cool beans
Registered on
Jul-08-2004
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Message #41322 posted by cool beans (Info) March 17, 2008 16:57:34 ET
In Reply to: Re: Light Therapy posted by GrannyHo (Info) March 17, 2008 13:42:46 ET
Hi GH. A 400w is a good choice and will do a good job for six plants as long as they are kept fairly short. I wouldnt let them get any taller than about 3ft at harvest or the light wont penetrate the leaf canopy to the lower buds. Six plants will need to be quite close together as a 400w footprint {coverage area} will effectively cover a footprint of about 3ft x 4ft.
There are folks who swear that a Metal Halide is the only way to go....and offer proof of that fact! Others {myself included} use a High Pressure Sodium for everything, clones seedlings, vegetative, and blooming. Metal Halide will do the same, from start to finish. Still others will tell you that a very expensive bulb compared to a standard bulb will way outproduce anything. We use the standard $20 hps bulb from Home Depot for 2 yrs before changing it out. Lotsa folks pay the big money for a "superbulb" and change it out every other crop.
Get the envrionmental conditions down pat. These include temp, humidity, airflow, correct PPM and PH, and good quality nutes. That will do as much for a successful harvest as anything else.
Since you have a large room, and heat wont be a factor? a 1000w would cover a bit more area and also provide more light to the plants. Something to think about. Be sure that whatever light you get can be handled by your homes electrical wiring. A 400w uses about 5amps, a 1000w uses about 10amps. you also have to figure in fans, air pumps, ect. The standard home electric circuit will provide 15 amps, but for safety, only use about 80% of it, or use a max of about 12 amps per circuit.
Be very..very carefull!! This hobby is totally addicting, and it will suck you in, and never let go. Good luck with it. BTW, good job with the researching. Any info anybody ever wanted to know about the sport is out there in the many websites that harbor fellow growers.
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