How much LED wattage for clone trays? Mom's in general and Mom's before cloning?

So what is the ideal wattage for each of the various lifecycles? We talk a lot about heavy veg and flower timeframes but what about all the stages leading up to?

-- I'd like to have a seedling/clone tray area for popping new seeds and also for cloning

-- I'd like to have a space for maintaining healthy moms - those that are just on standby, not looking to pull clones from her... just saving genetics for later.

-- I'd like to have a space for kicking mom's into overdrive to get their health up and to veg enough to pull clones from.

-- I'd like to have a space for specifically getting rooted clones into pre-veg state - i.e. filling out their root-ball in small 1 gals until ready to ready repot into larger containers and putting into dedicated veg space...

I was contemplating these needs as I walked a big-box store today and saw a pair of flurescent LED tube lamps, fixture and all, for $23 or so..... low wattage of course, they're shop lights... But it has the 4th width to distribute that light over a large area, so that seemed like a candidate for seedling trays, etc....

Also any recommended fixtures for these specific lower-power purposes? Cool spectrum and appropriate wattages? I'd especially look at those with a thin & wide foot-print since I may have these spaces setup on racks, etc and vertical height is a premium when doing so...

Also any options in 2ft instead of 4ft might be of interest as well given the use of cloning tents, etc...

go spend $50-75 on 10 100W replacement A19 bulbs (14W). one of those can cover a 10x20 tray all day long. a row of them on a power strip can raise moms well past 24"

NewGrower2011 said:

I was contemplating these needs as I walked a big-box store today and saw a pair of flurescent LED tube lamps, fixture and all, for $23 or so.....

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the 4000k philips T8 replacements are $6 at home depot, if youve got old shop lights with good ballasts its a no brainer. 17W/ 2100 lm

After reading more threads I've taken notice to these LED hard strips... https://www.rollitup.org/t/samsung-hard-strips.908616/

I'm wondering if this wouldn't be a good modular solution for these phases and it would seem if you got the density enough with the strips you could even get to a good wattage/coverage enough to take clones into early veg...

It would also go towards the thin design goal...

10-15W/sqft is fine for clones and moms assuming underdriven cobs.

I would invest in a cob lamp for veg before flowering. (like you want to do) Veg is the low hanging fruit because the lights are on for a longer period of the day. You get much more DLI (upto 2x under 24/0) for the money.

yeah i have some cutter strips in 5000 5700 and 6500k i will be using for this purpose

I think it depends on how the mom will be used. If you're taking clones for a major operation you want higher PPFD. If you're going to be taking 5-10 clones at a time the mom won't need much light. I was running a veg area at about 290 PPFD with plenty of growth from the mom to support that many clones every couple months with plenty to spare. That was just over 13 watts per foot, from a 35% efficient light source (cobs). Clones need even less light. I kept the clones outside the chamber with the door open. PPFD was probably under 100.

CobKits said:

go spend $50-75 on 10 100W replacement A19 bulbs (14W). one of those can cover a 10x20 tray all day long. a row of them on a power strip can raise moms well past 24"

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Do you think this will be ok for a 15”x22”x13” clone dome?

Is 10.8W enough for a 2sqft for seedlings & clones, mainly clones?
Is there a way to convert Watts to PPFD?

Dreminen169 said:

Is 10.8W enough for a 2sqft for seedlings & clones, mainly clones?
Is there a way to convert Watts to PPFD?

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It should do the job.This link below will give a ballpark figure......
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I use a very small low wattage aquarium light for cloning mysel.

Dreminen169 said:

Do you think this will be ok for a 15”x22”x13” clone dome?
View attachment 4855357View attachment 4855356

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those are fine, but now im fond of the $20 shoplight led fixtures from walmart. does 2 trays right

CobKits said:

those are fine, but now im fond of the $20 shoplight led fixtures from walmart. does 2 trays right

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Nice, looks like I will be returning this to Lowe’s & getting the $20 one from Walmart. This one was $40 you can change the spectrum from 3500-5000K, but seeing as I only want 5000K+ I have no use for anything under that. I’ve also been debating getting a 6500K that I can hardwire and mount underneath a shelving unit

those 5K work fine. if youve got more than 2 trays going stack them on the closetmaid wire rack systems they have, with your clone tray above another light its the perfect amount of heat. im getting strong rooting in 8-10 days on 80%+ of the cuts