How Long before i induce flowering?

[PencilHead]

I'd be shocked if that fixture was switchable--it looks like the internal-ballast kind. If you should ever buy another enclosed fixture, make sure it has round holes in the ends.

 

[Mountain209man]

i would put maybe 1 or 2 small clones in right when u flip the schedule over so u can have more 2harvest. thats just me good luck

 

[Nucy]

Thanks again for all the help everyone... i will move the light closer as soon as i am home as for it capability for metal halide, it is an enclosed ballast type which i dont think has interchangable bulbs. as for topping it, i'm trusting you guys on this one, i am litterally about to de-capitate the poor girl.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I personally am not a big fan of MH lighting and do not use it at all for vegging any more. I have found that T5 fluoro tubes can do just as good a job, usually with less wattage and less heat.

I was actually considering that and am in the process of setting up one of my rooms with 6 3' T5HO encircling the 600w hps to see what it would do. Do yu run the T5s into flowering or switch to hps entirely?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I wouldn't use the T5s with the HPS. The T5s need to be really close to be effective. The 600W HPS is going to need to be a ways away. For the T5s to be effective, they would have to be very close and would most likely cut off light from the 600. I use T5s exclusively for vegging and HPS exclusively for flowering.

If you have more than one room, setting up a vegging space with the T5s and a separate flowering space with the HPS would probably be the best use of your lights.

 

[Roddy]

If not placed in front of the HPS, but encircled as you said, it won't block light, but won't do much either! A better choice would be to encircle the room at plant height, but again, the help would be minimal!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Since the T5s would have to be so much lower than the HPS and the light from the 600 spreads, I don't see how you could avoid having the light from the 600 not strike the top of the T5 fixtures rather than reflecting off the walls and being reflected back to the plants. My T5s are kept withing a couple of inches from the top of the plants.

 

[Roddy]

Bolted on wall facing inward to plants....not hung under HPS light. Again, wouldn't be of much benefit since the T5 doesn't throw much light!

 

[Locked]

Yeah T5's need to be pretty close to work...I don't see them being worth the trouble for side lighting...

 

[Oldtyme]

Sad to say , but I posted they DID have a 150w MH conversion bulb available for the 150w Sun System, only to find out that they do not.

I have grown 3 "harvests" (1 plant) from veg to flower with that type of light. I had no problems. It's not until I switched to a 400w that I noticed how much better / fuller they grow.

Like Mountain said, just remember to get about 2-3 clones off that to keep the cycle going : )

 

[Nucy]

Yea for sure with the clones, a buddy of mine that is renting my basement is axtually just going to buy some T5's and we will build a veg and clone closet than go upstairs to my HPS for flowering

 

[Hushpuppy]

very interesting info. I do have my T5s attached to the walls of a 3'8"x3'8" room at about 18" from the tops of the planters, while the HPS is hung on the commercial pullies that can be raised n lowered. Given what yu guys are saying I am going to build a rack 4 my T5s so that they can also be raised n lowered above my plants. With my setup, I don't like the idea fo moving them and disturbing them if I can accomodate the necessary changes within the room. I am very mechanical and can do all of my "engineering" to save money on commercial purchases.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I just had a brain storm (or brain fart, idk). I am going to build a rack that will attach my T5s to my hps fixture (lumenAir6 reflector) so that 3 T5s will stand off either side of the fixture and will be able to be raised n lowered directly over the plants (but not run the hps at the same time) then when they r ready to switch to 12/12 I can adjust the height and turn the hps on. I am curious to see if leaving the 6500K light with the sodium a few weeks into flower will affect the yeild or time frame. I love to experiment to see what works better, and I have multiple rooms to try different things.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

If you have multiple rooms, you would be far better off setting up separate vegging and flowering rooms. Moving the plants from one room to the other is nothing compared to trying to change the lighting and ventilation....

 

[Roddy]

I agree with THG, set the rooms up separate and tune them in perfectly! Less worries about breaking bulbs or having mistakes over the gals with moving lights and such!

 

[Hushpuppy]

Yeah, some very good points. I originally wanted to do just that so that I could litterally stage the grows back to back and have a continual harvest of sorts. my prob is a partner with ADHD who thinks he is a master grower. Gettin him to do certain things is quite challenging. He doesn't like moving plants at all and now we have ourselves locked into a system that makes moving plants that r late in veg quite difficult. This is partly due to the architecture of our lab, and partly due to our learning curve.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Unless you have some kind of hydro setup where multiple plants are grown in large trays, I do not understand the problem. You take a big chance on damaging your plants moving lights and such.

I find that partnerships rarely work.....

 

[Hushpuppy]

So far we have found it easier to not move the plants. really the only light movement tho is raising them on pulleys as the plants grow. in two of the rooms, we have had 2 light fixtures setting side by side. One with the 400w MH and the other with 600wHPS. They are connected on a special made bracket that turns the fixtures on a 12degree angle inward so that they shine across each other. the bracket is on pullies to be raised n lowered as needed. With this grow, we have only run the MH in veg then both during flower, then for the last few weeks we turn off the MH. we really haven't had any trouble where the lights r concerned other than when we have a flex hose tear. Like I said, we have certainly been riding a long learning curve. we keep morphing our setups and supplies as we find out new things.
I am certainly finding the partnership thing challenging

 

[Nucy]

i think i will only find the partner thing challenging come harvest time, because i dont smoke... this is just to make some cash and a cool hobby, however my buddy that im doing it with does infact consume himself the old cannabis plant... only time will tell the headaches we encounter.