S
seagull
Guest
thinking about another sunblaze light fixture, it has 8, four foot t5 bulbs, combined at 432 watts, and 40000 lumens total, at 6500 kelvin..... thinking it would enough to veg plants that sit directly under it?
seagull said:i run the 8 bulb (4 footer) on clone tray and 1 mother, but, I use 6 blues and 2 reds for 18 hours, it gives a more complete spectrum, but of course heavier on the blue side. the flouros on get the room temp up to 85 degrees, which is very easy to bring down to 74. the hps can get a 4x4x8 area up to 140 degrees, yes, based on bad bad experience. so.... the numbers look great on these 8 bulb systems, but they are not as bright and they dont penetrate down thru the plant as well, thus affecting yield. i like them for only seedlings, clones, and a little veg.
I know that you like the lumens numbers, and they sound good, but those numbers are based on INITIAL lamp output, after awhile they dim. hid is for flower, as the flouros are for veg. its like driving by a car with the lights on bright vs. dim. check out my thread "i cant grow" those plants were started with a 1000 metal halide blue bulb, and then the pics were taken with the new sunblaze, after putting the sunblaze on them, the growth slowed, granted it was 1000w vs 432w. So then I started a new group of beans, different strain however, and they just did not respond like the hid plants. the only sure way, take clones, same size, same mother, and grow under a 400 hid metal halide blue, and a identical batch under the sunblaze, there will the truth be found. I like the 8 bulb system, because of the area coverage, and low heat, but when it comes to making fruit, I say go with the high beams. To make it simple, stare at a 400w hid, and then the 432 w sunblaze, I bet you will see white spots sooner looking at the hid. I was excited when I saw these set ups too, but they just dont have the punch it takes to make big beautiful berries, but if you as u say are worried about heat, and can take the loss on fruit size, then you are on the right track, the idea of the lamps underneath sounds good, but think about this, invest in some lattice or chicken wire, fabricate a way, (i was gonna use pvc as a frame for the chicken wire) to make a number of rows about 12 inchs apart (vertically), and stand them up, as high as you can in your tent, as the plant grows thread it in and out of the lattice or wire, and then in between these voids or rows that are 12 inchs apart, hang your t5 systems, they are designed to be hung either way. so simply put, one vertical lattice, or chicken wire would be enough to thread a plant in and out, allowing the entire branch system to be exposed to light, the next row would be duplicated with another vertical system, so your plant will not be a bush, but rather a flat vetical panel of green, like a vine going up the side of a house. This was an idea I came up with to get the most out of low heat flouros. It may make up for the difference in not using a bright hid and having a sea of green with fat tops, but a comparable overall weight with more fruit sites. Less you forget it is being pounded by light on both sides. outside plants dont get that much light and the bottum branches still get shaded by the above growth
If it helps, the new batch from beans has grown 8 to 10 inchs in the last 2 weeks, and they are 3 weeks from sprout, under the sunblaze. also think about throwing 2 bulbs of the other color in, full spectrum is always the way to go, but heavy on the side for what you are trying to accomplish. disregard that, reread your reply, you are doing that, bravo!
NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer said:If you are worried about heat you are going about this the wrong way. CFL and fluoro's put out MORE HEAT PER WATT THAN HID LIGHTING. You would be better off going with a HPS or Halide for less heat output per watt. Check out Mutt's posting on Lighting, the sticky is in the lighting section. Go with an HPS or two in a Cooltube and just vent outside the room. You will have no heat issues and much bigger yields. IF all of those fluro's you are using are not generating too much heat now, an equivelent HPS will be fine.
seagull said:ok, sorry, yes the shorter plants should do well under the flouro tubes, the wire thing is for taller bushier plants, be careful with the penetrator and liquid light mix, dont overuse it, the bottle says twice a week, That stuff is strong, once a week is good, talk about burning leaves, if not done right, and most of all, only mix up enough spray for the that use, once the chemicals mix, the liquid light becomes no good the longer it sits,
your tanning bed (all angles) is an awesome idea, the plant grows towards the light, so it may just make your autos bushier than you anticipate, please tell us here how it goes for you
BuddyLuv said:I veg under 3x 8 lamp t5's with great success.
seagull said:i believe that all of the dutch master foilar spray series require the penetrator to not only help activate but to get it to be better absorbed in the leaves
my opinion on hid's: weither mh or hps they are always hotter, how many flouro systems do you see that require air cooled reflectors?
grandma has a 400 w switchable hid, that is way hotter than the 432 watt sunblaze, thats a fact