Whats better HPS and CFL or simply HPS??

Im new to this whole growing idea Ive done some research but im not sure whats better to have a mix of color or stay with one color?? any help? Thankyou

uhhm well you could use 50 4,000 lumen lights and still only have 4000 lumens or use 1 hps and get 50,000 lumens. more lights doesnt mean more lumens

That is kind of what I figured ButI was more about the light spectrum about the light spectrum is it better to have a wider range??

logan486 said:

That is kind of what I figured ButI was more about the light spectrum about the light spectrum is it better to have a wider range??

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i dont see how a wide range could hurt as long as you have the proper amount of hps light when you flower than a lil blue probly dont hurt. i run nothing but hps light during flowering ( 1000hps) with great results. i use the hortilux super hps that claims to have an enhanced spectrum with a lil blue. i dont know if it realy better than any other hps bulb but it works good for me. good luck on all your grows!

Alright thank you thats what I needed to know

Ive always ran my entire darn cycle underneath a 400W HPS. And them chickies get big quickly under that thing hehe. I do however put them under some cfl 6500k when they first sprout so i dont burn em up under that beastly light lol.

alright lol thats what im going for at the moment Ive got 3 different strands growing and there all doing something different I have a 400w HPS and 4 CFLs they don't seem to be maturing to fast

Well what u growin in? Maybe sumthin to do wit that is the problem. And dont get ur HPS to close either, which hopefully uve already made sure of that. I always keep my light about a ft above em. Fan blowin over them is highly recommended as well. They luuuuv it. And dont be scared if temps in ur room seem high. Mine usually linger around 85 degrees, but with the fan blowin nicely on the tops of em, its cooler rite there.

U can research but Ive done real life experiments. My favorite vegging light is a 4ft fluorescent with a 6500k bulb and a 7800k bulb. (or sold as the aqua plant bulb) Which cost only 25 bucks at walmart. The best flowering is when u use a mh and hps together. The reason fluoros are better for vegging is because it will grow your nodes close together and will result in a bushier plant with fatter buds because when u go to flower the HID lights will stretch your plant 3 times its size within a few weeks.

potsmokinbasturd said:

U can research but Ive done real life experiments. My favorite vegging light is a 4ft fluorescent with a 6500k bulb and a 7800k bulb. (or sold as the aqua plant bulb) Which cost only 25 bucks at walmart. The best flowering is when u use a mh and hps together. The reason fluoros are better for vegging is because it will grow your nodes close together and will result in a bushier plant with fatter buds because when u go to flower the HID lights will stretch your plant 3 times its size within a few weeks.

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Thats all valid info bud. Now just choose if ya feel like equipin wit summore stuff or tryin to perfect what ya got. Either way i def wanna hear how things turn out.

Alright I will have to start a journal there all maturing differently some even seem to be retarded lol one did a loop and is now growing upwards again..? also I was wondering I have two that have sprouted that came from a really potent hermaphrodite of my friend's will these also become hermies? if so when should I separate them?? thank you everyone for all the info.

Mirror4theSun said:

uhhm well you could use 50 4,000 lumen lights and still only have 4000 lumens or use 1 hps and get 50,000 lumens. more lights doesnt mean more lumens

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Due to semantics you are almost correct...more lights don't = more lumens...because Lumens is a measure of output from the source...so no...adding more bulbs doesn't make 1 bulb put out any more light.
BUT, it does raise the lux, which is a measure of the amount of light striking a surface. (Figured I should explain this part more);

It doesn't matter how many lumens you put out...ever. What is important is Lux...because even if you have a million lumens being put out by your light source...if none of the light is striking the plant, then its just wasted energy. Since Lux measures how much of that light is actually striking the surface, that tells you what is actually available for use. (Though it might not all get used even then)

So...using 50 X 4000 lumen lights is giving you 4000 lumens per bulb still...because each one is still putting off 4000 lumens one way or the other. What comes into question is whether that light is actually being used. If you are running them all in a big line or something, you can see how some of the bulbs will block the light path of other bulbs, thereby reducing the Lux, because less of that light is hitting the leaves. (We could get freaky and delve into photon charging and stuff too, but for now I'll keep it simple.) (Also, it would be fair to mention that wiring 50 bulbs up will require the OP know at least something about electricity and/or have one hell of a power bar. Its safe to assume that a 4000 lumen cfl is in the 50-65 watt range, since the 23 watt models give out roughly 1600...so 50 of those bad boys will use quite a bit of power. It would be safer and more economical to use an HPS light than 50 of those.)

The idea behind "side lighting" is that a huge light from on top doesn't get light to a lot of the undergrowth. So...you put in a small bulb near the undergrowth to provide them with extra LUX, and promote lower growth. You can never go wrong with extra lighting unless you run into electrical issues or heat issues. Aside from that...crank it, up, put on some shades and suntan oil, and have a relaxing afternoon in your grow room sipping drinks and pretending you are at the beach...a beach on the sun.

Next time you are giving someone scientific or even pseudo scientific advice...at least make sure you are giving good advice and not spouting off at the mouth like a retard.