Can I veg. my seedlings under a 400w hps throughout the whole veg./flowering process?

If so, at what distance does the 400w hps have to be from the seedlings or baby plants

Although MH is better for veg I use 1000w HPS for my entire grow and having great results. If you have the money I would say go halide for veg HPS for flowering but If not then HPS through entire growth will do more than fine imo.

As for the distance it depends on your hood...mine is air-cooled so I literally have it about 8 inches from tops of plants (1000W) with no burning of leaves. The recommended height from tops to light for 1000w is about 18 to 24 inches. A 400w HPS i would say prolly about 10-12 inches maybe, hell just do experimenting and keep moving light as close as you can daily until you notice leaves burning. Also keep an oscillating fan to also cut down some heat.

Yep...it pretty much depends on the heat youre getting from the bulb. If you can keep the temos in range...get as close as you can without burning the plant.

You can... But when I was growing with a 400w HPS, I would veg them with a few CFLs first. It worked a lot better than growing them directly from the HPS.. and it saved money because i didn't have to run the hps.

yea man should be no problem! doing the whole grow with an hps is much better than with a mh. heres a chart i acquired on distance for different lamps from the plants of all different stages of growth.

http://s384.photobucket.com/albums/o...rowell0002.jpg

hope it helps!
good luck and good growing!

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first grow journal. WW

like he said^^^^ cfls work great for starting off seeds and well through the veging. near the end of veging you could switch over to your hps and maybe keep some of those cfls in there for extra lighting. the daylight 6500k cfl bulbs are best.

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first grow journal. WW