I have an 8x8 tent that I'll be doing autoflowers in from seed. Not a perpetual grow. More of a mono crop. Seed, veg, flower around 10 plants, repeat process over and over. And I have never grown before, so I am not experienced with things like lighting.
I would like to keep the plant count down to a minimum and follow the advice preached in many threads I have read. I'd rather have 8 large plants than 15 small plants.
And I would like to put the seedlings in pots that will be used for the entire grow so I don't have to transplant. Probably 5 to 7 gallon smart pots.
I have 2x600 watt HPS magnet ballasts that are air cooled. There is no switch for HPS/MH. Just HPS.
I know I'll be using 600 watt HPS bulbs for flowering the autos. But I'm not sure what to do about the seedling and veg lighting and how to leverage what I have, keep cost down, etc. Also during flowering when use HPS lighting I would like to use the veg lighting as side lighting.
Option 1: I was thinking of running 2x400 watt MH bulbs in the existing ballast but I'm not sure how long the bulbs will last in the HPS ballasts. Also it's not very efficient from an electrical bill point of view.
Option 2: Flourescent. I also have 2 T5 high output lights. They are 18 inch long, 17 watt Sunblaster with the nano tech reflectors. Would using T5's be better than using the 400 watt MH for seedling and veg? How many would I need to add to my existing two T5 lights in order to cover the space needed for around 10x's 7 gallon pots?
Option 3: Use other lighting like LED/COB just for seedling and vegging. This is probably the best idea, but the most expensive for me.
What option do you like? Not like?
I would like to keep the plant count down to a minimum and follow the advice preached in many threads I have read. I'd rather have 8 large plants than 15 small plants.
And I would like to put the seedlings in pots that will be used for the entire grow so I don't have to transplant. Probably 5 to 7 gallon smart pots.
I have 2x600 watt HPS magnet ballasts that are air cooled. There is no switch for HPS/MH. Just HPS.
I know I'll be using 600 watt HPS bulbs for flowering the autos. But I'm not sure what to do about the seedling and veg lighting and how to leverage what I have, keep cost down, etc. Also during flowering when use HPS lighting I would like to use the veg lighting as side lighting.
Option 1: I was thinking of running 2x400 watt MH bulbs in the existing ballast but I'm not sure how long the bulbs will last in the HPS ballasts. Also it's not very efficient from an electrical bill point of view.
Option 2: Flourescent. I also have 2 T5 high output lights. They are 18 inch long, 17 watt Sunblaster with the nano tech reflectors. Would using T5's be better than using the 400 watt MH for seedling and veg? How many would I need to add to my existing two T5 lights in order to cover the space needed for around 10x's 7 gallon pots?
Option 3: Use other lighting like LED/COB just for seedling and vegging. This is probably the best idea, but the most expensive for me.
What option do you like? Not like?
