LED company ad on Instagram posts
"InCite Lighting, LLC is proud to announce the arrival of new anti-bacterial LED Lighting technology to the United State indoor horticultural market. Indoor horticultural operations have long battled mold, viruses, and other unwanted biological contaminants in their facilities.
405nm spectral peak model. This cost-effective ..."
Essentially seems they claim this spectrum of LED can kill bacteria, mold / mildew, viruses etc ... is this legit?
I would say don't believe it.
I've seen a number of UV lights claiming to kill pests and molds and such... the problem though is that if the photons carry enough energy to kill these things, they also are not nice to the cells in any living thing. 405nm is borderline UV-A which is the equivalent to a party black light bulb approximately. UV-C is the wavelengths that are used to sterilize air, hospitals, equipment etc... as the photons carry more energy. UV-C is far more effective at killing bacterias, spores and pests, but is generally very harmful to all living cells.
UV-A although harmful to eyes and skin in long duration packs nowhere near the punch/energy of UV-C. The problem though with using UV-C with plants is that it does not penetrate well at all so to be effective you would have to soak every angle of your plants with UV-C light in order to rid of any molds, spores or possibly pests. Also the duration of time that science has shown to kill pests with UV-C light would also harm the plant cells and likely cause damage. Also UV-C light is extremely dangerous around human skin, eyes and extreme caution should be taken when used around any humans. Most pests hang out on the lower sides of leaves, therefore in order to work for most cannabis pests you literally would have to circle your plant with strong UV light to ensure all angles are hit. With some fungal infections, they may show exterior signs, but also have systematic tendencies that will not be effected by the UV light as the penetration is rather low.
While there is science to show UV-C light can work in certain circumstances to reduce or kill molds, spores and some pests.... its not the end all solution for the plants we love, and many companies with green dollar signs in their eyes are trying to exploit actual science with misconstrued facts. The light above with the 405nm LEDs would not be effective in the way it is being promoted and a ploy to sell more lights. I did read the study above and it shows it is effective for the petri dishes (ager) and liquid suspended bacteria, however lab tests typically vary from real world application.
The best way to use UV light would be to sterilize intake air, using UV-C. This also does generate ozone though which can be harmful to plants so a careful balance must be achieved.
There are so many money hungry "miracle cures" right now popping up in the cannabis industry... careful with all the false claims as there are tons...
Also...most UV LED chips at the current state of the industry and technology are not long lasting, not efficient and will not last. I think most of the UV chips will last somewhere between 1000 and 10, 000 hours max from the last time I looked into it, which is about 1/5 or more the life of most "colored" led chips. The problem is the amount of energy required to make photons is a lot, and there is a ton of waste heat produced which degrades the junction gap quickly.
Using LED's around that wavelength to have benefits to the plants, if used in small amounts as some plants have the UVR8 receptor which triggers protective measures in the plant, almost like sunscreen. It raises the amount of anthocyanins being produced which is a pigment that absorbs these high energy photons and has a lot of health benefits to foods like lettuce and other veggies we eat as these anthocyanins have shown to promote antioxidant type effects in humans. In cannabis though I haven't seen much link to anthocyanins promoting much benefit other than adding purple to petioles and leaves. Generally tied to increased anthocyanin production though is also an increase in flavanoids and trichomes which also help promote a sunscreen type effect on plants which are triggerd by the SAR response. Also recently they have shown that the PAR range of light (generally 400-700nm) actually extends further into the UV range and light all the way down to around 380nm does trigger photosynthesis, however the light at that range is much less efficient than light of longer wavelengths.
