Touted Results Include Higher CBD Production and Terpene Differences
and I'm thirsty for ANY concrete information on the subject. The company is Solacure and their lamps are supposed to be some of the highest quality in the business. The following information applies specifically to their FR40T12 Flower Power Horticultural Lamps.
Heavy Marketing Speak (skip to the next section if this makes you woozy!)
FR40T12 multi-wattage, multi-peak UVB/UVA horticultural lamp.
Wattage: 32-40 watts standard, can be run as high as 80w for special applications.
Color: white to violet. Color temperature >10,000K
Dimension: 4 foot by 1.5 inches. Will fit almost any shop light.
Reflector: Built inside the lamp. No external reflector needed.
UVA/B: 5x the power of the SG-1 and Universal UV. About 20 to 50x the power of reptile lights.
UVA/B rating: Equivalent to a 30% UVB lamp, but we do this in very different frequencies, so they don't equate.
Life: 1000 hours at 70% of original power.
From the ground up, this lamp was engineered to do nothing but operate as a horticultural lamp. It can operate as low as 25 watts and as high as 80 watts, but is centered to us a standard 4 foot 32w fixture and it's own timer. It is four foot long, 1.5" in diameter, so it can be used in virtually every 4 foot fixture at the hardware store. Our entire goal was to make it simple and cheap to operate. All the really interesting things are happening inside the lamp, not in the fixture.
Again we licensed Sol Glass for this lamp, like our SG series lamps. It is more transparent to any other UV glass made, and allows transmission of UVB between 280nm and 300nm, something other lamps don't do well. This is one reason our lamps have been so successful in the labs, testing for resin/flavonoids/terpenes/THC. The new spectrum uses many of the same spectral peaks as the SG, but are 3 to 4 times stronger in the UVB, while still having a solid UVA profile. UVA is seldom discussed in many circles, and it is too large a topic to discuss here, but we design our lamps with a sun similar UVA spectrum because we have good reason to think it is also very beneficial for UV started plants. The UVA to UVB ratio is very different than the sun, however, as the effective ratio is about 4 times higher than the sun. This is why you can use half as many lamps and still get twice as much UVB. In short, you use few lamps farther from from your plants. This makes using them easier and cheaper for you, while being more effective. It is hard to overstate how big a leap this lamp is.
Like most Solacure lamps, the Flower Power has a built in reflector, so you don't need to worry about using reflective material with it. Mylar, white paint, all these absorb UV anyway, they are useless for reflecting it. The image on the left shows a regular lamp, the image on the right is how the Flower Power is designed, with an internal reflector. It forces all the light to go in one direction, making designing and installing a system much easier. This means the lamp has about 50% more total UV output than a non-reflector design with a home made reflector.
Solacure and Cannabis Recommendations
Here's the real meat which is tempting me and the reason I'm looking for you, the person who's used these. Here's what I found.
How to use these lamps
Use two Flower Power lamps per 1000w hood, one on each side for even coverage, 12" to 24" from the plants (farther is weaker so needs to be run longer, but covers a larger area). Run 1 to 4 times per day, 1 to 6 hours per cycle for up to 12 hours (single cycle). How much depends on your particular plants, so start with 2 to 4 hours and work your way up, looking out for burned edges. The goal is to stress the plants, push them, without damaging them. Only run during your day cycle. Use during flowering and fruiting stage. Also proven to suppress mold and mildew as well as discourage many insects.
Another method that is claimed to produce higher CBD is the "Pulse Method". You run them 15 minutes on, 45 minutes off. This will shorten lamp life somewhat, but will still get you 2 flowering seasons worth of use. These claims have been made by a few professional growers. Most tests that instead run the UVB continuously for several hours have shown to not dramatically affect CBD production (flat to slightly higher).
Already certified to get 20% to 35% higher THC and flavonoids and anecdotal evidence that approaches 40% higher, and results keep coming in
Some Frosty Cannabis I Grew
The "certification" is being done by SC Labs
though we have only the word of Solacure on what was sent in. I'm always skeptical when the 'results' are only being posted by the company selling the product. I'm much more inclined to add something to my grow, AFTER several other reliable people have tested it thoroughly. I've rarely had a second "Test" grow going on where I can do things like this myself. Oi!
The Mold/Mildew Prevention is Proven
due to the UVB killing surface spores and growths of mold/mildew. Any area lit with the UVB will be mold/mildew free. :)
THE PULSE METHOD
is where I keep getting stuck. 15 minutes on, 45 minutes off throughout the entire flowering run during lights on. The effect is supposed to be higher CBD production, as opposed to flat/lower CBD when constant lighting is used.
Who has done this?
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