Hps or cfl for early veg?

D

Drampire

Active Member
I have some 2-4 week old clones recently potted. What would be better for me to start their veg life off with? CFL's or 600w hps dimmed to 50%? I bought a new cool tube system, but the MH bulb arrived with glass shaking around inside. =( So I need something to hold them over untill the replacement arrives if I can get ahold of them..

(this will be my first run with mh + hps lights)
 
Personal preference tbh. I would pick the HPS but thats just me and I use a Duel Spec 400w bulb. used to use MH and HPS and swap between Veg & Flower but my Duel Spec seems to be better! Just my opinion :)
 
I would just use the hps a hid light will always out perform cfls I have a buddy that uses his hps for veg and flower and has very good results
 
Like DJlifeline said its personal preference. I perfer starting with CFL. Because your plants tend to get shorter and bushier. You can also put the lights just about on top of them without worrying about them burning or heat stress. I find when I start with HPS lighting the plants grow taller and don't bush out as much. So I start with the CFL lighting like T5's then switch over to the HPS.

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ive vegged with a 1000w hps and cfl lemme tell ya my seedlings are easily three to four times the size the cfl does in the same or quicker amount time
 
KUShSOurSMOKEr said:
Great thread..so if u veg with hps it will grow taller but wouldn't tall be a better yield?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Think about it. Would a tall lanky 4 foot plant yield more than a bushy 4 foot tall plant? I am not saying tall is bad. I am saying HPS tend to stretch your plant when using them in seeling/veg stage. And you don't want to get your plant tall by stretching it. You want it tall because you took the proper time to grow it that tall, not because it shot up because its stretching to the light.

A combination of HPS and CFL would be alright. You want more blue spectrum during veg.
 
yes very right but i use cooling so i can put my 2 week old seedlings within 2 ft 22 inches and the never stretch just bushy lil monsters i do use cfl during the first 2 weeks or so though also
 
use cfls placed no more than 6inchs from the plant 2 inchs would be perfect for the first 6 weeks of veg then turn on the hps for 12 hours a day but leave like 2 cfls on 24/7
 
0calli said:
yes very right but i use cooling so i can put my 2 week old seedlings within 2 ft 22 inches and the never stretch just bushy lil monsters i do use cfl during the first 2 weeks or so though also
Click to expand...

Yeah I see no problem with that. If you have the cooling system and you can do it great! But yeah when dealing with seedlings I agree that a CFL would be ideal to start with.

P.S. I have been MIA for a year due to getting hit by a car. Just got back to the forums and noticed a few things have changed. What is the Like post all about? I have gotten a lot lately. Also how do you like someone's post?
And what does it do for you? Give you Rep? Last time I was here it was all +Rep.

And since I don't know how to Like a post I will hit you with some +Rep.
 
Thanks for input guys, I forgot to mention my grow height will only be about 3 1/2 foot. I think I'll still go with the hps for now, if it's more than a week for the replacement MH bulb I'll just have to go buy a new one. I'll be using the mh the first week of flowering too because of the height limitations.
 
Drampire said:
Thanks for input guys, I forgot to mention my grow height will only be about 3 1/2 foot. I think I'll still go with the hps for now, if it's more than a week for the replacement MH bulb I'll just have to go buy a new one. I'll be using the mh the first week of flowering too because of the height limitations.
Click to expand...

Good. I rather use a MH in Veg then HPS. MH has more of the blue spectrum. And that's good because during the veg stage your plant will need more blue spectrum then red. And if used correctly your plants wont stretch so much with a MH.
 
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