Hello guys and girls! Please skip this if you don't enjoy long posts.
At the same time I changed my lighting to LEDs, I also changed my seed provider, and I begun to notice a decrease in potency of the flowers. The lights I have now are 4X50W CXB3070 30G.
Before I throw away my seeds in the garbage I would like to supplement with a UV light so I can rule out the lights, although if the LEDs were low quality they wouldn't be so popular, or at least I would of heard of this problem.
I wonder tho, does UV light leaves any radiation residue on the plant? Anyone know for sure it's safe to consume afterwards?
Also, I grow in organic soil. Will this UV light kill my bennies(beneficial bacteria)? Maybe turn it on just in flower, when the leaves are enough to protect the soil?
Hell, how safe is it for me? I grow in a small storage room in my house, but the door is always open in the "plant day" hours. Should I avoid looking towards the light coming from the storage room, or is it safe until the point I look directly into the light?
Which brings me to the next question. Which in the world is the technique to supplement UV light?
I found a light that I like. I didn't bought it yet, but it seems that it is the most powerful UV CFL in the 13W range, so low consumption, which I like, relatively cheap to implement and maintain, and very accessible. I already have an old lamp that I can fit in the grow near the plant, without disturbing the COBs.
Exo Terra Reptile Uvb 200 13W which gives at the closest point to the plant:
40cm(16") 120µw/cm2-UVA and 20µw/cm2-UVB
and at the farthest:
60cm(24") 40µw/cm2-UVA and 7µw/cm2-UVB
I can also get these if someone says they're better:
Jbl Reptil Jungle UV 190 15W
and
Mega Sun UVB 10.0 13W
which are relatively the same in specs and price. I noticed every model has a similar UV output model that draws more W but the rest is converted to Kelvin light. So the 13W model is the optimum one. 2X13W bulbs are way better than one 26W one.
Good thing these lights are also used in "normal" activities, otherwise they would cost at least a couple of hundreds.
Is the light enough for my humble needs? Are the distances right? I'm thinking a cheap way to test UV intensity is with my prescription glasses because they have photo-chromatic lenses.The darker they get, the most UV intensity. I know how dark they can get at most in a very bright summer day at noon. Just a thought. I will play with the light I get eventually. I'll take pictures of the glasses every inch away distance from UV light to compare the levels of intensity at different distances.
Maybe I will get a Reptisun T5 10.0 HO or a AGROMAX PURE UV T5 in 22" if that's a the trully right UV light, but I would be very angry about it. I'll also have to find a good fixture/reflector for it.
I can rotate the pot myself daily because I only grow one plant and I mainline. The pot is not anchored and I can rotate it. Is it good to rotate daily, or maybe each side needs 2-3 days for the plant to react? I can do whatever.
How much time in a plant day should I set the timer of the UV light? All 12 hours, fewer and set in the middle of the 12 hours? Does anyone actually did a side by side with a clone and same base light to confirm an actual weight and potency change?
I'll tell you, the last grow pushed me to search for potency enhancer. I've grown an Critical Kush from Dinafem. It looked good, finished good, cured it, 143 grams(5 ounces) which seems fair and it's more than enough for me, but the potency made it almost garbage. It took vaping 0,5 grams of the most potent stuff, the very top of the tops, to make me high in a reasonable intensity, not all the way up, but high. And I'm using a Plenty vaporizer, which is very efficient. At some point I wanted to bake with 15 grams colas, even tho I don't like edibles.
Does UV changes the chemical structure of trichomes after harvest?
Thank you if you read this far.
Later edit: I just read and I remembered UV kills plastic and other things too. I'll definetly need a fixture to protect my carbon filter and main lights. It will be hard to kill my fan, but it's cheap to replace when it does.
But what about the power lines? I'll have to raise them all in the grow, but I still think they'll get "second hand" long term exposure. The last thing I want is a fire in my house. What do you folks think?
