plants are spindly or is it probably from something else?

or to put it this way: IS ANYBODY OUT THERE GROWING SMOKIN HOT PLANTS WITH CHEAPO STREET LIGHTS, OR IS IT JUST ME???

 

[mrred]

Street lamps are HID, HPS and MH and are usually 21 - 150w

hps and mh are hid

i grew some fat buds in 18 oz cups that wouldnt fit in the cup with a 150hps vaportight, cost 20 dollars, but it was brand new ballast and new bulb, alot of 150 users buy new bulbs every harvest or around 2 months because there only 5 bucks, 4 months, idk, did you ever touch the glass when you installed it? i use gloves and rub it down with rubbing alcohol then let it dry before firing them up

cheap bulbs are good, sometimes better than expensive ones