Sunday, August 2, 2009

Light up your clones


Unlike seedlings, clones need light from day one, after rooting. Start with lower and diffused light intensities from sources such as T-5 or T-8 fluorescent lighting. During the first few days, the cuttings will do best with just one to two 24 watt strips over the top of a standard 10" x 20" propagation tray.

You can gradually increase the light intensity after a few days by lowering the light fixtures closer to the propagation dome. However, make certain the temperature doesn't rise above 850 F inside the dome after making this adjustment.

Once the roots develop, you can switch to HID lights that provide mostly red and blue growth stimulating spectrums. Condition your plants to this more intense light by gradually decreasing the distance between the plants and light fixtures. After a couple of weeks, your plants should be able to handle very bright levels of light which will encourage healthy, robust and fast-growing plants.

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