High Pressure Sodium Lights are good for indoor gardening and hydroponics.
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Q: Can I use a High Pressure Sodium Light all the way through on my Blooming, Fruiting plants?
A: America is a free country. You can do anything you can afford.
Q: What will the results be if a High Pressure Sodium Light is used from start to finish on Blooming Plants?
A: The coloration of a High Pressure Sodium Light is similar to Autumn sunlight, lower on the horizon. This often causes the plant to grow in a "hurry-up" form; the leaves are smaller, there is more spacing between the leaves, and the plant looks stretched. Sometimes this is a problem, sometimes it is not. If the High Pressure Sodium Light is shining along with Natural Sunlight, the effects are less pronounced. Just like everyone else who sells grow lights, we will always tell you to buy another one, but if one light is all you have and can afford just go with it, OK?
Q: What about those 60 or 75 Watt Sodium lights they sell at the hardware store? They cost a lot less.
A: Those are Sodium lights, yes, but they are Low Pressure Sodium.
Q: What's the difference?
A: There's two differences that count for plants. The first is that the spectrum or color range is not really usable by the plants and the second is that there really isn't enough power to overcome the limitations.
Q: The Low Pressure Sodium color looks the same as the High Pressure Sodium.
A: You're right. A High Pressure Sodium light is actually not a real good color for plants either. The only reason it works for growing plants is that the power is just so strong it throws enough light from the good frequencies or colors to make up for it. A Low Pressure Sodium light hardly has any good frequencies or colors and it has no power to push the light into the plants. In fact, if all you shine on a plant is a low pressure sodium light, the plant can die.
The best way to artificially light a plant is to give the plant a balanced range of light at a good power range for the size of the leaf space.
If you can give the plant a few hours of natural sunlight a day, the plant receives a good mix of the color spectrum. Especially in winter, the number of hours of good sunlight are limited; this is even more true the farther North you live. It is simply not practical or affordable to try to match the sheer power of the Sun.
Artificial Light fades fast.
A High Pressure Sodium Light is a great tool to grow blooming, fruiting plants. The orange-yellow color range encourages plants to set fruit or bloom. You can gain a good deal of control over when your plants bloom or set fruit as well as simply encouraging your plants to bloom and set fruit by using a High Pressure Sodium Light.
