Using Fluorescents with High Pressure Sodium Lights

by grizzlyD

Is it good to use both fluorescent and high pressure sodium lighting?

Answer: Grizzly D- When I set up an indoor garden I always use fluorescent lights for the clones and the veg area and high pressure sodium lights for the flowering area. In this manner of speaking, I find it very convenient and beneficial to use both fluorescent lights AND high pressure sodium lights (separately, in different areas). As far as using them BOTH at the same time on the same plants, it is really not necessary.

High pressure sodium lights have just the right spectrum of light flowering plants crave, and these type of lights are so much more intense than fluorescent lights that it makes very little sense to try to use fluorescent lights to supplement the sodium light. What ends up happening is the flowering area becomes crowded, plus the extra wires to plug in the lights, plus the extra heat from the fluorescent lights that cannot be air cooled- the heat alone may cancel out any small benefit you receive from the small amount of extra light....

I've been gardening indoors for 15 years now, and in that time I have been in some poorly set up gardens that were just a pain in the butt to work in. My advice is to keep it neat and simple- use the HPS by itself and get 90% of the results with the first 10% of your effort....the remaining 10% of the results you try to squeeze out by packing your garden area with extra fluorescent lights will seriously take the remaining 90% of your efforts and will have you pulling out your hair and wishing you had never taken up indoor gardening as a hobby, lol. Good luck, and Happy Growing!