Australian and New Zealander Smoker's Lounge

[Pumpkin]

Rod: most people I know use HPS. I know a couple of people who have used Gravitas side by side with HPS, and yes there is a difference, but if you are starting out the cost is nowhere near worth the improvement in yeild. You are much better off buying more HPS lighting. I don't know anyone who uses LED, and although it is getting better, it's not quite there yet. All the big house busts you see still use HPS. Maybe it is old school, but they are cost effective and do the job. Just my two cents. If you are rich and want the best homegrown for personal, maybe get a gravita, otherwise get more hps

 

[Pumpkin]

You are probably only vegging three-four weeks, you can do that under hps. Less trouble. Your veg room you can run metal halide if you want. No biggie either way. I like digital balasts just because they are lightweight and less of a pain. Most you can power down your lights if need be, but if you are on a budget magnetic will be fine. 600 watt works better than 1000 watt IMO... You get better light spread, and can just use more. I really think you can yeild more same wattage per square metre with 600s. I don't know your climate, unless if it is really hot where you are, you can just use batwing reflectors. Invest in your room ventilation instead and buy good quality intake and extraction fans. You can never move too much air, and if you can, use fan controllers to mainain your temps. Sms or someone makes automatic ones where is adjusts your fans to hit your ideal temp. They work okay. Hope that is some help.

 

[Pumpkin]

Sealed rooms co2, air con. More trouble than it is worth IMO. Keep it simple, and there is a lot less that can go wrong. You can use that power to run more lights and easy make up the yeild.

 

[Pumpkin]

Been so busy harvesting i've had no time to post.

 

[Pumpkin]

I love coco, it's forgiving and easy. I use it both indoors and out. The reason being, if something fucks up, like your pump, you have time to fix it. You may get three days before you lose your crop. If you are doing areoponics, you have to be on-top of equipment failure pretty quick. If you lose a crop because you did not have time to rectify the situation. You better hope your more airated medium makes up for that cost. Maybe you could grow 20 percent faster in lava rock. But one fuck up in every 5 harvests kills that 20 percent. Just my thought anyway. I did organic soil indoors for ages also. If that's your thing... Absolutely go for it. I've had great results. But after trying coco, i would not go back. I just find it easier.

 

[Pumpkin]

Lol at cloud bursting I reckon you might be going too hard on the paint Although I did have the whole sky turn to gold once and had angels flying across it. Was pretty cool. I also saw a hole in the earth, and the workings of the universe in it like cogs in a watch. Then there sere the Egyptian statues made out of reeds, and the naked dancing girls made out of sand. But no clouds burst unfortunately.

 

[Dog Star]

CMH type of lights give better quality buds out than HPS,tryed for first time CMH and
encounter that quality rapidly grows up,buds are more terpy and more potent than
under HPS lights... tough HPS still grows bigger buds...

 

[nordie]

not tried cmh on flower yet DOG STAR but real good on veg .

 

[Pumpkin]

It depends on your budget, how much does a cmh cost? If electricity and space is not an issue, more lights for the same price will equal more yeild. If you have one bedroom and limited power, you may want to optimise with the best equipment avaliable. I think it depends on your individual situation and desired results. If I had no constraints and little money, i would go hps. If i had big money and a small space and wanted to maximise it, i might want to spend more on lights. Depends what you are after as an end result, and your budget. But as Rod is starting out, I think there is nothing wrong with hps as a starting point

 

[Pumpkin]

And it's not a discussion of what is best, but what will suit your needs, desired outcomes and space best. So the more information you give us, the more we can help you make better suggestions. There are a lot of people here that obviously know thier shit!

 

[rod58]

well thanks for all of your good input .
as i'm still not completely convinced that this is the way i'm going , after all , 42 years outdoors and still love it but i think that easy is the way for me . as you say pumpkin , it's not about whats best but what suits the individual so i want something that won't break my bank , thats suited to dummies and won't destroy my house !
i've done a lot of googling and have advice from people who do it well and there all different .. lol but , what i've gained is a broad spread of knowledge and i think HPS is the way , though when doggie turned up it turned my thoughts to cmh haha .
i want to get a tent , something that will do a four pot setup , basically . good ventilation and i too think that coir is right for me .

 

[rod58]

and i'll add that it will just be used for flowering .

 

[Pumpkin]

Dog Star, you seriously have some frosty shit!

Rod, the problem I have with tents, is why not use the room? If you put a tent in a room, you are just using up your space for access. I started put with a tent in a room, got rid of the tent and doubled my yeild out of an otherwise wasted room. If you are in a rental, and do not want to put a hole in the roof, I get it. But deviding your space devides your yeild. If you are going to set aside a room... Why not use the whole thing? Panda film the room, done. Easier than putting up a tent. But holes are inevitable. You might get 12 plants in the same room you set aside for 4.

Outdoors will always be the most cost effective. I've had horrific elec bills, and some costly fails. But even if you fail, it's pretty hard to not break even and cover your costs. Even if starting from scratch, if you get half a pound per 600w light, you will still be ahead of any costs by a decent margin.

 

[Pumpkin]

If you own the house. How much will it cost to fix a hole in the roof and the floor? Probably less than it cost you for a tent. And you might double your square footage. It may not go down well with the Mrs though

 

[Pumpkin]

If you fuck someone's house. It's pretty rude! But that is an ethical argument that does not effect me.

 

[Pumpkin]

But from using a tent to not.. in the same room, i went from 2 lights to 5. I had a lot more height and when you have more lights they become even more effective because they cross over. Giving away my tent was the best thing I ever did.

 

[Pumpkin]

It's also different I think if it is your job, or a hobby. For me it was a hobby that became a job. But if it is your own house, which I suspect it is. You can repair the damage yourself. My house was in pretty shitty condition anyway, so I think that made it an easier decision. But the damage is just two holes, one through your floor and celling. It's not that expensive to patch. If you want to stick with 4 plants, still doing the whole room will turn out better.

 

[Dog Star]

well thanks for all of your good input .
as i'm still not completely convinced that this is the way i'm going , after all , 42 years outdoors and still love it but i think that easy is the way for me . as you say pumpkin , it's not about whats best but what suits the individual so i want something that won't break my bank , thats suited to dummies and won't destroy my house !
i've done a lot of googling and have advice from people who do it well and there all different .. lol but , what i've gained is a broad spread of knowledge and i think HPS is the way , though when doggie turned up it turned my thoughts to cmh haha .
i want to get a tent , something that will do a four pot setup , basically . good ventilation and i too think that coir is right for me .

First time with CMH lights and it beats down HPS in quality,
its better for rooms with lower ceiling as its easier to maintain
heat than with 1000 HPS that have deeper penetration,but cause
of greater penetration have more possibility to evaporate terps..


am will use in future 4 x 315 W Phillips 930 bulbs with magnetic
ballasts as they are cheapo rather than Gavita 1000 DE in
5x5 tent.. think that yields need to be better and i can raise
CMH hoods lot higher than with Gavita fixture and how she is
positioned in tent.. tent is 7 feet high so i need every centimeter
possible to raise lights and with generic CMH hoods this is lot
more easier to do...

Definitly not sorry for purchasing CMH,they have a future if we look
for quality product output..


Kind regards Rod

 

[Pumpkin]

Thanks Dog Star. Having never ran CMH myself I have no real valid opinion.

 

[Pumpkin]

I guess my only thought is, the more space you have the higher the output. Nothing increases your square footage more than square footage. The more space you create the more weed you can grow. That's why outdoors is so good. In a suburban backyard you can pull what you can in a suburban house. Inside you are so limited by your dimensions. Fancy lights or cheap ones, space is your limiting factor.