UVB Lights, They Can Make a Difference

I searched it, nothing came up for "UVB" in thread titles. So that leaves me wondering how many of you are, or have used UVB supplementation in the past. I am fairly new to UVB having only used it for the first time during my last grow, but I am hooked, and a firm believer that the presence of UVB in the growroom does initiate changes in your plants.

The main argument, and the one that wins me over is that alot of the most potent marijuana originated in locations with high exposure to UVB rays. Think about it for a minute, which places pop to mind...Afghanistan, Mexico, Hawaii, Korea...they all have a very high exposure to UVB rays. Now consider that the bulbs used in today's gardens contain almost no UVB, HPS and MH bulbs were created for outdoor lighting, not growing.

I keep mentioning changes without being any more specific, the theory is that UVB may in fact be the catalyst for THC production. There's a whole process behind this obviously, but basically it's thought that THC is the plants defense measure against the harmful UVB rays. Where a plant not exposed to UVB may never get past producing more and more cannabinoids, a plant that is exposed will start turning those cannibinoids into THC.

Before you simply dismiss the thought to "myth" try it out, you may not always see a significant reaction...but it's worth it for those times that you do. Exposure to UVB rays turned whichever part of my plants facing the UVB bulbs deep purple, the parts that faced away stayed green.



That is a MALE plant in case you're wondering...I grew it out for the pollen, which I never ended up collecting.

morning my man....great thread. there are some people that have undertaken to do some experiments....and otehrs that are just trying it as supplemental light..... there are also a number of different threads where uv light is/has been discussed. Not sure why the search function didn't show you anything.... but this is the one that I started some time ago ... Trichomes, THC and UVB light..... ..... good luck man!

so what bulb over what space are you using?

LoudBlunts said:

so what bulb over what space are you using?

Click to expand...

And what kind of a lighting schedual are giving to the "UV-B"? Are you running the UV-B's full time with your main grow lights - just part time during the light cycle - or what?

I was using 2 26w 10.0 ReptiGlo bulbs over 6 square feet (3x2) on the same timer as my regular lights...I have looked into different lighting schedules with UVB, but I found no damage to my plant with more exposure. Alot of UVB growers may have the UVB bulbs only come on 'midday' to simulate the sun's activity, but like I said I found that even with 12 hours of uninterupted UVB exposure there was no damage to my plants.