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Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?
- Thread starter HempKat
- Start date
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berryhill
HempKat, whats happening? Question: Is their any confirmed info in regards to light manipulation during flowering? Specificaly, mixing M.H.& H.P.S., starting 12/12 with M.H.for a certain amount of time then going to H.P.S.? Or any other mixing configuration that will increase quality and or quantity. In my particular case at moment, I'm vegging 10 Sensi Stars, 10 Blueberry. Have a total of 4 1000ks. Thanx for advice man, on Berryhill.
berryhill said:
Hmmmm. Well first I guess I'm not sure what you mean by confirmed info. Lots of what we go by these days is based just on observation. It has long been established that MH light is better for plants in veg and HPS light is better for plants in flower. The differences are noticable but not huge, IMHO. This means that actually either type of light could be used exclusively and you would have a good grow.
The reason one is better in veg then the other, or one is better in flower then the other is because each one repectively, closely matches the light the plant sees outdoors during the veg season and the flower season. The closer you can make the environment to that of the natural environment of the plant, the better the plant will do. Plants do better under MH during veg because in it's natural setting when a plant is in veg it is the spring and early summer when the sun is positioned relative to the earth such that as light penetrates the atmosphere the light making it thru is predominently blue spectrum. During the flower season it is predominently red spectrum. The plants have learned over the years thru evolution to adjust to these things.
Now in an indoor environment there's two ways to make the environment more like natural in terms of light. One is to try to match the light spectrum to the seasons of the plant. The other is to try to match the intensity to outdoors. Realistically you'll never come close to matching the PAR (the measurement of light based on how plants percieve it) strength to that of the sun. This makes improving your grow as simple as adding more light. The problem is that more light means more heat and a bigger drain of electricity. At 4 x 1000W you are already pushing the envelope for the typical home grower (rule of thumb is one 1000W light per bedroom to avoid energy usage that might be reported by the power company).
Assuming that your light is already maxed out in terms of total output appropriate for your house, you are then left with just trying to simulate nature. The way to do this is with dual or full spectrum lighting. That is, a combination of both MH and HPS. In nature the light from the sun is never just one or the other, but rather a mix. A mix that gradually changes from predominently blue to predominently red as we move thru the seasons. Now in your case, having multiple lamps makes this somewhat easier. As you can start out all MH and then as you progress change bulbs periodically untill you end up with all HPS during the end of flower. This is how I would do it with three lights (assuming the lights have ballasts capable of running both types of bulbs) growing a 60 day flowering strain. I'd start off the first month after sprouting with all three lights having MH bulbs, after one month I'd switch the middle bulb from MH to HPS, giving me 2 MH and 1 HPS. At two months I'd switch another to HPS. This should be sufficient veg time as well so I'd also switch to 12/12 at 2 months. Which would have you go into the first month of flower with two HPS and one MH. At one month into 12/12 I'd switch the third light to all HPS. Another thing to consider is the question, "are your lights stationary?" If so then it would be a good idea to have them on a mover so that all plants experience both spectrums rather then just the plants closest to both spectrums.
Did that answer your question?
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berryhill
HempKat, yes you did answer my question very well, thanx. However, I did not give you accurate info. I was merely describing how many lights I have available (not in use at the moment), Just moved so everything has changed momentarily. I'm actualy only using 1 1000k at the moment veging (M.H.) 20 plants at 23 days old in 3gal. gro bags. I will only add 1 more 1000k when 12/12 begins, 10 Sensi Stars under 1 and 10 Blueberry's under the other. thanx alot for assistance man
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berryhill
HempKat, Im just allways reading about manipulating M.H. with H.P.S. during 12/12, various time tables to cause this that and the other. Alot of B.S. in most cases unfortunately. However, I was looking for (confirmed), the word I chose, in a sea of much B.S. Fully aware of the traditional approach 18/6vegM.H., 12/12flowerH.P.S. I just wanted to ask someone like yourself, to see if their is any practical advantage to manipulating spectrums during12/12.
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berryhill
HempKat, in addition, to your statement in regards to my light(s) being in a stationary posistion. Thanx, because if their not on a light mover it would be a case of predominate blue in 1 area, red in the other. Thanx alot for being here man.
berryhill said:
Well the addition of some blue spectrum to flowering along with the red from the HPS will help for tighter denser nugs, at least that's my understanding. I unfortunately can't afford to run two lights at once except in the dead of winter when I don't need the AC to control temps. The one time I did do it the buds did seem a bit denser but it was nothing major, just a slight difference. That's the only real benefit I know of by using full spectrum in flower.
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berryhill
Don't slap me man, one other thing please. I've heard before about putting one light per room for purposes of discretion. It seems no matter where you have your lights, their still wired to one central panel. Or are you speaking of a potential centralized heat signature that could be identified by a surveilence instrument?
HempKat said:
Thanks Hempcat, yeah, i've grown outdoors for a few years, I know full well about hardening off.. i'm confident if I can give the longer flowering hazes enough time, I am competent enough to grow successfully.. It's the time i'm having trouble with. I was thinking similar things about the unnatural light cycles though.. If I maybe went from 24 hours, down to 16, with maybe a 24 or 36 hour dark period.. I almost feel like it would flower.. Wallyduck gave his expert opion in my outdoor thread, and he didnt seem to think I could keep them flowering. He recomended a hothouse or somethin, to finsih outdoors
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Kiefer said:
No problem, I told JJScorpio I was sending someone to him and he said no problem, so give him a try. Wally's a knowledgable grower though so if he's saying no, it doesn't look good. It's hard to gauge the NE US anymore. With the current weather patterns you might have enough time without any special tricks, traditionally though you wouldn't have enough time.
berryhill said:
No the heat sensing surveilence equipment can pick up human bodies so they'll pick up most any light. I was speaking in terms of electrical usage. You can have all your lights in one room, the one light per room is not literal as in one light per room so no room is too bright, your room shouldn't be visible from the outside anyway or you will have light leak and security issues. The one 1000W per room is a gauge of total electrical consumption. It basically is saying that an individual who would normally occupy a bedroom would typically consume enough electricity to equal one 1000W light. So if you replace that person with a 1000W light then electrical use will be roughly the same. So a one bedroom house = one light, two bedroom = 2 lights and so on.
Now this isn't a hard fast rule as the electric company might not think twice about let's say 1500W per room worth of consumption. Plus as long as you're paying your bills on time it also means more money for them. Now if you live in a one bedroom house and run say 5 1000W lights your consumption is going to be way beyond anything close to normal. It's at this point the electric company might call the cops and advise they check out your place.
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berryhill
Hempkat, thanx for clarifying that man, wasn't quite sure what you meant, obviously he, he. Have a great day man. On Berryhill
Erbsdaword1
Member
Howdie HK!!!
Back for another Q...but read this post Every day!!!!
During Flowering, and keep in mind I have some kinda Sativa LOL starting 10th week flower, when will it start to stink? I have no filters at all, but it is WELL ventilated through attic. Plus I do have the window unit stuck in the side of the grow closet, which is 22"X26"X96". I don't even smell anything in attick area or right up on the plant.
Thanks
Erbs
Back for another Q...but read this post Every day!!!!
During Flowering, and keep in mind I have some kinda Sativa LOL starting 10th week flower, when will it start to stink? I have no filters at all, but it is WELL ventilated through attic. Plus I do have the window unit stuck in the side of the grow closet, which is 22"X26"X96". I don't even smell anything in attick area or right up on the plant.
Thanks
Erbs
Erbsdaword1 said:
Well that's really difficult to predict if you don't know the exact strain, as some strains smell and some don't. Actually it's not so much that they don't smell but more that they don't smell unless they get disturbed. Those kind may never smell much at all. With most 8 week strains I notice the smell seems to pick up around week 5 or 6 so by week 10 they should be smelling if they're going to smell much. You could try lightly pinching a bud and then smell your fingers. That's about what it'll smell like and if it's a nice strong smell it's probably an indication it won't smell unless disturbed.
Erbsdaword1
Member
HempKat said:
Thanks Again!!!
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berryhill
Another question Hempkat, Ive got 20 plants in 3 gallon gro bags, 10 Blueberry, 10 Sensi Star's under 1000watts of M.H.. They're between 8" to 13" inch's tall. How high can I veg them before flowering without compromising healthy medium support to harvest? Using amended Pro Mx. Have to finish in the same 3 gallon gro bags.
berryhill said:
Well 20 under 0ne 1000W is kind of pushing it, but I'd say that many in 3 gallon bags I'd probably flower at around 18 inches to try to keep all 20 at a small emough foot print without crowding them out too much. I usually like to keep things at 1 plant per 100W shooting for 50W per square foot and 2 square feet per plant.
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berryhill
Sorry HempKat, failed to mention the 1- 1000M.H. was just for vegging. I'm going to use a 2nd. 1000Watt a total of 2000watts for finish. 10 plants per light. Thanx HempKat.
