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Does it really matter how many watts you use to veg?

H

hashberry

Member
B. Friendly said:
add more light, co2... and you get more photosynthesis giving more for the plant to work with.
Click to expand...

Just want to point out that this is a gross oversimplification and not always the case. There is such a thing as too much light for a plant just as there is such a thing as too much food for you. Different plants have different requirements for light based on the environment they evolved in. Information for this is listed as a plant's "photosynthetic response curve."

There's a point where you're just wasting energy and, in some cases, may even be burdening the plant.
 
B

bu11dog

Member
photosynthesis will speed up if you give them more light,

just remember to have good ventilation and feed them more too, as they'll get more thirsty.

Peace
 
Incognegro

Incognegro

Member
Yes4Prop215 said:
damn guess i need to dump my t5s and go with some HID lighting....always learning something new...

so bump it up to 400 mh instead of the t5s? thats interesting because i just happen to have an old 400mh in storage from the old days

pissed off because i finally rigged up a nice double t5 setup attached to a peice of nice redwood board...it looks sexy! my 400mh is an ugly SOB...
Click to expand...

Lol! Here's a shot of the kids under T8's looks lush and green to me..no need for HID
:tiphat:

I've gotta rearrange them now, they grow so lush for me...time for some bondage heheheh
 
Rjstoner

Rjstoner

Member
Greyskull said:
bigger lights = less time needed to get them to size
$$$ vs Time...

both work fine
Click to expand...
imo..
yep if u want less time for veg use more watts as for me i use t5's for all non flowering stages and when compared to when i used to veg under mh all i saw was a time difference not weak stems or less yeild or quality end product just time difference
 
H

hashberry

Member
B. Friendly said:
better you grow and set your girls up for Flower the better crop quality

It is a misconception that what is occuring in veg is not directly responsible for how good of a crop you will accomplish.

Plus in my experience I have had grows with half the wattage in veg than flower and was still easily gettin 1.5lbs a bulb. But when the veg and flower wattages are equal than higher yeilds of 2lbs per bulb is doable...

A general equation for photosynthesis is:

6 CO2(gas) + 12 H2O(liquid) + photons → C6H12O6(aqueous) + 6 O2(gas) + 6 H2O(liquid)
carbon dioxide + water + light energy → glucose + oxygen + water

When written as a word equation the light energy appears above the arrow as it is required for photosynthesis but it is not actually a reactant.
add more light, co2... and you get more photosynthesis giving more for the plant to work with.
Click to expand...

Wish people would stop spouting this like it's gospel. There is a limit to light uptake just like there's a limit to how much you can possibly eat. Photosynthetic Response curve.

PAR is what matters. there are graphs charting such things at specific distances from bulbs of different wattages.

Who the hell cares? If T5 is getting you big rootballs and bushy plants, you're saving money. There's no magical thing that light from a HID bulb is going to do for your plant if it's the same size as another plant. If you're happy with your growth who the hell cares.

I would veg T5 moms, take clones and put em under HPS after everything was together for flower.
 
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