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Generally, MH bulbs tend to be heavy on the blue, and HPS on the red side, which is why many growers who want the perfect canopy combine both technologies. CMH may still be combined with HPS for an added boost on the red spectrum which benefits flowering crops so much.
Is CMH good for flowering?
CMH bulbs are great for flowering, too, but not as good as HPS bulbs. They are much better at vegging though, making them the perfect full-cycle bulbs. CMH lamps are generally a bit more expensive than their HPS counterparts, but they make up for it with double the usable lifespan.
Can I use metal halide for flowering?
Due to the lack of red wavelengths in their spectrum, MH lights are not good at flowering plants on their own, though. This is the reason growers will use MH bulbs for vegging and HPS bulbs for flowering. Or even better, they use both bulbs simultaneously, for a much more complete spectrum.
Is CMH better for veg or flower?
A recent addition to the market is Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) bulbs. This makes them ideal for growing from seed to flower with the one bulb. You will get more growth during the veg stage due to the higher efficiency and less stretching in the flower stage due to the high percentage of blue in the spectrum.
Are metal halide lights good for growing plants?
Metal Halide (MH) lamps typically emit a white colored light. Traditionally Metal Halide lamps have been used by indoor growers during the vegetative stage of plant growth. They are ideal for growing plants up to the flowering and fruit production stages because they mimic the spring/early summer seasonal sun.
Whats better led or CMH?
LED bulbs last 50,000 hours compared to 20,000 for CMH. If you are planning for obsolescence and want the greatest yield ROI within 1-2-year time frame, choose CMH. And even if you keep your grow space past 5 years, don’t worry, CMH’s provide a greater gram per watt due to their higher PPF and canopy penetration.
How far should CMH lights be from plants?
Fluorescent lighting isn’t known for kicking off lots of heat, but they will generate some heat while they run so you’ll need to watch your plants carefully for signs of burning or bleaching. In general, you’ll want to hang your light no more than 12″ away from your plants.
Is MH or HPS better for flowering?
Ironically, most HID grow light enthusiasts recommend using both MH and HPS grow lights. MH grow lights (metal halide) are suited best for vegetative growth and HPS grow lights are superior for flowering.
What’s better HPS or metal halide?
HPS is about twice as electrically efficient as metal halide. Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) is what really matters to plant growth, and delivery of usable PAR is better with HPS than metal halide. Metal halides deliver, on average, about 80,000-110,000 lumens per standard 1,000-watt bulb.
What is a metal halide bulb used for?
Metal-halide lamps are used for general lighting purposes both indoors and outdoors, such as commercial, industrial, and public spaces, parking lots, sports arenas, factories, and retail stores, as well as residential security lighting; automotive and specialty applications are further fields of usage.
Are CMH good for veg?
GROWERS CHOICE 315W CMH FIXTURE Grower’s Choice fixture provide full spectrum of lighting. It’s the Grow lights for seed starting, veg, flowering. It is a commercial grow light, customer can use it for greenhouse, but also can use in a grow tent.
Is CMH better than HPS?
By comparison, HPS and MH lights waste a lot of energy producing light at ranges that are not efficiently used by plants. This means that CMH are more PAR efficient than either HPS or MH, making them a better single light solution. They also have a more natural CRI (Color Rendering Index).
Are CMH lights bad for your eyes?
CMH emits large amounts of ultraviolet (UV) light. This stresses plants, making them heartier and triggering production of turpines and THC. However, the effects of UV exposure on humans include cataracts, macular degeneration, pingueculae, pterygia—and skin cancer.
What is the difference between HPS and MH lights?
Metal Halide (MH) lamps provide more of the blue spectrum, which is ideal for leafy crops, and/or plants that are in a vegetative stage. High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps provide more yellow/red spectrum, which is ideal for most plants that are actively fruiting and flowering.
How long do you run metal halides?
“[Metal halide (MH) lamps] require a period of time-1 to 15 minutes-to reach 90% of their full light output. This period is called the warm-up (or run-up) time.
What’s the difference between mercury vapor and metal halide?
Mercury Vapor (MV) lamps are most frequently used outside for parking and security lighting. Metal Halide (MH) lamps provide the best color rendering of all HID lamps; color rendition is almost as full spectrum incandescents.
WHAT LED is equivalent to a 1000w HPS?
Black Dog LED PhytoMAX-2 600 Other companies would have called it the PhytoMax-2 1000. Despite the 600 in the name, this light is easily equivalent to 1000 watts of HPS power and is actually the most powerful fixture on this list.
What yields more HPS or LEDs?
Higher Yields A 600w HPS light can produce up to 150 to 300 grams in optimal growing environments, which is 0.5 grams per watt or less. LEDs, however, can produce as high as 1 to 1.5 grams per watt. All the while, LEDs use less energy to produce the equivalent HPS wattage.
What LED light is equivalent to 600w HPS?
For example, the US-made Platinum P450 274W LED grow light (which is listed as equivalent to a 600W HPS) offers 11 bands ranging from ultraviolet to infrared.
Can you touch a CMH bulb?
You cannot touch these bulbs. They even come with a cotton glove. These bulbs, though not used now, used to be one of the many options of aquarium lights.
How much heat do CMH lights produce?
One watt from a grow light creates four British Thermal Units (BTUs) of heat that need to be cooled. So in comparison, one 600w HPS grow light puts off 2,400 BTU ‘s whereas one 315 W CMH grow light puts off only 1,260 BTU’s, which is almost less than half the HPS light.
How far should lights be from seedlings?
Different plants have different light intensity needs, but most seedlings grown for the garden will need higher intensity light to flourish. In general, the leaves should be about 2 – 4 inches away from the light source (assuming use of a fluorescent bulb – see below).
