2019 Best Cheap 400w Flowering Bulbs?

Funkadelic · Apr 2, 2019

Hey all - title says it all or most.

Heat KILLED me last summer. Can't do big bulbs again. Have a 8 light setup in open bulb vertical on Solistek digital 400-600-1000 dials.

Ive been told runing bulbs at the wrong wattage is really a bad idea. So Im looking for cheap but decent 400w bulbs to run in this flower room.

I love my hortilux 600s and 1000s but they are for the cold of winter and I dont want bulbs that costly if I manage a run with 400s before summer gets brutal.

Thank you all in advance.

KneeDeep34 · Apr 16, 2019

I've had great experience with ipower bulbs... you can get very good prices at genhydro.com or Amazon aswell... they only last about 1 1/2 grow cycles but are so cheap you can buy them in bulk.

Funkadelic · May 1, 2019

KneeDeep34 said:
I've had great experience with ipower bulbs... you can get very good prices at genhydro.com or Amazon aswell... they only last about 1 1/2 grow cycles but are so cheap you can buy them in bulk.

VERY cool. My Hortilux 1000s and 600s are both built to last long, like a full year with minimal loss. But they're very spendy. And their 400s are almost as much.

=(

roach · May 1, 2019

But buying 4 cheap bulbs instead of one expensive one might not be the cheapest option in the long run, and that is without taking the possible spectrum differences into account

KneeDeep34 · May 1, 2019

roach said:
But buying 4 cheap bulbs instead of one expensive one might not be the cheapest option in the long run, and that is without taking the possible spectrum differences into account

I kind of agree but thing I like about cheaper bulbs in bulk is that if one burns out, gets liquid on it or is defective, you can just pop in another and your plants dont suffer the light loss... plus ipower is a very underrated brand. I've had nothing but good results.

JWM2 · May 1, 2019

I’d check into quantum board led grow lights. Heat is rarely ever an issue. In fact you may need a source of heat while running them in colder areas. LED grow lights like warmer temps (mid 80s) due to the lack of IR. This might be ideal for you in the summer and then you can switch back to HID in the winter.

Funkadelic · May 2, 2019

roach said:
But buying 4 cheap bulbs instead of one expensive one might not be the cheapest option in the long run, and that is without taking the possible spectrum differences into account

A friend who ran a grow shop for a decade told me Hortilux really last at least a full year with little to no loss. I have some 400w iPower bulbs from a friend, but can't imagine they last without degrading rapidly.

Damn they are cheap though.

Funkadelic · May 2, 2019

JWM2 said:
I’d check into quantum board led grow lights. Heat is rarely ever an issue. In fact you may need a source of heat while running them in colder areas. LED grow lights like warmer temps (mid 80s) due to the lack of IR. This might be ideal for you in the summer and then you can switch back to HID in the winter.

Are those DIY or a brand, bud? It gets to 90f for a month at a time now. Last summer was savage. i totally agree with you - will rotate bulbs for seasons. I still have nearly new 600w as well as 1k Hortilux bulbs... I will use the thousands in dead of winter.

I also realized many years too late that opening my grow building door overnight is free easy simple cooling. DUH moment to myself. Climate has been totally positive and VPD on point since I realized the obvious. I'm getting a steel storm patio door in the fall so I can always have the inside door open for cooling and never worry about a rando tweeker trying to gank my shit or squat in my garage. Ha.

I'm even thinking in dead of winter I can run my 1000w bulbs with the door cracked a bit and control temps.

Anyway, yes please info on LEDs which are viable and affordable is most welcome, plz.

KneeDeep34 · May 2, 2019

Funkadelic said:
A friend who ran a grow shop for a decade told me Hortilux really last at least a full year with little to no loss. I have some 400w iPower bulbs from a friend, but can't imagine they last without degrading rapidly.

Damn they are cheap though.

They are cheap yes but I've gotten 2 large harvests from one bulb but they do degrade more rapidly like you said.
I just like them cause they are convenient and are good to have on hand if one blows and with being so cheap you can definitely stock pile them...
I'll put it this way... if you can get 3 ipower bulbs for roughly $60 and each one performs very well for at least 6-8 months and one brand name bulb lasts for a year at the same price, it just makes financial sense to me at least.

Funkadelic · Aug 9, 2019

KneeDeep34 said:
They are cheap yes but I've gotten 2 large harvests from one bulb but they do degrade more rapidly like you said.
I just like them cause they are convenient and are good to have on hand if one blows and with being so cheap you can definitely stock pile them...
I'll put it this way... if you can get 3 ipower bulbs for roughly $60 and each one performs very well for at least 6-8 months and one brand name bulb lasts for a year at the same price, it just makes financial sense to me at least.

Excellent points. Even 2 rounds make the price more than worth it, no matter how good Hortilux is. And that big $ bulb savings (480 approx vs $1k) to me is the cost of a BoulderLamp 315 with LED pontoon that I want to add for horizontal spectrum, frost, density, etc supplementing or hopefully eventually replacing or at least taking priority over the open bulb vertical HPS. They just run so damned hot.

Check this out @Avrilb

2019 Best Cheap 400w Flowering Bulbs?

2019 Best Cheap 400w Flowering Bulbs?

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