Growing with high UVB tanning tubes

Discussion in 'Marijuana Growing Techniques' started by PopDog, Dec 10, 2006.

  1. PopDog

    PopDog Member

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    So, here's the story, a little while ago, I was looking at bulb performance figures and I stumbled accross some tanning bulbs. They had some really interesting stats, especially the super-fast tan variaties, some of which produced UVB in an excess of %9! Of corse, the other %91 is UVA which means it would certainly sustain a plant. Sadly, I've yet to find anywhere that lists actual lumen, let alone PAR, output, I suppose tanners aren't interested in that :p What I'm wondering is if anybody knows the UVB percentage of your average HPS bulb, I'm very interested to know how these high-power tanning bulbs compare in terms of UV output. I assume that a super-high concentration of UVB would encourage accelarated tricome development, since THC is so UVB absorbant and cannabis grown at higher altitudes (recieving more UVB) tend to have a greater quantity of more highly developed trics. These bulbs appear to have rather excellent power output as well, squeezing up to 160 watts into a 59" T12 diamater tube. The only downside is that they seem rather short-lived, most of them giving up the ghost after 1200 hours, it seem their life is limited by the inner phosphor coating that is slowly consumed while they are active. Though not terribly expensive, I think because of this flaw they wouldn't be very cost-effective, but that doesn't concern me too much. Because of this I was thinking of using them only for flowering, perhaps even only the later stages, or mixing them with floros. Its hard telling, some experimentation would be needed. The notion seems tempting, I'm about ready to go out and buy a second-hand tanning bed and tear it apart, but I wanted to ask if anyone has some solid figures or expirience on using them for such an application before I went for it.
     
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