Sorry for all the comments lmao but can you explain how I should be using the ir spectrum Ontop of the uv? I’m using 15 mins ir before lights on then uv turns on as main lights turn on for half hour. Then the end of the day I do ten on ten off ten off of ir before lights out while having uv on that whole half hour of on and off ir. Then uv turns off after half hour with the main lights. Then I leave the ir on for 10 mins after lights out. This is what I’ve come to read is the best to do but do you have any suggestions? You seem pretty damn knowledgeable hahahah. Also I’m using the
spider farmer uv ir bars you can see above not like a uv ir light switch button on the light. Not sure if that makes a difference. Since you said 24 hours I could see if it was the switch but this extra supplemental lighting must be a lot stronger than if built into the light
Ok if you can trigger the 730 and 385nm separately then you got all option open to do it right.
Main light - for veg anything works in between 18-24h of light. UV isn't necessary at this point but can be used to have them grow a bit more stocky, with less internode length. The FR 730 will do just the opposite, and greatly increase stretching as well as have other morphological consequences, namely a bit less pronounced root mass and less side shoots. Also increase leaf surface area, decrease leaf thickness and increase leaf hyponasty, ie. the petioles grown under FR enriched spectrum will point more upwards, leaves will look more like "praying". However, this can also happen from strong growth alone and especially during the accelerated growth during the "flowering stretch".
The Farred does several different things to the plant, on several different orders, like Emerson-enhancement, but most important is you don't shatter the upper architecture/structure/photomorphogenesis and later the plant doesn't fit in your growspace anymore or light interception gets worse. So the usage of FR-730nm in veg is best treated with as minimal as the architecture allows. Which, when the genetic already expresses long internodes, means you do not use it at all.
That said, even the FR-730nm End-Of-Day treatment will lengthen internodes in comparison to no treatment. The other way to use FR is to have it on steadily like when the mainlight for a spectrum boost, get more deep effect, and generally increased photosynthesis when PAR PPFD levels are at a somewhat maximum of what topleaves could handle.
Both methods can be combined, the FR-EOD usually needs 15-20min to put the plants to sleep, it's important to have no other light on at this time, and afterwards keep them in total uninterrupted darkness.
Once you want them to flower you can either choose to use the traditional 12/12 or use a 13h on/ 11h off + FR-EOD but the latter method will cause a bit more stretching but you can pump more light into them, also the transition into flowering will be sped up a bit, although not all genetics may respond to this equally well. It's up to you to dim your main light to adjust to the same daily light integral or have it raised, usually the higher or longer vegged plants can make more use of higher DLI, so that's your choice. Usually being able to dim an LED by approx. 10% will gain you some efficiency in how much photons the lamp can generate for its consumed electricity, as well as increase longevity of the fixture.
Once the flowering stretch is mostly done, like 3-4 weeks after changing the photoperiod you can usually leave the 730nm diodes on for the full duration + 15mins after ther main light terminated.
As for the UV - this has been shown to increase resin/THC in some cultivars - in some it does not. It certainly will also changes the terpene profle and can also influence the outward appearance of leaves/buds, getting a purple hue. Plants try to shield themselves from harmful energetic blue wavebands by the buildup of specific photoprotective "sunscreen" pigments, and this is a gradual process. So it makes sense to start with a small time exposure to UV and increase weekly to arrive at a maximum length somewhere 2-3 weeks before harvest. Since you use UV-A and not UV-B your plants can take the full dduration - 12-13h daily. When you start, place the timeing of the UV at around the midday, so the plant had already some time doing photosynthesis without being exposed to UV - as UV can be photoinhibitive when the pigments don't shield yet or when exposure is simply too great of an influx.
I hope I didn't overhelm you now with a flood of information, usually such "light tweaking" is best done when you already know your cultivar, work from clone, in an attempt to optimize your results. There's alot of work still to be done on the science of it all esp. regarding what is a strains original terpene profile, and that can even influence the psychic effect the product later creates.
Good luck
