Indoor hps type lights?

[PolazyDank]

Other than a 1000w bulb and using it from start to finish.
are there any other ones that are lower wattage but still can suffice and do i need to have two different one?

 

[bgrt]

very little info to go off, depends on the size of grow area/number of plants etc.

need more details

 

[BigBuddha]

Sup Polazy,


For starters.. using a kw bulb for seedlings is a total waste of electricity unless you have like.. a billion plants in a massive space. Even then I'd be dubious about using a kw bulb for a youngling as the distance it would have to be at to avoid light-stress seems to waste the cost of running it.

For comparison, an 11w Daylight CFL household bulb (effective 60w) at a distance of 5cm will be ample for the first week after popping at least. They won't need much light at all and, in fact, will probably grow better if they're not under intense lighting.

If I'm germing seedlings on their own then daylight cfl's it is, but if they're going into a grow tent to germ then I just whack a bit of 50% netting over them and put them to the side of the tent for the first few days. Even under a 600w MH bulb they can handle that. But, it's much more efficient end environemntally easy on the girls if we go up in stages with the lights as the plants get older. Otherwise it's overkill and a lot of lumens are wasted.

For exmple - at least in my opinion - there's really no point having a 600w bulb on one plant because getting one gram per watt is not easy for most of us. So, if it can't use all that light, why pay for it?

 

[namvet]

You can always go to cfl's for first part grow and change to 1000 watt later or get a smaller wattage hps bulb.

 

[Muddy]

If you're referring to just HPS lights, then you can use a lower wattage one depending on the size of your grow area. The general rule of thumb with HPS is a minimum of 50 watts per sq. ft. of growing space. So a 1k would be big enough for 20 sq. ft., a 600 for 12 sq. ft. etc. You can use a MH bulb for veg and an HPS for flowering IF your ballast is capable of supporting both. However a good HPS bulb with an expanded blue spectum, like the Eye Hortilux, will work fine for the whole life cycle, veg through flowering.