Sorry, Couldn't resist. lol
managing the larf vs over veg'n is always the trickiest part of growing vert. You will find the happy zone tho, I'm sure
So tystikk what's your call with d.o. not useing air pumps? Is the waterfall in each module enough?
You know things have become routine when you run out of things to say about them.
The news du jour is I'm ordering a Philips 860W CDM lamp, to see how it works in my setup. I like the spectrum, I want to see for myself how the plants respond to it. The 15% per savings doesn't hurt my feelings- as long as I'm not giving up yield. That will be the real test!
I looked into it, but the $120 price tag for bulb alone steered me away. With the $25 UltraSun HPS from China I can chuck them across the room and have 4 more to replace it with for the same price.
My price was $125 plus $12 shipping for a case of six, eBay deal. Here's the website with the spectrum graph, tell me what y'all think?
http://advancedtechlighting.com/cdmea860.htm
So you are saying they cost $137/12? So ~11.50 a piece?
EDIT: $137/6 = ~$23 each.
last crop i had 1 600 hps over a 600 metal halide.the bottom half of the plants did not yield as well as the top half.it was much leafier also.this run in the same box is blowing up with 2 hps in.hope the cmh does better for you!
I'm looking forward to hearing your results with the lighting changes.While these CDM 860W lamps do have a significant green spike in their spectrum graph, the plant active bands in red and blue show up a lot more than with HPS- and according to those in the know, more than MH too. I'm really hoping that makes up for the reduction in wattage.
Keep in mind that I'm vegging under HPS, specifically to encourage stretch while they're growing onto the trellis- at least virtually. As quirky as it seems, once the plant is big enough to be on the trellis, I'm okay with it stretching a bit less and filling in more. Like what a CDM offers...?
I'm looking forward to hearing your results with the lighting changes.
Isn't experimentation fun?
I just installed mine- 1/3 of the whole shipment of a dozen bulbs was bad; either the quartz inner sleeve was broken or the bulb shattered on initial startup.
I'm hoping he's as good as his eBay rating says he is. Shit happens, I'm not pissed, in fact I like the light from those that are running now enough that I want more bulbs!
I have head to head Super Silos with different bulbs going in two different bloom rooms, so we WILL get the answer as to whether this is a real step up from HPS or not.