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Does anybody here BLOOM with Metal Halides?

mg75

Member
on my last katsu cut bubba kush grow, i was battling bud rot (from the inside-out). very hard to detect unless you really pry open the buds and take a look. that strain is especially tight.
switching to MH on the current grow helped to some degree. i also used seranade but the smell did not appeal to me.
 

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i use a 1000w halide and a 400w hps in the flower room,i have noted much more trich production from the halide side...

picture.php
 

flat3ric

Member
I stay with MH for the first week of flower before I switch to HPS. Then around week 3 or 4 I start alternating every few days with MH and HPS.

My only concern with this is that it may cause some weird hormonal fluctuations....anyone want to comment on that?
 
Think I may try an experiment with my white widow grow. Im about to begin flower, and im thinking of using my hps for a day than mh for a day and keep switching etc.. Or hps for a week than mh for a week etc ... All through the full flowering process should be interesting.
 

trichrider

Kiss My Ring
Veteran
love to...but ignorance stifles.
i also used a combination for this here:

better trichome production than hps alone...just my experience.:ying:
 
All I hear is how HPS is better for flowering, and a few of the people in my small circle of gardeners, that only have one type of bulb - they would pick a HPS bulb, hands down.

I myself thought that HPS was just better for flowering, like no debate about it and thought that 99% of everyone thought/assumed that.

Obviously if one is going for yield and density and has to pick one, they'd pick the HPS.
However it seems that for quality and bag appeal the MH wins? A lot of you guys are backing up the claim with your own experiences - I think my friends will look at me crazy when I tell them that the MH may have been the way to go all the way through!

I feel so ... wrong & ignorant for just preaching to everyone (and myself) how MH = veg & HPS = bloom. Now I'm thinking maybe HO T5s = veg & MH = bloom. (although also notice the cream of the crop are going with a blend of both - so I guess it is safe to say that using BOTH is the best way to go!

-SinSe
 
T

TurboFish

why the fuck am i hearing about this now? ive always heard hps is for flower. i dont understand how higher uvb in mh mean more trich production as i have read many uvb bulb supplamental threads about how uvb did not make any noticable gains in trich production....also what about enhanced blue spectrum hps bulbs???
 

Cartel530

Member
Veteran
Run your hps until your nugs are fully solid and switch to the mh the week or two to bump up your trich's. mh makes it stickier but it comes out airy if u use it the whole time so i switch to the MH when you hit that stage where it seems all bud growth has stopped and your waiting for harvest
 

Terpene

I love the smell of cannabis in the morning
Veteran
you are being perfectly clear, and no, no light rails or anything, static lights. There is slightly more yield with the sodium and a slightly higher quality product with the MH. And as you stated, the middle is the real sweet spot.


This is great info.:thank you:

I believe the quality from the MH to be from the UV output, any thoughts on this?
 
i did put my MH bulb in for a couple three weeks at the end and i swear i didn't notice much of anything. i do know that by now i should be replacing all of my bulbs tho.

i have a couple of bloom rooms but i have plants of all ages in there, so i can't get any kind of a time table down.

it is interesting to see these answers tho. i should put a spare switchable ballast i am not using to use, but my power bill is already pushing $300 and i am not making much by way of any sales. i dont want to draw any more attn to myself from the power company. i am at a 100 felony limit all the time.

i really fear Infra Red cameras now after seeing so many pics of houses. i dont want to have anybody cruise by my house at night with one, but thats a different story. this was like my best thread i ever started tho so thanks for all the comments. Seems the MH needs to be there at both the start and the end of the bloom cycle. From the Nutes forum, it seems like the big dogs like yosemite sam, desert squirrel, etc are just straight HPS tho. i could be wrong because i'm just going by what i think i see in their pics. i am speaking of the Myth of Hi P thread there. whatever they are using, they are just killin it.
 

greenpinky

Member
Ya so dual bulbs should be the best? I've ran them befor dual 600w and it was okay. But the mh then hps. Method worked the best.... but still not at 1g a watt.. I wana hear from those dudes
 
D

dramamine

Northern Farmer always used metal halide bulbs...if you've seen any of his threads, you know his yields were ridiculous.
 

sso

Active member
Veteran
i find that you get Way leafier buds with mh alone.

and that 400w of mh seems abit too much to go with a 600w hps.

ive found that 6500k cfls do pretty much the same.

i think maybe 200w of mh to 600w of hps would do the trick (though id put maybe 50w of mh on every corner, spreading the love)

though mh´s often need to be covered with glass, reducing the uv, im not sure if im gonna change the cfls out for mh, the cfls seem to be doing the trick, stickier buds and healthier plants

(more blue in flowering seems to keep the leaves healthier longer (though that is not really a problem when you are growing for bud, not leaves (which is why i wont use plain mh, too many leaves)

though, id be interested in some opinions on this, its not like i tested this under lab conditions with many lamps and hundreds of plants ;)
 

sso

Active member
Veteran
look at the sun though, its mostly yellow (even in high summer)

..example..

my ledscreen has a setting called "theater" what it does is amp the red in the picture, making the colors pop out more realistic, same as in "real life".

most of the light from the sun is red. (its why things look more real and not so faded under 2700k vs 6500k.)
 

gmanwho

Well-known member
Veteran
this last run i ran 600 mh's untill like day 15-20, then switched to horti 600's. i normally do not, an runn hortis from day 1 flower.

i will say that by day 30-35 i felt things were way ahead of schedule for bud density an size. I kept going over an adding the days on the calender, i felt i was so far ahead, i kept 2nd questioning my start date. But i was correct, an they were more developed by i would say 20% +. there could have been some other factors as well.

But i will do the same this run, mh unitll day 15-20. Sometimes its hard to tell what contributed to what.

B-safe..
 
I have a book called Cultivating Cannabis in the 21st century. Very good book and talks alot about HPS lights and mixed spectrum. The book says that using HPS bulbs by them selves kills more than half of your photosynthesis and chlorophyll production. The book states that you should use both spectrums to get the best out of your grow. They did say if you dont have enough for MH and HPS. To just run a hori HPS cause they have the most blue spectrum out of all HPS bulbs.
Blue spetrim promotes more bushy dense growth with shorter internodes that are ideal for veg cycle. Blue spec lighting has been known to increase the number of females in veg cycle.
Red spec promotes plentiful, beautiful blooms that are ideal for budding cycle. Red spec has also been known to produce more males during veg cycle.
Something else I thought was good info is that 150,000 lumens is 150,000 lumens regardless if it comes from a 1000w or a 400w light.

Photosynthesis stops on the leaf surface at 5,500 footcandles. The truth is 1000watt lights are shutting down your photosynthesis. Anything over 5,500 footcandles shutsdown photosynthesis and is converted into heat by the plant.
Hps lights only has 22% of the sun's quality and clarity, and has the least amount of energy of all the colors of the spetrum. For best results use a mixed spectrum
 
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