Which is Better? MH or HPS Grow Lights? 2020 Updated
Making an investment in some grow lights is an important decision for any cannabis grower, and it is also a pretty costly one. In this article, we can help you to make this decision and tell you everything you need to know about two types of High Intensity Discharge (HID) grow lights – Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS).
HPS Grow Lights
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 best hid grow lights. 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.
HPS bulbs require a hood or reflector to maximize their efficiency by reflecting light to where you want it. There are several different styles of reflectors, air cooled, non-air cooled, water cooled, wing, and parabolic. Each style reflector has its niche use. Generally the larger wattage HID grow light in use, the larger the reflector is recommended to maximize your growing footprint. For example, a 1000 watt bulb works well in a Raptor hood. When selecting a reflector, knowing the exact size of the space being used is imperative. Different sized reflectors are designed for specifically sized areas.
MH Grow Lights
MH stands for metal halide and just like HPS, it refers to the gas inside the bulb. Metal halide lamps give off a whiter/bluer light than HPS bulbs.
This light looks more natural to our eyes (i.e. it is closer in spectrum to sunlight during the middle of the day).
Plants want a lot of blue spectrum light during the early parts of their life cycle, when they are seeding and vegging. The light from an MH bulb promotes growth better than the reddish HPS light, making metal halide lamps ideal for the early stages of plant growth.
Benefits of Metal Halide
Metal Halide bulbs produce light by passing electrical currents through a mixture of mercury and metal halide gas to make a white light. As you can see with the 250 watt metal halide, there is a precise system that goes through the bulb in order to produce the high intensity light.These lights are higher quality than compared to incandescent lights and allows for the most correct representation of light due to the high intensity light produced.
When Should You Use a Metal Halide Grow Light?
Metal Halide grow lights are best used for vegetative growth. This means they’re great for making your plant produce dense and lush canopies with very little internodal spaces.
They’re perfect for growing all kinds of greens like lettuce, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, flowering crops in the vegetative stage and many others.
Which light do I chose and why?
Because plants have different stages of growth, controlling the spectrum, power, and timing is vital to ensure maximum results. In the beginning stages of plant growth MH bulbs work great with juvenile plants causing them to flourish during the vegetive stage augmenting tight dense foliage and plants that are strong and stocky. On average Metal Halide bulbs typically last for 1.5-2 years of 18/hours a day.
As plants reach the flowering/fruiting stage the HPS spectrum enhances the quality of fruit and a larger harvest. The HPS spectrum mimics the outside autumn light increasing the plants demand for light. At this stage growth continues exponentially causing plants too become wider and more open.
HPS Grow Lights
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 best hid grow lights. 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.
HPS bulbs require a hood or reflector to maximize their efficiency by reflecting light to where you want it. There are several different styles of reflectors, air cooled, non-air cooled, water cooled, wing, and parabolic. Each style reflector has its niche use. Generally the larger wattage HID grow light in use, the larger the reflector is recommended to maximize your growing footprint. For example, a 1000 watt bulb works well in a Raptor hood. When selecting a reflector, knowing the exact size of the space being used is imperative. Different sized reflectors are designed for specifically sized areas.
MH Grow Lights
MH stands for metal halide and just like HPS, it refers to the gas inside the bulb. Metal halide lamps give off a whiter/bluer light than HPS bulbs.
This light looks more natural to our eyes (i.e. it is closer in spectrum to sunlight during the middle of the day).
Plants want a lot of blue spectrum light during the early parts of their life cycle, when they are seeding and vegging. The light from an MH bulb promotes growth better than the reddish HPS light, making metal halide lamps ideal for the early stages of plant growth.
Benefits of Metal Halide
Metal Halide bulbs produce light by passing electrical currents through a mixture of mercury and metal halide gas to make a white light. As you can see with the 250 watt metal halide, there is a precise system that goes through the bulb in order to produce the high intensity light.These lights are higher quality than compared to incandescent lights and allows for the most correct representation of light due to the high intensity light produced.
When Should You Use a Metal Halide Grow Light?
Metal Halide grow lights are best used for vegetative growth. This means they’re great for making your plant produce dense and lush canopies with very little internodal spaces.
They’re perfect for growing all kinds of greens like lettuce, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, flowering crops in the vegetative stage and many others.
Which light do I chose and why?
Because plants have different stages of growth, controlling the spectrum, power, and timing is vital to ensure maximum results. In the beginning stages of plant growth MH bulbs work great with juvenile plants causing them to flourish during the vegetive stage augmenting tight dense foliage and plants that are strong and stocky. On average Metal Halide bulbs typically last for 1.5-2 years of 18/hours a day.
As plants reach the flowering/fruiting stage the HPS spectrum enhances the quality of fruit and a larger harvest. The HPS spectrum mimics the outside autumn light increasing the plants demand for light. At this stage growth continues exponentially causing plants too become wider and more open.
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