Thinking of using UV light

2Bad · Nov 28, 2022

Where can I get a supplemental UV light?

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

2Bad said:
Where can I get a supplemental UV light?

3 basic spectrums of UV.

UVA - good for bringing out purples in plants, some other stuff too. Does not really impact the UVR8 response which is the one that has some bearing on cannabinoid production. These are available in LED form cheap from lots of places.

UVB - Does impact UVR8 but LEDs made to produce it are either hugely expensive or burn out really quick. The best way to use UVB today is with florescent tubes. I recommend solacure for those.

UVC - probably not what you are looking for. Sterilizes plants, humans, everything and is not healthy unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing. This is used in hospitals for sterilization for example.

UVA is pretty harmless, and I have run (2) 30 W bars in a 4x4 space as much as 10 hours a day without burning the plants. UVB is the one with the most potential to both help and hurt.

RootsRuler · Nov 28, 2022

Moe.Red said:
3 basic spectrums of UV.

UVA - good for bringing out purples in plants, some other stuff too. Does not really impact the UVR8 response which is the one that has some bearing on cannabinoid production. These are available in LED form cheap from lots of places.

UVB - Does impact UVR8 but LEDs made to produce it are either hugely expensive or burn out really quick. The best way to use UVB today is with florescent tubes. I recommend solacure for those.

UVC - probably not what you are looking for. Sterilizes plants, humans, everything and is not healthy unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing. This is used in hospitals for sterilization for example.

UVA is pretty harmless, and I have run (2) 30 W bars in a 4x4 space as much as 10 hours a day without burning the plants. UVB is the one with the most potential to both help and hurt.

For years I heard people talking about the UV from reptile bulbs increasing potency. Which UV is it and is it worth looking into as I noticed a lot of the LED light suppliers include UV in their panels? Is the panel UV provided the correct UV and is it enough to have the desired effect or is it not being properly implemented and only used to market the light?

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

RootsRuler said:
For years I heard people talking about the UV from reptile bulbs increasing potency. Which UV is it and is it worth looking into as I noticed a lot of the LED light suppliers include UV in their panels? Is the panel UV provided the correct UV and is it enough to have the desired effect or is it not being properly implemented and only used to market the light?

Yes, the reptile bulbs are UVB. What's great about them is they are small so you could use them on 1 plant and see differences side by side.

I have a bunch of links to papers I can share if you guys have insomnia. But UVB is the one you want to potentially increase THC. I say potentially because you can also fry your plants and make it worse.

RootsRuler · Nov 28, 2022

Moe.Red said:
Yes, the reptile bulbs are UVB. What's great about them is they are small so you could use them on 1 plant and see differences side by side.

I have a bunch of links to papers I can share if you guys have insomnia. But UVB is the one you want to potentially increase THC. I say potentially because you can also fry your plants and make it worse.

Are the dangers based on light placement or UV intensity provided? One of the things I was told was that you need to place the bulb close to the plant and even then only a small portion of the plant really receives the needed amount to make it effective.

This contradicts placing UV producing LED's in panels since they hang at least 18" away from the canopy hence why I asked about the UV bulbs in LED lights.

Ganjadad · Nov 28, 2022

I was also interested in supplementing uv lighting in flower but now I’m not sure haha, sounds like I would fuck it up. Back to more researching

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

RootsRuler said:
Are the dangers based on light placement or UV intensity provided?

Both. Inverse square law applies to intensity / distance.

It's more of a DLI thing based on my findings. There is ton of info in this thread

Should I add UVB Light?

Hello, I have been growing on a very small scale for about 4 years. I am always trying to learn more about growing and I know that I have so much more to learn. I also know that it's probably a life long process! I started with auto-flowers in a 2 x 2 tent with a horrible LED light. I also...

www.thcfarmer.com

So what you are doing is signaling the UVR8 photoreceptor in the cannabis plant. This causes a resultant hormone to be released which impacts cannabinoid production. If you get too much UVB in a day, tissue damage will occur, just like human skin. But the right amount has been shown to increase THC. In some studies. Honestly it is not definitive. My personal results were not conclusive, but I did show a positive correlation between UVB and CBG production. CBG is the precursor molecule to THC and CBD - so if you squint a little you can kinda see how this might be true.

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

For uva this is what I use

RootsRuler · Nov 28, 2022

Hmmm....curious how much of an effect it would induce and what the risk/reward quotient would be for this.

When I was at Jungle Boys we used to sit around the lunch room and talk to the botanist about growing and this was one of the subjects we talked about. He said he didn't have enough empirical evidence to say that their use would increase the quality of product enough for the effort. He said that technically it does increase the potency for the reasons you just explained but not enough testing has been done to truly be able to consistently see the results of UV on crop since no physical tests in a commercial setting had really been done.

That was years ago. I wonder if anyone has been able to do a controlled experiment that could suggest placement and timing. Maybe Dr. Bugsby has something to say on this?

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

Uvb

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

RootsRuler said:
Hmmm....curious how much of an effect it would induce and what the risk/reward quotient would be for this.

When I was at Jungle Boys we used to sit around the lunch room and talk to the botanist about growing and this was one of the subjects we talked about. He said he didn't have enough empirical evidence to say that their use would increase the quality of product enough for the effort. He said that technically it does increase the potency for the reasons you just explained but not enough testing has been done to truly be able to consistently see the results of UV on crop since no physical tests in a commercial setting had really been done.

That was years ago. I wonder if anyone has been able to do a controlled experiment that could suggest placement and timing. Maybe Dr. Bugsby has something to say on this?

We are at the same place on this.

And yes, Bugby did do some testing on this, he mentions it in a really long video where he is being interviewed by someone - don't have the link handy. It's like 1.5 hours long and the UV stuff is in there somewhere. In a word, his thoughts on UVX use - Meh.

7munkee · Nov 28, 2022

What kind of UV do blacklights give off? Anything useful for plants?

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

7munkee said:
What kind of UV do blacklights give off? Anything useful for plants?

UVA ~365nm.

Anthocyanin response (purple coloring) for bag appeal is all I could make happen with 365nm.

MIGrampaUSA · Nov 28, 2022

I've got UVA, UVB, and even UVC in my tent. Now before anyone freaks out over the UVC, its not in there for use with live plants. I use it for sanitizing between grows. I'll also be using it inside my air hood to sanitize incoming air pulled in through my greenhouse ventilation system. So yes, there are plenty of uses for UVC. Just not on live plants or around people/animals.

My UVA is built into my lights. I also have a set of UVB/IR bars on each of my grow lights. I also have a pair of UVB T-5 reptile lights that arrived today. I'll be playing around with those on this run. I have no idea if there will be any noticeable improvements yet.

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

MIGrampaUSA said:
I've got UVA, UVB, and even UVC in my tent. Now before anyone freaks out over the UVC, its not in there for use with live plants. I use it for sanitizing between grows. I'll also be using it inside my air hood to sanitize incoming air pulled in through my greenhouse ventilation system. So yes, there are plenty of uses for UVC. Just not on live plants or around people/animals.

My UVA is built into my lights. I also have a set of UVB/IR bars on each of my grow lights. I also have a pair of UVB T-5 reptile lights that arrived today. I'll be playing around with those on this run. I have no idea if there will be any noticeable improvements yet.

Is this what you have?

https://hydrobuilder.com/media/pdf/instructions/GrowersChoice_UVR_User_Manual.pdf

MIGrampaUSA · Nov 28, 2022

Moe.Red said:
Is this what you have?

https://hydrobuilder.com/media/pdf/instructions/GrowersChoice_UVR_User_Manual.pdf

Yes, I have 2 sets of those and 2 of these arrived today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HCRDJYH?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Moe.Red · Nov 28, 2022

MIGrampaUSA said:
Yes, I have 2 sets of those and 2 of these arrived today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HCRDJYH?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

please tag me in when you start using them.

This will be my first production UVB LED I have seen used. Just curious.

RootsRuler · Nov 28, 2022

MIGrampaUSA said:
Yes, I have 2 sets of those and 2 of these arrived today: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HCRDJYH?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Me too. Curious how this plays out.

freezeland2 · Nov 28, 2022

2Bad said:
Where can I get a supplemental UV light?

Hlg

MIGrampaUSA · Nov 28, 2022

Moe.Red said:
please tag me in when you start using them.

This will be my first production UVB LED I have seen used. Just curious.

I had the UV/IR bar set with my first Grower's Choice E720. I ran a couple of runs. I like that setup way better than any quantum board I've tried. I added another this fall when I moved to a 4 x 8 tent. What I don't have is an apples to apples comparison. I could run one E720 with and the other without ... and I probably will at some point. It probably won't be this run though. I'm already involved with a bunch of cloning. It's something to think about for the future though.

Thinking of using UV light

Thinking of using UV light

2Bad

Moe.Red

RootsRuler

Moe.Red

RootsRuler

Ganjadad

Moe.Red

Should I add UVB Light?

Moe.Red

RootsRuler

Moe.Red

Moe.Red

7munkee

Moe.Red

MIGrampaUSA

Moe.Red

MIGrampaUSA

Moe.Red

RootsRuler

freezeland2

MIGrampaUSA

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