Clones need minimal light? True or not?

[Perpetual]

If it is true that clones taken indoors need minimal light, that is having the light further away from the plant to reduce the chance of photosynthesis to help the plant focus on growing roots instead?

Then why can I take clones and have them root sitting in full sunlight, with then lights coming on in the early morning that are fluoros about 6 inches away?

 

[FreezerBoy]

I don't know that they need minimal light. I do know that a single 23 watt cfl a couple feet away is sufficient and that leaving pot growing on a window sill isn't the safest move.

 

[sin-seed]

I use a small 20watt, 20" fluoro for my 30 site EZ Clone, not a T5 either. Just a standard kitchen light fluoro, and they love it! Oh yeah, I also keep the light a good foot or more from the clones.

 

[LJB]

FreezerBoy, I would phrase it as clones need no more than minimal light.

In his book, Gardening Indoors with HID Lights, George Van Patten wrote that 100-300 foot candles is enough for low-light clones and seedlings. And I think he's referencing per square foot: http://books.google.com/books?id=VjZLwueG754C&pg=PA143&dq=cuttings+lux&ei=NB87SrGSA5iCyATxrMG6BQ

Quite a few people have posted about their continued success using one 23w cfl; maybe something similar to this 6400k / 1600 initial lumens producing model: http://www.1000bulbs.com/23-Watt-Compact-Fluorescent-6500-Kelvin/

It just so happens that 1600 lumens = 149 foot candles

 

[theHIGHlander]

ive rooted cuts under a 400HPS and thay took just as long as thay do under my x2 15w CFLs,, if you keep them far away from you main light thay could stretch aswell....
there is no rule saying you cant i just think its more to do with. >why run a 400/600/1000HPS ect ect when you can get them to root just as fast under a crappy CFL wasted power well thats how i think lol ,,,


keep it green
highlander

 

[FreezerBoy]

FreezerBoy, I would phrase it as clones need no more than minimal light.

Good catch. As no good deed goes unpunished, you are now my new editor. Hah! Take that

My CFLs are the cheapest 23 watters whatever store had. I can't say they're good for growing but, they'll root a field of 1000 starter cubes in 10-12 days. In my dome days, I'd block the dome with a sheet of cardboard. In shadow, the cubes received only reflected light of a single lamp, sometimes several feet away. That's not a recommendation, just an observation of how little they need to root.

FWIW, there's a Cloning in the Dark thread going, even as we speak

 

[Perpetual]

Ok but I am still wonderin! What make's the rule about using a soft amount of light true, if my clones root just as fast being in Full sunlight? errrr am I missing something you guys are trying to explain?

 

[PiffGuru]

because the point is that you dont need full light to root them... so if your rooting inside you dont need to be wasting money on rooting clones.. they only need some light to successfully root... and yes I like the phrasing of no more than minimal light.. anymore is a waste..

 

[Perpetual]

Ah ok see I was thinking this whole time that if you used a full power light, distanced appropriately for normal use, you would have less success than if you used a cfl spaced further than normal.

I see what you guys are saying now. Thanks!

 

[theHIGHlander]

because the point is that you dont need full light to root them... so if your rooting inside you dont need to be wasting money on rooting clones.. they only need some light to successfully root... and yes I like the phrasing of no more than minimal light.. anymore is a waste..

thats what i was trying to spit out lol

keep it green
highlander

 

[vancityj]

I've noticed that when you have four domes (10X20"; 2'X4' total) side-by-side situated under a 4', 2X40-watt fluorescent fixture, with the fixture about 4-6" above the dome tops...if you try to place a fifth dome beside the others, but located maybe 20-24" from the light, they will root noticeably slower with a lesser success rate.

 

[lysol]

The only thing is I would be cautions of ambient temps. Don't want to evaporate all the water out of the medium. When my townhome was being shown by the landlord I had to evacuate my grow to another location for a few weeks, all the clones died because of heat probs

 

[JohnnyToke]

I use (1) 11w cfl over my 22 site aero cloner and it works great. once rooted, i sometimes switch it out for a 23w cfl if I need to leave them in the cloner for a couple weeks waiting on the flower room to become availble.

JT

 

[mixedwell]

this is a good thread. im tryna veg my 5 girlie clones under 400w Mh and i think its just way too hott for them, not to mention kinda pricey on the bill compared to my 'emergency' light setup which consists of 4 24w CFLs (total 6400 lumens)

maybe i should stick with the CFLs until they get bigger? yellow curling leaves dont look good in my garden.

 

[MtnKuSh]

i got a mum, many rooting and rooted clones under 1- 18w cfl.. i put 1 of the clones under a 26 w cfl and it got a lite burn on it but im sure it will recover. ive rooted and kept clones in warm/cold temps,,under alot and alittle light, more and less hours of light and darkness and they always stay alive till needed

 

[ourcee]

you can sprout seedings under a 1000w if you really want to. you dont NEED to to have the same effect, infact its worse because to handle the heat/intensity it needs to be so far away thus inducing stretching

long story short they will be overall better plants (saying you dont WANT lanky stretchy ones) with better structure due to having the light source so much closer (I have some of my cfl's literally touching the humidity dome [dontworrythetemperatureisfine]) using a CFL or the like

the sun has a better spectrum for plants then indoor bulbs ever will. it has better penetration then any bulb. its a plant... of course its going to root under the sun.

oh and high temps with cfls are worse than good temps with hids... bad temps are bad period. get your temperatures under control and your grow will probably increase in capabilities tenfold.

 

[chubbynugs]

Once the lil root nubs are formed the plant starts photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is vital for root growth once it starts. I am not saying toss your clones under a HID though. As stated above a floro is sufficient enough light to get it rooted. I have a two bulb floro tube set up over my ez-cloner. They root fully usually within 7-14 days. My light is two inches above my clones.

 

[VerdantGreen]

i root mine under 11watts of cfl, just in coir plugs. they take 7-14 days too. ive read in a couple of places that they root slightly better under a warm spectrum so i use a warm white bulb.

 

[keke.nz]

i use a twin tube 1' 2 x 20 watt fluro for rooting my lones, i just place them in a humidity dome with the light sitting on top of the dome, generally takes 10-15 days for roots to appear out of the coir plugs.
As many people above have said, clones dont need a lot of light as they need to focus on root development and the low wattage lighting options are definately alright for that job.

peace keke

 

[LJB]

Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices (7th ed.)
Hartmann, Kester, Davies, and Geneve, Prentice Hall, 2002
http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_hartmann_plantpropa_7/19/5051/1293169.cw/index.html

chapter 9: Moderate light best for rooting herbaceous plants (90-100 W/m2 = 360 - 400 umol/m2/s)

360 microeinsteins is roughly the equiv. of four 27w CFL illuminating a canopy of roughly 2 square feet, which seems to be overkill for c.s. clones.

I'm going to experiment at some point with one, two, three, four of these lamps.