Lighting What are you waiting for? What's going to change the game? Who is doing interesting stuff?

[Death The Cultivator]

I'm seeing more manufacturers incorporating sub 400nm ranges in their lights with varying degrees of efficiency. According to one manufacturer, UVA is as beneficial as UVB and in comparisons of terpene analysis there was no noticeable difference. Idk how necessary it is compared to running UVA alone. I've been focusing all my builds on 380-800nm spectrums but the price of UVA diodes is expensive.

For greenhouse growing I've been hearing a lot about quantum dots and having control over the spectrum. I think ScynceLED, bridgelux vestas, and all the other tuneable lights are amazing but they seemingly lab intended/priced in the commercial space.

@BII I think the prices are going to come down but how many companies are actually interested in or targeting horticulture? When I was speaking with bridgelux about becoming a Distributor they weren't interested in Horticulture. Samsung has the 301h that are marked for Horticulture with a coating but it's basically a 301b.

Another aspect to look at is the relatively slow change from HID to LED in commercial operations. There is an organization certifying grow lights for efficacy and other purposes so that's another element. How far will regulation go in regards to cannabis cultivation and it's resource heavy needs?

I read that theoretically LEDs will max out around 3.5-4.0umols/j so maybe lasers will be next? Quantum dots? Light chambers?

 

[DCLXVI]

The real thing I am waiting on is more legalization. If I could openly grow, well, at least upgrade and possibly be noticed by the neighbors without consequence. Then I would invest in some very cool gear. It would also be great if I could give away what I grow and get some feedback! I'm currently the chef who can't taste his soup.


LED in the UV range seem scarce at the moment. I have not seen much blended A/B led products out there. A lot of them seem to be UVA only. I ended up getting a T5 fluorescent UV bulb. I should probably have bought a larger/better/more grow light(s) instead but..... I couldn't help myself. It was only $50 not $650 for a new HLG panel.....

Blend of UVA and UVB 75/25 for pretty darn cheap. $50 with housing and shipping.

AgroMax Pure UV T5 Bulb - 2 Foot | HTG Supply

AgroMax Pure UV Bulbs are specially designed to produce large amounts of UV light for growing plants indoors. Available at HTGSupply for a great price.

www.htgsupply.com

 

[Filthy_Casual]

I'm seeing more manufacturers incorporating sub 400nm ranges in their lights with varying degrees of efficiency. According to one manufacturer, UVA is as beneficial as UVB and in comparisons of terpene analysis there was no noticeable difference. Idk how necessary it is compared to running UVA alone. I've been focusing all my builds on 380-800nm spectrums but the price of UVA diodes is expensive.

For greenhouse growing I've been hearing a lot about quantum dots and having control over the spectrum. I think ScynceLED, bridgelux vestas, and all the other tuneable lights are amazing but they seemingly lab intended/priced in the commercial space.

@BII I think the prices are going to come down but how many companies are actually interested in or targeting horticulture? When I was speaking with bridgelux about becoming a Distributor they weren't interested in Horticulture. Samsung has the 301h that are marked for Horticulture with a coating but it's basically a 301b.

Another aspect to look at is the relatively slow change from HID to LED in commercial operations. There is an organization certifying grow lights for efficacy and other purposes so that's another element. How far will regulation go in regards to cannabis cultivation and it's resource heavy needs?

I read that theoretically LEDs will max out around 3.5-4.0umols/j so maybe lasers will be next? Quantum dots? Light chambers?

I'm interested in learning more about UV ranges, I've seen more on UV-B and how its good, but harmful at the same time, but not much about UV-A. Hoping to get some good info back from gavita this week about their add on.

As far as the stuff Scynce and others are doing, and their prices. I think that by (scynce only here I dont have experience with others) offering their app for free, which is also controller, you can "lower" the price of the light by what a controller would cost. The ability to tune like that built in, is worth it to me so far. More as a fun thing to learn and play, than a money maker (I am not commercial or even close lol). So that in some ways helps with their high price point to me. The other thing is, its all new tech, and you pay for that 10/10 times. I'm expecting in a few years these options to be more common and hopefully price comes down a little.

For the industry as a whole, I think we will see lots of horticulture specific stuff soon, and I honestly think its started a while ago. Yes the Samsungs of the world need to get with it, but light makers themselves seem to be doing as much as they can to specialize their spectrums and spreads for growers. Hopefully we see some samsung chips designed in consultation with people like Bruce B.


GREEN! This is another part of the spectrum I think they need to explore more to get to our "final form" leds. There seems to be some beginning research into this as well, and how the green spectrum changes things.

Blue seems to be ehh, and Red the big player so far. Once they dial in the UV and Greens I think we are in action....The organization that is starting to monitor all this and regulate it (seems like cali is heavy in regulations surprise!) would IMO push harder to LED and new solutions since LED is more efficient than HID.

That said, California isn't the only place to grow weed, and the industry as a whole would be STUPID to be locked into some made up regulations when they can go anywhere in the world and sell their lights. I DO NOT BELIEVE California will have a weed industry in 10 years, or at least nothing like it does now. Their weed taxes keep raising, their energy use is $$$$ and very restricted and business taxes are insane. The black market continues to grow there. As other states legalize, or the federal rescheduling happens people will grow out of state and ship to them.

 

[Filthy_Casual]

The real thing I am waiting on is more legalization. If I could openly grow, well, at least upgrade and possibly be noticed by the neighbors without consequence. Then I would invest in some very cool gear. It would also be great if I could give away what I grow and get some feedback! I'm currently the chef who can't taste his soup.


LED in the UV range seem scarce at the moment. I have not seen much blended A/B led products out there. A lot of them seem to be UVA only. I ended up getting a T5 fluorescent UV bulb. I should probably have bought a larger/better/more grow light(s) instead but..... I couldn't help myself. It was only $50 not $650 for a new HLG panel.....

Blend of UVA and UVB 75/25 for pretty darn cheap. $50 with housing and shipping.

AgroMax Pure UV T5 Bulb - 2 Foot | HTG Supply

AgroMax Pure UV Bulbs are specially designed to produce large amounts of UV light for growing plants indoors. Available at HTGSupply for a great price.

www.htgsupply.com

That bulb looks nice, just checked the site. How often do you run it? Is it on whenever your other lights are on? I've read about the dedrigation UV-B can cause if left too long, it seems to be a delicate balance.

 

[Couch_Lock]

The use of UV-B is good but only in short duration. If ran nonstop I don't think it benefits plants in flower, perhaps in tiny doses (very low wattage).

Its harmful to humans, so I do not add any UV-B to my grows. Pretty unspectacular......not a difference maker, imo.

 

[Filthy_Casual]

The use of UV-B is good but only in short duration. If ran nonstop I don't think it benefits plants in flower, perhaps in tiny doses (very low wattage).

Its harmful to humans, so I do not add any UV-B to my grows. Pretty unspectacular......not a difference maker, imo.

I've read it can build terps up for you, but it does it by breaking down. So you have to balance very carefully the breakdown with the bigger build back from that break down. I don't think I have the patience/time to figure it out, I'm hoping someone does for me

 

[Couch_Lock]

Limiting synthetic nutes used improves terpenes. Mankind has yet to better Mother Nature, FC.

Less is more. The nute manufacturers could care less how your plants taste and work, they are profit driven.

 

[Filthy_Casual]

Limiting synthetic nutes used improves terpenes. Mankind has yet to better Mother Nature, FC.

Less is more. The nute manufacturers could care less how your plants taste and work, they are profit driven.

Do you have any info on the nutes and terps? I've not heard that, and as a synthetic user, I'd be interested. Im happy with how my stuff is working, but interesting to see as I am continually learning and trying to improve.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

The real thing I am waiting on is more legalization. If I could openly grow, well, at least upgrade and possibly be noticed by the neighbors without consequence. Then I would invest in some very cool gear. It would also be great if I could give away what I grow and get some feedback! I'm currently the chef who can't taste his soup.


LED in the UV range seem scarce at the moment. I have not seen much blended A/B led products out there. A lot of them seem to be UVA only. I ended up getting a T5 fluorescent UV bulb. I should probably have bought a larger/better/more grow light(s) instead but..... I couldn't help myself. It was only $50 not $650 for a new HLG panel.....

Blend of UVA and UVB 75/25 for pretty darn cheap. $50 with housing and shipping.

AgroMax Pure UV T5 Bulb - 2 Foot | HTG Supply

AgroMax Pure UV Bulbs are specially designed to produce large amounts of UV light for growing plants indoors. Available at HTGSupply for a great price.

www.htgsupply.com

The problem with most of the UV products is that they are meant to be ran for very short periods of time in flower specifically. I see an untapped market for providing low doses of UVA over the entire grow from seed to harvest.

I'm interested in learning more about UV ranges, I've seen more on UV-B and how its good, but harmful at the same time, but not much about UV-A. Hoping to get some good info back from gavita this week about their add on.

As far as the stuff Scynce and others are doing, and their prices. I think that by (scynce only here I dont have experience with others) offering their app for free, which is also controller, you can "lower" the price of the light by what a controller would cost. The ability to tune like that built in, is worth it to me so far. More as a fun thing to learn and play, than a money maker (I am not commercial or even close lol). So that in some ways helps with their high price point to me. The other thing is, its all new tech, and you pay for that 10/10 times. I'm expecting in a few years these options to be more common and hopefully price comes down a little.

For the industry as a whole, I think we will see lots of horticulture specific stuff soon, and I honestly think its started a while ago. Yes the Samsungs of the world need to get with it, but light makers themselves seem to be doing as much as they can to specialize their spectrums and spreads for growers. Hopefully we see some samsung chips designed in consultation with people like Bruce B.


GREEN! This is another part of the spectrum I think they need to explore more to get to our "final form" leds. There seems to be some beginning research into this as well, and how the green spectrum changes things.

Blue seems to be ehh, and Red the big player so far. Once they dial in the UV and Greens I think we are in action....The organization that is starting to monitor all this and regulate it (seems like cali is heavy in regulations surprise!) would IMO push harder to LED and new solutions since LED is more efficient than HID.

That said, California isn't the only place to grow weed, and the industry as a whole would be STUPID to be locked into some made up regulations when they can go anywhere in the world and sell their lights. I DO NOT BELIEVE California will have a weed industry in 10 years, or at least nothing like it does now. Their weed taxes keep raising, their energy use is $$$$ and very restricted and business taxes are insane. The black market continues to grow there. As other states legalize, or the federal rescheduling happens people will grow out of state and ship to them.

I'm reading of purported benefits like increased Ca uptake, improved hardening off, rooting, along with the benefits of flower in regards to UVA.

I think ScynceLED has great lights, same thing can be accomplished with a meshtek controller but it's a custom interface overall. At some point I realize I'm paying for quality and the ability to influence morphology.

Another factor is going to be more growers getting their hands on good lights and testing out these lighting options. I don't call BS on UV until I've tried considering all the studies and journals I've seen. @Mañ'O'Green runs the UVB and notes a difference in his terps.

I think if regulation was truly of interest there'd be a commercial push for most to grow the same. I know Canada has stringent laws on commercial cultivation. Focusing on water and energy conservation should be important with high efficiency lighting and growing methods but everyone grows how they know.

 

[Filthy_Casual]

The problem with most of the UV products is that they are meant to be ran for very short periods of time in flower specifically. I see an untapped market for providing low doses of UVA over the entire grow from seed to harvest.


I'm reading of purported benefits like increased Ca uptake, improved hardening off, rooting, along with the benefits of flower in regards to UVA.

I think ScynceLED has great lights, same thing can be accomplished with a meshtek controller but it's a custom interface overall. At some point I realize I'm paying for quality and the ability to influence morphology.

Another factor is going to be more growers getting their hands on good lights and testing out these lighting options. I don't call BS on UV until I've tried considering all the studies and journals I've seen. @Mañ'O'Green runs the UVB and notes a difference in his terps.

I think if regulation was truly of interest there'd be a commercial push for most to grow the same. I know Canada has stringent laws on commercial cultivation. Focusing on water and energy conservation should be important with high efficiency lighting and growing methods but everyone grows how they know.

Interesting about UV-A, I am going to try to read more into it later today. Looking at the meshtek controller, thats something I didn't know about. Now can that controller, change spectrum and whatnot, even if the light isn't designed for it? I know the Kush 2.0 that Scynce just released offers full power in any spectrum mix, which is something that their first version didn't have and I can see being an issue if the light wasn't designed for that... Like you mentioned on the morphology, I've used spectrum control to basically try to keep my plants shorter, by giving more blue early on than is needed. So far its done a good job for me with that, resulting in some of the shortest plants I've grown (with a few tall exceptions).

Water regulation is something I think is worth the industries time to work on as it also gets "greener" with the led lighting. To me, it makes sense because it will, in the end, cost LESS for companies to do business. Which is the point of a business! So hopefully there is some sort of advancement in that field, although I'm not really sure how to make water last longer, or go further.