Crap, my bulb blew 7 weeks into flowering - Help!

Just when you think things are going well and you are set to coast to harvest... your bulb blows. What to do? I have 3 weeks left in flowering, and my 600w Hortilux Super HPS took a crap - only 1272 hours into its supposed 16000 hour rating.

Normally I would just throw another of the same bulb in there (since I've had good success so far with this bulb), even if it takes me a day or three to get a hold of another (local vs amazon), but here is my dilemma: The reason the bulb took a crap on me is likely because of numerous thunderstorms this time of year. We have lost power during my plants' "daylight", and sure enough it did take out my bulb. Right now I threw my vegging light in the tent for the meantime; it's just 4 T8s (2 3000s and 2 6000s), but it's light. Since it's mid-August and the time left to flower just happens to coincide with more seasonal thunderstorms, do I gamble and buy another $130 bulb, which could last 1 week, 1 year, 1 month? Or can I finish up my grow with some lesser lighting for the last couple of weeks? I've grown this strain before, so I know the time left is 20-21 more days to snip time. I wasn't planning another grow for a while.

To date, the girls have been doing very well - lots of dank, sticky nugs that I'd like to salvage.

What do you think? Any suggestions? Are there some bulbs that are not so susceptible to a power loss?

Thanks!

I'd probably buy a cheap hps to finish it up till those storms are over with. Maybe two cheaper ones.
jmo. That sucks about those storms messing with your grow.
Do they happen at any hour day or night?

The t-storms are mainly during the day, but we've had the power go out with night-time storms as well. It usually comes back on within seconds or minutes, which is of course what screws up my hps bulb. If the power could wait 30 minutes before coming back on, that'd be great, but it doesn't. I had thought about changing the "daylight" hours to night-time, but that doesn't work well with our schedule for nuting and checking the plants.

Are there any cfl bulbs that would be good for flowering?

I'd buy a cheaper bulb, I have never bought a bulb over $60 bucks and have gotten good results. The way I see it is, if it's pumping out the same lumes and kelvin for cheaper why not. Try 1000bulbs .com

View attachment 2783674Now that I can take some non-hps shots, here's one of my buds. I had topped these plants several times and have about 8 main colas per plant, plus numerous secondary colas. They are heavy and sagging, and sticking to everything.

Thanks for your suggestions. Will going with a cheaper bulb at this time affect my yield? The Hortilux is all I've used so far.

This is just my opinion from my own grow results with a 400 HPS – Eye Hortilux bulb. I saw no difference in yield with the 400 HPS Eye Hortilux which cost me at the time around $60.00 versus a regular Philips 400 HPS bulb bought for $20.00 at Home Depot. Personally I think the Hortilux bulbs are hyped up and over rated from advertisements and extreme marketing. Both of these bulbs I ran were rated at 55,000 lumens each and in my opinion I could tell no difference in yield or growth rate. For those that want to stick with Hortilux and pay 3,4,5 times more than a cheap HPS bulb, it's your choice.



I've always had multiple bulbs on stand-by in case of bulb failure. I never ever run a bulb till it goes out either. 6 months for example of running a bulb for 12 hours x 180 days = 2,160 hours and that's only a slight fraction of the 24,000 hour rated time for the bulb, and I swap in a fresh new bulb. Many might see this as wasteful but with each day of start up and each successive grow, there is a decrease in lumen out-put. Going thru 2 bulbs a year is an insignificant expense that doesn't bother me and also leaves me with a stash of spare bulbs should I have one that fails to last 6 months. This is just my particular growing style that I prefer.


As for the 600 HPS Hortilux , it's rated at 88,000 lumens. I've seen them on Ebay average $65.00 to $80.00, and some hydro sites I've seen them listed over $100.


The Plantmax PX-LU600 is rated at 90,000 lumens and sells here for $27.14 >

http://1000bulbs.com/product/88061/PX-LU600.html

Thanks for your input, TreeOfLiberty. I think your reasoning is good and would agree that having extra bulbs on hand is a good idea. We bought the LU600S Hortilux originally, and have been pleased with the results, but I don't have anything else to compare it to, personally. Which is why I'm looking for other people's input on whether it's worth the $$ to buy another, or go with a less expensive hps, or can I just use something else to finish up this grow.

Do you think I should stick with an hps for the remaining 3 weeks? Just wondering if, at this time in the grow, the hps is needed, or if the plants just need any light, period. Any thoughts?

(I just like to understand why I am doing what I am doing.) Thanks!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/ViaVolt-600-Watt-High-Pressure-Sodium-Replacement-HID-Light-Bulb-V600HPS/204323260#.UhOZy5KsiSo

I have used these in a pinch and for less than $40 was pleased as punch with the results.

Thanks for the suggestion, Travisw. Do you know if they stock these in store, or buy online only?

Edit: Called HD; internet order online.

Probably the cheapest 600 HPS bulb price you'll find> $19.99 and free shipping

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apollo-Horticulture-600w-600-Watt-HPS-High-Pressure-Sodium-Grow-Light-Bulb-/170983454530

I've read more good reviews on Apollo than bad reviews. That's the next brand of ballast I'm getting to replace my 400 magnetic coil ballast with one of their 400 HPS digital ballast.There's a few complaints on the Apollo brand but I've seen way more good reviews than bad ones. $40.00 could buy you 2 bulbs with no shipping fee.

It's pretty easy to find the 2800k cfl's at the depot, Walmart etc..
you could buy a bunch of those, and some Y adapters.
That would be pretty inexpensive.

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. I went to town and picked up an inexpensive hps at the local grow shop. It didn't explode when I plugged it in, so I guess that's a good start. lol But, I don't confuse this light with the Hortilux bulb; there is a noticeable difference in the tent with this bulb vs the Hortilux. This one has 90,000 lumens vs 88,000 for the Hortilux, but I don't see the same intensity as before. Hopefully, this one will get me through this grow and can be a backup for a future grow.