Uv led for diy, replacing flourecent t5 supplemental lighting

[Prawn Connery]

When you think about it, nature provides the answer for us, because UVB peaks at different times of day/ seasons/weather events, and different parts of the world, so the plant needs to respond proportionally to the threat of photo-oxidative DNA damage, as UVB around 285nm is much stronger than UVA and blue light, but only peaks at certain times. Longer wavelength UVA and strong blue light are almost always present in the atmosphere and still have the potential to damage the plant, but over a longer period of exposure, so the plant does not have to react as strongly – but it still has to react to protect itself. Secondary metabolite production is influenced by two things: genetics snd environment

 

[Drop That Sound]

I have noticed an increase in trichomes with the pure uv tubes they are 75% uvb 25% uva but there is no way I could run them constantly unless I was up like 4 foot and slowly broke it in, I guess that's my biggest issue with them, I've seen so much controversy over the whole uva vs uvb maybe it would be cool to try and build a strip with a couple channels to mix uva and uvb as I choose

Or you could just get the 15.0 UVB reptile T-5 bulbs, which only emit 15% UVB instead of a whopping 75, which would allow you to run them closer, and for longer periods throughout the day.

UVB leds are ridiculously expensive, and I don't see anyone tanning their show hogs (lol, I had no idea the solarcure company sells UV bulbs just for that, haha), or using them for indoor reptile habitats yet.

For the price of a proper UVB LED setup, I could rig up a cheap harbor freight wire feed welder, inside of a glass cooltube to strike an arc a few times a day, and radiate the plants with far more than just UVC, and just buy spools of wire once in awhile.. Oh yah now we're talking! Did I tell you guys the story about how dank the outdoor plant grew that was next to the garage door where my buddy welded everyday in his shop?

 

[Lou66]

For the price of a proper UVB LED setup, I could rig up a cheap harbor freight wire feed welder, inside of a glass cooltube to strike an arc a few times a day, and radiate the plants with far more than just UVC,

If you want to kill your plants i can recommend much simpler alternatives. More creative will be difficult though.

 

[Jonesfamily7715]

I'm hoping in the near future uvb diodes will be more readily available and cheaper, the price is outrageous. The only way to figure these things out is thru testing, and unfortunately this market has been tainted with companies selling a dream and only showing test results that benefits what they are selling.