Yup both have their owns pros and cons.with the agros when their a bit older u can run them closer to the plant but yes their very strong and its very easy to burn plants with the agros I ran only 15 mins for the first few weeks at the end of the day and just the 15 mins were enough to burn the fuck out of my plant but that was with the bulb being 2 feet away. I'm not sure but once the uv hits the plants it activates the receptor thru out the whole plant idk or it could be only the places that uv hits but idk I feel like it affects the whole system of the plant. just like how red increases the stretch of the plant idk would like more research into how uv really affects the whole plant. just imo its helpful but Jesus its overkill having to hang it 2+ feet. but that really depends on how much the bulb has been used I would have to guess maybe a bulb that's been used 3500hrs u can run longer and closer to the canopy idk im a stoner that likes toying with plants.
Agree on all of that, especially the whole plant response for toughening up an increasing thc. Or at least its the way my thinkking leans towards.
As for ripening, it might very well be that uv ripens the plant uneven, top buds first and lowers later.
2 feet and 15 mins: i really feel this isnt ideal, or id prefer running closer andd lower doses for longer time. Uvb also has a very strong effect on transpiration/opening the stomata. So i figure a lower dose for a bit longer will lead to better nutrient uptake. Better to have your plants digesting uvb for longer time at softer dose if its praying while doing so.
I dont wanna be forced to run main lights at 2 feet losing intensity (open space here) or having the uv hanging over our mainlight and the light blocking the path of the uvb.
Also the 360° nature of uv tubes means your relying on reflectors turn the light instead of leds which send all the light rhe right way. All these reasons, along with nachooos word re smoke noticeable difference in his cultivar which he knows really well (anecdotal proof was smoking gave him coldsweats in a real cold room and some of his terps changed drastically) has got me thinking that led is probably right for the grow i work for.
Maybe some day there would be a chance to ruun tests, nachooos not far away from me and i thinkt tests are just 30-40euros here, but right now theyve confined the fuck out of us, 11 weeks pretty much, so that would be a distant future project. I know for a fact that nachooo is a datanerd so i wouldnt be surprised if his up for it.