Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH)

[simba]

ya when you turn them on first or any time they dont start instantly they take up to 30 seconds before they even start and then the Ramp up varies a bit but the End Charged Arc tube is what we want.. Its just a mater of melting the salts.. basicly

thats cutting allot for that price.for retail Ikes.(like the wall mart vs small companies)
grape vine is adv tech is lowering prices soon.. but not that much

 

[Bigtimer7]

Just got my two 400watt bulbs! Cant see what they can do..

 

[gramsci.antonio]

Does anyone else here wonder why the Micro Forum isn't loaded with folks running the 150w cmh and or the 250w cmh bulbs? I mean wow! Less stretch and one bulb type for everything. Just sounds perfect to me. I mean my old 18" deep X36"wide X 28"tall veg cab (converted file cabinet) had a 250w Phillips cmh and a 150cfm co-axial fan. It produced the strongest growing, tightest, greatest female ratio vegging I've ever seen. I miss it but it had to go due to a loooong distance move. I flowered a scrog in it once with NL5xHaze (hazey leaning clones) and holy S**T were they nice.

dude i don't want to be unpolite but now really you are exaggerating.

I've never EVER heard that light spectrum can modifiy the sex of the plants...

Ok till now you guys has said a lot of theoretically good things... But just 3 guys are speaking about them: You, MPL, and Simba. Wich, if i didin't understand bad, is selling thoose lamps.

REALLY REALLY i don't want to anger you, but i don't trust sellers.

I'm curious about seeing a side by side MH/CMH comparison... Is there any?

 

[ixnay007]

dude i don't want to be unpolite but now really you are exaggerating.

I've never EVER heard that light spectrum can modifiy the sex of the plants...

Ok till now you guys has said a lot of theoretically good things... But just 3 guys are speaking about them: You, MPL, and Simba. Wich, if i didin't understand bad, is selling thoose lamps.

REALLY REALLY i don't want to anger you, but i don't trust sellers.

I'm curious about seeing a side by side MH/CMH comparison... Is there any?

1.

Info "Feminized Seeds"

In an experiment done in 1999 we grew 15 varieties of "feminized" seeds. We started with 30 seeds per variety. The goals were: 1) to determine the percentages of female, male, and hermaphroditic plants. 2) to compare the uniformity (homogeneity) among plants from "feminized" seeds with those grown from "regular" seeds.

1. The results were excellent. Nine out of fifteen varieties had 100% female offspring. Percentages of female plants from the other 6 varieties were between 80 and 90%. These plants were all hermaphrodites, producing their male flowers at the end of their lifecycle. Seed-setting hardly took place. No males were found.

2. Approximately 70% of the plants of varieties grown from "feminized" seeds were far more uniform than plants grown from "regular" seeds of the same variety. About 20% of the varieties were a little more uniform, while in 10% of the varieties no difference in uniformity was seen.

From literature and our own findings it appears that the growth of a male or female plant from seed, except for the predisposition in the gender chromosomes, also depends on various environmental factors. The environmental factors that influence gender are:

* a higher nitrogen concentration will give more females.
* a higher potassium concentration will give more males.
* a higher humidity will give more females.
* a lower temperature will give more females.
* more blue light will give more females.
* Fewer hours of light will give more females.

It is important to start these changes at the three-pairs-of-leaves stage and continue for two or three weeks, before reverting to standard conditions.

To produce our feminized seeds, we start with selected female clones. Under standard conditions these female clones do not produce any male flowers. By the method we found, we are able to have these female clones produce abundant male flowers and pollen (see photos). The pollen thus produced we use for the production of our "feminized" seeds.

2. Simba is a seller. (I did not know this)....

3. There are plenty of charts showing the differences between the lights, sooner or later someone will have the time to make a proper grow comparison thread.

 

[gramsci.antonio]

1.

2. Simba is not a seller.

3. There are plenty of charts showing the differences between the lights, sooner or later someone will have the time to make a proper grow comparison thread.

Ok dudes, i'm sorry. Your hype caught me I hope thoose lamps are as good as they sound

I decided that my next grow room will use a CMH. I have still some issues to solve:

a) I have frequent, but short blackouts. I'm going to use a 250 W.
What you advice to me? To don't care? Or the bulb will explode?
To buy an UPS? what?

Digital ballast are so cool on this side

b) does exist a version of the CMH with self incorporated reflector?

c) Why you guys buy on the web? Can't you just go to your local philips reseller?
Or they're not yet in the mainstream market?

 

[avgjoe]

Will a 400w CMH work in a 600w HPS ballast? What about a 600w magnetic ballast? I am guessing not but figures I'd through it out there.

I would really like to try these but all new ballasts is a bit much at this point.

 

[Guest]

NO! Never put a lamp with a ballast that is of different wattage.

 

[NoSayHombre]

gramsci.antonio-

I am currently doing a comparison grow with CMH. Two 4 foot flood and drain tables with 5 clones in each one. Someone said that the 400w CMH will do better than a 600w HPD. So one table is 400w CMH and the other is 400w MH for veg and will have 600w HPS for flower. I started this comparison to satisfy my own curiosity. And after seeing how so many people are just looking for something to criticize and are looking to make negative conclusions, I am not sure I want to share my findings. I don't need a bunch of drama.

 

[TGT]

I would love to see the final results. Take pictures, that way no one can dispute it. That's the way to do it. I hope you post your results as I am very interested in these lights myself. The only thing I am a little concerned with is that the stretch is going to be very small, and since I grow vertical I like stretch. I don't know if it will benefit my way of growing. I can see the benefits for horizontal. When there is stretch the canopy opens up slightly allowing more light into the interior. Large plants that don't stretch are usually dense and light cannot enter as easily. At least that is what Ihave noticed in the past. May be I am going overboard and stretch will only be reduced minimally. I guess an experiment is in order.

TGT

 

[Guest]

Post what you find. No, worries. I am personally convinced from my testing that the 400w beats the hortilux 400whps in that I did not loose any yield and got much tighter plants with better quality buds. I am a bug believer that the quality of flavor and resin production is better and that in the same sqaure feet I didn't loose any yield in weight I learned to use the reduced stretch and heat to get fatter more dense buds. I also got more side bracnhing. Less fuffy and much shorter stretch. I have not personally put it up side by side versus the 600w bulbs. You may weigh in slightly higher under the 600w. Be real honest in the other departments ie. taste, veg, heat, growth/tighness, and overall quality of the experience and let us know. I will respect any and all of your thoughts/findings and appreciate the input.

Thanks for doing the work!

 

[NoSayHombre]

I will say this, the first CMH bulb I got went over my veg table. I had 2 clones that were in limbo, not sick but not growing. I think I let them get rootbound b4 moving them into veg. Anyways, within 2 days they were taking off. Could have been that they were ready anyway, but I think the cmh made a big difference. After that I bought more CMH bulbs. I am in the process of changing out the HPS bulbs in my flower room for the CMH. The comparison grow may verify better results, or not. But I like the way the room looks with the CMHs. Easier to get decent pics, too.

 

[simba]

cmh makes a huge dif. especially in the first 24-48 hours of the plant under it.. Its Full Power and the plant definitely Knows and Uses it..

the other way i can explain cmh vs hps think HPS is human breathing low o2 and High co2 (HPS) vs high o2 and low co2 ratio (cmh)
and try to run wich ya going to run faster and longer for before craping out..

i will say this.. impho cmh is a new experience even in the grow style.. IE dont want to veg to 12+" pref keeping them shorter.. so the light can be lower and still cover good area (=heavy yielding midgets)

 

[gramsci.antonio]

hi

can you tell me a place that ship CMH to europe?

Will a CMH work on an european starter?

I find that philips ship those lamps just to north america... maybe there they have a different system than europe?

 

[MPL]

Ordering my ballast today and my CMH bulb this weekend.

 

[8bitNES]

For those who already flower with CMH, do you cover the same area as you would with a similar wattage HPS to get your better/preferred results? Say you cover a 3'x3' area with a 400hps. Would you cover the same area with a CMH or something a little smaller to get your desired results?

8bit

 

[Mister Postman]

Growing with a 400cmh with supplemental UVB/UVA right now. I always messed with the uvb, but the cmh is something new for me.

So far so good nice stocky vigorous growth. Plus U gotta love the fact you dont have to pull the plants out from under the light to photograph anymore.. Nice bright white light finally.

hit pics to make a bit larger

 

[simba]

seasonal affective disorder... LOL>>Ya hit one of the nails right on the head.
Ya the few Agencies use CMH to keep Moles from Going nuts (Underground bunker people and Subs, anyone that doesn't get access to sun every day.(even where its dark all the time.. there rooms have cmh to Stimulate the Body Clock)


Mister P.. NICE!!! id flower them at 8" or so or now to try to get short plants with 1-4-8 cola sites(starting as low as possible) i have a few pics floating around that are the Prime examples)
(ya dont want your plant as tall as you would have under HPS>>for veg or even flower)

You basically want to look at your plants and it looks like a Xmas tree Farm at low however..

 

[clowntown]

Sorry if I missed it, but are they available in 600w?

 

[C21H30O2]

Sorry if I missed it, but are they available in 600w?

apparently the 600 and 1000 wont come out till next year sometime.... not a long wait.

 

[Mister Postman]

Mister P.. NICE!!! id flower them at 8" or so or now to try to get short plants with 1-4-8 cola sites(starting as low as possible) i have a few pics floating around that are the Prime examples)
(ya dont want your plant as tall as you would have under HPS>>for veg or even flower)

You basically want to look at your plants and it looks like a Xmas tree Farm at low however..

Thanks for the tips Simba. I'll see if I can locate ur pics for a refrence.

What I planned to do with these was grow them a lil larger take clone cuttings from the tops of most, do a final transplanting into 3gal containers, and allowing them to bush out a bit more before flipping them to flower. I was hoping to fill the space with a nice full canopy. These also aren't sexed yet, so I'll be loosing some, and gaining some space before flower

This strain at least doubles in height from the time u switch to the beginning of strong bud set. Have you noticed faster vertical growth, or maybe taller ending heights using these bulbs, thus why u instruct to flip around 8in.? I usually flip these around 12-16in, and end up between 2-3ft plants, but that was under those bluer son-agro HPS 270's along with supplemental cfl's I used for spectrum tweaking.

Thanks for the heads up Simba!!! I'll heed your advice, and flip them a lil smaller then usual this first run. How I end up with the male/female ratio will factor into how large I let them veg. If I only end up with a couple females I'll top/prune/lst and shape them into wider yeildy bushes.