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Metal
Halide Bulbs (aka: MH)
Many gardeners recommend metal halide
grow lights above all others. The reason being it's
excellent spectral distribution. Metal halide bulbs
emulate bright summer sunlight and contain all the
energy peaks at wavelengths of the visible spectrum. To
plants this means quality simulated sunlight and
photosynthesis at a level much higher than that which
fluorescent lamps can achieve.
In addition, metal halide grow lights
have good lumen maintenance and long life expectancy.
Having good lumen maintenance means that as a lamp ages,
its decline in lumen output is very gradual. After 12
months of use at 18 hours per day, a 1000 watt metal
halide lamp should be replaced as it is only about 85%
as bright as the day you bought it. Halide is the best
bulb technology available for achieving the highest
level of plant and flower growth. They allow the
flexibility of multi-crop, multi-season indoor
gardening.
High Pressure
Sodium Bulbs (aka: HPS)
High pressure sodium plant lights are
the only growlights comparable to metal halide bulbs.
They have good spectral distribution, but sodium lights
cannot compare to halide in the blue end of the
spectrum. Just in the same way, Metal Halide lights
can’t compete with Sodiums in the red end of the
spectrum.
Sodium grow lights are particularly
high in the yellow and red regions of the spectrum. This
is the type of light fruiting and flowering plants like
best. Because of the focus on red light, some varieties
of plants grown with sodium lights alone can become
elongated and leggy.
Sodium grow lights do, on the other
hand, stimulate flower and fruit production more
efficiently than metal halide bulbs, making them an
important light source best used in conjunction with
metal halide either in addition to, or cycled together.
High Pressure Sodium bulbs also have a much longer life
expectancy than metal halides, lasting up to two (2)
years!
Conversion
Bulbs
If you have one of these types of grow
light systems, but need to move into the other type, you
don't have to buy a whole new lighting system!!! We've
got conversion grow light bulbs to accommodate your
every need!
HID Conversion bulbs make it possible
to run a halide bulb from your sodium ballast or a
sodium bulb from your halide ballast. So you could run a
halide to bring your plants through the vegetative stage
then switch to a sodium conversion bulb to finish 'em
off through flowering.
LED Grow
Lights
We've found that plants respond to LED
lights similar to T5 fluorescent fixtures. They result
in tight inter-nodal growth, and short stocky, strong
plants. The plants do look a little different - the
leafs tend to curl down. But the leaves are thicker and
a more healthy shade of green.
Vegetative growth is a little slower
compared to a 400 watt HPS light but are healthy and
progress normally. Fruiting and flowering is also
slightly slower but healthy and strong, with
surprisingly dense development. The fruit and flowers
are more realistic in color and are beautiful.
One LED UFO will very come very close to the best
results you could achieve with a 400 watt HPS and it
uses only 1/4 of the electricity, plus it doesn't
generate any heat. LED's are NOT the best choice
for really big plants, or anyone that wants a seriously
productive garden, but for a nice hobby garden (or
heat-free summer garden), they work really well.
BEWARE: There are some fake Chinese
fixtures on the market that look the same as the LED
UFO's or the SuperNova LED light, but are cheap
imitators. These fake UFO's do NOT have a separate
ballast and they have the wrong LED bulbs.
Fluorescent Tubes
T12 and T5 fluorescent tubes produce
very little heat which lets you position them closer to
your plants to raise the light levels. These higher
output fluorescents (much more than a regular home type)
are great for germinating seedlings or plant cloning!
T5 fluorescents put out 5000 lumens per
tube and have solid state electronic ballasts that do
not emit heat, noise or vibration. They have a one (1)
year warranty from the manufacturer.
Compact Fluorescents
Compact Fluorescents are a proven
success as horticultural lighting. In their first year
on the market, they have proven themselves as a perfect
grow light for seedlings, cuttings and small plants.
Compact Fluorescent bulbs are ideal for small spaces as
they do not produce much heat or use much electricity.
For fruiting or flowering plants, the 2700K warm bulb is
superb. For plants taller than a foot, regular
fluorescent tubes can be supplemented on the plant
sides.
OK, now that we've got an idea about the
kind of grow light bulbs we want, let's take a look at the
grow light systems.
Or, if you just need replacement
growlight bulbs, go right to our
bulb page! |
