Do UVB bulbs help?

[hempknowsis]

Was thinking of adding a small UVB bulb if it will help resin/quality of buds. Here's one for reptiles...

http://reptilesonline.com/store/cat.../exo-terra-compact-fluorescent-26wt-100-bulb/

Has this been shown to help, or is it bunk for helping buds?

 

[whatissixbynine]

.

 

[Bass Akwards]

It can help ... according to the side-by-side tests performed in Holland by trained scientists.

However, you can probably achieve similar results by stressing the plants other ways.

Lack of water ... slowly letting them dry-out during the last two weeks ... works about as well.

 

[sgtpepper]

i had 2 40w UVB fluros in my first grow, and this time none, so i'll see if i can tell any significant difference in yield. in saying that the light didnt really reach all the plants, and i couldnt tell the difference between ones that got rays and ones that didnt...
i found light distribution a little bit of haslle in setting up the fluros...

 

[OldMan&theWeed]

Although there has been no overall consensus either way on the efficacy of uvb to increase trichome count and aroma (terpenoid production) in cannabis here on icmag, uvb treatment HAS been show to do these very things in OTHER plant species, such as roses:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2213653/?tool=pmcentrez

and birch seedlings:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/k0vxhpxc5940bwp6/

Of course since none of these studies involved cannabis, they may or may not be valid. However, if plants as diverse as birch trees and roses are effected the same way by exposure to uvb light, it's not a far stretch to imagine that marijuana would as well.

Here's a copy of the article that I believe started this whole uvb/thc thing going:

http://marioptics.webs.com/index.html

From what I can deduce from all I've read, since uvb sometimes has the effect of stunting growth and development, one would be be better served waiting until the second half of the flowering cycle before blasting your girls with uvb.

 

[Kcar]

I used one for a while. Burnt the shit out of some buds. Want it?