8 bulb t5 or metal halide for seedlings

[AshitMyself]

hi there icmag i have some spare cash & i was going to buy
a new light for seedlings & veg stage should i go for a 8 bulb
t5 setup or a 400watt metal halide bulb dimmed down too
250watts as i have the adjusta watt dimable ballast thanks
for looking ash

 

[Craven_au]

what can i say well you don't need 250watts for seedlings just some t5 will do the job
once they get about 3inch then put them under the metal halide.
By the way how meany seedlings?

 

[fuzzdog]

If your growing indoors.. I’d go with the T-5. I feel you get a better quality veg with T-5's... tighter nodes.. good branching... if your shaping that way……. You can also keep the light closer to growing tips...less heat...

If your short on time.. and want to get there quicker... than go with the MH lights. MH tend to stretch veg’ing plants for me.... unless i stay on it. In try to keep the light as close to tips as i can... more energy... more heat.....

Just my opinion.. that for myself, i prefer T-5's.. I veg up to 6 rows of 3…. in 1 gal pots.. per 8 tuber. and have run 7 rows, in a pinch.... I transplant into flower.... i put em in, 2 or 3 gal pots when i flip to 12/12... I’ve been doing this way for years... indoor.
I’m very happy with the results, both in quality and yield..

Anyways….. just my 2 cents....

 

[Stonefree69]

I was going to use a 400 watt MH over an 8 bulb T5 for seedlings and veg up to 9 weeks for 6 seedlings (just adjusting the light & output at different levels of growth). Then I realized 400 watt MH is not as efficient as the bigger 600 & 1,000 watt MHs. So 400 watt MH & T5s are about the same efficiency in lumens per watt (about 90). There's more light control and better coverage with T5s over 400 watt MH as well.

I decided to use 2-4 bulb T5s for very young seedlings each over a row of 3-8.5" net bottom pots. I have another 8 bulb T5 I can add as I want to veg to 8-9 weeks and each plant can have up to a 16" square footprint. The light coverage can't be beat for T5s over young plants, as long as you can get the right light penetration. I really like the Fluorogrow Evergreen T5 fixtures, the 8 bulb is 16" x 48" coverage and the 4 bulb 8.5" x 48".

 

[acridlab]

They will both work great, if your growing monsters, mh all the way,, but standard growing t5s are perfect.. I like using t12 or t8s for the first week or two, very close to the tops. Then bump up to t5s after they get some strength..for some reason, they start off shorter and stockier thisway for me,, seems like i get scrawny seedlings when I start directly under t5. Just my 2 cents

 

[Luther Burbank]

I've become very enamoured with T5s for seedlings.

 

[AshitMyself]

what can i say well you don't need 250watts for seedlings just some t5 will do the job
once they get about 3inch then put them under the metal halide.
By the way how meany seedlings?

Hey Craven i am looking at 16 seedlings or 16 clones

 

[wolfhoundaddy]

what bulbs do you use for veg?

what bulbs do you use for veg?

Daytime 6400's

or do you mix some cool types in with the day times?

thx

 

[PetFlora]

One of the many benefits of my Quantum BB hot5 fixture is that I can run 2 bulbs at a time, which is all seedlings need for the first ~ month, then add 2 more...

I mix 6500 with 2900 to equal ~ 4700, which promotes inner nodes with some stretch.

Once the plants are ready to flip I begin replacing the 6500s with either ZooMed Florasuns, and/or UVL RedLifes/RedSuns.

ZooMed also makes Tropic Wave (~ 5400K) which would eliminate the need to mix bulbs, but the result is the same

Roughly 3-4 weeks left. Pics taken Wednesday, now much fuller


View attachment 251452 View attachment 251453 View attachment 251454

 

[Jhhnn]

Everybody's circumstances are different, and everybody sees it a little different.

As a veteran mechanic & technician, I vastly prefer magnetic ballast HID hardware to T5 hardware. I also prefer it to electronic ballast HID.

The Mag HID stuff is just simpler & more robust, professional grade. It's the same working parts as in a sealed warehouse fixture 20' up there that nobody wants to mess with except to change the bulb. When necessary, mag ballasts are also quite easy & inexpensive to repair.

T5's are homeowner/ hobbyist grade, at least any I've ever seen. Somewhere between the mass of connections, electronic ballasts & fragile sockets, they're disposable rather than repairable. Only the high end bulbs last worth a damn, and even then TCO is high. I speak from the experience of using them for years on aquariums.

Not all HID bulbs are compatible with electronic ballasts. Electronic ballasts are basically disposable for most growers' purposes, too. We lack the knowledge & the tools to fix 'em.

Right now, I have seedlings popping up under a 4000K sylvania 64488. It's the same series of bulb that the Gnome uses in the 1000w version. I haven't tried it before. It's a nice compact reduced envelope bulb so I really need a socket extender in my reflector. They're also inexpensive at $15-20 apiece. So far, the little darlings seem to like it.

 

[watts]

The Hortilux Blue MH's are damn nice. With the right reflector you could get very good coverage and deeper penetration once the plants get larger.

 

[Garyoutlaw]

I've been doing all my seedlings & clones under an 8 stack T5 and feel like it's been very productive & never had to deal with heat -

However - I read about guys growing perpetual cycles who throw cuttings under HPS for short veg periods before going straight to 12/12 flower (speeding up the flowering cycle is the only plus I can see in this method though )