# HPS for Vegging



## Weeddog

How well would HPS do for vegging and cloning?  I know it wouldnt be as good as MH but since I have a few extras would like to try them in the clone/vegg chamber.


----------



## Weeddog

yes, flouro's are great for cloning, but how bout HPS?  would that be too much for clones?


----------



## cincy boy

Never tried it but I think it would work if you kept the hps at least a foot away


----------



## Weeddog

ive decided to keep flouros on the clones till they get roots then switch to HPS.  dont see no reason to run much power till roots get developed.


----------



## cincy boy

Good Luck man


----------



## MarPassion

HPS would work great on clones, but they may grow to fast. In a few weeks they could grow double the size but that also depends on how many root space they have.

Hang the light with a great distance from the top of the plants, just be carefull. And set the light on 18 hours otherwise the plants getting overstressed!


----------



## notthecops

Floro's or CFL's are best for clones.  You run a HIGH RISK of burning the plants under a high pressure light.


----------



## Eggman

If you're going to use an HPS for early growth, just reflect the light up, not at the plants. Keep an eye on them. If they grow stringy, get more light on them, if the grow into shrubs, you win. I use a 600HPS for the entire process. Sometimes I'll throw in floros too.


----------



## gqone333

yeah hps is great ,just dont get them to close .a good floresence is good to .i like using floresence for the first two weeks and switch to hps  so i can trick the plant to thinking the the season changing.better chance of females .but this time around i treid hps first and got mostly males


----------



## Eggman

My HPS is 4 inches from my plants. They aren't too warm.


----------



## gqone333

that thing should have cooked your plants by now,you now how hot those lights are. four inches would damn near set that thing on fire





			
				Eggman said:
			
		

> My HPS is 4 inches from my plants. They aren't too warm.


----------



## Opy Yutts

Any light works for cloning and vegging. Here's my personal opinion:

Cloning:
1st choice, flouros
2nd choice, incandescant
3rd choice, MH
4th choice, HPS
5th choice, LED

I list the high intensity toward the last only because of the heat and light burn problem. If you are confindent you wont scorch them, and you have the space to keep the lights far away, then have at it. When cloning, you don't want a lot of light. You want the plant to concentrate on building roots instead of photosynthesis. Plants tend to abosorb what they need in the day, and build tissue at night. That's why it's a balancing act when determining the best "on" cycle.

Vegging:
1st choice, MH
2nd choice, HPS with some blue spectrum
3rd choice, flouros
4th choice, incandescant

Flouros work surprisingly well for vegging and produce very little heat. But of course it's nothing like 600 watts of shiney blue light.

Flowering:
The only choice for flowering is the choice between straight HPS, and HPS with some blue spectrum. I've never tried the latter, but I believe it is supposed to keep the plants from stretching as much. I will never again try to use any other light for flowering (except for maybe the sun). It is mostly just a waste of time.

This is all just my opinion, but I am basing it on experience.

I hope I helped a little.


----------



## Opy Yutts

I agree with gqone333. That's way too close, unless maybe you have some fantastic cool tube and ventalation. Don't forget there is such a thing as light burn too. You can actually give them too much light and they will curl up and die.


----------



## Nugget123

http://www.ezhydrokit.com/product_info.php?cPath=28_42&products_id=116

What do u think of this if $ isnt a problem?


----------



## flipmode

floresence are better for cloning i did a test under a 35watt florences and a 1000 watt. the floresent grew a taller ,hps grew thicker but i had diffrent veireityies the white widow strain difrently grows fast second week of flowering you should know the sex the skunk special doesnt show until the 3rd week. i think its the strains but i have both lights on now.if you have a water heater it difflenty help to grow bigger buds and try to keep your temps between 75-85 80 if possible set you water heater to 23 c. i put a few drops in 5-6  2 times a day for though veg and flowering not to much during veg work your way up.that when you miss you plants .mening when the leaves fell dry , i remeber to trim all the dead meterial on the leaves ,so it wont spread .youlet it get to bad without maintence you got a 20% chance off harvest you trim the dead leaves you get almost 100% succes of harvest .just some tips .if you dont think im right .follow you own judgement .any questions let me know .


----------



## Mysterious

I personally have used my HPS for the full grow i dont clone though, i used the HPS for vegging and flowering.


----------



## stevo

do all my vegging under an hps-im vegging 56 young plants under two 400w-shaded hps lights now in a nft system.what ive found works best for me is to keep clones under growlux fluros from the time they are cut off the mother for a few weeks until a good root mass has established itself then transfer them under the hps to get the vegging started,you dont want them under a hps too soon because theyll start trying to pack on the leaf before they have the roots to support the growth.
i also keep 4 mothers under a 400hps light and they do really well.


----------



## Canso

I put MH bulbs in my HPS balasts for Veg.
for cloning i use regular floresence


----------



## Hick

Don't you mean you put a MH "conversion" bulb inyour HPS ballast?


----------



## Canso

Hick said:
			
		

> Don't you mean you put a MH "conversion" bulb inyour HPS ballast?


no, any MH bulb will work.


----------



## stevo

Canso said:
			
		

> I put MH bulbs in my HPS balasts for Veg.
> for cloning i use regular floresence


 
how does this work,ive never tried it because im paranoid of fire,and every supply store ive ever bought my lights off say its a no-no.
im not saying it cant be done obviously because i havent tried it 'and dont think i will'but can anyone else that has run a mh off an hps ballast let me know what the story here is.


----------



## Hick

Canso said:
			
		

> no, any MH bulb will work.


There are conversion bulbs, made to burn in HPS ballast, but burning "any" MH bulb is not recommended anywhere that I have found. 
  You say "it will work"...but is it also a danger?..I would say so. 
"

 * 				The light bulbs in HID lighting for hydroponics and indoor gardening are usually called "lamps". 				
				A Metal Halide Lamp will only burn in a Metal Halide System with a Metal 				Halide ballast. 				
				A High Pressure Sodium Lamp will only burn in a High Pressure Sodium 				System with a High Pressure Sodium Ballast. 				
				A 400 Watt bulb needs to go into a 400 Watt system. 				
				All the wattages need to be the same. 				
				Look for a manufacturer's tag on the ballast or for a stamp on the bulb to 				identify the type and wattage. 			*  


 _ 				Sometimes you can get the wrong bulb to burn for a while, but this is a really 				bad idea. 				
				The bulb will maybe burn for 90 days, maybe not, sometimes a little longer._"

http://www.3rlighting.com/html/3rlighting008.htm


----------



## Mutt

The curcuitry is different, can't be done. Yeah it may work. but hey I've seen capacitor under rated blow up after a week of running. and that was just a 12v dc. Not a good idea.


----------



## Canso

we've been doing it for many years without a problem. I admit it might be hard on the ballast, but a conversion bulb is $170, and a fully wired HPS ballast kit is $160.  I seem to go threw a ballast every couple years, which i didn't think was a big deal.

Oh and I rearly veg. longer then a few weeks. lately its down to a week.  gone are the days of 4 or 5' plants. I will never tie a plant again.

 If you veg. for longer then a few weeks maybe its not a good idea to use a regular bulb.


----------



## stevo

ive got a 400mh/hps ballast that can run either bulb,but i think its just plain stupid to run a bulb in a ballast that it isnt designed for,again,my fear would be fire.i wouldnt go playing mix and match with these things-too dangerous!!!


----------



## Canso

stevo said:
			
		

> ive got a 400mh/hps ballast that can run either bulb,but i think its just plain stupid to run a bulb in a ballast that it isnt designed for,again,my fear would be fire.i wouldnt go playing mix and match with these things-too dangerous!!!


 

arn't your ballasts in fire boxes?  Ballast are the least of your problems as far as fire.  There are still people that plug there 1000watts and a couple fans in a 120 wall socket.  Thats a fire. everything should be on 240.
I have a sub panel with individual breakers that help me sleep at night.

obviously I've touched on a contiversial subject,  and I've been doing the wrong thing for many years.


----------



## Hick

stvo..stevo..."eeeasy" on the _stupid_, please. We try hard here to not get/be or allow offensive behavior. Contraversial views and ideas are bound to come about. A sign of intelligence, maturity and respect is required in order to argue or debate a subject, without reverting to name calling or mud slinging. 

 I'll agree, placeing _any_ bulb other than the specific type and wattage it is designed for, is not a prudent action, is something that should _never_ be recommended or practiced for any reason.
  That said, Canso. Why even bother switching from the hps for "one" week?..HPS does fine for vegging, AND, I ran my ballast for over seven years, before I had to replace it recently. And it was used when I bought it. Obvioislly, you're damaging the ballast. Obviously, it is a fire/explosion hazard.


----------



## HGB

I veg and clone under 1k hps no prob....

grow on


----------



## stevo

Hick said:
			
		

> stvo..stevo..."eeeasy" on the _stupid_, please. We try hard here to not get/be or allow offensive behavior. Contraversial views and ideas are bound to come about. A sign of intelligence, maturity and respect is required in order to argue or debate a subject, without reverting to name calling or mud slinging.
> 
> i apologise if i upset anyone with my "stupid" comment,that was definitely not my intention,
> it was a bad choice of words.


----------



## Hick

no problem stevo, just looking to deter a flamefest, don'tcha' know.


----------



## tobyferter

He is stupid to use equipment in any way that unnecessarily risks his life as well as others!  Not only is he stupid, he is also incredibly irresponsible for trying it.  On the up-side... he is responsible and smart to ask these types of questions, on these forums, before trying such a "stupid" thing.  Not trying to start a fight or anything here but I just don't like the idea of somebody trying to sensor a forum that they are not running.  If you are trying to "deter a flamefest" then you shouldn't go around being confrontational in such a condescendingly, bossy, self-appointed ruler of the forums type of way! Peace out and enjoy your day.


----------



## bombbudpuffa

tobyferter said:
			
		

> He is stupid to use equipment in any way that unnecessarily risks his life as well as others!  Not only is he stupid, he is also incredibly irresponsible for trying it.  On the up-side... he is responsible and smart to ask these types of questions, on these forums, before trying such a "stupid" thing.  Not trying to start a fight or anything here but I just don't like the idea of somebody trying to sensor a forum that they are not running.  If you are trying to "deter a flamefest" then you shouldn't go around being confrontational in such a condescendingly, bossy, self-appointed ruler of the forums type of way! Peace out and enjoy your day.


Uuuhhh...he's a mod on this site. That means the owner of the site gave him permission to act on his behalf. Be nice now, this is a very mellow community.


----------



## LaserKittensGoPewPew

You gotta love the newbies who have just joined and think they know what the deal is on this site.


----------



## cjf2612

:rofl:


----------



## flipmode

i personality do to man they grow much much faster 





			
				Mysterious said:
			
		

> I personally have used my HPS for the full grow i dont clone though, i used the HPS for vegging and flowering.


----------



## dagnar

gqone333 said:
			
		

> yeah hps is great ,just dont get them to close .a good floresence is good to .i like using floresence for the first two weeks and switch to hps  so i can trick the plant to thinking the the season changing.better chance of females .but this time around i treid hps first and got mostly males


Was wondering if anyone else has experienced a change in the male to female ratio based on light source? Out of 8 plants I planted there were 5 males and 3 females...


----------



## andy52

i'm thinking of keeping my clones and my mothers under fluros,after i get my veggin plants out.at least for awhile.if they don't look right,i will put the mh back in action.trying to conserve energy.i've got my girlfrien thinking the hid lights do not use much energy,lol


----------



## DomsChron

flipmode said:
			
		

> i personality do to man they grow much much faster


They grow much "faster" because the extremely red spectrum of the HPS lamp makes plants in the vegetative state stretch uncontrollably and you will have like 1/2 foot spans without ANY signs of another node coming any time soon LOL!

IMHO MH should even still be running for at least a couple days on 12/12 because it keeps nodes much more dense. Also, even very smort breeders say the MH early in flower dosen't effect pistil productin anyways so hey, why not. Then when you NEED the HPS like a week in, you'll have it and you can promote dense flower growth no problem.

What I think is that EVERYONE NEEDS their own switchable ballast.



			
				andy52 said:
			
		

> i'm thinking of keeping my clones and my mothers under fluros,after i get my veggin plants out.at least for awhile.if they don't look right,i will put the mh back in action.trying to conserve energy.i've got my girlfrien thinking the hid lights do not use much energy,lol



LMAO man! They *kind* of do hahaha! But they don't end up costing that much anyways depending on the kilowatt hours in your area. Night time energy costs alot less.


----------



## Tater

I didn't really read the entire post but as far as "burning" clones or whatever with to much light its all a fallacy.  How can a lamp that puts out like what 1/10000000000000 the intensity of the light the sun puts out burn a plant that loves to be in the sun?  It dosen't make any sense, just watch your temps and you'll be fine.  I would also suggest using a high quality bulb like a sunmaster or sonagro because they both have increased blue spectrum to encourage plant growth.

Just to give you an example here is how I grow.  I take clones and as soon as they show roots out the bottom of my rockwool cube I put them in my hydro tub and put a 600 watt hps within 4 inches of them with no problems whatsoever.


----------

