Using uvb to kill PM

i recently discovery some mild PM on my plants a few days ago and since i have add 3 uvb lights under my 4x12 canopy as recommended by my hydroponics store,i just start week 5 of flower. (No spray for me)

I had original though i creates the PM from A 15% humidity swing but i found the source of the PM outside on some vegetation in my walking path to my grow room(19x19 shop)

My question is does anyone have experience with what light cycle’s i should be using on the uvb’s?

should i turn the uv’s on for a little before i turn on my leds?

Can the uv’s burn the plants?

If you have any experience with uvb’s please share your experience

Ill snap a few pics of the pm tomorrow the lights are off atm

Also is PM systemic or not :wall:
 

jimihendrix1

Well-Known Member
UVB can fry your plants, and duration of the light cycle depends on the strenght, and height of the UVB.

I use 2x 4 ft x 32w Solacure Flower Power UVA/B bulbs, and they are extremely powerful from 280nm-305nm.

I run 2 x 32w with a 1000w Hortilux HPS in EACH 4 x 4 area, and 4 hours per day, at a height of 24 inches.

I dont know the power of your UVB bulbs, so I cant recommend at what height, or the duration to use.

Also its best to use both UVA, and UVB together. UVA in the 360nm-375nm range can minimize the damage UVB can do.

I will say your probably going to need more than 3 bulbs. Solacure makes the most powerful uvb spectrum bulbs, and it would take 6 of them in a 4 x 12 area. Recommendation is to use 2 of them in a 4x4 area and 1000w HID or equivalent LED. I wouldnt give UVB only.
 
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Johiem

Well-Known Member
I am not a light expert, but I thought it was UVC that "disinfects". UVA & UVB are present in sunlight at the earth's surface. UVC, on the other hand is filtered out by the ozone, and will actually mutate microbiological DNA into a form that cannot survive, thus killing it. I would just do some research on exposure times/ levels.
 

jimihendrix1

Well-Known Member
Extremely powerful UVB will keep PM, and Insects at bay. The Solacure goes down to 280nm, which is the line between UVC, and UVB. No other UVA/B bulb goes down to 280nm. I think the next most powerful UVA/B bulb is the ArgoMax Pure. It goes down to 290nm.

The Solacure is T8, and the AgroMax is T5. The Solacure also has a built in reflector in the bulb, and is much more efficient than relying on a fixture reflector, because UVA/B wont reflect effectively.
The AgroMax is also T5, and the Solacure is T8, giving you a bulb thats 50% larger in diameter, thus putting out more light.
 

LagosHemp

Member
UVB can fry your plants, and duration of the light cycle depends on the strenght, and height of the UVB.
I have a migro UVB light. It is recommended in last 3 weeks of flower, and a dutch university conducted a side by side trial, and the one with the uvb, had an increase in terpenes by 17%. A couple of weeks ago, whilst faffing about watering etc, i forgot the uvb was on, and that evening, i had an orange sized area on my inner elbow area, of proper sunburn. It peeled over next few days. So, the migro uvb is strong enough to burn your skin. I hadnt thought of using it for applications beyond increasing stress on flowering plant to produce more resin.
 

jimihendrix1

Well-Known Member
Im using the California solar UVB 24w it says it rated for a 4x4 at 3’ here is the spectrum View attachment 5094195View attachment 5094196View attachment 5094197

Theyre overrating their bulb. No way 1x 24w bulb will cover a 4 x 4 area. On the Migro site it says the bulb is 18w The Solacure Flower Power bulb goes down to the lowest range for UVB, which is 280nm, and takes a special kind of glass, thats very expensive to emit 280nm. It takes 2 of them to cover a 4 x 4 area. The bulb also has strong UVA, but they are super strong in the 280nm-305nm range. Theyre the only combination UVA/B bulb made that goes down to 280nm. Anything under 280nm, is UVC.

By comparison the Migro, only goes down to 310nm. A long way from 280nm

The Solacure bulb can be run as high as 80w, but wont last as long. Its way over built, and takes a special fixture to run it at 80w. You can rewire their ballast, and also run it at 40w.




FR40T12 multi-wattage, multi-peak UVB/UVA horticultural lamp.
Wattage: 32-40 watts standard, can be run as high as 80w for special applications.
Color: white to violet. Color temperature >10,000K
Dimension: 4 foot by 1.5 inches. Will fit almost any shop light.
Reflector: Built inside the lamp. No external reflector needed.
UVA/B: 5x the power of the SG-1 and Universal UV. About 20 to 50x the power of reptile lights.
UVA/B rating: Equivalent to a 30% UVB lamp, but we do this in very different frequencies, so they don't equate.
Life: 1000 hours at 70% of original power.

From the ground up, this lamp was engineered to do nothing but operate as a horticultural lamp. It can operate as low as 25 watts and as high as 80 watts, but is centered to us a standard 4 foot 32w fixture and it's own timer. It is four foot long, 1.5" in diameter, so it can be used in virtually every 4 foot fixture at the hardware store. Our entire goal was to make it simple and cheap to operate. All the really interesting things are happening inside the lamp, not in the fixture.

Again we licensed Sol Glass for this lamp, like our SG series lamps. It is more transparent to any other UV glass made, and allows transmission of UVB between 280nm and 300nm, something other lamps don't do well. This is one reason our lamps have been so successful in the labs, testing for resin/flavonoids/terpenes/THC. The new spectrum uses many of the same spectral peaks as the SG, but are 3 to 4 times stronger in the UVB, while still having a solid UVA profile. UVA is seldom discussed in many circles, and it is too large a topic to discuss here, but we design our lamps with a sun similar UVA spectrum because we have good reason to think it is also very beneficial for UV started plants. The UVA to UVB ratio is very different than the sun, however, as the effective ratio is about 4 times higher than the sun. This is why you can use half as many lamps and still get twice as much UVB. In short, you use few lamps farther from from your plants. This makes using them easier and cheaper for you, while being more effective. It is hard to overstate how big a leap this lamp is.

ike most Solacure lamps, the Flower Power has a built in reflector, so you don't need to worry about using reflective material with it. Mylar, white paint, all these absorb UV anyway, they are useless for reflecting it. The image on the left shows a regular lamp, the image on the right is how the Flower Power is designed, with an internal reflector. It forces all the light to go in one direction, making designing and installing a system much easier. This means the lamp has about 50% more total UV output than a non-reflector design with a home made reflector.

For all flowering plants (including fruits and vegetables) grown indoor or in a greenhouse environment. The exact amount of UV needed for each plant will vary, and must be determined by the grower. To offer enhanced UVB, most growers will use two of the Flower Power lamps for every 1000w HPS/MH or equivalent. Obviously these will work on cannabis and are designed to maximize the UVB needs of the buds, but it was designed to be a greenhouse light and to provide the missing UVB for any plant.

How to use these lamps
Use two Flower Power lamps per 1000w hood, one on each side for even coverage, 12" to 24" from the plants (farther is weaker so needs to be run longer, but covers a larger area). Run 1 to 4 times per day, 1 to 6 hours per cycle for up to 12 hours (single cycle). How much depends on your particular plants, so start with 2 to 4 hours and work your way up, looking out for burned edges. The goal is to stress the plants, push them, without damaging them. Only run during your day cycle. Use during flowering and fruiting stage. Also proven to suppress mold and mildew as well as discourage many insects.

Another method that is claimed to produce higher CBD is the "Pulse Method". You run them 15 minutes on, 45 minutes off. This will shorten lamp life somewhat, but will still get you 2 flowering seasons worth of use. These claims have been made by a few professional growers. Most tests that instead run the UVB continuously for several hours have shown to not dramatically affect CBD production (flat to slightly higher).

Already certified to get 20% to 35% higher THC.
 
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Johiem

Well-Known Member
Haven't used Atak by itself, but it is their product "Overgrow" as well. And I've got to order me some more. Not sure how far into flower you are, but old ole @Samwell Seed Well is right to be cautious. Questions about it, cause I'm no expert, fire them off to Optic Foliar directly [email protected]. I don't know if Dinesh is still with them, but hit them up.
 
Pulled off every fan leaf and cleaned the grow room with EPM giving 25 minutes treatment before lights off and after lights off. With 15min on 1hr off thru the flowering day there was very little PM with in the plants and the worst leaf was picture nothing was near as bad as that leaf
I’m really hoping i caught this soon enough to get rid of it

here some pics of a few strains going
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
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