Using mixed bulbs in T-5's

[Old Yeller]

Just wondering if some of the pro T-5 growers here have experimented with mixing up their bulbs for veg & flower.
For no apparent reason, i'm mixing my bulbs (3 to 1) in both veg & flower. I'm using a 4x4 T-5 next to my 600W HPS Hortilux with 3 red + 1 blue in my flower tent & 3 blues to 1 red in my veg room. All my plants are healthy, but i haven't been doing this long enough to know if it helps to mix up the spectrums a bit.
What do you guys (& girls) do?

 

[Old Yeller]

Blump...
Class? class? anybody?

 

[VaporBros]

bump. id like to know aswell

 

[Pandemic]

I am using 3 reds 1 blue in a 4x4 T-5.

After the guy at the hydro store told me people with 4x8's were using 5 red/2 blue I decided to try to emulate that with my smaller fixture.

I noticed that during the stretch all 20 cuttings orientated themselves directly in-line with the blue tube. They are planted 2 - 3 pots wide and you could take a string and, starting at the stem go straight up and they would all intersect at the blue tube. It was really one of those "huh?" moments.
My reds have 2 grows on them and the blue only had a little bit of veg so it may be that they were just more intense. I do not have a picture that shows this clearly.




I am not sure about Red in Veg. I believe this may increase internodal length. Blue in Flower is good though as you see many farmers that supplement their HPS. I have not seen MH supplemented.

I will continue to veg. under all blue tubes and when I flower I will keep a blue in there to keep them somewhat squat and Floro-friendly. It would be interesting to initiate flower and mix in one red, then two reds, then the third over the stretch.

I love my T-5. It was my first fixture and since moving here it has been in use almost a year straight and has gone thru a few sets of tubes. This 4x4 used to be my main light in the veg room.


Upgraded to 400/1K. Same rooms here:

 

[freeradical]

Mixing different color T-5's is fine (or any type of multi-lamp floro ballast). The only difference between the bulbs is the composition of the coating on the glass inside the lamp. The electricity runs through all the bulbs exactly the same.

 

[Old Yeller]

Pandemic - nice set-up you got there - love the Sam Adams beer collection! I was going to drop over today, but i see all the bottles are empty.
What size green pots are those?
After reading what you said, it does seem to me that the blue bulbs are brighter than the red - figure the plants must know that too.
The reason i was asking this question was because i was trying to emulate the HPS Hortilux Eye Bulb with the enhanced blue spectrum (in fluoros) (for flowering). I'm still too new at this to know if using a single red bulb with 3 blues in veg induces stretch or not. Got a bunch of seedlings under a 150W 6500k cfl and definatly no stretch there. When i re-pot & move under the 4x4 T-5 (1 red, 3 blue) in my veg room, only the sativa leaning strain i have stretches - the others just fill out nicely.
The idea of gradually moving from blue to red bulbs during flowering is very interesting to me, but since my other 4x4 T-5 is right next to a 600W Horti hps in my tent, i don't think it would have much overall effect. Now, if i was growing under straight T-5's all the way through, i would try it.

 

[Pandemic]

Thanks.

I brew so those bottles are always in rotation. I have over 700. If you like a good beer Sweet Water Brewing company makes a nice IPA. It's called 420 Extra Pale Ale and has a trout on the front. The numbers sold me on it and the taste has me still buying it. When I'm not drinking my brews this is one of my store bought favorites. Drinking, fishing, and smoking all represented on one label!

Those pots are 5.25x5.25, they call them Kord planters (square pot) and they hold 2.6 liters. I bought them to use in my trays, green and black

but anymore I just use hydroton beds. I have a grip of planters now!

 

[Pandemic]

Doesn't this look refreshing?

 

[Old Yeller]

Lets see, a picnic basket, a fly rod & a trip to the Snake river....
I think i drank some of that in Oregano along the banks of the Deschutes River.

 

[Old Yeller]

Any other people here with T-5 experience?

 

[Sleepy]

i use a T5 for vegging...

4 foot/4 bulb mixed spectrum(2 of each)...

i love the way the plants stay nice and squat...short node spacing.

i use a 400 watt HPS for flowering.

 

[Old Yeller]

So Sleepy, have you ever tried 4 blue bulbs for veg to see if there is any difference?

 

[Sleepy]

nope, ordered the unit with mixed bulbs...

ran it the same way each time, no complaints!

always gives me sturdy, squat plants that appear happy, even with my interference!