How much light (lumens) is needed for cuttings to root?

Helmut79

Helmut79

Well-Known Member
I have a dimmable MH lamp and I'm not sure if I should have it on 250W or 400W until my cuttings start rooting?

Does anyone know how many lumens is needed for strong rooting?.. and how much is too much?

250W seems a bit too dark for the eyes. 400W seems right, but how to be sure?

The cuttings are covering 5 x 2 feet area and I got the biggest adjust-a-wings.

If someone is smart enough, maybe knows if it would be a good idea to start with 250W for the first week and then dim it up to 400W for the second week?
 
evergreengardener

evergreengardener

Well-Known Member
Helmut79 said:
I have a dimmable MH lamp and I'm not sure if I should have it on 250W or 400W until my cuttings start rooting?

Does anyone know how many lumens is needed for strong rooting?.. and how much is too much?

250W seems a bit too dark for the eyes. 400W seems right, but how to be sure?

The cuttings are covering 5 x 2 feet area and I got the biggest adjust-a-wings.

If someone is smart enough, maybe knows if it would be a good idea to start with 250W for the first week and then dim it up to 400W for the second week?
Click to expand...
most clone under floros but your 250 will work keep it high clones dont need much light at all
 
Helmut79

Helmut79

Well-Known Member
To keep in mind that I have 4 big domes of clones. They take 2 x 5 feet coverage.

250W MH really gives me a dim feeling. Usually I have also had them under floros, but I've had two T5's 55W both and they were really close to the dome and shined brighter than my 250W MH on 4 domes at the moment...

I'll have a lux meter in few days to measure light intensity. If I only knew how many lumens should I be aiming at.
 
Helmut79

Helmut79

Well-Known Member
Cuttings start rooting usually in 10-14 days as far as I know. I think 250W for the first week and 400W after that would be best :)
 
Cletus clem

Cletus clem

Well-Known Member
To root clones you want barely any light. Just enough! Rooting under 250w is a bad idea. Too much light will make the cutting try to grow. If its trying to grow it will relocate mobile nutrients to new growth, causing yellowing to the leaves. My cloning/seedling area is 2 t5s mounted under a shelf. My cloning tray is in the front, not under direct light. I rotate it daily so 1 side dosnt get more than the other. 25AE2ED6-2B3E-44CD-B88D-57AED564AEBE.jpegAfter cuttings have rooted, i plant them in solo cups and put them underneath the t5s until they root out the soil and start to grow. Then i put them under my led veg light. Full spectrum white led, no blurple! I flower under COB led so the transition is pretty nice.
 
theslipperbandit

theslipperbandit

Well-Known Member
I just take cuts before I flip and stick em in soil with rooting hormone n foliar regularly so no dome nothing special bar the foliar to keep humidity up
 
Gbuddy

Gbuddy

Well-Known Member
Any fluoro setup will do it.

There is no lumen specs for rooting.

Keep in mind the unrooted clones only have what you left on them.
In words:
A couple of leafes and a piece of stalk.

So there is very limited energy in the unrooted cutting.
You dont want the cutting to engage in photosynthesis (loss of energy) a lot or loss of water because of heat (kills unrooted cuttings pretty fast).

Indirekt light is absolutely enough.

Hope it helps

Peace
 
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Dr. Who

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
Cletus clem said:
To root clones you want barely any light. Just enough! Rooting under 250w is a bad idea. Too much light will make the cutting try to grow. If its trying to grow it will relocate mobile nutrients to new growth, causing yellowing to the leaves. My cloning/seedling area is 2 t5s mounted under a shelf. My cloning tray is in the front, not under direct light. I rotate it daily so 1 side dosnt get more than the other. View attachment 4069651After cuttings have rooted, i plant them in solo cups and put them underneath the t5s until they root out the soil and start to grow. Then i put them under my led veg light. Full spectrum white led, no blurple! I flower under COB led so the transition is pretty nice.
Click to expand...
Oh +rep for this answer!

I don't keep my clones under any direct lighting either! Indirect lighting will allow those slow, or hard to clone strains to actually have the time to root. Before yellowing from attempting to grow and feeding off themselves.

The hardest rooting strains are simply dipped in a rooting powder and placed in willow water to root. Light bubbling is done for the dissolved o2 to remain high for starting roots.
All of my cloning is done several feet from a light. Rotation is a good idea, if light is stronger from a particular direction.

GREAT post Cletus!
 
jimihendrix1

jimihendrix1

Well-Known Member
Keep the 250 a good deal away as has been stated above.

If they try and grow, vs rooting, they will die. They only need enough light to keep them alive. Even a 1000w from a good distance, can cause them to want to grow. I use a 1000w in my veg/clone room, and use the indirect light from it, and sometimes its to much for some strains. So I have to put them even farther away.

Don't put them under any stronger light, until you are 100% positive your plants have roots, and are starting to grow a bit. Keep that 400 off of them until then. IMHO.
 
Cletus clem

Cletus clem

Well-Known Member
As much as i like led and higher end hid (cmh, de hps) t5s work too damn good for clones and seedlings. Once established, arm your photon cannons! The nice, even, just intense enough light from t5s is just right for the youngins.
 
tyke1973

tyke1973

Well-Known Member
I all ways root my clones under a normal House Lamp ,just a CFL bulb.To be honest you could root clones just on the side in the house with no light over them ,has long has they are getting 18 hour of light ,I suppose they would root without 18 hour of light .Once they have roots then they need decent light levels so they don't become lanky with nodes far apart .
 
V

Vinny1989

Active Member
Gbuddy said:
Any fluoro setup will do it.

There is no lumen specs for rooting.

Keep in mind the unrooted clones only have what you left on them.
In words:
A couple of leafes and a piece of stalk.

So there is very limited energy in the unrooted cutting.
You dont want the cutting to engage in photosynthesis (loss of energy) a lot or loss of water because of heat (kills unrooted cuttings pretty fast).

Indirekt light is absolutely enough.

Hope it helps

Peace
Click to expand...
Would this be classed as indirect light? I havnt got a propagation light so best thing I could come up with is to put propagator outside my grow tent with the grow tent left open
 

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