Uv supplement for led grows?

thenotsoesoteric

American Ninja
What are y'alls thought on uv supplemental lighting for running leds? I know its been discussed plenty but I figured I'd beat a dead horse. Gonna be running hlg 260 diy kits and I've only ran them for one cycle with a twinkle tarts cut in soil last year. Smoke came out fine but I went back to cmh after that plant.

Should I get a uv bar for the boost in terps? Or is that just chatter in online articles. And if I should get uv supplemental light a reptile bulb or led bar?

Whats the thoughts out there? Cheers
 

HydroRed

3Thirteen Seeds
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
What are y'alls thought on uv supplemental lighting for running leds? I know its been discussed plenty but I figured I'd beat a dead horse. Gonna be running hlg 260 diy kits and I've only ran them for one cycle with a twinkle tarts cut in soil last year. Smoke came out fine but I went back to cmh after that plant.

Should I get a uv bar for the boost in terps? Or is that just chatter in online articles. And if I should get uv supplemental light a reptile bulb or led bar?

Whats the thoughts out there? Cheers

I think theres more advantages to added UV than there are disadvantages when used correctly. I ran (1) 4' Agromax "Pure UV" in addition to each 1KW HPS and soon after my 400W COB leds. At the time I did it, I was in a room where I had fought PM due to the room being unfinished but I do believe it may have aided in flavor and possibly keeping the PM in check til the room got finished. Was it enough to keep me running it after I moved grows and the PM issues went away...no.
 

thenotsoesoteric

American Ninja
I think theres more advantages to added UV than there are disadvantages when used correctly. I ran (1) 4' Agromax "Pure UV" in addition to each 1KW HPS and soon after my 400W COB leds. At the time I did it, I was in a room where I had fought PM due to the room being unfinished but I do believe it may have aided in flavor and possibly keeping the PM in check til the room got finished. Was it enough to keep me running it after I moved grows and the PM issues went away...no.
Cool cool. The 1 tarts i finished under just the quantum boards tasted and looked same as it did under the cmh for what I can remember so I figured the benefit of uv was minimal.

Im gonna run 2 2x4 tents each powered by 1 hlg 260 in each so was just curious but I think ill wait on any experiments with uv.

Cheers man and thanks for the info.
 

Southside112

In Bloom
Just did a run with added uvb. California lightworks 2' florescent. I think uv supplementation purples the plants up and make for photogenic girls. I ran mine 18" with the leds. Most recommend having the uv light source farther away like 32". I had a cool mutation on a useful chemd x boo I attribute to the uvb supplementation. Let me see if I can find a pick. I am not using the uvb this run as I think it makes the final Buds darker than normal. I prefer my stash lime green. I was doing 20 min/hour for 4 hours around mid day. Nothing scientific just my personal observations. I would say it increased tricome coverage imo.
20210203_221512.jpg
Cobs copper candy w added uvb.
20210203_024857.jpg
Chem d x boo w added uvb.
 

BH

Tha Dank Hoarder
IPM Forum Moderator
thing is if you haven’t invested in crazy amount of time and effort and cash to make a near perfect enviroment and also good genetics and your process and cure is also dialed ( so what if you get your extra terps if you destroy majority by bad process and cure protocol ) uva or b (exp b cause it cna do so much harm ) shouldn’t be on top of your “to-do’s” till you got that dialed. Not only is uvb selected just like high ppfd on actually working without trial of your strains and knowing what they look and end result of using and without and knowing your enviroment limits , just like nutes demands.


if you do know your plants demands and your enviroment is on and so forth, than sure add uva/b and do trials cause exp with uvb it’s so easy to fry and do negative than that small % you gain, my views is it worth it to most hobbyist and rely on their yeilds vs 10000’s of lights for commercial level and trialing in small scale of their room or testing lab after they show their enviroment my view would be heck yes I would def recommend for them .

sure there’s many people that show fire from adding uva or b for extra spectrum and added trich but do many post their failures on modern day social media like that? Call me a negative Nancy but Inless your talking to people that sells these bars almost all the reps for led’s and grow room advisor would say the same like I am Inless they are trying to sell you uva/b “improvements”. Hell timber and hlg both told me when asked about uva and b it wasn’t worth it and it’s a last thing to add if you got everything else dialed in.

it wasn’t intill I invested god knows amounts into a sealed and reconstructed room for growing and highest tech led’s and misc and running them multple rounds and genetic selection that liked higher ppfd and higher nutes intakes I ever was wanting to do even uva add on cause I have seen from friends that are LP when doing trials from small amounts to max amounts get fried or don’t help to show to add to every 4x4.

‘’my conclusion for now is yes uva is fine after everything else and it is a good add on that the lights lack , but I honestly think Inless you are monocropping your crops genetics based on ur room that demand snd such ( thing is I had many hps loving pheno’s or outdoor and than when I switched to leds they became haters and i couldn’t ever get the same quality vs choosing proper genetics ). All your doing is jumping down the rabbit hole or damaging your end result with Uvb Inless your willing to risk and learn the timings of the plants limits , hints why commerical can do it in small scale to them and see if it’s worth it and have less failure or damage done.

my test as of now is (4) of my 4x4’s or 2 4x8’s rows have uva on them, like to test before investing in whole room upgrades and Claiming that was what made my quality
 
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Southside112

In Bloom
thing is if you haven’t invested in crazy amount of time and effort and cash to make a near perfect enviroment and also good genetics and your process and cure is also dialed ( so what if you get your extra terps if you destroy majority by bad process and cure protocol ) uva or b (exp b cause it cna do so much harm ) shouldn’t be on top of your “to-do’s” till you got that dialed. Not only is uvb selected just like high ppfd on actually working without trial of your strains and knowing what they look and end result of using and without and knowing your enviroment limits , just like nutes demands.


if you do know your plants demands and your enviroment is on and so forth, than sure add uva/b and do trials cause exp with uvb it’s so easy to fry and do negative than that small % you gain, my views is it worth it to most hobbyist and rely on their yeilds vs 10000’s of lights for commercial level and trialing in small scale of their room or testing lab after they show their enviroment my view would be heck yes I would def recommend for them .

sure there’s many people that show fire from adding uva or b for extra spectrum and added trich but do many post their failures on modern day social media like that? Call me a negative Nancy but Inless your talking to people that sells these bars almost all the reps for led’s and grow room advisor would say the same like I am Inless they are trying to sell you uva/b “improvements”. Hell timber and hlg both told me when asked about uva and b it wasn’t worth it and it’s a last thing to add if you got everything else dialed in.

it wasn’t intill I invested god knows amounts into a sealed and reconstructed room for growing and highest tech led’s and misc and running them multple rounds and genetic selection that liked higher ppfd and higher nutes intakes I ever was wanting to do even uva add on cause I have seen from friends that are LP when doing trials from small amounts to max amounts get fried or don’t help to show to add to every 4x4.

‘’my conclusion for now is yes uva is fine after everything else and it is a good add on that the lights lack , but I honestly think Inless you are monocropping your crops know ur room, genetics that demand such. All your doing is jumping down the rabbit hole or damaging your end result
Agree to a certain extent. Did some cool things to the plants and did things I didn't like such as darkening the buds. It's always fun to push it and experiment. That being said this run no plans to use the uvb light.
 

jaguarlax

Tactical Gardener
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
My personal experience is positive with adding UV into the spectrum (with on/off switch in a best case scenario), but either way I think I prefer to have UV diodes built into my actual panels, rather than running a seperate fixture with UV-B bulbs. Even if this goes against the general consensus.

I have been experimenting with a Florescent UV Bulb, sent to me by Migro to supplement my panels. I am having a hard time finding the perfect distance and timing without burning my plants.

However, my Kingbrite LED quantum bars, with LG UV diodes pre-installed are producing great results. There is most certainly a drop off in quality, than just running my boards without UV.
 

HydroRed

3Thirteen Seeds
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
My personal experience is positive with adding UV into the spectrum (with on/off switch in a best case scenario), but either way I think I prefer to have UV diodes built into my actual panels, rather than running a seperate fixture with UV-B bulbs. Even if this goes against the general consensus.

I have been experimenting with a Florescent UV Bulb, sent to me by Migro to supplement my panels. I am having a hard time finding the perfect distance and timing without burning my plants.

However, my Kingbrite LED quantum bars, with LG UV diodes pre-installed are producing great results. There is most certainly a drop off in quality, than just running my boards without UV.
Does the Migro bulb you use produce UV A & B?
 

Hawkman

High as a Hawk
MANY LED'S HAVE (QB'S and LED'S) but understand that UV is best used the last two week of flower for INCREASES IN TERPENS AND ESSENTIAL OILS ALSO USUING A JUST "BLUE" SPECTRUM BORAD THE LAST TWO WEEKS BEFORE HARVEST DOES THE SAME A PLANT NEED DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF uv THRU IT'S CYCLE - BUT UNDERSTAND TO BE USED SPARENTLY
 

Fr3nzy

In Bloom
The most recent light I bought enfun ef2000, samsung 301 diodes with meanwell driver. It has ir 750nm and uv 400 nm built in. But I dont think they are on in veg. It does make since why to use, trichomes are protection for the plant so the harsher the light the more it will produce trichs right? I tend to see people only use a uv bulb a few hours a day, but when its built in it's on during all lights on. I'm assuming the built in ones tend to be weaker then a straight uv bulb for like a reptile.
 
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