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Is there anything wrong with using HPS for veg?

I've vegged my plants with T5s for a month and a half running 24/0.

I've changed the light to a HPS and within 1 week the plants have had significant growth. I'm still running them 24/0.

Is there anything wrong with continuing to veg them with my HPS? I know this light is meant for flowering but I'm getting some rapid growth once I switched lights.

Just wondering.

Thanks,

c123
 

krunchbubble

Dear Haters, I Have So Much More For You To Be Mad
Veteran
no problems, they wont be as "green", but wont make a difference in veg growth between hps and mh....
 

señorsloth

Senior Member
Veteran
nothing wrong with it, they say mh gives you tighter nodal spacing...but ive never felt the need to use them, my plants veg just fine under hps(though now i do it with t5's).
 

dansbuds

Retired from the workforce Bullshit
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I've been using a 150 watt hps in my veg cabinet for the last 2 years with no problems at all . :)
 

macamus33

Member
I've been vegging and flowering with a 430Watt HPS Son-Agro bulb for years. Tried vegging with just a MH once and then switching to HPS and saw no noticable difference in the strains I am running. Some say you get a higher percentage of males if you just use HPS. With this Son-Agro bulb I have almost always gotten a better female ratio. Although the Son-Agro bulb does have an enhanced blue spectrum unlike some HPS bulbs. Now just stick with my Son-Agro bulb all the way through. If its not broke don't fix it.
 

Mouse

New member
Can I ask what wattage you guys are using on your T5's and how many you're using during veg/clone? Are these the same T5's available at Lowes?

Thanks and have a good one....Mouse
 

Bluenote

Member
I've vegged my plants with T5s for a month and a half running 24/0.

I've changed the light to a HPS and within 1 week the plants have had significant growth. I'm still running them 24/0.

Is there anything wrong with continuing to veg them with my HPS? I know this light is meant for flowering but I'm getting some rapid growth once I switched lights.

Just wondering.

Thanks,

c123


Nothing whatsoever wrong with it , in fact I find both a 250 and a 400 HPS to be quite valuable for some of the strains I have as regards hardening off clones for a week or so prior to going under the 1ks or 600s ( again that's strain dependent and finish height dependent also) , and the 400 hps is what I utilise for strains with a notoriusly long veg time such as Erkle/Urkle.

Everything does get started off under T5s though and I use a mix of T5s and T8s with varied spectrum i.e. 4200-6500 to support my mothers. It's worked out quite well for quite some time and is helpful in staging.

I must admit though that I'm watching LEDs carefully and I may well replace the smaller HPS units with LED for veg. For flower I intend to make the jump to the Gavitas fairly soon , or at least half the lights and do a side by side so I only cry and snivel a little bit if it doesn't work out well instead of beheading myself repeatedly.
 

mg75

Member
we veg with a 600w MH... less stretching.
we flower the first 2 weeks using a 1000w MH and we get faster flower turn-over and tighter nodes. we control the height better this way using it in the 2 weeks for stretch. the rest of flower gets HPS all the way.
 

Bluenote

Member
Can I ask what wattage you guys are using on your T5's and how many you're using during veg/clone? Are these the same T5's available at Lowes?

Thanks and have a good one....Mouse


Lowes or Home Depot , some you will have to wire a cord for but they can be wired in series. Make sure you check what spectrum the bulbs are, Incidentally for clones you can find a 2 foot T5 strip fo 10 bucks at Walmart , I guess you're not supposed to run the 24 watt bulbs but so far so good , the 14 watts it comes with will be fine for cloning though as long as it's the correct spectrum , most Home Depots will stock quite a few T5s , 2 ft , 3ft and 4ft 2 tubes and usually some single tubes , occasionally you can find a high-bay four tube but for those you usually have to go to an electrical supply house.

And believe that you will save one HELL of a lot of money over the big hydro-store units. By the way they usually carry a lot of mold , mildew and pest remedies , the Organocide and Safer stuff is a lot less expensive there than at the local hydro-store.
 

there goes edro

Well-known member
Veteran
Nothing wrong with vegging under HPS lights, but MH blue spectrum helps the plant focus on root growth and keeps the stretch down which is preferred for my particular set of circumstances.
 

Mouse

New member
Thanks Blue and Canadian. I bought the Sunblaster T5, started my AK fem seeds tonight and ready to go.....Mouse
 
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