So I started flowering a few days ago, I just got my 600w hps light in addition to the 400w mh I already had in there for the vege stage.

I did a get a hps bulb with the 400w lamp should I switch the mh for the hps bulb or keep it the way it is with 1 400w mh and 1 600w hps?

Suggestions?

Memaw

Flowering cannabis plants require light at the red end of the spectrum, so my suggestion would be to put the High Pressure Sodium conversion bulb into your 400W Metal Halide light fixture. Make sure that your ballast is designed to accept such a bulb.

Some ballasts are convertable, i.e. they can accommodate either HPS or MH bulbs at the flip of a switch. Some HPS conversion bulbs emulate MH characteristics, so they don’t need a switchable ballast.

The combined light output of your 400W and 600W HPS bulbs will actually exceed the light output of a single 1000W HPS bulb. That’s because the synergistic effect of using the two together multiplies the lumens output.

For this same reason, using three 600W HPS lamps side by side covers a greater area with more intense light than using two 1000W lamps next to each other. The lesser wattage lamps can be situated closer to the plant canopy, because they generate less heat.

How many plants are you growing under your two lights? What did you do during the veg stage? Did you use a Metal Halide conversion bulb in your HPS fixture? As you know, when you’re growing veg, you mainly need light on the blue end of the spectrum.

Have you switched over to a 12 on, 12 off regimen yet? You need those 12 hours of total darkness in order to induce flowering. What nutes and supplements are you using?

For a number of years I’ve used Advanced Nutrients Medical’s Sensi Grow A & B for veg, and Sensi Bloom A & B for flowering. It is a 2-part fert specifically designed to grow marijuana, not tomatoes, orchids, or radishes.

I’m always amazed that people on this forum are still using Miracle Grow. There’s nothing wrong with it if you’re using it for houseplants. It’s great for ferns, African Violets, and Queensland Umbrella plants.

However, when it comes to cannabis-specific nutrients, AN takes the proverbial cake. They’re head and shoulders above the competition. I can personally attest to the ability of their products to produce larger, more potent, more fragrant buds than any other fert on the market.

Their supplements, notably Grandma Enggy’s Humic Acid and Fulvic Acid, as well as B-52, Seaweed Extract, and the root colonizers Piranha, Tarantula, and Voodoo Juice are legendary in their ability to turn an average harvest into a prize-winning one.

So in addition to figuring out how to give your plants adequate light, you should concentrate on choosing the best possible plant food to nourish your crop. Have you heard about Connoisseur?

Wes

Why did that post from you wes just sound like an advertisement? :P
But the 400w came as a kit with mh and hps bulbs so the ballast supports both.
I have switched to the 12/12, however I thought I saw someone here in the past say they where using both mh and hps for the first few weeks of flowering to promote more growth. But if you think il have better results using the both hps bulbs il switch it.

The neuits I am using are from progressive growth, they have a nice pack called Thoms Power Pack that has seemed to be working great so far so I been sticking to it.
Most of the neuits in it are Advanced Neuits, heres the recipe. Progressive Growth Hydroponics - Nanaimo Victoria BC Canada

Advanced Nutrients Micro
Advanced Nutrients Grow
Advanced Nutrients BLoom
Diamond Nectar
Hygrozyme
Liquid Carboload (Though I am using sweet leaf instead of the carboload)
Bud Blood
Big Bud
Kool Bloom

MeMaw

i would use the hps also if you have it laying around because flower stage needs light that is around 3500 kelvin (red) rather than the blue
where did you find that light fixture that came with both bulbs?
good luck

Hi MeMaw,

When I get excited about something, my wife Claire always says that I sound just like an adman on TV. I’m a free-lance writer with a bit of a background in broadcasting, so that might explain it :=)

Yeah, I’d use only the HPS bulbs for flowering. The light on the red end of the spectrum not only helps nourish your buds, but also promotes the continued growth of the plant in general.

Glad you’re using the AN 3-part. As far as using Carbo Load Liquid and/or Sweet Leaf, the way an AN techie explained it to me is that even though they both supply the plant with sugar, the carbohydrates in Carbo Load help build the buds, while those in Sweet Leaf are much more refined and they’re designed to add to the flavor and aroma of the smoke. So the two products should be used together—it’s not a case of one or the other.

I hope you used Bud Blood during the first week of flowering and then switched to Big Bud. They’re not meant to be used together. You might want to look into Overdrive, which is the third bloom booster from AN.

Bud Blood—use only during week 1. Big Bud—use during weeks 2,3, and 4. Overdrive—designed to be mixed into your nutrient solution during weeks 5 and 6.

Hey, I’m just trying to be helpful. If I sound like a commercial, I hope that it’s one of those award-winning Japanese ones that raise the persuasion to a level of art.

Cheers,
Wes

1fast I got it from High Tech Garden Supply
400w High Tech Garden Supply
600w High Tech Garden Supply

Wes, just as the recipe says I only use bud blood for the first week.
I am only on my first week of flowering, started 4.4.07

With that new info on the carboload I think il start using both. Im sure it can't hurt..

MeMaw

check out the SOLARMAX1 bulb it has a 4oomh and a 600hps in the same bulb, I am using it. The plants love both lights.

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