UV lights

You opened up a tin of worms there didnt you,haha.

Theres a number of conflicting studies but the lastest from some uni in the us has proven they have no effect.They've been studing it for years. I have a light that has uv and ir on it and iv never noticed any difference to the plants that aren't under it.

Yikes, there is a critical mass of fear-mongering and bro science in these responses already. As a classically trained physicist, let me break this down for you. The UV light discussion is getting about as bad as the green light fiasco was! UV light has very specific properties which have been applied in a plethora of hyper-specific circumstances. UV-C has a wavelength which is the perfect size for a photon to interact with DNA much like a projectile would (this damages DNA, causes cancer at times, and can be used effectively to disinfect, sanitize, or sterilize depending on exposure and surface type). UV-B is less dangerous for biological life but still a high energy photon at an inconvenient size for living beings. UV-A is about as safe as you can make UV light for exposure to yourself. Is UV light safe? Sure, it absolutely is 100% safe when used with trivial controls. I say this as someone who has a patent filing for a UV-C device. UV light has been used for decades in sanitation and industrial applications. When is it not safe? When you expose yourself to UV, namely UV-C wavelength, photons for extended period of time. Otherwise, you're getting UV exposure from the sun on a regular basis. Artificial UV light typically is such a high energy that the photon is only going to travel for a few feet at those characteristics. What is the buzz around UV light? Well, mostly bro science and rumors. UV light harms cannabinoids (in the same order of severity as humans with respect to A, B, and C wavelengths). The role of UV in a flowering tent is both to protect against pathogens such as yeasts, molds, and insects while also assisting in the destruction of cannabinoids during the daylight hours, which are then rebuilt during the night. This does have a nominal impact on increasing potency, but research indicates it is not enough to justify the energy required. Hemp research has shown distinct terpene expressions based on UV light (this is still an open question IMO). In summary, as a physicist that grows, UV light's only place as a dedicated wavelength would be IF NEEDED in drying tents where exclusively UV-A can be used intermittently with essentially no impact to potency (due to UV-A's low interaction other than isomerization to acidic forms and terpene destruction on surface). Other specific circumstances could be (1) embedded UV emitting tubes to maintain a sanitizing effect in a reservoir outside of root contact or (2) ozone creation to pump through ducting supplemented with UV light [because UV photons are super reflective in O3] to sterilize ducting. Be safe and stick to the science. Cannabis growing will only continue to become a stronger community as more scientists and technically enabled individuals connect the esoteric knowledge from the old heads with the new research and the modern botany. 👽

"Definitely no reason to get cancer over something that may or may not even help your plants, lol. That would be a horrible outcome". Considering cancer Rate is up 1238% in last couple years, doubt it's because increased UV. That was more the purpose of SV40. Thank you for sharing your complete lack of knowledge on the matter. Breathing air that contains higher levels of oxygen than the usual 21 percent found in Earth's atmosphere can cause organ damage, seizures, and even death in people and animals. Drinking too much water can be fatal because it can lead to water intoxication, also known as hyponatremia. This happens when the kidneys can't get rid of excess water, which dilutes the sodium in your blood. Should I walk around telling people not to drink water or breathe oxygen?

Also, don't take it lightly. UV is dangerous. Make sure you can turn it off before entering the tent or exposing your skin to UV rays. Definitely no reason to get cancer over something that may or may not even help your plants, lol. That would be a horrible outcome.

depends on intensity. may only need 1-2 hours a day... can fine-tune that based on visible damage -- i.e. don't cause visible damage, lol. As another said, this is only useful in flower when trichomes are in mass production. the idea of UV is not proven but the hypothesis is that it damages the plant and causes mroe trichomes to be produced. So, doing so before they are present is useless and the plant builds up resistance to UV, which will require a needlessly stronger uv light later on to have the same effect, if there is one. Doesn't matter if using hps or led. UV isn't feeding the plant. It's damaging it. It is not used for photosynthesis. Testing on outdoor crops showed uv to be useless. This is most likely because the plants build up resistance to it when pelted with UV from seedling stage. Indoor crop research has also been inconclusive but hints at possible benefit? Bugbee briefly mentions it in a video from a few years back. I wouldn't invest too much effort into a maybe, but each to their own.

I've been working with UV over 27 years, with half of that being directly with cannabis growers, including some rather famous ones you've heard of and perhaps have bought a book or two from. We have a network of hundreds of growers, dozens of testers, and a couple of different labs we work from. I don't know much, but I know UV. I get on Facebook and other social media and I find that most people talking about UV simply have bad information. They just don't understand it. Some of them are convinced they do, and a rare few think they are experts because they have a year's experience with it. Most people just read bad information that keeps getting passed around as if it is gospel, when in fact, the information is false. This page is designed to bust some of those myths, from someone who actually is an expert on UV. I try to keep it light, and just deal with one issue at a time. You only need UV light for the last 2/3/4 weeks of flowering Not exactly. You can use UVB (UVA is much less helpful in this situation) only in the last few weeks and yes, it will be better than if you didn't, but you are missing out on the true potential of UVA/B. In the wild, plants don't get UV just in the last 2 to 4 weeks. In fact, they get much LESS UV during the last month of flowering than they do during veg simply because of the angle of the sun. Plants will absolutely produce more trichomes, more THC if you use a proper UVB bulb during the entire flowering season. In fact, most larger, successful growers will run them an hour a day during the last half of veg to harden them, and to kill off any risk of powdery mildew. I don't need UV, my LED system (or CMH or MH) already has it Your LED has 365nm and higher, not UVB. Also, it has a very low amount of UVA at 365nm. I'm sure it is helpful, but 365nm will NOT increase trichome production. Only 280nm-320nm does that, and 280-290nm in particular. This is why our Flower Power does a better job than our Universal UV. The Universal is similar to other lamps on the market and does a good job but doesn't produce 280-290nm. The Flower Power does product 280nm+ and smokes everything else because of it. So while your LEDs have a little UVA, they are missing out of the most important part of the UV spectrum; high frequency UVB, and THAT is where trichrome production is triggered. I can't run your UV bulbs, I'm using LED / HPS / MH / whatever You can run Flower Power bulbs with any general lighting. They won't interfere because they produce virtually zero visible light. They pick up where your general lighting leaves off, around 400nm. No matter what general lighting you use, they will work and do the same great job. All you need is a reptile bulb Technically, you don't NEED anything, but a reptile bulb is pretty mild and won't get dramatic results. The problem is that the majority of the output from a reptile bulb is actually NOT ultraviolet, but it is visible light. This doesn't help you, and in fact, interferes with your color temperature if you run a tight setup. To compare, a Flower Power bulb is going to be about 20 times stronger in he UVB region. This is why you only use them for 2 hours a day, and why they work. To get the most of the plant, you have to hammer it for a short while, then let it rest for the bulk of the day. Otherwise, you aren't really stressing it, and you won't get the high trichome production. All UVB lamps are pretty much the same Very wrong for a variety of reasons. For starters, UVB isn't a singular thing. It is a range of colors that span 280nm to 320nm. Virtually all UVB bulbs only produce only the lower energy portion of that spectrum, 300-320nm. The Flower Power is the exception, because it uses a patented glass. The higher bands from 280-290nm in particular are exponentially more powerful and where you get a real defense reaction from the plant. As long as you give it some kind of UVB, you are going to get the same results Basic plant biology says otherwise. The protein that tells cannabis (and other plants) that they are in a high UVB environment is called UVR8. Triggering this protein is what makes the plant go into overdrive and produce tons of extra trichomes. The only way this is triggered is by exposure to 280-290nm. The overwhelming majority of UVB lamps do not produce this range. The Flower Power does. UV will damage the plants and give you cancer I get this one every now and then. Plants evolved in the sun, where there is UV, so did humans. The key is using the right UV, for the right amount of time, and not overexposing the plants (or yourself). It's simply not worth debating, the science is utterly clear that humans and plants both benefit from moderate amounts of UV. UV will interfere with my lights Any good, pure UV light (meaning it has zero visible phosphors) will not. This includes the Universal UV, the Super B and the Flower Power. They produce almost zero visible light. In fact, it's kind of hard to tell if they are on unless you look at them directly. Since virtually all their energy is 400nm and below, they will not interfere with your visible light, which is 400nm to 700nm, and obviously they won't interfere with any infrared you have. Lights that mix UV and visible light (reptile lights, for example), WILL change the color temperature in the room. I tried reptile lights, but they didn't kill powdery mildew, so UV won't kill PM Illogical leap of logic. Reptile lights are weak, on purpose. Flower Power bulbs are 20x stronger in the UVB region, and many times stronger in the UVA. Both high UVA and UVB help kill powdery mildew. We have hundreds of users that use them solely for that purpose. The key is adding UV before you have a huge problem. Used regularly, you will find PM is a thing of the past. The extreme intensity is why they work. For treating PM, you need to run two hours continuously per day, no breaking up the time. Hammer it hard and heavy and in all but the most messed up situations, it will kill it. You don't need UVB to grow great cannabis True and false. Obviously you can grow great cannabis without adding UVB, underground growers have done it for years. But if you take that same grow situation and add the right amount of Flower Power, you are guaranteed to increase THC by at least 15% (for example, going from 17% to almost 20%) and many experienced growers are getting 25% (going from 22% to 29%) or even more. Some growers are reporting total THC of 30-35%. It is very difficult to achieve those numbers without very good UVB. Adding UVB will reduce your yields True and false. If you use Flower Power for two hours a day, you will find your yields are exactly the same as without them, except a larger ratio will be THC. If you work your plants up to 4 or 5 hours a day (most growers don't try this), then yes, it start cutting yields by 5-15% but it boosts THC dramatically. For 99% of our customers, we recommend you stick with the 2 hours a day, get the same yields, get more THC, and keep it simple. It's too expensive It isn't free, but do the math: A bulb will at LEAST 4 plants for 3 flowering seasons. That is a minimum. Lets keep the math simple: That means 4x3=12 plants will benefit from that bulb. Cost per plant is .33. If it increases just a MINIMUM of 15% more THC, you've paid for the bulb before the first harvest. If you get the average gain, 20% higher THC (really it is 25%, but let's err on the safe side), and you get 12oz from each plant (a low minimum), that means the 144oz that you harvest will go from 20% THC to 24% THC. Or from 25% THC to 30% THC. Guaranteed. Is that worth .33 a plant? Plus, don't forget, you're also getting the mold and mildew suppression and insect suppression. In reality, Flower Power are very, very inexpensive. Not using them is expensive. Any UVB is better than none Actually, this one is true. Even a cheap UVB bulb is better than no UVB. That said, for a little more than a cheap UVB bulb, you can have the best UVB around, and since Flower Power last twice as long, they really aren't more expensive. So use what you have, but make room to upgrade later if you really want top shelf results.

UV is only beneficial during flowering...............4 hours a day from about the third week of flowering, I believe.