Autistic light tester.

I've been growing 13 years now, Retired from my day job. I built a test budroom to keep occupied.
Right now it contains a Northern Lights under 850 microwatts/cm2 of UVB, roughly the equivalent of 15,000' elevation. This is my Mountain Grown test, day 21.
The hairs don't have fuzz and do have a reddish center, but they are there and growing. The sativa last month developed almost no hairs at all under the UV, donated the plant to another grower and reduced the UV 30%, more isn't always better.

Anyway , this is what I do, this is the seventh set of lights in the test room. And yes, all product is most thoroughly tested throughout the neighborhood.

The picture is day 12, 136 watts ZooMed reptisun 10, 800 watts CMH.

I'm here because I suspect I still do many things the hard way, observe and learn is my goal, contribute where I can.

ok whats a microwatt?136 watts ZooMed reptisun 10, 800 watts CMH. <<< 2 different types of ballast hook ups right?

This all sounds very fancy and technical, I like the light set-up. I like the look of it.

Are you trying to simulate the plant being up the side of the Himalayas there?

What medium are you growing in?

I grow in rockwool.
The reptisun 10 are lizard lights, some reptiles need ultra violet B for bone growth. These bulbs put the same on a lizard at 20" as standing in a tropical meadow would.
Had to do number crunching to keep from frying the plant, fried the first one anyway.

Back in the seventies stories about superpot grown high in the mountains were retold repeatedly.
I used 10 lights, then 8 lights, now 6 lights, that UVB is strong stuff, keeps burning the hairs off the plants I put in. I found out how much is too much anyway.
This latest plant is doing good, the bud hairs have red in them, AND the hairs are all there. The color change means something is happening inside, hope its a good thing.

That 850 microwatt number compares to 545 microwatts at the 10,023 foot level of Mt. Haleakala in Hawaii in late May. The only solid UVB mountain reading I could find.

Ceramic Metal Halide is as close to sunlight as I can afford, 2 of them at 400 watts each puts some pretty bright daylight on the plant.

This is a kick, getting all antsy watching it grow. Killer or dud? Anticipation is bad for my heart I am sure.

have you experimented with different distances for your reptisuns? ive been interested in trying a few coral bulbs or reptile bulbs. If I lived somewhere more conducive id do side by sides, but yes one test at a time is still rewarding.