Can you use HPS throughout the entire grow

It will forever be a point of disagreement or agreement in growing... I believe the closer to nature one can make the light, the better, and I think that even Ed would concure... I love his books, as he is a genious, and even he states the use of MH for UV-B, and acknowledges it's productive use alongside HPS in the 25th Ed. Marijuana Grower's Handbook, page 116, if u have it... On the previous page, he talks about how MH penetrates more deeply into the canopy, and says that flowering is more profuse under MH. It is also worth noting that MH lamps DO come in many different spectrum ranges, but as a 20-year electrician, I didn't need Ed to tell me that much... So, the amount of UV-B produced by a MH would certainly be contingent on what spectrum it was designed to produce... And, I have personally seen how much more rapidly plants vegetate under more MH than HPS with mixed, and even isolated HID's, so I will have to respectfully disagree with the stance that HPS all the way is best...
Jogro said:
You **DEFINITELY** can use JUST HPS your entire grow with excellent results.

Plenty of people grow this way, and in fact, some people think it is the BEST way to grow.

For what its worth, Ed Rosenthal, former cultivation editor of High Times, and author of multiple books on growing cannabis has claimed that contrary to popular misconception, there is NO ADVANTAGE to growing vegetatively under metal halide then switching later to HPS as many growers do.
Click to expand...
 
I would recommend it, GG420. I've grown same NL#5 under same HPS bulb and the grow with UV-b was more potent and more trichs. Not sure if potency was actually increased or this was simply due to more trichs.
 
GanjaGod420000 said:
So, that light color on your tops is due to "bleaching", from only using HPS? I've never seen that before... If it were yellow, I'd say it would be a N-def, but I just can't say that with these... They don't look bad, or anything, just different...
Click to expand...

This happened to the bud sights closest to the light and it did slow the growth in these areas. After about two weeks, growth resumed and everything was fine.

I guess the "virgin" growth just can't take the heat.
 
Man, if I didn't get my lights and lamps for free(due to leftover, or over-ordered equipment and material on jobs), I'd probably just use one or the other, but since I have the luxury of having a literal arsenal of many different HID's, and different lamps, and awesome timers and lighting controls, I just gotta keep on mixin' 'em up and seein' what happens...
 
GanjaGod420000 said:
It will forever be a point of disagreement or agreement in growing... I believe the closer to nature one can make the light, the better, and I think that even Ed would concure... I love his books, as he is a genious, and even he states the use of MH for UV-B, and acknowledges it's productive use alongside HPS in the 25th Ed. Marijuana Grower's Handbook, page 116, if u have it... On the previous page, he talks about how MH penetrates more deeply into the canopy, and says that flowering is more profuse under MH. It is also worth noting that MH lamps DO come in many different spectrum ranges, but as a 20-year electrician, I didn't need Ed to tell me that much... So, the amount of UV-B produced by a MH would certainly be contingent on what spectrum it was designed to produce... And, I have personally seen how much more rapidly plants vegetate under more MH than HPS with mixed, and even isolated HID's, so I will have to respectfully disagree with the stance that HPS all the way is best...
Click to expand...

To be clear, I didn't say *I* thought only HPS is the best way to grow, only that some people think so. As you say, some believe that combined MH/HPS is the best all the way through flowering. Personally, never having done the comparison, I'm agnostic. I certainly believe its possible that MH can offer certain advantages, but again, as you say, ultimately its going to come down to what exact spectra you're comparing, which individual plants (they're not all the same) and what phase of growth.

On the other hand, I am 100% sure that the answer to the original question, "can you use HPS all the way through growing" is "yes". You definitely can with excellent results, and there are plenty of growers (including commercial ones) who do this all the time.

On Ed Rosenthal, perhaps he has changed his opinion relatively recently, or has a more nuanced take on this now, but here is what he says in one reference. If I remember right, I've also heard him make the same point in person more recently than this article:

http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/2611.html

By Ed Rosenthal - Wednesday, September 4 2002

Which lights are best for my growing buds?

I have a 1000w grow light that is switchable between High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide. In your book, Easy Marijuana Gardening, you suggest using HPS. However, some articles suggest using MH. Still others suggest using HPS and MH at different times during the grow cycle. Do you still stand by your statement?

Claptonezgod,
State College, Pennsylvania

Yes. Using Metal Halide (MH) lamps in any stage of growing is a waste of time and money. More total light useable by the plant is produced by High Pressure Sodium (HPS) than MH lamps, so plants grow faster using HPS lamps alone.

When HPS and MH laps are lined up in rows in a grow room, you can see the "wave effect." The plants under the MH lamps do not grow or weigh as much as the plants under the HPS lamp.

No formal studies have been performed to see if different visible light spectrums affect taste or potency, but anecdotal evidence suggests that it doesn't. The only reason to use an MH lamp rather than a HPS is to avoid the suspicion that a weird-colored light may arouse
Click to expand...

And this is from his "closet cultivator", page 45:

"MH lamps do have their uses. The high percentage of blue light they emit promotes rooting and stocky plants. Many growers use these lights for the early stages of growth and switch to HPS lamps during the later stages. However, in an informal comparison of the Chroma 5000 lamps and MH, the fluorescents produced more successful rootings and stockier, healthier plants during early growth.

Some gardeners and garden-store salespeople maintain that combinations of MH and HPS lights produce the fastest growth. My observation is that HPS lamps by themselves produce the fastest growth. Plants grown under HPS lamps exhibit a little more stem etiolation (stretching) and ripen up to a week later. This is more than compensated for by a considerably larger crop"
Click to expand...
 
U r correct HPS will work for the whole duration... Every1 has their own opinions on various things, always will, and we will all likely stick to what works best for our specific set ups... And, apparently Ed has changed his take on the subject of combined HPS/MH use or HPS vs. MH... I understand u didn't say u thought HPS only was best... Like, I say, every1 has different takes on it... I've had contradictory results of yields from plants that stayed under MH in my mixed rooms... So, I cant agree that plants grown under MH dont weigh as much as ones grown under HPS, because some of my biggest and heaviest buds have come from the "MH-rich portion" of my garden... He only says MH is better to use in outdoor situations, because its a more common coloration of light to see in some areas, but as a wireman, Ive put many a HPS in people's backyards to light up areas... As well as MH's, and MV's, and V.H.O. flourescents, and other forms of outdoor illumination... But for now, I believe nuffff said...
 
GanjaGod420000 said:
Man, if I didn't get my lights and lamps for free(due to leftover, or over-ordered equipment and material on jobs), I'd probably just use one or the other, but since I have the luxury of having a literal arsenal of many different HID's, and different lamps, and awesome timers and lighting controls, I just gotta keep on mixin' 'em up and seein' what happens...
Click to expand...

GanjaGod................Do you need a friend? LOL
 
I mothballed my 1000W MH setup years ago and use my 1000W HPS setup for the whole grow. The MH bulbs are much hotter than the HPS.
I did an experiment and used both lights on the same set of clones. I couldn't tell which had had which light. If it doesn't matter to the plant
I decided to go with the cooler bulb.

BigSteve.
 
I used a 400 watt hps through my whole grow on purple kush and it did amazing it helps 2 use mh through veg the get a little bushyer but mine did fine all the wat through with hps got 2 oz of good bud off her
 
Lovely avatar, my man! 3 good-lookin' ladies right there, boy!
botanist95 said:
I used a 400 watt hps through my whole grow on purple kush and it did amazing it helps 2 use mh through veg the get a little bushyer but mine did fine all the wat through with hps got 2 oz of good bud off her
Click to expand...
 
True, i calculated the power consumption and it turns out that it will only cost $30 a month to run. I think i might through 5 or 6 cool white cfls in there during veg just to be on the safe side
 
Yeah, itz really NOT that much to run 1K in HIDs, and some supp CFL's never hurt a thang... But, just to be clear-both MH AND HPS for the duration of the grow provide better results than either one alone during either phase... I absolutely swear by this claim, and stake my reputation, (what lil rep I DO have...lol...) on it, though...
 
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