OK - been doing a fair amount of reading on Red and Far Red supplemental lighting and I’m kinda(?) convinced of the science. LOL!
Seems to be legit and well studied in other areas of horticulture also, and kinda proven by the LED makers themselves by the inclusion of Red lighting in the Full Spectrum Boards.
My first, and most recent indoor grow started under Spider Farmer SF-2000/SF-1000 and before the flip was upgraded to a HLG 350R Diablo. Shortly after the flip a HLG UVA supplement was added to the lighting.
The Super Skunk and NYCD I grew in the tent were MUCH more resinous than the NYCD from the same seed purchase I grew outside. I didn’t have a SS outside so no comparison there, although it was far more juicy than the GDP and NYCD I grew outside.
At any rate, I’m still on my journey for perfection and after the first tent grow I know that’s where it’ll come from and I think the introduction of more Far Red during flowering is a cheap and proven way to increase THC content in plants, if not additionally producing a higher % of THC to other cannabanoids.
I know that’s spelled wrong, but Firefox couldn’t correct it either! LOL!
OR…would I be better off adding another UVA supplement for the other side of the 350R?
I do have my current one toed in towards the plants and checked coverage with the 350 off.
I would do the same with a FR bar on the other side of the 350
Then the next problem…HLG doesn’t have any Far Red Supplements in stock and apparently hasn’t for a minute! Theirs uses Osram diodes. Anyone got any suggestions on another maker of a worthy Far Red supplement light?
Or should I just order another UVA?
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NanoLux i believe uses Osram SSL diodes also have you thought about supplementing any uvb?
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Well, honestly I wondered why HLG didn’t have a UVB light and then I read this -
“The combination of UVA and UVB light (from a standard “reptile bulb” fluorescent light) also increases THC and CBD production, but the inclusion of UVB in the light has noticeable detrimental effects on plant growth compared to only UVA.”
And then I decided UVA was enough! LOL!
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Gorcha makes sense I believe I just watched a Migrow video recently that I think may have stated something similar 
lol
I figured as temperamental as these divas are to grow I dare not put the wrong spotlight on them!
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I run a uva/b light. Haven’t seen any detrimental affects. Trichome production has definitely increased and have grown my largest yielding plants with it in the room.
As for your question, you’ve got all your bases covered as far as uv and far red. Adding more may just hurt your pocket more than it’ll help your plants.
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But I’m American.
Isn’t bigger, better? 
That’s why I was kinda more interested in the Far Red supplement rather than UVA.
The 350R has a decidedly blueish spectrum and I figured in flower the extra red would help compensate for that.
The Spider Farmer lights I have in my smaller tent have a much more pronounced red presence.
TBH, I haven’t flowered under the SF’s yet since I swapped them out in the main tent mid-grow.
I’ve got some autos under them now so I’ll find out soon enough. 
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It does have blue but plenty of red as well. They’ve figured out that the blue doesn’t need to be decreased for flower. The spiders usually include more in the orange spectrum. Which doesn’t show to help or hurt the plant.
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I have uva 3 bars in a 4x7x8 room and to be honest the tent I have going with the blurples in it seem to have alot more tric production because of he red pink look I believe than the flower room with the uva bars. I think so far seeing my tent @Jaydawg6528 grows using the red and blues that red in flower seems to be a substantial tric increase. I’m pushing for far reds myself for the room so I’ll be watching for the red supplement lighting. Hlg never has them and that’s what I’d like to stick with as all the rest of the lights are hlgm
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Only use UVB at the end of flowering, not the entire grow. I watched a micro vid where it can have bad effects on plants if given for too much or too long.
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@Demonrage75 Yes, from everything I’ve read it’s best to fire it up during the second week of flower and actually heard the same about the Far Red. Of course there’s the endless debate about when flowering actually starts. I always considered it “flowering” when I’ve got buttons formed.
The sole purpose of the lights is flowering. Agreed!
@Mark0427 - Yes - they haven’t had them in stock for a couple of months now! very Frustrating as I’m in flower now! I suppose I could contact customer service and see if they have a projected date of arrival - probably in a container from China - since that’s where they source the UVA lights from too.
They are making it difficult to NOT visit California Lightworks or other “higher end” light makers to see what they have to offer.I too would like to stick with HLG but honestly if I could find something comparable at a similar price I’d probably get it.
Thankx for the input fellows!
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Well, Sorry HLG! You should have kept these in stock!!
Well, I’m gonna find out if the claims are true in about 5 business days! Plus the remaining 6 weeks of flowering! LOL!
I just pulled the trigger on this -
They actually have them in stock and should ship Monday! Their free shipping is standard ground, so 5-8 business days they say. I’m cool with that - the next option was $45. 5 days sounds good!
And this is a TRUE far red, where as the HLG 60 has a lot of crossover with the spectrum of the 350R and contains blue spectrum also.
HLG -
FGI -
350R -
They don’t say who makes the diodes but HLG is using Osram. I’ll probably shoot them a email on Monday and inquire but hey - it’s $130…oh wait - is it?
Because I got a coupon code which actually brought my total down to $116.10!
Believe me - I’ve spent more and gotten less in the past!
Capital One shopping found the code and it shows on the invoice as - COUPONBIRDS7 .
I’m not sure if the code includes the word Coupon or if it’s just Birds7. I didn’t pay attention when the plug in filled in the line. LOL!
AND when you pull the trigger they offer you a second one at a deeper discount! Then after you place your order they offer you a deal on a UVB light also!
Also - the FGI bar is a full 4ft compared to HLGs just under 36".
TBH, this light has a better spectrum for far red than HLG also.
Now I’ve got to do a LOT more reading on The Emerson Effect and the proper use of the Far Red.
Supposedly you can run longer light hours with quicker flowering time and denser, more resinous buds.
I think I read that an additional hour of lights on provides an additional 17% of growing time everyday of flower. That ability alone will add bulk to the plants even without the extra spectrum, but hard to do WITHOUT the additional spectrum.
While I can’t report on the FR light yet I can say the UVB supplement made the NYD I grew under the light much stickier and had a better flavor and better high than the same seeds grown outdoors.
Hoping I see similar results from adding this.
I cannot wait to play around with this!!!
I’ll report back when I get it!!
Happy happy, joy joy!!
Happy Self-Gifting Everyone!!!
edit: Just got my UPS tracking number!!! YAY!!!
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Nice research buddy💪
I’ve been watching since post 1 and really anticipating your results.
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I’ve done some studying up on the far red effects.
Apparently when the lights go out the plant spends the first couple of hours converting a chemical in itself to a form that then spurs the plant to use it’s energy for the flowering process. The red spectrum in the full spectrum LEDs will cause the conversion of the chemical. With a FAR red blast for a short period after the initial lights go off it forces the pant to do the conversion at a much quicker rate therefore letting the plant get to the business of cranking up flower production much sooner and using the energy that otherwise would have gone to the other process for 2-3 hours first. And more of the lights out period is used to do the flower development process also.
Theoretically you could increase your lights on time by up to 2 hours if you can get it dialed in for the strain, and of course more lights equals more and bigger buds And slightly speeding up the process.
I’ve got a lot more reading to do, but it all sounds promising! 
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I implemented photo-red (660 nm) and far-red (730 nm) several grows back.
I give them both photo and far red during lights ON to take advantage of the “Emerson Effect” for both veg and flower phases.
During flower, when the main lights go OFF I keep the far-red ON for an additional 15 minutes to cause the phytochromes to convert. This allows me to flower on a 14/10 schedule.
I have had excellent results using this lighting scheme.
I also add UVA/B during flower starting 5 minutes in am and 5 minutes in the pm. Each day I increase the UV time by 3 minutes until they get 30 minutes of UVA/B each am and pm.
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Thanks for responding @merlin44 !!
That’s exactly the kinda real world info I need!!
What kind of changes did you experience? I would imagine a somewhat increased yield due to the longer lights on period.
My indoor buds were so much more resinous than my outside ones from the same pack of NYCD from ILGM with just the UVA supplement.
The outdoor stuff is still good, but the inside stuff is GREAT! LOL!
And of course, at 6 and 8 feet I got a bigger yield from outside, but I’m honestly more interested in quality than quantity.
Do you think it would be detrimental to my current grow - I’m 2 weeks since the flip - to migrate to your lighting scheme when the far red arrives?
And I’m correct in hearing that you run the far red all day?
Thank you so much for letting me pick your brain!
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I did not carefully document the changes when I introduced the red and UV spectra, this decision was based wholly on the research that I did.
As far as using far red on your current grow, my GUESS is that it would be fine with the following caution.
Photo red and Far red do not contribute much to the photosynthesis process directly. The red spectra is sort of a signaling light telling the plant how to grow. Introducing red light incorrectly will result in very undesirable results.
Running far red without photo red during lights on is not a good idea, they should be used together when the lights are on.
My light schedule will be in next post. Note that the ON time is only 13 hours with the far red making up the last 30 minutes. Technically 15 minutes of far red should be sufficient but a bit more does not hurt anything and MAY help. Not sure on that one.
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My lighting schedules…
During vegetative growth:
Light Schedule: 6/2 (ON/OFF)
UV: None
Photo Red and Far Red: 5 minute wake up, ON with main lights, 5 minute go to sleep
During Flowering:
Light Schedule: 13/11 (ON/OFF)
UV: 15 days after flipping to 13/11 UV starts at 5 minutes in AM and 5 minutes in PM, 3 minutes longer each day to a maximum of 60 minutes in AM and PM
Photo Red and Far Red: 5 minute wake up, ON with main lights, 5 minute go to sleep
Far Red Only: 30 minutes after lights OFF to convert phytochromes
48 days after flipping to flower schedule the light schedule is modified to
12.5/11.5.
Just a reminder, I added red light to a grow a couple of years ago without understanding what the requirements were and totally ruined an entire grow. Rather getting about 1# per plant I got about 1/4# of larf from each plant.
I should add that this lighting scheme is implemented using a custom control system based upon an industrial PLC (Programable Logic Controller). There are other ways to accomplish this using Arduino or programmable relays or some other mechanism that allows you to control things to the minute. It might prove challenging using conventional timers due to synchronization issues.
If you don’t have any programming and electrical/electronics background, using Arduino may not be your best choice.
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My work with Arduino programming has all been in the C/C++ language, I don’t know what other language options there are. There are some other folks on the forum that have used Arduino for their grow room controls I just don’t know who they are.
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I just bought another HLG far red lamp this morning, maybe not the one you were looking for but I use these to get to harvest a bit quicker (5-7 days), running for 7 minutes after the main lights turn out and running a 13/11 light schedule in flowering.
@Mark0427 - these seem to be in stock as I just ordered another one
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