Does watts have anything to do with potency?

So im under the impression that less watts will produce less potent buds, is this true? What i want to know is if i grow some buds using 150w or 250w hps, will the buds be just as potent as the same buds that was grown in a room with 400w-600w hps? The reason why im asking this is my current living situation will only allow me to grow using 150w or 250w hps because of the size of my grow room but if this will result in less potent buds then i would rather not go through with it. I am a legal mmj patient and im sick of buying overprice meds at the dispensaries and i figure i'll just grow my own meds. But like i said if growing under 150w or 250w will not give the buds its full potency then i would rather just not go through with it.

If all variables are the same except the wattage then, yes, your buds will be just as potent. There will just be less of them.

SmilinBob said:

If all variables are the same except the wattage then, yes, your buds will be just as potent. There will just be less of them.

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Thank u! this is what i wanted to hear. Im aware that i will get less but what concern me is the potency.

You'll probably have more potent buds under CFLs with ideal temp then you would with a 400w at 90F.

Genes and ability to express those genes at full potential (temp, humidity, nutes, etc) determine potency, though there are studies that show certain wavelengths of light also increase potency/aroma.

But as stated in the first reply, more wattage = more yield.

My friend,

I am no expert, I however have grown alot of plants helped my friend start aswell. Its by far the smartest most fulfilling experience I ever got the idea to do. I was sick of dumbfuck dealers driving me up a tree to get a bag. I dont live in podunk arkansas, it shouldnt be a pain in the ass to get a bag, i shouldnt have to pay 50 an 1/8th for commercial midgrade! When i started i wanted to just cut out the middleman and that is precisely what I and a good friend did! But wait there is more.

Later i discovered another kingdom that i barely took the time to glance at, THE PLANT KINGDOM, once your growing, the tree's arent the same, the grass is not the same, the FUNGI arent the same. You will see nitrogen defecient plants here n over there, u will see droughted plants that need water and drenched plants that do not, you will take interest in all tings green(you know tings, that is jamaican for things! You will anxiously await your light(s) going on, it will drive you for ever more knowledge, I cant say there is in anyway a downside, obviously legal ramifications are the obvious downside but so far as not considering retarded laws to protect corporations and jailers, then, there is no downside, it will give back way more then you put into it!

Hps is a hot light and TEMPS matter, i made choice in begining to go CFL for my 4sqft grow area and they have only failed me in 1 strain nevilles haze but it was potent to answer your question wattage , does not matter!

Wavelength MAY? UVB light appears to increase the thc content so look on here and other info on UVB! However the best weed i have ever smoked was grown without uvb and it was deeeeeeeeeeelicious!

Cfl runs cooler you can put it 2" from the plant, u can get almost any wattage of cfl, 68w is 4200 lumens and costs 12.99. 23watt cfls put out 78 lumens per watt roughly, ie most effecient wattage. your generaly aiming toward 6000per sq ft and 2700Kelvin spectrum. aiming to supplement with 5000k ish, would be wise?

A 30,000 lumen hps 250watts at 1 foot is only delivering 15000 lumens and at 2 feet a mere 7,500. and the temps will be high! 250 watts of cfl in my room puts out 17000 lumens and never exceeds 83degrees unless its scorching outside and the whole place is hot! if my house temp is 72 is about 80 in the enclosed are near pllants. HPS cant do that1

you want to get bang for your buck go cfl compact fluorescent

Thanks for the reply, that was a lot of good reading. Quick question, so it looks like the 250w is out of the picture now. So im stuck deciding between 150w or 8 26w cfl? A buddy of mine is going to built this box for me. He gave me the option of running a 150w hps, 250w hps, or 8 26w cfl. Which would be best for my grow box, 150w or 8 26w cfl? Any suggestions on the wattage of the cfl? Is 26w good enough? Also my grow box comes with 1 5" exhaust fan and 1 5" intake fan. Im going to request to have him add 1 more 5" intake fan and i've decided to just keep 1 5" exhaust fan, so at the end it'll be 2 5" intake fans and 1 5" exhaust fan. Well this be good enough for air flow?

No watts doesn't have anything to do with potency. You will grow the same killer (or schwag) bud with a 150w HPS just like you would grow with a 600 or 1000w. The diff is the amount you will get. Potency is a factor of genes and grower skill, the wattage of the light doesn't determine how good or bad the final product is

Watts can impact your potency if your experience is not up to par. One major thing im surprised no one mentioned was the cure. Generally new growers arnt experienced enough to maximize a 250 or smaller micro grows to get dense nugs and most will get an airy product which ruins the cure and that does impact potency. Generally new growers do better off on the potency aspect with larger lights but in reality if your experience is at least decent it shouldn't be that much of an issue.

Mentioning UV is a completely different topic though. UV is present in metal halide bulbs. Which does increase defensive oils however MH is not recommended for a primary flowering light which would make it supplemental flower light, i imagine the original poster has no interest in 2 lights.

Lastly not to keep busting your balls(no offense) but who would keep a 250 2 ft away besides when your hardening off? I have my 1ks 1 foot away.

Are you saying that if a master grower uses a 150w to grow some OG kush he will not get as potent of a product as he would if he used a 1000w?

I still say watts do not impact potency, it's the grower's skill and the genetic makeup of the seed that determines potential potency

No

As for your CFL or 150w question WC, I would start with the 150 and if you can handle the higher temps throw in a few CFL's for additional side lighting. But for your main flowering light go with the 150w. Why can't you do the 250 anymore? They aren't that much harder to cool than a 150 so if you are going to do a 150 might as well get the 250

it's not the wattage of the bulb......

it's not the wattage of the bulb......

it's the bulb's distance from the canopy!

a 250w light will cover a 2x2 area and should sit 6-12 inches above the canopy..

a 1000W light will cover a 4x4 area and should sit 18-24 inches above the canopy.

yields will be different, but the buds should be identical.

/end thread

Ok so since i didnt know that hps will produce more heat than cfl, and since my grow space is limited im thinking about going with cfl instead. My question now is, will i benefit more going with 8 regular size cfl or 1 big 250w cfl instead? Heres a picture of the big 250w cfl compare to 8 reg. size cfl. The attach picture only showed 6 cfl but just imagine 8 on there. Which would be better in term of better yield with better buds?

Noobian said:

As for your CFL or 150w question WC, I would start with the 150 and if you can handle the higher temps throw in a few CFL's for additional side lighting. But for your main flowering light go with the 150w. Why can't you do the 250 anymore? They aren't that much harder to cool than a 150 so if you are going to do a 150 might as well get the 250

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Thats what i was thinking at first, if im going with 150w, i might as well go with 250w because its not that big of a different but then after reading some replies on here it looks like the 250w will generate to much heat for my small grow space? I would really want to go with a 250w hps but sicne heating will be an issue i've narrowed it down to running cfl instead. I would like to know if it'll benefit me better with going with 1 big cfl or 8 small ones?

How big is your space? What plans do you have for ventilation? You going to be using a carbon scrubber? A 150w lamp isn't that hard to cool.

More information about all the specifics will give everyone a better idea as to what you space is capable of.

WESTCRAZY1 said:

Thanks for the reply, that was a lot of good reading. Quick question, so it looks like the 250w is out of the picture now. So im stuck deciding between 150w or 8 26w cfl? A buddy of mine is going to built this box for me. He gave me the option of running a 150w hps, 250w hps, or 8 26w cfl. Which would be best for my grow box, 150w or 8 26w cfl? Any suggestions on the wattage of the cfl? Is 26w good enough? Also my grow box comes with 1 5" exhaust fan and 1 5" intake fan. Im going to request to have him add 1 more 5" intake fan and i've decided to just keep 1 5" exhaust fan, so at the end it'll be 2 5" intake fans and 1 5" exhaust fan. Well this be good enough for air flow?

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i would look into pll on here for a great light source.better then cfl due to ability to locate ballast outside grow and it is a more intense light then cfl but they are still fluro bulbs.they dont cost alot .

my buddy and I both grow the same strains only i swear by 1000s and he swears by 600s. He also runs co2 and i dont... needless to say even without co2 my buds are always twice as big.. and my resin glands are bigger 2!!

SmilinBob said:

How big is your space? What plans do you have for ventilation? You going to be using a carbon scrubber? A 150w lamp isn't that hard to cool.

More information about all the specifics will give everyone a better idea as to what you space is capable of.

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Sorry, i thought i had post the measurements but i guess that was on another thread. The measurements of my grow box is 28in H, 23in L, 16in D. So far i have 1 5" intake fan and 1 5" exhaust fan. I will be adding another 5" intake fan so a total of 2 5" intake fans. The 5" exhaust fan comes with a snap on carbon filter. The first picture showed the grow box with 8 cfl light and the 2nd picture is with a 150w hps.

A cooltube will drastically reduce heat in a small space and still allow you to maximize the penetration that the HID's provide. Cooltubing a 150 or 250w HPS is the way to go imo

The 250w lighting that i was looking at does come with a cool tube design so i was thinking about getting that one. But do u think the 250w will produce to much heat for my grow size like others mention? I really do want to go with the 250w because after looking through numerous threads on here the 250w seems to produce better looking buds than the 150w or any of the cfl threads on here.