HLG 36 UVA Anyone have any info or opinion on these UVA strips? From everything I’ve read about UV supplement it’s the UVB radiation that has an effect on resin production. This new strip from HLG only produces UVA but they list “increased resin production” as a feature of the board. I think rapid have a similar strip but I haven’t seen anyone using that one either.
Found this, was written by a LED manufacturer so take with a grain of salt: LED Grow Lights | Growing Kits & Indoor Commercial Grow Lights In Cannabis plants, exposure to UVA vs UVB light increases production of THC and CBD. There is some confusion caused by a 1987 study by John Lydon, Alan Teramura and C. Benjamin Coffman titled "UV-B Radiation Effects on Photosynthesis, Growth and Cannabinoid Production of two Cannabis sativa Chemotypes". The study grew Cannabis plants and exposed some to UVB light and others to no UV light at all, finding increased THC concentrations for the plants exposed to UVB compared to the plants not exposed to UV lights for plants at all. Some people have interpreted this to mean that only UVB light increases the production of THC in Cannabis plants, but this study does not demonstrate that. First, the study was not designed to test exposing Cannabis plants to UVA light- only UVB or no UV at all, so nothing can be concluded from the study about whether UVA affects THC production in Cannabis. Secondly, the study's setup was flawed and really only tested whether exposing Cannabis plants to both UVB and UVA increased THC production compared to no UV light at all, because the cellulose acetate filter they used in an effort to eliminate UVA light from their broad-spectrum UV source was later shown by a different study to allow UVA light to pass through. So the original study only showed that exposure to both UVA and UVB light increased THC production compared to no UV, but not whether UVA or UVB (or the combination) was responsible. From our own research grows, Black Dog LED has demonstrated that UVA light alone can increase THC and CBD production in Cannabis plants. The combination of UVA and UVB light (from a standard "reptile bulb" fluorescent light) also increases THC and CBD production, but the inclusion of UVB in the light has noticeable detrimental effects on plant growth compared to only UVA. So I don't know. If what they say is legit it means the original 1987 study everyone is leaning on didn't seperate UVB and UVA so the results could be from either or both. They claim that testing showed UVA does the job. I would like to think both HLG and Rapid have a reason why they manufacture these strips in the first place. Would be fantastic to get rid of the T5 UVB lamps though.
Haha. I gotta see if i have enough space for em. Maybe ill get them when I can diy. I can see them being great for highland varieties. Supposedly uva is more gentle on plants. It doesn't damage dna like uvb.
Yeah I think this is the whole premise behind these lamps, still stimulates resin production without the harm. What’s weird to me is they recommend only using them in the last 3-5 weeks for 3-4 hours during lights on, as opposed to using them as early as possible for as long as possible (without damage). I wonder what they base these recommendations on?
The problem with using uv-a all the way through flowering is that uv-a protons naturally over-power red protons, and you don't want that happening from week 3 of flowering to at least the end of week 7 of flowering as the less amount of red protons hitting your plants will greatly impede their ability to maximize their flowering production. You know, I really don't want to say this, but then I feel I must, what really gets me about most of these emerging lighting companies is that they don't do any real research, or provide any real case studies that prove how useful a certain lighting product they are selling is, and then what makes it even worse, they just seem to follow each other, quoting each others nonsense, which simply tells me to not believe anything they say! Anyway... if you do take the time to do some reading have a look at the recommendations put out by EYE HORTILUX and Gavita, as both of their recommendations come from gathering many years of scientific facts relating to the effects that uv-a and uv-b have on cannabis plants! As for myself, when I use HID, I use HPS for flowering, but then for some stains I supplement the HPS after week 7 with a 4000K MH, but then for other strains, I totally switch from using HPS to use a 6000K MH bulb after week 7. Then if I am using gb's, all my qb's have 600nm, 660nm red in them now, they truly help to make denser buds. Anyway, when I am using qb's, after week 7 I supplement the qb's with T5HO's, I use 2 x 24" Arcadia T5HO 16% and 2 x 24" ATI Coral Plus in a 4 x 4 as those two sets of bulbs work awesome with the qb boards. And I say that because for me, as of right now, while using qb's, the T5HO avenue is the only way to go, as I can literally see more resin being produced as apposed to just running my qb boards without the T5HO supplement lighting. Also, as a side note I have repeatedly tried those 320nm, 365nm, 385nm, 395nm, 405nm light sabers, and they didn't do anything one way or another. But NO, I didn't use the HLG 36 UVA boards, but I did use really good ones, 4 x NICHIA, 20 chip 365nm, 385nm, 395nm, 405nm - 36v, 50w boards. And I also tried 4 x LG 24 chip boards, 36v, 320nm, 365nm, 385nm, 395nm, 405nm - 40w boards and neither of them did anything to increase resin production for me... With the help of T5's... (92 Kalimist)
I don't have much experience indoors outdoor mainly. making the switch though soon and very excited. I have very little knowledge on uvb and uva but I read that UVA you mainly want to use the last two weeks of flower. Also that you really only turn it on two hours before lights go out.
Interesting, wish I knew this before I got the strip lol! Oh well, I guess Ill add +1 to the survey size, for science! BTW this is HLG recommendation for using the UVA strip: "Use during last 3-5 weeks of flowering for 3-4 hrs a day during lights on period." Which matches what you said. Good to know blue light can inhibit flowering though, guess my plan to supplement with blue during first 3 weeks to reduce stretch in lanky sativa strains wasnt so brilliant after all huh? Guess I need to find another use for all these royal blue leds i just got from rapid, lol!
Board arrived today Looks like they started using new model of wire ports, hopefully these are easier to use, the other model is a PITA to get wires out of. Board comes with thermal tape already installed The driver it came with
that's disappointing... saw you added a post to the thread and was hoping after a month you might have had some results to report on it's use. didn't know you were still waiting for it to arrive after all this time! oh well lol very interested in future reports nice looking board though
I dont live in the U.S so yeah it takes time for stuff to get over. Regardless, HLG recomend to use this board only during the last 3-5 weeks and I'm only at the end of week 5 (out of 14) so I wouldnt have any results by now anyway. I'll keep you guys posted when I have something to show for it lol.
lol anyone feel like HLG is just slowly draining our pockets. Buy LED to keep your tent cooler... but then run your tent hotter because of the lack of IR Buy White LED because of superior spectrum... but then buy our additional far red LEDs and UV bulb Buy this LED because it is the best light to grow with.... 2 months later that LED is shit buy this one it is the best light ever! Growing plants indoros isn't new, the science of all this stuff has been around for ages
Let's go with can't hurt, might help. Do a side by side and only expose one plant to it! Also @norml56 its that slow burn of continually adding pieces one by one until you have the new york city skyline in your tent
You could say that about any product really, It’s called technology advancement. New tech comes out all the time, and it HAS to get better because of competition. But no one said the older models are shit now, they are just as good as the day they came out.
Far as I can tell none of stuff that being added is new tech. We've always known UV affects Terp/trichome production. We've always known far reds help during flower. IR effects on plants is not new either.
UV has been around a long time. I've seen some experimentation with it in grow rooms. You have to be careful with it because it has negative effects to plant growth. Too much too soon or too much in general can stunt growth. That's why its generally only used at the end of the flower cycle like the last two weeks. Also those are only UVA which most standard bulb UV lights are heavy in UVB but also have some A and C. Not sure if only being in the UVA range would make a difference. I'm really tempted to try rapid led's UV board instead because it's both UV and IR which is the frequency past far red. Exotic Supplement Booster Board
Then the UV wears out all your plastic and fabric in your room and can hurt your eyes if you aren't very careful. Its a difficult play.
