HPS Bulbs +?

Went to the local hardware store to pick up a few extra lights...Picked up 2 x 70w HPS bulbs, so now what!? What do I plug them into?

Im on day 14 with three bag seed plants...Been using 1 x 65w CFL.

Any info would be appreciated..I see those huge ballast for a 600w HPS..But I obviously don't need that since I only bought two 70 w bulbs...But I did not see a socket at the hardware store for them?

No, you need a ballast. Bulb and ballast wattage HAVE to mach! I'm not sure if they make ones in that wattage though. Check around online. Shitty thing is now you have to buy two ballast opposed to rolling with a 400 watt HPS or something of that nature. Also, give them a little more blue light, the plants will love that. Another thing, if you find a ballast for the bulbs, don't keep the light to close - IT GETS HOT!



**update**

Did a quick Google search and found some sites that carry 70 watt ballasts. Didn't see any reputable sites and who knows how well the ballasts are. Just give Google a try.

Damn! I will just take the bulbs and such back then...I went back to the store and asked them do you have any ballast for your HPS bulbs? He said no we don't carry that! How do I give them blue light? Do I need to go buy a Blue Bulb? Or is there something else you can rig up?

Btw man I really appreciate you taking the time to look that up for me! Thanks alot! Great community here!

Blue light is what you get from a MH or a CFL @ 6500k. It is the color spectrum put out by the light - not actually a "blue" color. Plants like blue light during the veg stage.

i think i would take cfl over 70w hps .. the energy wasted and heat generated running a 70w hps ballast just doesnt seem worth it to me

honestly...i would take the bulbs back, then get yourself a ballast and bulbs to match the wattage of the ballast. how big is your grow space? if its really small you could probably get away with 250w...but 400w and 600w seem to be pretty popular too.

Right now working with a 2x2x2 constrained are since they are small...But set up to up it to 4x4x4 soon as need be...And within a month I will have a space about 5x5x12...I do plan on taking the bulbs back..I have a bunch of LEDS from some computers...They're blue...would those provide the same spectrum as the MH?

Update: I have some pics of the plants I will upload in a moment...They are skinny as hell even though I have had that CFL close, it is only one I suppose...So I installed a ventilation system; made it with an intake and outtake 35mm CPU fans plugged tight into some 4" duct. Intake is low to the ground with the outtake placed on the high upside..I notice the plants blowing gently in the wind I think that should help strengthen them up a little bit. I set up a timer finally because there are a few days when I am too high to remember to turn them off or on! I used an old Motherboard out of a old computer and tied it in with a power supply and a digital thermometer with fan control...Set it to increase the fan speed if it peeks above 75 degrees F. Dropped those blue LEDS in untill I get confirmation that they do NOT work! Thats about it! I just bought some 10-10-10 fert for a little more vegetative growth. They are at 15 days now. You guys can critique their shittyness but keep in mind I only had one 65w CFL! I will probably need two more weeks of Veg I suppose being that their gowth is abnormally stunted due to lack of light!

They are starting to curl...I havent really overwatered, but I guess its possible I might have. I don't have a pic from the last few hours...These pics are from about 8 hours ago...And there is a spot on one of the plants...looks very brown, I believe my friend stuck the damn CFL on the plant, only explanation I can think of...Their is no Nute burn as they really havent had anything...

Yes I know they are skinny! That is why I have pencil's holding them up...LMAO!

These really are just for shits n giggles not really paying attention to them. Just wanted to mess around in my closet out of boredom!

yea i would probably go for a 600w, just based on your size of the grow space. if its gonna be 5x5x12...600w would be good, i think 400w would be ideal for the 4x4x4 but theres no sense buying a 400 if you're moving to a bigger space in a month. there may be some over/under watering taking place...try watering a bit less...and if they're still droopy or more so than before...then you know under watering was the problem...if you give them less water and they seem to perk up...then you were over watering. i personally wouldnt use led lights to grow...i know it can be done...but i dont think it gives very good results...there should be some threads on here about led's...just search the forums...you will definitely find something on it...keep us posted!

I wasn't planning on only using LEDS, GrnMan said to give them more blue light so I was just curious if blue LEDS would be useful, Im going to go buy 4 150w CFL's to last a few days or however long it takes me to order the HPS. Thanks for the tip I believe they were a little overwatered now, I just transplanted them to some pots and I noticed the soil underneath was drenched! So I put some new dry soil in with it, tried my best to keep from disturbing them but I think I may have stressed the smallest of the lot a little to much. I will post some new pics in a day or two.

Alright! Set up a new little grow room, here is a pic.


That is it only after the lights... It's a 36 gallon tub, 4 150w CFL's, and 1 65w CFL for a estimated 11,000 lumens.

I have added in a 35 MM fan on the bottom and a 35 mm fan on the top opposite side. I rigged up an ac type unit using a coffee can coiling some copper tubing in the can, filled it up with ice cold water let it cool for a while. I had to round the edges of the 3/16 copper tubing so the air tubing running from the Air Pump, and running to the intake fan for the grow box could fit on the copper tubing since the air tubing was a little smaller in diameter.

Theory is that the cold air being blown into the intake fan's inner ventilation will help keep the heat down. Seems to keep it down, but when the closet door is closed it reaches temps of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. With the door open it lowers to about 75 degrees with the AC unit on, and about 85 degrees without it...I guess it helps! Obviously the problem with cooling does not lye with my AC unit . But the closet itself, no air is getting in! Hmm..

I notice a perk within a few hours under the new lights, I think they like the 10,200 extra lumens . Which is good they were looking a little down .

So I notice a good breeze blowing in the box, that should help strengthen their tiny tiny stems...DAY 16 will take some more pics in a few hours.

They still look a little sickly IMO. Those lights will work for now, but if I were you, I'd get a 400 watt MH for your vegging when they get a little older - like 2 weeks or so. And be careful with those temps, never let them get over 91. That means death for the plants. IMO, i'd never let it get over 85.

Plan for the future bro, those things are going to get big. That cab you have now will not work all the way through the entire grow.

When you transplant into bigger pots, bury the stem all the way up to the bottom set of leaves. They stretched alot due to low light levels, things should go better now.

Yes, and get them in at least 3-3.5 gallon pots.

Your pictures are identical to my first grow, which died shortlly after I started tying them up to support straws.

The problem you are having is certainly from lack of light. Keep those CFL only about 2 inches from the plants, they don't really get that hot. It's HPS you really need to worry about burning your plants.

Your new 'box' looks like it will provide a lot more light. Maybe put some bricks under your plants until they're taller so they're closer to the light and you can easily remove them later.

Hello! Well, as I said in the first few post it was only temporary... I have it set up in a secluded 5x5x12 area now. Which is in an area of about 16x5x12. A lot better airflow now. Set up a vertical shelf thing so I could move the shelf up and down as needed.
Here is a concept of the shelf with the lights:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a114/Imp471/Lighting.jpg


I removed all pictures, as apparently all pictures taken on my phone when uploaded are sent to a blog...and to my dismay, someone was obviously watching my blog, as last night about 11 p.m, someone sent the blog to my mother who is more than 20 minutes away from my house...Sigh. I suppose they believe they were being cute. Regardless I will figure something out.

I have them in bigger pots now, and I now have a big fan blowing directly on them. Temperatures are remaining cooler, my partner and I are trying to work out a way to set an AC on a timer, so that it will come on about every 2 hours or so for about 30-45 minutes to drop the temp back down. It seems with the door closed and the lights on that the temps will slowly rise over a period of quite some time to about 80-85 degrees. We also are attempting to devise a way to vent the air without cutting any holes in the wall (Not getting very far).

The plants are really looking up, the stems have doubled in size thanks to the fan, the biggest of them all now has about 7 nodes on it, and the tiniest that we knocked over(LOL)...Is actually sprouting very well now! I will get pictures soon, one way or another.

We added another plant to our collection, we were at my friends house and what do you know! There is a pot plant growing in his kitchen windowsill! His sister was apparently growing it and his mother had no clue as to what it was...Anywho we have it now .

I think that's about it! I will try and get some pics soon, so that you can see that I am not a total failure and have managed to save my first grow! Woo!

EDIT: By the way, you said bury them all the way to the bottom set of leaves!? So the leaves should be just above the soil? That won't kill it!?