New Grower 400w hps for seedlings?
- Thread starter longhair
- Start date
Welcome
Hi Longhair
Welcome to AFN (well - i see you joined a while ago ^_^)
Why not pop up a hello over at introductions for a nice warm welcome from our members!
Personally i have never used a 400w hps on a seedling, but it will certainly do the job flowering for you. I would have thought the only issue at seedling stage would be getting the light close enough to perform well, without being too close to burn the little one.
I know people with 400s and 600s who start off seedlings with a CFLs and then move to the HPS when the plant is slightly established.
Hope this helps - i'm sure others will chime in soon (Edit: GoAuto6 already did ^_^)
Happy growing
All the best
Blue ^_^
Hi Longhair
Welcome to AFN (well - i see you joined a while ago ^_^)
Why not pop up a hello over at introductions for a nice warm welcome from our members!
Personally i have never used a 400w hps on a seedling, but it will certainly do the job flowering for you. I would have thought the only issue at seedling stage would be getting the light close enough to perform well, without being too close to burn the little one.
I know people with 400s and 600s who start off seedlings with a CFLs and then move to the HPS when the plant is slightly established.
Hope this helps - i'm sure others will chime in soon (Edit: GoAuto6 already did ^_^)
Happy growing
All the best
Blue ^_^
As GA6 said - 400W HPS for seedlings is fine - ideally, in a soil or soil-less set-up you want your light 30" to 36" from the rim of the pots - then after two full leaf sets form slowly lower the light over a 3-4 day span watching for drooping.. if you lower it too fast or the light is too close vertical growth can come to a crawl.
Keep the soil moist, the environment in the 400W HPS will take up a lot of the moisture from the top inch to two inches of soil and this is where your seedling should be. Spritz every 4-8 hours depending on humidity and put a small clear plastic bathroom cup (3oz or so) over where the seedling is in the pot. Spritz this cup as well when you spritz the soil to increase humidity. Seedlings love humidity and warmth.
What else do you have in your set-up at the moment? Do you have a way to control the heat of the 400W HPS? As well, make sure you have a small oscilating fan blowing in the direction but not directly on the seedlings.
Keep the soil moist, the environment in the 400W HPS will take up a lot of the moisture from the top inch to two inches of soil and this is where your seedling should be. Spritz every 4-8 hours depending on humidity and put a small clear plastic bathroom cup (3oz or so) over where the seedling is in the pot. Spritz this cup as well when you spritz the soil to increase humidity. Seedlings love humidity and warmth.
What else do you have in your set-up at the moment? Do you have a way to control the heat of the 400W HPS? As well, make sure you have a small oscilating fan blowing in the direction but not directly on the seedlings.
Thanks for the replies.I had 10 seeds that just sprouted 3 days ago and had under t12's but the ballest blue out and that left me only with my 600w and 400w hps with grows currently going on and wasn't sure if the 400w would be too much stress on the new plants as I won't be able to get out for another week to replace the t12,plus really didn't know if I realy needed the t12.
With established seedlings (I was under the impression that you were still sprouting them) there's no need for the constant spritzing or bathroom cups. A foliar spritz with water that's allowed the majority of the chlorine to evaporate won't hurt as they get used to the new area. I wouldn't do it more than once a day, keep the lights 36" from the top of the plants at least for 3-4 days as they adjust to the new light.. any closer and you're at a risk to stunt them going from a T12 to a 400W HID.. 
Good luck and keep us posted brother!
Good luck and keep us posted brother!
Stretching is not such a bad thing when they are stretching to get the intensity of the light
Stretching is bad when they are stretching from lack of light - Yours should stretch into a distance where they are picking up enough light to strengthen their stem and it shouldn't cause any issues.
Overshooting is where a plant cannot get enough adequate light no matter how far it stretches, based on the power your using they should be fine - see how it goes if they overshoot then maybe they are too far away
What you could do to avoid overshooting all of them is raise half on something and leave the other half where they were - see if the stretching impacts them or just creates a nice growth spurt - i like my plants to stretch so the nodes arent all jumbled together
Stretching is bad when they are stretching from lack of light - Yours should stretch into a distance where they are picking up enough light to strengthen their stem and it shouldn't cause any issues.
Overshooting is where a plant cannot get enough adequate light no matter how far it stretches, based on the power your using they should be fine - see how it goes if they overshoot then maybe they are too far away
What you could do to avoid overshooting all of them is raise half on something and leave the other half where they were - see if the stretching impacts them or just creates a nice growth spurt - i like my plants to stretch so the nodes arent all jumbled together
GoAuto6
Galactic Travler
This is your personal opinion and should be stated. 1 inch node spacing is optimum spacing...... That is the general consensus from the big time breeders.
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