Expansion on teh previous 5% study, will shorter periods of UVB work as well?
https://www.thcfarmer.com/community...ncreases-medical-marijuana-potency-3-5.70648/
Does a shortened UVA UVB exposure schedule result in the same 5% THC increase?
The question is:
Is it possible to increase the potency of cannabis 5% or more by shortening the amount of time the marijuana plants are exposed?
After extensive testing trial and error we have found it is neither myth nor magic but rather a natural reproductive response. There is no need to expose the plants through vedge or even all the way through bloom.
Instead we only subjected the medical marijuana plants during the last 2 weeks at 12 hours continuous UVA UVB light exposure.
Over the same 7 different strains all increased at least 5% over what they had tested without the UVA UVB lighting and the same as when we had exposed them for 12 hours under the ultraviolet lighting.
We had all 7 strains tested at the same place as before chose very nice, large top flowers closest to our lights. We then dried them for 2 weeks at 80 degrees 45% humidity hanging on stems. After that we cured the medical marijuana in a jar for one more week.
Preparation for testing after being subjected to the UVA UVB lighting and then drying and curing is to trim or manicure it as best as humanly possible.
Here is why..
When a sample is brought in for testing the individual performing the test will grind down the sample then perform multiple test on portions of the 1 gram sample they were given. They will then average out the results from the test results they have taken and record those findings. The results you see on your report can either be the average of the samples, the highest test result recorded or if they only do one sample test then that will be the number recorded on your report.
Due to the fact that once the sample is ground up each test will vary in results. Also any leaf material or branch material will lower your THC and CBD percentages. That is why it is critical to manicure your flowers as best as you possibly can.
Now some background info on why the UVA UVB lighting increases THC.
Ok so we all know or should know the most potent strains of cannabis come from mountainous regions. The higher the elevation the better more potent the strain becomes. Why is this you might ask? Because THC is a natural sunblock or UVA UVB blocker nature has ever created. The plant produces more and more to protect itself from damage. Remember the natural instinct of a marijuana plant is to reproduce and live another day. If the sun bakes it's seeds and ruins the chance for reproduction its dead, no more reproduction. So to compensate for the high altitudes and high UVA UVB light spectrum exposure the marijuana plant produces more THC.
Downside is once we bring the cannabis plant indoors there is no longer any exposure to UVA UVB lighting so the potency is decreased immensely. None of the bulbs on the market that we use to grow with contain much if any of the ultraviolet light spectrum. On top of that the glass in our hoods and distance from the plants also decrease or eliminate any of the ultraviolet light available. Side note: Don't even bother with LED or CFL bulbs that claim to produce UVA UVB light. They do not produce enough useable light to show any increase in THC. Now I have heard the the new double ended bulbs do have a decent amount of useable ultraviolet light and we will be testing those very soon.
Next phase of UVA UVB experiments
Our next phase of testing will be to cut the UVA UVB exposure down even more! We will be doing a 2 week 6hr a day exposure schedule and then perform the same testing on all the strains we have tested prior to see if the 5% increase stays the same or decreases. Our expectation is that it will stay the same!
Hope this has been very helpful to everyone who reads our blog posts. Our intention is to increase awareness of the effects of UVA UVB lighting on medical marijuana plants resulting in stronger medication for sick or terminally ill patients. The better the quality of medication the less will be required to treat and medicate these patients.
Warning!!!! UVB UVA is known to cause eye injury including formation of cataracts. Turn reptile or tanning bulbs off when working in your groom.
http://medicalmarijuanagrowing.blogspot.com/
Here is some more data I found on another site.
This will be a well controlled experiment to test the difference between plants grown with UVB supplementation, and plants grown without.
The genetics are a strain called "psycho berry", they are all clones taken from the same mother.
They are running in NFT, in a 3x1.5m space, each side of the space has a single spectrum 1kw purely red bulb, there is a dual spectrum 600w hanging vertically in the center (but this is just to increase yield and contains little to no UVB.
Environmental factors are rather equal and symmetrical throughout, temp and humidity range positives over the entire canopy are minimal to none.
The test done by some scientist, that some of you will no doubt refer to in this thread, is somewhat lacking in or rather has some misconceiving info in regards to amount of uvb supplemented (it seems RATHER low)
I am sure we will mostly agree that geographically the Hindu Kush is probably responsible for harboring the strongest land-races known to nature, so lets work down from here.
A good estimate for watts per square meter of sun power, along side these valleys/mountains, would be around 1050 watts.
If we take the fact that at ground level 3% of the suns power is composed of UV, this gives us around 31.5 watts per meter squared of "UV"
UV levels increase by 4% for every 300 metre rise in altitude, and the Valley of Kuran wa Munjan, is situated 1,800m above sea level, so lets take our 31.5 watts and increase it by %24 (7.5 watts) this gives us around about 39 watts per meter squared of UV radiation in the Hindu Kush ( and I think that's being generous)
Our ozone is great of coarse at filtering UVB (and the more energetic wavelengths), however we are not at great enough elevation in the Hindu Kush to start factoring this in.
Now lets consider that UVB rays constitute only 5% of ultraviolet radiation in our ozone and this gives us 5% of 39 watts, (1.95) to make it simple lets say that, in the Hindu kush UVB radiation is around 2 watts per square meter.
Our space is 1.5 x 1.5 meters which = 2.25 m2, so 2 watts(per square meter) x 2.25(meters squared) = 4.5 watts of UVB (AT CANOPY LEVEL) needed for our test
Now lets consider that "Repti Glo 10.0" bulbs are 10% UVB (290 to 320 nm), we would need 45 watts of this particular bulb, this is of coarse not factoring in loss of irradiance (meaning these bulbs will not be touching the test canopy(inverse square law)).
If we do factor in the above and consider the distance light source will be from canopy, we are going to want much closer to 80 watts of said bulb, which is great anyway because they are available in 40 watt tube models.
Lighting schedule: UV is at its peak during solar noon, and is dramatically lower in the mornings and evenings, IMHO, I think giving test plants 4 hours of UVB supplementation either side of their solar noon, (8 hours per day in total) is a pretty good compromise and quiet accurately replicates nature, if anyone disagrees with this please let me know.
When I started this thread it was not made active for a few weeks and I did not think it was going to be made active so I did not bother setting up the test, the plants are now 3 weeks into 12/12 so it's still early enough to setup, I will get on the case immediately, for those, including myself, that are very interested in an accurate comparison of UVB.
Testing Results: I do not currently have access to a Gas Chromatography test to compare the 2 samples, if someone wants to help out here let me know, I can provide the funds.
Of coarse if a obvious visual difference is noticeable then the test will provide a positive answer, HOWEVER if a visual difference is not noticeable we could still be missing something that a GC will detect, and even if a visual difference is noticeable I am sure we all want to know in percentage values what kind of increases took place, like I said someone reach out to me.
Conclusion to introduction:To properly replicate UVB levels in the Hindu Kush (where some of the most potent cannabis grows naturally) in to our test environment (or more accurately, test plants canopy) , we are going to want to use around 80 watts of "Repti Glo 10.0" bulbs. UVB supplementation will be timed to accurately represent concentration levels of UVB in said geographic region, we will look for a visual difference, a difference in affects during consumption, and hopefully a accurate test showing us the definitive answer to our test .
ECTS ON PHOTOSYNTHESIS, GROWTH AND CANNABINOID PRODUCTION OF TWO Cannabis Sativa CHEMOTYPES.
