Thank you!
This is my first grow. I currently only have one plant in veg. My husband has a 1000 hps over her. We’ve just transplanted and had alittle stress so we’re giving her a few days before we lower the light. My question is if everyone changes the bulbs from metal halide during veg or just use the hps bulb for the entire time? We do have air circulating and heat exhaust too. Closet is about 8 ft long by about 2.5 ft wide but we are only using about half set up for plants right now.
1 Like
Good question I’m wondering the same my self just got the 1000 w
1 Like
Welcome to the community. I use HLG lights and know jack all about MH/HPS. @Hellraiser happens to know.
You want to run MH for veg and HPS for flower. Bulbs normally get changed after each grow.
2 Likes
Ok. Thank you!
Yes, MH for veg and switch to HPS bulb for flowering. Is your ballast dimmable? Don’t need anywhere near 1000 watts at that stage, could use the lowest setting for a good while.
1 Like
Yes it is. I don’t know why he insists on using the 1000 watt now. He is trying to grow a healthy mom.
Do you just dim the 1000 watt?
I think I’ll get a MH bulb and switch it!
What size MH bulb should I get? My ballasts accommodates 600 or 1000?
I would get the 600 watt MH for now, that’s what you should be running at this stage with that light. He’s running it at 1000 watts because he’s a man, can’t help it, LOL, thinks more is better, but in this case more is too much, too much light, too much heat, too much electricity usage for 1 plant of that size. Get the 600 watt MH bulb and keep like it like 24-28 inches above the plant tops.
Switch to HPS in flowering and if only the 1 plant still, dim to 600 watts, no need for 1000 watts for one plant, that’s meant to cover a 5x5 area, even at 600 - it covers a 4x4 area pretty well.
1 Like
This is perfect! Thank you so much for the info!
1 Like
Could you help me with a question please?? I bought the 1000 mh bulb to go in my vivosun 1000 watt ballast. Can I just turn the knob to get to 600 watts or do I need to turn the ballast off, let it cool, turn the knob before turning back on ?
So many different answers on Amazon and of course nobody answers the phone at Vivosun.
Thank you for your help!
1 Like
Either way generally works. On most modern ballasts, you can just turn the knob, you should notice it getting dimmer after doing so, not immediate - it can take some seconds to a minute depending on the model. If you don’t notice it dimming and just want to be sure it’s at 600 watts, you can always turn it off for a couple minutes (not good to restart MH/HPS with a hot bulb) and power on with the knob at 600.
Thank you so much!
1 Like
Good morning!
So I got all messed up with different stages and only one grow area. I have one plant I was going to keep for a mom so she’s huge, about 10 weeks old, then a cutting we experimented with that took off, and she’s about six weeks old. I just want to flower them all. I’m not going to keep one as a mom. I only did some bending of branches and minor trimming. I hope they don’t get too big going into flower.
My closet is 8 ft long by 2 1/2 feet wide. I am currently using a 1000 watt ballast dimmed down to 600 with a MH bulb. I don’t know if that’s enough for flower? I would like to spread them all out and utilize all the space instead of the 5 feet I’m cramped in now. I have another 400 ballast not using right now. I was thinking of hanging that one in addition and spreading everybody across the 8 feet. They’re six plants. Should I flower under the 600 or 750 or 1000? Use the 400 in addition?
I’m also hoping they’re not too big for 5 gallon pots.
My first grow obviously! Lol. 
1 Like
At 600 watts, it’s good for a 4x4 area, at 1000 watts - 5x5. I would use the 400 to help spread the light across the the 8 feet and use as many watts as you can deal with and keep temps under control.
Ok. Got it!! Thank you!