LEDs and potency

BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I just want a mild form of UV. I know you can't really see much in the way of UV in the spectral graph of a CFL but there must be some. I also think the added wattage may help. Anyway, I'll try these cool white CFLs for now and see if that suffices or not. I'll look around in the pet section next time I'm in Walmart though, just to see what they have. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.
 
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GreenSanta

GreenSanta

Well-Known Member
Unless you grow the absolute most fire weed, I wouldnt go out of my way for UV, get your growing skills dialed in first. I tried a reptile lamp once and it was putting out so much heat, didnt make any sense, plus I didnt notice any difference. There might be some UV in some of my lamps like the old AF600s but I have just finished a full cycle with nothing but COBs and everything came out fire. I just want to make sure newbies reading this dont feel like they have to run out and buy UV lamps.

to the OP, I have been growing weed with leds for a long time and I believe its as good or better than HIDs... weed is weed... you get what you put into it, overall wattage dictates the yields and intensity dictates the quality, imo.
 
The Dawg

The Dawg

Well-Known Member
GreenSanta said:
Unless you grow the absolute most fire weed, I wouldnt go out of my way for UV, get your growing skills dialed in first. I tried a reptile lamp once and it was putting out so much heat, didnt make any sense, plus I didnt notice any difference. There might be some UV in some of my lamps like the old AF600s but I have just finished a full cycle with nothing but COBs and everything came out fire. I just want to make sure newbies reading this dont feel like they have to run out and buy UV lamps.

to the OP, I have been growing weed with leds for a long time and I believe its as good or better than HIDs... weed is weed... you get what you put into it, overall wattage dictates the yields and intensity dictates the quality, imo.
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superbak3d

superbak3d

Well-Known Member
Personally I think using a few spiral cfls (they don't have to be very high wattage) is the easiest and cheapest solution.

You can guy buy a 4 pack for 12 bucks or whatever put em in the corners of your tent a few inches above the canopy. Won't effect heat much, they're cfls so obviously inexpensive to run. Small boost in watt per sqft. And just enough UVB to where you can run them 12 hours all day without fear of "sunburning" your resin off.

Really you have nothing to loose by adding in some cfls, but plenty to gain.
 
P

PurpleBuz

Well-Known Member
BobCajun said:
I just want a mild form of UV. I know you can't really see much in the way of UV in the spectral graph of a CFL but there must be some. I also think the added wattage may help. Anyway, I'll try these cool white CFLs for now and see if that suffices or not. I'll look around in the pet section next time I'm in Walmart though, just to see what they have. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.
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point is you are wasting effort deploying cfls for UV. to get enough UV to get anywhere close to sunlight, you will need to power your whole grow with just CFLs.

superbak3d said:
Really you have nothing to loose by adding in some cfls, but plenty to gain.
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What your losing is $$ for electricity, efficiency wise CFLs are worse than T5HO, HIDs.
 
hillbill

hillbill

Well-Known Member
The struggle in hps-land is always getting more blue into the crappy spectrum. Fortunes have been made this way.

CMH and LEDs have done the best for me in trichs resins. Like most here, I am well experienced in hps grows. The Philips retrofit CMH never gave the density I wanted but gave the plants more energy and leaves and frost. Used hps and cmh together. Had Plantmax, Ushio, Horti, Philips, and plain Sylvania with little difference between any hps except prettier boxes and web sites for the "luxury" bulbs. Even supplemented with several 6500 cfl's. the plain Sylvania hung with the best!

White LEDs, w/r LEDs, and white cobs seem to do it all. High end blurple LEDs made a lot of frost on tiny buds. Remember how white LEDs owe their life to blue.

Having said all that, it won't hurt to add UV and if you try it you may like it. Just be careful.
 
Fastslappy

Fastslappy

Well-Known Member
hillbill what UV fixture do u use ?
i got alot of frost with my burples but I had overkill on burple use
this time around 3590's again overkill
I do know about UV hazards
 
hillbill

hillbill

Well-Known Member
I did not do UV specific UV supplimentation, just 6500k cfl's hung close around plant.

Consider this. Could increases to the amount of blue in light signal the plant that harmful UV is also increasing and that it should protect itself.

Not opposed to supplementing but I am happy with led results myself. Have fun!
 
Fastslappy

Fastslappy

Well-Known Member
hillbill said:
I did not do UV specific UV supplimentation, just 6500k cfl's hung close around plant.

Consider this. Could increases to the amount of blue in light signal the plant that harmful UV is also increasing and that it should protect itself.

Not opposed to supplementing but I am happy with led results myself. Have fun!
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I'm gonna move slow on this anyway UV is not simple as throwing up a UV lite assy & letting it burn
that's why I asked ThanX
 
theexpress

theexpress

Well-Known Member
FranJan said:
Ya know I always thought UVB increases THC quality not quantity :confused:. I'm telling ya peeps when a UVB source increases the amount of trichomes on your bud it may very well be that your primary source was lacking to begin with or at least that's what I saw in my limited experience trying to use UVB. And just because someone posses a great cut doesn't guarantee a great crop every time, right? Especially when a grower deviates from what they usually do, like changing your mix recipe or nutes or say like having been growing for years with CFLs and then less than a year with LEDs. Perhaps something like that????

Also, IMHO, when you run your COBs too easy, and I'm not saying that's the case with the OP, but when you run soft the extra spectra created isn't as prevalent, intense or as energetic as what the manufacturer is showing us. There are other factors, like blend/phosphors used by the manufacturer, that will alter the light sources output too as I'm sure you cobsters probably see when you run your SPD numbers. I like efficiency like everyone but sometimes too soft is....too soft in my book and any additional extended spectra may not be working in your favor as well as it should.

I've always doubted COBs as far as a complete cannabis grow spectrum go, and there may be some truth to what the OP is saying so to finish, besides the fact that I can go back and pull up a photo or two of bud grown with just LEDs that will put to doubt any of that "LEDs don't grow frost" stuff, some strains that I've previously grown don't seem to be as frosty as to what came out of my tent with the Chinese diodes I previously used but that the overall product is much better now with the addition of COBs replacing inefficient mono wattage + CREE bulbs. That's the paradox I see and I do wonder if that it is related to spectrum, excessive blue in the flowering area now with all the COBs or simply the limits of my environment and my growing skills atm?


Pineapple Snow
View attachment 3593879
Frosty enough 4 U ? IDK but it tastes like Pineapple hashish and by hit 2 I've forgotten what the hell were we talking about. :eyesmoke:​
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No not frosty enoughScreenshot_2015-12-31-14-46-47.png
 
G

grouch

Well-Known Member
GreenSanta said:
Unless you grow the absolute most fire weed, I wouldnt go out of my way for UV, get your growing skills dialed in first. I tried a reptile lamp once and it was putting out so much heat, didnt make any sense, plus I didnt notice any difference. There might be some UV in some of my lamps like the old AF600s but I have just finished a full cycle with nothing but COBs and everything came out fire. I just want to make sure newbies reading this dont feel like they have to run out and buy UV lamps.

to the OP, I have been growing weed with leds for a long time and I believe its as good or better than HIDs... weed is weed... you get what you put into it, overall wattage dictates the yields and intensity dictates the quality, imo.
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Were you running the t5 reptile bulbs or the t8?
 
BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
PSUAGRO. said:
OP , CMH having the highest test potency had NOTHING to do with UV-a-b, their is a reason why those hid bulbs have an outer envelope:wink:

https://www.cycloptics.com/sites/default/files/GB USU Spectral Characterization link.pdf


good luck grower and time to pheno hunt for something stronger
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Interesting that only HPS has a similar amount of near IR as sunlight. It does have very little UV though. The CFL blacklight has massive amounts of UVA but not as much UVB. Still over 100 times as much UVB as a cool white CFL, which itself has only about 1/40th as much as sunlight. The HO fluorescents look like the best UVB source in a white grow light. CMH has much less than regular MH. Thanks for posting that link.
 
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