150w HPS Club and Resource Guide......

[Greeseyder]

OK I am ready....I have a great SCROG cab that has been ok using cfl's but I want to upgrade to a 150 hps. The flower cab measures 20in x 20in x 30in high. My question is the 150 going to be enough to give some great results. The cfl's gave ok yield but the quality was only so-so (seeds where very good) Thanks much
G

EDIT!: LOL Fawk I just went back a page & got my answer.....another bong please

 

[ReeferDan]

Finally!!!

Plants started flowering looking like this:


WIthin 20 days they looked like this... starting to get yellow




The buds were forming nicely though...:



But still, yellowing leaves, turning brown, and purple stems?


THis is what i would pluck/cut off weekly...



But the buds looked good...



This is a plant that was put into flower 10 days after the first batch. This is waht it looked like at first signs of def... (well obviously it was def for like at least a week to get this yellow, but no leaves removed yet)



Here are more shots of the beginnings of the def...





Now the latest pics just look like a ripe as MJ plant... Maybe i just needed to feed a little extra N for this plant at the beginning of flower?










The plant at the beginning of the post (healthy green one) was a pic right before the PM showed up. Then i sprayed the plants 1x a week for two weeks with the serenade to try to get rid of the PM, it went away until a few days ago... But in that same period of time the plants turned yellow... coincidence or is the serenade the culprut? My mother plant didnt turn yellow like that until it got PM, and i sprayed it with serenade, now it has a bunch of nasty def's and wont grow right... maybe i sprayed too much? i dont know. I gotta go water my plants now. I'll be back later


Tell me what you think of the pics...

 

[ReeferDan]

SO i bought some PH calibration solution the other day and i just decided to use it today and my PH was .8 high...

That could explain a lot eh?

I thought I've been ph'ing everything to 6.5 as im supposed to, but im really just ph'ing it to 5.7, so i guess that could lock out some important nutes eh?

 

[qdavid]

I feel like a total idiot, but what is PM as discussed here? I've searched and gone to the urban dictionary. It sure ain't "private message" as regards this.

 

[Pipedream]

PM is used most often to abbreviate Powdery Mold.

Next Subject: While each plant is different, and every nute mix varies, I've found that my Sativas respond best at a PH of 5.7 to 6.1. Anywhere in that range and they thrive. Once they creap more than a couple of points either way, above or below that range, after about 10 days you'll start to see the effects.

 

[sugabear_II]

reeferdan - I would not be afraid to hit those plants up with some N during flower - I'd also consider adding some epsom salts to the solution. PH could definetly be the issue though and causing some lockouts. I have also seen plant leaves burned by the application of pesticides (even safers) so it is possible the leaves on the ones that got serenaded (pun intended) are torched from the chems. Either/anyways the buds do look nice - looks like the plants are all stretching about the same and taking the same single cola form. I wonder how topping them and selecting two main branches would work out.

-suga

 

[Greeseyder]

OK so would 175w be overkill in my space (20in x 20in x 30in high)?
Thanks,
G

 

[vintner]

OK so would 175w be overkill in my space (20in x 20in x 30in high)?
Thanks,
G

Greeseyder: Several factors come into play when it comes to choosing what size light to get. In addition to the size of your cab, you need to ask yourself what kind of ventilation/odor control you're willing/able to provide; what kind of grow technique are you going to use (SOG, Scrog, LST, topping, soil, hydro...); and what sized harvest are you looking for (ie. how much do you smoke every 2.5-3 months). With in reason, the more light the better. Of course, the larger the bulb, the more heat the fixture is going to put out. A 250 watt HPS would give you somewhere in the area of 75watts/sq ft. This would be great if you plan to scrog, but you'd have to make sure you have really good ventilation in a space that small.

 

[qdavid]

I just over think too much I guess. My 2nd grade teacher called me a worry wart. Bitch. She might have been right though. Anyway, I'm waiting on this pure skunk, 60% sativa dominant to finish right now. Gonna be 13 weeks in flower on Monday, still no amber in trichs. I might just harvest anyway. She's under 4 42W warm cfl's and another 42W soft cfl for now. I got a computer fan in there now and another 6" fan venting. For the next go I got a 150W convert already tested and ready to install. I also rigged up a squirrel cage fan with 5' of duct hose taped on either side (10' total) to cool the ballast. I also got some White Widow seeds. And I plan on drilling some more vent holes (on the cab and on the pots, I use FFOF). I'm ready to go for it again, I'm still in the planning stage for next one. I'm kind of concerned about the power though. Right now everything is running off just 1 plug from the ceiling light in my closet. I'm not overloading now but I'm thinking that putting in a 150W, a squirrel cage fan, a computer fan, and another 6" fan, is too is just a little to much for the one plug to handle so I might just use another circuit for the squirrel cage fan alone. Should the 150W, a computer fan, and another 6" fan be okay on the one plug? The good thing is I don't have to worry about odor. I live in the sticks by myself (20 yo daughter sometimes) and that skunk now really stinks. But I just love the shtank. Sorry about the long book-like post. Like I said, I over think things. I should mention I've got 4 of those Y socket extensions and will be vegging using 8 26W cool cfl's and that 150W is for flowering so all that won't be running at the same time. I'm pretty sure all that would be too much to run off one plug. Wouldn't it? I just don't wanna burn my house down. I'm one paranoid mofo, I know. But "just cause you're paranoid don't mean no one's watching you."
Oh, I probably should mention, my cab is pretty small, 18" x 27" 33". I scrog, I highly recommend it. Even if you got a big cab.

 

[Greeseyder]

Ya I shoulda added more details....I have run a scrog now for a few years with cfl's....heat or odor hasn't been an issue......yield has been .75-1oz per plant (up to 4 at once) but the quality has only been so-so. The seed stock has been very good so I wanted to upgrade to a HID figuring that the cfl's intensity wasn't cutting it. I can fit a good 150w HPS & now wondering if I can/should go bigger with the 175? I think anything bigger would def be overkill (heat).......opinions?
Thanks,
G

P.S. Love that circular scrog!

 

[qdavid]

Details? Like for what. Or if that's sarcasm, it's lost on me dude. Overkill? Yes. IMHO 150's fine. Bigger means hotter. Maybe you could compensate. But I think your cabs size would make that,... like,... real difficult .

 

[ReeferDan]

http://www.plantitearth.com/store/product.asp?pid=554&catid=6

This is serenade if anyone is unfamiliar with it. The guy at the hydro store swears by it, he said he sprays the plants till they drip from it and it gets rid of PM in 2-3 treatments.

IT could be a combo of the serenade treatment and the whacky ph. With this soil mix im supposed to use plain 6.5 ph water throught the entire grow with the dry ferts already mixed into the soil... Eh i think im just going to go back to watering with tea's next round. Im also thinking about turning my lights on their sides and building reflectors so i can lst or scrog instead of doing single cola plants. I just dont have any genetics availible to me right now that would thrive growing "donkey dick" colas in my style of grow, im damn sure that this strain im growing right now would do great in a scrog.

We'll see what happens next time around, my mother plant looks worse than the flowering plants, i gave her a bunch of N and micronutes yesterday with the correct ph to try to help her bounce back, but she might have to get killed and replaced if she keeps looking as nasty as she does. The clones i took a couple of weeks ago still havent rooted yet either, so i might just have to buy some again. Im going to re-make a veg box soon and build in a good section for clones so they will be happy and warm and in the right temp/humidity range to just pour roots out.

 

[qdavid]

I totally read your post wrong about leaving out details Greeseyder. I thought you meant my post. Duh. Sorry.

 

[Greeseyder]

Gdave .....ha no prob man...just askin to make sure I don't cook me babies I'm gonna go with the 150.....I'll post results ......been a longgggg while since OG......
G

 

[vintner]

Greeseyder: If you think anything more would be overkill, then go w/the 175. You can mount a few of your left over CLF's in the corners to compensate for the smaller bulb.

 

[sugabear_II]

Greeseyder - you have 2.78 square feet - a 150 will give you 54 watts per square foot (wpsf) which is within the limits of the 50 wpsf to get good growth. A 175 watt would be a Metal Halide and would also work well - this would be 63 wpsf - but since it would be a MH it would not be a direct compare to a HPS. A 250 would be maxing the watts per square foot at 90 - probably too much and heat/transpiration could become a problem - I ran a 400 in a 4square foot space and had a plant go through 2 gallons of nutrient solution in 2 days at week 7 of flower - by the time I checked on day 3 the plant was pretty crisped - that was in a 2 gallon DWC hydro bucket - so just think how big your soil container would need to be to hold that much moisture - or how often you will need to water to keep the plant happy. Also temps become an issue.

 

[Greeseyder]

Sweet SB! That is what I was looking for.....I couldn't find the proper wpsf in here....still getting used to it. Thanks much & I will post results...
Play safe,
G

 

[frostynugs420]

i am trying to join the 150w club, and theres a 150w for $20 that i was looking at http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EProductDetail.asp?ProductFamilyID=7&FGNumber=E-MT6H151G
would this be useable? what would i do to convert it to remote ballast?

 

[The St.]

hey frosty, if its an hps from there, it can more than likely be remotely ballasted, click on Sugabear II's link in his signature

 

[green_grow]

hi, frosty, welcome aboard . i think you are referring to their 150w hps "vapour tight" fixture . seeing as it's "vapour tight" it might be a little trickier to disassemble than the "wall mount" fixtures that most of us are familiar with . even so, once its apart the wiring should be pretty much the same . has anyone here had a go at disassembling one of those "vapour tight" units ? at $20.00 that price is hard to beat, i paid more than that for a 150w hps bulb only at home depot.