Adventure into fringe knowlege: UV-B radiation to stimulate tricome growth

Ok boys and girls; this is a little out there, but as far as I know it is grounded in fact so bear with me. As you all know THC has quite the list of wondrous properties, but one of the most oft overlooked is how incredibly well it absorbs and blocks ultraviolet radiation. So well in fact that it has been speculated that one of the reasons cannabis originally evolved THC-filled tricomes was in order to protect its sensitive flowers from harmful UV waves. Now, the ultraviolet spectrum, which occurs between 200 and 400 nanometers on the EMR spectrum, is broken up into three parts: UV-A, which is the least harmful, occurs between 400 and 320 nm, UV-B, which causes sunburns in humans, occurs between 320 and 280 nm and UV-C, which is used for sterilization, occurs below 280. It has already been proven that an increase in UV-A radiation will result in an increase in tricome development, but what interests me is UV-B. Because it is so much more intense than UV-A I think that an exposure of it to a cannabis plant in, say, the last 3-4 weeks of flower would result in a very serious boost in THC potency. In that time frame, the plant should have already produced a thick enough tric layer to keep UV-B from wreaking havoc on the buds, but the trics are still young and are due to fatten considerably. Florescent black lights produce UV-B in small amounts, but what really caught my eye recently was a spec sheet from a set of replacement bulbs for a tanning bed. The sheet indicated that the tubes produced a UV-B concentration of 5%. That is a very serious number considering that UV-B only accounts for 1% of UV radiation in natural sunlight, and yet it will still burn untanned skin in a matter of hours. After a little bit of research I discovered that there are tanning bulbs on the market that can produce concentrations as high as 11% (!) I have come to this forum in search of anyone who has ever seen or heard anything about UV-B use in cannabis cultivation. I hope even that someone out there has some experience using tanning bulbs for growing, but I won't hold my breath. Any input or knowledge concerning the effects of UV-B on tricome development would be hugely appreciated. I see much promise in the use of tanning bulbs, but it would be a considerable investment of time and money for me to experiment. I would really like some outside indication that it isn't just a wild goose chase.

:cool:...http://boards.cannabis.com/advanced-...uvb-bulbs.html

Hey DiedFamous, sorry you didn't get much of a response. Welcome to the forum. I'll bump it a little and it may help. I know very little about UV bulbs for growing except that they are very dangerous. People claim to see an improvement after adding them, but they would anyway since buds improve through time. I don't know. I may try them sometime after I get my CO2 all plugged in and running, which I would think is much more important.

You said you signed up to ask that question. I hope you stick around for more than that.

I have found that adding lights that give more UV light can be beneficial up to a point.
However, using lights specifically designed to emit exessive UV-B will confuse and even burn the plants. It can be done if you have warehouse ceilings so the UVB source is nowhere near the plant surface, but for most of us, MH and Fluorescents are the best way to get extra UV.
I use mostly HPS bulbs, with added MH and daylight spectrum fluorescents. I do find that the buds closer to the bluer lights develop more trichomes.