ok guys, i know someone just asked a similar question but i want advice from the pro's. i have my first grow up and going, everything looks pretty good, my 11 plants from seed have been vegged for over a month and i will be switching them to 12/12 today because i have a plant getting too big *around 20 inches tall". my question is, as soon as this grow concludes i want to have my clones ready to start my new grow which will be a scrog grow with 5-9 clones or they will be jogged. how do i best time this out? none of my plants have shown sex yet. i'm sure they will within the next week or 2 from what everyone says. i hear the best time to take clones is 2 weeks into flower or so? so what should i do, find a good candidate 2 weeks in and just take 8-10 clones off her? or once i find a good female should i switch her back to veg under my fluorex 24/0 and make her my mother plant so i can take clones when i want and root them in time to start the next grow? what is the best choice here? thanks guys-sorry for the blabbering on, i get outta control sometimes. any answers are appreciated, NUGZ
... take clones as soon as soon as they show sex. You can keep it as a mom plant if you have the equipment and space. Or you can wait to harvest her, then put her under 24/0 lighting, and in a month or so, you can flip her back to 12/12 for another harvest. It all depends on what you want to do. Your clones should be ready to flower, and good size, by the time you harvest the mom, if you take them now.
if i took the clones when they show sex, then root the clones which will take 2 weeks or so, and then veg them under the flourescent won't they be too big when they go into flower? thanks, NUGZ
... depends on the size of clones you plan on taking. flowering plant clones just take a bit longer to root. The more veg time the better. hydro or soil? your plant will take 6-11 weeks to flower and be ready for harvest..soo, you decide how long you want to veg. 2 weeks of that will be slight veg for the clones, but they will mostly focus on reserving energy until they have roots. so your getting 4 weeks or so veg. all depends on the room you have and the lights you have.
sounds like you know what your talking about plastic. i just bought a 500 watt fluorex grow light for my clones, do you think this will be sufficient to veg 8-10 clones for a month or so? oh yes and i'm growing in soil. the clones i will be taking will be i don't know 3-6 inches in size or so. we will have to see. NUGZ
... well, I've seen 2 inch cuttings soar to almost 2 feet with only 1 month veg. Your light, if i am correct, only puts out 8000 or so lumens. That is definately not enough for a month veg for clones. In fact, I wouldn't recommend growing over 3-4 plants with that type of light. It'll be ok for the 10 clones to root in, but after that, they are going to need more light and coverage. What grow light do you use regularly?
i have a hydrofarm 400 watt hps with valubrite hood and air coolable reflector. that's what i was thinking, i just want to root them and be able to put them into veg under the HPS right away. so maybe just designating a mother would be best and putting her back under veg for 24/0 until i want to take my cuttings? sounds like my only option... NUGZ
500W anything flo or even remotely HID should put out more than 8000 lumens, but i've done clones and vegged them in the same flower room while the light was on then the other remaining 12hr i just used a 80W flo shop light with like 6000 lumens and it worked fine! So why don't you look and see how much that light produces. Man remember clones are sensitive to light hell my batch of clones right now are doing some crazy shit, they are so sensitive for some reason that they burned just using the 4' 80W flo fixture and it was a damn foot away!
Ok did some research and those 500W flourex's are only really only 65W and the 1000W is really just two 65W's thats nuts how can they do this and get away with it, shit makes glad i used $8 fixtures and $4 bulbs cause apparently the flourexs aren't very good lights.
... well they do offer more lumens per watt, but only a little bit, and I'm not sure how much they cost. I think 40$ ? for 80$ you can get a 250w HPS for cloning (hell I only payed 90$ for my 400w MH). also if you have enough room in your grow, you can clone them under your 400w, even if they aren't getting complete direct light, they will be fine and root...just make sure they are well misted, and don't overheat.
is there any way to preserve cuttings for clones so that i can just root them like 2 weeks before my plants are going to be finished so they are ready for veg? is there a way to do this? thanks, NUGZ
yeah cut them and keep them in water in your fridges vegtable crisper, the little drawer at the bottom. Its called stasis
... yeah you could do that..BUT..remember, they take a week or two to root. but you can put them in the fridge (not freezer) in a cup with some PH'd water, and rooting hormone. They will grow a little slower cause of this when you take them out though. Freezing would cause ice crystals to form and damage the cell walls.
seems like there should be an easier way....you think if i only took like 4-6 clones then would that 500 watt flourex light be enough for veg until the hps is done flowering the current grow? thanks again, NUGZ
... thats what I was saying. by the time they are done flowering, you can begin flowering those. but extra lighting would help. cause they might be a little tall and lanky, or there might not be enough intense light coverage. but they may take longer to root, who knows. they don't grow much rooting.
If you're keepin plants in stasis in the fridge do you need to rig the light to stay on? Or does it matter?
Is my understanding correct? ::: clones should receive little light until they have nice roots, afterwards they should immediately be put under HID 12/12.
