What is an appropriate amount of light for mother plants?

[Bukshot911]

If my mothers are under 600w and then the cuttings placed under cfl and then those clones are grown under 1000w lighting will they be stressed. Is that change in light intensity ok?

 

[Rosebud]

If your clones are well rooted they will be fine under your big lights, in my experience. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I wouldn't go straight to the 1000w with the clones right away. I see you put them initially under CFL (I assume until they root and are transplanted). I would go from that to directly under the 600 for a week then put them under the 1000 so that they get the chance to aclimate, (What is known as hardening off) It will reduce the transplant shock that some people get.

I actually start mine under about 5000lumens(1 4'T5HO bulb) while they are rooting, then once they start growing I move them under 20,000lumens of T5 light for a week or 2 depending on my grow space scheduling. If I have to hold them for a few before moving to their flowering rooms I will put them under 40,000lumens of T5 light in their 4th week. That gives them enough light to grow nicely.

When one of the bud rooms comes open I will put them in under 600wMH for a week or 2 depending on how long they have been waiting. Then pop in the HPS600w when I switch to flowering

 

[akhockey]

If your clones have decent roots theyll be fine under the 1000. Just dont out it too close right away. Leave it a couple feet away the first couple of days and then lower it 2 inches a day til its closer. Thats what I do. That 600 is probably overkill for moms in veg.

 

[Bukshot911]

Ok I thought it might be too much. Is 400w good or should I go even less with like 4 T5's? I figure when I take the clones to the system I'll start them at 600w and bump them up to 1000w after a week or so.

 

[Hushpuppy]

I keep my moms under T5 lighting. You still want to have good light on them so that they don't stretch like crazy. I have found that by keeping the nutes lower(but ballanced) and keep the moms under about 30,000 lumens, they seem to do well and don't grow too fast. A 400w HID would be ok but would be a waste of watts, when you can use 4-6 4'T5s at under 300watts.

 

[Bukshot911]

How much light are you cloning under?

 

[Hushpuppy]

I have an EZ-cloner that is 60 slots for 60 cuttings. I typically never use more than half of them as I like to space out the cuttings so that they get air flow around them. I like to start out the first week with 2-3 4'T5s that produce about 10-15K lumens depending on how many cuttings I have. Then after 2 weeks I bump em up to 6-8 bulbs at 30-40K lumens. Again depending on the amount of cuttings I am running at the time. by week 3-4, they have roots over a foot long and have to be taken out of the cloner.

If you are running just a few seedlings or clones, then you don't want to start out with anymore than 5000 lumens for the first week or two. Once you see vigorous growth then you can basically double the lumens every 2 weeks until you get to maximum lumens.

 

[Bukshot911]

Really? Why do you wait so long to plant your clones? I mean I clone in rockwool cubes and theyre good to go in like 10 days. I move them into an ebb and flow system as soon as the roots are poking through the rockwool cube. They grow just fine. Previously I have been useing low power lighting for veg but I am stepping up to 1000w this time that's why I started this thred.