Can i use a 250 watt hps through all stages from growing to veg to flowering?

if so, is there certain heights that i should be close far from the light during each of these stages? i appreciate all the info everyone!

Right now i have the light 4 feet away from the top of the soil, and seeds are about 1 inch long out of soil. Is this ok for the whole process to leave it?

With seedlings you can drop that down to about a foot, closer for sure if you have a fan of any type to blow over your plants and over the bulb so less heat is transmitted down.
　
When your plants are stronger, again with a fan blowing on the tops and on the light, you can keep your light around 4 to 6 inches away. Now when the plants are really growing in flower that is a risk because they can grow into your light in a hurry so you do have to make adjustments at times but the basic idea is if you have a fan blowing on your light and plant tops you can keep a 250-watt light very close.
　
You can use an HPS from seedling to harvest. A MH for vegging is better but if I had to go from start to finish with wither a MH or an HPS I would pick the HPS every time. Of course there is the option to purchase a MH conversion bulb that will run with your HPS ballast.
　
You did not mention how much height you have to use but if you have a lot of height and were considering growing 4 or 5 foot tall plants …. don’t waste your time. When I used 250-watt lights I had both MH and HPS and I would of course veg with the MH and then flower with the HPS. Well it took me like two grows to learn that the last two weeks or more I put into vegging was a total waste of time and effort and an additional expense.
　
I would veg to about 18 to 20 inches, sometimes topping once, and then flower. I would end up with plants that were 4 to 5 feet tall, sometimes taller, and roughly the top 15 to 18 inches or so produced like a champ. Then about the next 15 or 20 inches down produced pretty well but the buds were smallish, smaller as they went down the plant, and they were fluffier. Then there would be a thin layer of popcorn buds followed by a layer of no buds and then a layer of nothing .. and I do mean nothing … the bottom of the plant where the nodes were the tightest stacked early in vegging, ...... well all the branches died off from lack of light.
　
That is when I first learned about the common over expectations about what lower wattage lighting can do and also about how easy it is to outgrow your lighting capabilities vegging and only lengthen the overall period of time from popping beans to tasting that first cured hit.

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Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible cunt... me.

well im hoping i can keep my plant around 2 -3 foot high nothing more than that. What shall i do then? I can raise my plant 5 feet MAX off the ground, nothing higher.

I grew 2 bubbleberry clones in a small 1' x 3' by 5 foot tall cabinet with a 250 hps. I had no more than 4" and 6" clearance from the light the whole grow, a fan blew on them (with the door open of the cabinet), from across the room.
The yield was shitty, I flowered too soon and only got 15 grams, from the 2, but man, it was some of the best smoke I've ever had. I have smoked the strain before but the stuff I grew under the lone 250 was the best BB I've ever had!!!
I don't have the light anymore but if I grow in a small space again, that's definitely the wattage of HPS I'd use!!!
LOVE THOSE 250 HPS's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My grow space is only 48" and that has to fit in the light and carbon filter. My tallest plant in flower right now is only 22".

Your final height is going to depend on several things but in my mind the biggest ones are
1. How tall they are when you flip to flower. I always count on my plant doubling in height during flower. Most of that happens in the first few weeks of flower.

2. How big of a grow container you use. Plants flowered in 1 gallon pots are going to be shorter than plants in 3 gallon pots all other things being equal.

3. Strain. Indica strains are usually shorter than Sativa strains.

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Current Grow: White Rhino from seed (in veg)
Previous Grow: Hashberry/Lockdown Cross
Smoke Report: 2 years in storage