I am new to growing indoors and have all the room i need but i just don't know what my lights are capable of and want to get the most out of my plants. does anyone have advice on the way i should position or schedule my cycles. i plan on doing hydroponics if that matters. The lights i have are both 800w one is high pressure sodium and the other is metal halide. how many plants should i grow with them and will the electricity used be suspicious with these kind of lights? I am happy i have them but i cant say i know what to do with them as well as you great folks would lol thnx.
Well that all depends on how you want to do things, you have a lot of flexibility with having HPS and MH. On one hand you can use MH for veg and swap to the HPS for flower time. Or you can use both and have more spectrum. When you get the hydro system up and tested, do dry runs to make sure everything is stable, and run tests for PH and the like. Once you introduce the actual plants, which I am assuming you have lined up, veg them on an 18 hours on 6 hours off schedule, when you move to flowering the schedule is 12/12. You will want to use timers for this, so the schedule is rigid. An 800 watt lamp is capable of a whole lot, just make sure you keep them far enough away so they don't burn, if it's hot to the back of your hand, it's hot to them. You will want to chain the lamp(s) to the ceiling on chains, this makes it possible to raise and lower, I use screw in hooks on ceiling for this.
You also have to pay attention to ventilation, humidity, nutrients, including micros, hydro has solutions for all of these needs. I at least gave you an overview of what you are looking at, and further in depth research is available throughout this site. I am assuming you have grown outside, so you probably have some knowledge of growing. It is a gutsy move to dive right into hydro, but a little research, and common sense, and it is very doable. My best advice I can offer, don't tell people what you are doing, it's best that you are the only one who knows, for obvious reasons.
