UVb an experiment

[Rusty Trichome]

Way to go Rusty, from coral reefing to coral reefer, I love it.

Actually, from coral reefing to coral reefer to reefer madness. :jointsmile:

I was told that the double-ended HQI's burn too hot for what I was doing with the corals, so chose the 400w MH's, and made a box to enclose and ventilate it. Meant I could move the ballast, and keep it from adding heat to the tank. :thumbsup:

[Bubbleblower]

That low blue nm range has a fast Time Factor associated with it.

What exactly is Time Factor? Do you have them per wavelength?
Do I understand correctly you can age a plant faster?
If this is beneficial for the plant wouldn't it use more of these "fast" wavelengths?



When I came across that UVB story I -obviously- really wanted to believe that.
But I was a bit sceptical because all the hype seems to be based on one old research from back in 1987*.

So I did a lot of -desk- research and found out flowers don't look or smell so nice without UVB and also fruit, vegetables, etc don't taste so good. UVB helps to develop the flavour in many ways.
Also insects avoid plants grown under UVB and UVB light itself.
(but they are very attracted to UVA).

That was already good.

Then I came across some articles about crop loss caused by pathogens and so and learned you ALWAYS suffer from croploss. That's why you don't realise it, unless it is worse than normal.
This croploss in greenhouses is about 30% average the last 3 weeks.
So without it your yield would be 42% higher!!!

With UV treatment you can reduce this loss to 0%.
This was demonstrated and resulted in this patent.
The treatment works with every crop.

So I added -real- UVB in my room, because I am convinced it will do good.



* In even older research from 1974 "The cannabinoid content of Cannabis sativa L grown in England" Fairbairn and Liebmann compared 4 groups of the same plant in a greenhouse, greenhouse plus additional light, greenhouse plus additional UVB and outdoors. The first two groups had the same amount of THC, the 3rd group 20% more and the outdoors group 90% more.

[Dogznova]

What exactly is Time Factor? Do you have them per wavelength?

Not me personally BUT all nm's have different time factors, some fast and some slow. One example is Red 660nm has one the slowest time factor under the sun and Far Red 730nm has one the fastest time factor. Yes I think the info on separate nm's time factors will be released Halloween 09 by a company called Temporal Photonics.

Do I understand correctly you can age a plant faster?

Yes. (One example is) a grower can almost rippin a flower on command with the proper use of incandescent bulbs (red or clear).

If this is beneficial for the plant wouldn't it use more of these "fast" wavelengths?

Now with led's, the grower has these separate fast wavelengths at their disposal.. We as growers just need to learn how to use them. :thumbsup:

[oldmac]

Last nite marked 9 weeks that the WR has been blooming, and time has run out due to the next batch being ready to go. Usually it takes 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 weeks to finish, this time it had 9 weeks and it was at 90-95% cloudy trichomes with a few still clear, and no amber. Based on this, I believe the following;

1) UVb has a direct relationship on trichome finishing, ie getting them to turn amber.

2) the use of UVb in flowering hastens the finishing times, in this run/strain by at least a week.

Only two things left to do with this experiment, see what the finished dried wgt/plant is and to see if there is any difference in potency. While the second part will be tough work to do, I think I can handle it.

[SauceeMcGee]

oldmac,

how do you plan to scientifically determine which batch is more potent? Are you going to try and measure out extraction oils or something? Your method intrigues me.

SMG

[oldmac]

Hey Dogznova,

I look forward to someone releasing a chart or something listing the various "speeds of light" or time factors and there effect on plant growth at various stages of the plant's development. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around this, I would love to know why far red is fast yet red is so slow.

Hello Bubbleblower,

Interesting patent you posted, UVc has long been used for both air and water filtering for the very purpose of killing pathogens. The first line of defense in not having crop loss in a greenhouse (or an indoor growing area) is good hygiene. That is running as sterile environment as possible, but difficult when venting a greenhouse to keep spores and such out.

The possiblity that UVb may be the cause of more fragrence in flowers growing may account for the fact that growing with most LEDs causes much less smell problems then when growing under HPS.

Your use of UVb seems well thought out, just keep in mind your safety when using it.:thumbsup:

[oldmac]

oldmac,

how do you plan to scientifically determine which batch is more potent? Are you going to try and measure out extraction oils or something? Your method intrigues me.

SMG

Unfortunately I have no scientific method, just my subjective opinion and my housemate Tonto's. Probably let a few others try this batch vs. last batch.

Already vaped a small bud last nite and I see no major differences in taste but did not try it against the last batch yet. But final taste and potency comparisons will wait till it's dried, manicured and cured.

Having just been thru finding the best of the 10 shiva skunks I grew out to select a mom, I know I'm up to the task. Here it's going to be easy just two samples.

[Rusty Trichome]

Sooo, my 12 clones have all rooted, and am ready for the 'UV in Veg' attempt. Y'all want me to continue in this thread, or start one fresh?

An unrelated note: I'll likely be slowing-down my contributions here at CanCom for a couple/few weeks. Yesterday morning I was violently shaking a gallon of paint to paint my 12 appartment bird condo, and slammed my hand against the door jamb. (it jumped out of nowhere) Broke my hand. (longest pinky bone after the wrist...possibly the next one over, too) Needless to say it's a real bitch to type. If it get's any more painful, I might have to go get it looked at.

[headshake]

sorry to hear about your hand rusty. that stinks. it already seems like things are dwindling around here.

maybe it's just the crowd thinning out so some real work can get done?


-shake

[oldmac]

Sooo, my 12 clones have all rooted, and am ready for the 'UV in Veg' attempt. Y'all want me to continue in this thread, or start one fresh?

An unrelated note: I'll likely be slowing-down my contributions here at CanCom for a couple/few weeks. Yesterday morning I was violently shaking a gallon of paint to paint my 12 appartment bird condo, and slammed my hand against the door jamb. (it jumped out of nowhere) Broke my hand. (longest pinky bone after the wrist...possibly the next one over, too) Needless to say it's a real bitch to type. If it get's any more painful, I might have to go get it looked at.

It would be great if you continued your experiment here, I know I and some others here are very interested in it. Plus maybe we can keep one thread active for UVb discussions. :thumbsup:

Really sorry to hear of your accident, those small bones between knuckles and wrist can be a real pain. Broken bones in that area are usually referred to as "boxer fractures" and there is usually not much they can do for it except immobilize it. At one time or another I've managed to to break a few of those, some twice. I understand that mmj has properties that can relieve pain, maybe you should look into that.