Best type of light and wattage for clones per tray?

[elgwedoloco]

OK so it seems like my clones are taking forever to root. I have talked to a friend and he seems to think it is TOO MUCH light. So we both trust and read ICMAG religiously, help me answer these question please fellow icmag-ers:

1 - What is the best type of lighting for clones?(Example: CFL, T5, T8, HPS, MH. ect)

2 - How many watts per tray?

3 - How far away from the clones?(I have heard 12" but I would like your opinions too please)

4 - Any other advice you have on this subject?

Thanks in advance for all your input and advice. Always so helpful.

If it helps at all here are pics of the clone cab and the bubble cloner are I have going on right now.


I think this is a 25w light at about 12" away. I am not positive as I am not at the house right now to check.

This is 150W 6500K CFL about 18" away. Had it horizontal and about 10" away from clones but they didn't seem to like this so back to the vertical it went.

Here was the horizontal

 

[Phillthy]

i use t5 hi output bulbs. usually only have 2 lit about a foot from the cloner. thats about 108 watts.

 

[stonedar]

I have 2 23 w CFLs one warm one cool about 24 inches over my clone bucket

 

[elgwedoloco]

Phillthy - Thanks man I feel a little better now.

Stonedar - Hmmm it sounds like a catch 22 type situation.

Oh yeah and I remembered to check the wattage on the lights. The big CFL is 125W and the little one that WAS above the bubble cloner is a 23W CFL.

I guess I am going to have to take 2 cuttings from the same plant at the same time and do all the same shit except using different lights on each plants.

 

[geopolitical]

1 - What is the best type of lighting for clones?(Example: CFL, T5, T8, HPS, MH. ect)

2 - How many watts per tray?

3 - How far away from the clones?(I have heard 12" but I would like your opinions too please)

4 - Any other advice you have on this subject?

1. I've used just about everything, from hps to the windowsill to a mh, compact & tube fluoros, you name it. They all seem to do just fine. Moderate light seems to work best but I've cloned successfully under all kinds of lighting conditions.

2. I think the setup I have now averages out to about 30w/sqft give or take a few.

3. A few hands above the top of your dome/clones. You idealy want the bottom of the plants warmer than the top if you can achieve that.

4. New roots form from callus, many cloning methods increase area that's likely to form callus by scraping the stem, splitting it, etc. Heat can also help callus form. Bottom heat with surface cool is really the ideal if you can achieve it. I clone on the top of a rack, the bottoms get warmed from the lights below and are a bit warmer than the tops.

The less moisture the tops have the faster they'll grow roots. Pruning back fan leaves to 1/3 or so the day before taking cuts can let you get away with very little in the way of a humidity dome. Often I'll just use deep sided plastic bins and plan on filling them completely with clones, I rarely bother to do more than mist with this.

 

[elgwedoloco]

geopolitical - AWESOME!!!!! That is the best thing I have found so far. I have a book The Cannabis Grow Bible , but I couldn't find anything specific. Thanks for the information it is some useful stuff to put into action.

 

[FreezerBoy]

A single 23 watt cfl is sufficient to root several thousand clones.