The Difference Between Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium Lights

The main difference between metal halide lighting and high pressure sodium lighting is the light spectrum they release.

The metal halide lighting releases a light spectrum of blue, while the high pressure sodium lighting releases a red spectrum. Each is important when growing ganja; the red spectrum lighting is what the plant needs when a seedling and a young plant and when it matures and gets to the flowering stage this changes. The plants are then in need of the red spectrum from the high pressure sodium lighting.

The perfect hydroponics crop will have both types of lighting and without an added expense both lights. The bulbs can be used in one fixture and changed as needed as long as they are both the same wattage. If the grower is not concerned with the amount the lighting costs then the hydroponics garden does best when it has both types of lighting throughout all its growth.

When many growers must make the choice between the lights because of financial cost, most will choose the high sodium lights, because they are the more efficient of the two for providing light to the marijuana crop when it is a 400 watt bulb being used. The high pressure sodium light will need to be left on for at least 18 to 24 hours a day during the vegetative state. Lighting is a part of every indoor cannabis garden whether it is in soil or grown hydroponically, so this is a financial part of the cost that is not isolated to hydroponics.