NO! You should stay out of your grow during your UVB cycle as it's not good to get any UVB exposure. With mild exposure it can cause minor sunburn discomfort. Prolonged exposure can cause skin cancer. Any exposure to your eyes is harmful and prolonged exposure can cause blindness! Having said all that... UVB can make a significant difference in the dankness of your bud. Is it necessary for growing great bud? No but it does help imho. It simply stresses your girls into doing more glandular production which is the marijuana plant's "sunscreen."

I first started looking into UVB in 2005 and at the time I found a Dutch study that cited a specific Philips medical UVB T12 fluoro tube that had been used to augment HID lighting on flowering marijuana. The study showed significant increases in the production of trichomes and THC content. After searching the internet I found medical bulb suppliers. Ordering one of these turned out not to be as easy as calling it in. These bulbs are sold with a prescription for UVB skin therapy for people with psoriasis. They have to be used for either medical use with prescription or for industrial use. I had to fax them a waiver stating that no humans would be exposed to the lamps and they sold them to me.

I put them into my bloom closet, slowly starting out at an hour for a few days, then two, then three up til they were at 5 hours exposure in the middle of their day for the rest of the show. You notice a bit of a "weathering" effect on the plant with some slight discoloration. Within days there is a definite increase in goo production. At that time I had a 600w Hortilux HPS along with the same 6-lamp T5 and my new harvest was noticably more dank than buds of the same strain and bloom closet conditions minus the UVB I had for comparison from past shows.

UVB is for the experienced grower who has all his ducks already in a row and would like to experiment with an esoteric lighting approach. If you don't respect UVB and it's dangers it will hurt you. Be careful and good luck.

Peace!
gr8budz4me Reviewed by gr8budz4me on . uvb safety what's good everyone? i've got a few questions about uvb safety. i picked up a exo terra brand Repti Glo 10.0 uv bulb. i've been reading the uvb log (you know the really crazy out of control one?) and think i have a handle on the safety precautions. 1. don't look at it/wear sunglasses 2. don't expose your skin to it is there anything i'm missing? also, my grow box is made from corrugated, some thick double wall stuff. i have it lined with aluminized auto sunshades. it is Rating: 5