I have 2x 400w sylvania sodium bulbs from a few years ago. I know that mh bulbs are preferred for vegging but that some sodium bulbs have extra spectrums of light that are fine too (apparently sylvania make these)

I'm just wondering if my bulbs have those extra spectrums?

I've been googling for an hour or so but I'm still unsure if sylvania do different types of sodium bulbs or if all sodiums manufactured by them contain these extra spectrums.

I plan on using them from seedling so I'm a bit worried!!!

sorry for the double post,

after more digging it looks like i have grolux bulbs. found this....

Grolux are currently the market leader and the most well known of all dual spectrum lamps on the market; made by Sylvania they are basically a standard sodium with a small amount of blue light included in the spectrum to make the spectrum more suitable for plant growth

.... is this good enough to save me getting an mh??

You will find a slight increase in growth with mh bulbs, hps will do the job just fine tho. You could use fluros or cfls that will work just fine and also save you some cash. All this info gained from reading uk420 btw.


Bert...

Fine mate.

I use a HPS for veg and flowering.

If using little uns, just keep the distance and gradually lower it to get them adjusted.

Be careful when buying bulbs as a lot of hydro shops try and sell you duel spectrum in place of pure HPS, although duel spectrum is fine for general growing, what you really want is HPS.

thanks for the heads up.

After eeeeeven more research, I have an shp-t bulb which is pure sodium

Think i'll go with that from start to finish then. I'm a bit scared of strecthing though as I'm in a small space.

Thanks

Thats the bulb I been using, and I don't have any complaints