WHY IS HPS BETTER FOR FLOWERING? High-pressure sodium lights are a good choice because they emit a light that is stronger in the orange / red spectrum, due to their rich sodium content. Growing a young weed plant with HPS bulbs will ensure an impressive vertical growth. Not only is this a great grow light during the flowering stage, but it has two features that make it a more economical choice. Their average lifespan of high-pressure sodium lights is twice that of metal halides. Still, after 18,000 hours of use (around 12 to 18 months), they will start to consume a bit more electricity than their rated watts and these HPS lights will gradually produce less light because they will require more energy to maintain the gas inside. HPS bulbs are considered very efficient because they produce up to 140 lumens per watt. High-pressure sodium lights operate and emit light when an electrical current flows through the ionized gas or plasma. Usually, they require some time to heat up and an electronic system known as ballast is required to play the role of a resistor. The ballast’s role is to regulate the electrical current flow through the entire circuit. When the ballast cannot supply enough voltage it will begin to shut down as the pressure of the tube reduces. This is how you know it’s high time you go to the local store and get a new bulb. HPS grow lights emit a lot of heat. Imagine a 1,000-watt heater in your room during a cold winter night. The high-pressure sodium lights produce similar heat. The HPS grow light heat is radiant and directed straight onto your plants. This means that you need to create a large gap between your lights and the plants. HPS (High Pressure Sodium) Grow Lights are a specific type of HID (high intensity discharge) grow light often associated with a reddish / orange-ish output. If you have ever seen a friend’s indoor grow light and noticed it had a red/orange appearance, it is likely an HPS grow light. You may have also seen HPS lights used in parking lots and street lights because they provide a lot of illumination and they’re brighter than fluorescent lighting. While HPS lights are also used for general lighting applications, high-quality HPS grow lights are engineered specifically to grow plants and put out even more light than standard HPS lighting. There are basically two main factors that contribute to HPS being a better option for flowering than MH. First, the reddish output of HPS more closely resembles the natural sunlight a plant would absorb in the autumn seasons, which drives the plant’s maximum flowering production. In addition, HPS lights provide higher light intensity (lumens) than MH. This can be around 25-40% more lumens/watt than MH lights of the same wattage, and when it comes to flowering; the more light – the better the results.
Today’s best HPS grow lamps (bulbs) also offer a refined output or enhanced spectrum with higher blue range output to assist with vegetative growth. HPS grow light bulbs also maintain their brightness better and last longer overall than MH, although they still become less efficient towards the end of their lifespan and should be replaced before they burn out completely. The general recommendation is to replace HPS grow lamps after 12-18 months of regular use. Effective at Fast Growth & Big Yields One of the most powerful aspects of the HPS light is how great they are at…well…working! HPS grow lights produce fast growth, fat dense buds and consistently big yields. They efficiently turn electricity into light, and they give off a type/color of light that promotes better flowering. Despite all the newer types of lights, HPS lights are still easily the most common type of grow light used today, and the majority of commercial grow operations use HPS grow lights for good reason. In fact, HPS lights have such a solid reputation at producing great yields No One Disputes the Effectiveness of HPS Lights Using a tough guy to demonstrate HPS' toughness...where's his helmet?High pressure sodium lights are good for growing cannabis. Period. You’ll find growers on both sides of the fence when it comes to the performance of LEDs or magnetic induction grow lights. You’ll find growers who think the CFLs aren’t worth the trouble and that the T5 makes them obsolete…or vice versa. You’ll find growers who think that anything but the sun is a joke. But what you won’t find is a grower who thinks that HPS lights don’t grow great cannabis. A grower might say that HPS lights run hot, are inefficient or cumbersome, but pretty much everyone agrees that they do a great job and produce great yields. And consider that this isn’t about some particular company that has mastered the art of making HPS lights. HPS lights have been refined for so long that the technology itself is solid and easy to reproduce no matter who makes the lights. • 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. • The enhanced blue in metal halide does not lead to increased plant growth compared to HPS in the “veg” stage. • Metal halides deliver, on average, about 80,000-110,000 lumens per standard 1,000-watt bulb. For the same wattage, HPS bulbs delivers about 130,000-155,000 lumens. This increased light output far outweighs other considerations when trying to maximize plant growth indoors under electric light.