rooting cuttings under 12/12 light?

[smackhead1984]

Is it possible to get new cuttings to root under 12/12 lighting or does it HAVE to be constant light?


the problem is i have a propagater half-full of 2 week old rooted cuttings and want to fill it with new cuttings but ive already switched it to 12/12 to sex the plants they came off...

The only thing i can think of is to put the rooted clones into my flower room with a cloth screen over them an put the propagator back on 24-7 for the new cuttings so they deffo root... but if they can get by just as they are i'd rather leave them

thanks in advance for any help!

[stinkyattic]

It's FAR preferable to root under 24/0, for a couple reasons- stable temps, stable humidity, and flowering is actually a slightly stressful time for the plant, as is cloning, and the two together adds up to a bit much to see good results.
I'd take the ones that are already rooted and put them in a propagator dome (about $10 at the garden shop, or a clear plastic tote from the dollar store) in the flower chamber.
Then you can carefully clean out your cloner and start fresh. The cleaning between uses is pretty important.

[smackhead1984]

thanks thats a good idea dunno why i didnt think of that, what sort of distance should a hps 600 watter be from the cuttings? i normally put it at 40 inch from seedlings an drop 2 inch a day for 10 days.... is there any difference for cuttings?

thanks again :jointsmile:

[stinkyattic]

If you already see roots, go ahead and treat the cuttings as if they were seedlings, watching to see if they show signs of being too dry and warm- droop, wilt, or upcurled leaf edges. I like to keep just-rooted cuttings out of bright intense light until they have almost doubled in size from then they were cut off the mother. So a cutting that shows ~3" above the plug when I first insert it, I'd want to see at least 2 new sets of leaves unfolding, or a couple inches vert growth- either one- before introducing it to the HIDs. That's also a good time to introduce a light dosage of fertilizer. I use a weak foliar mist of the GH Micro, which has just a bit of N in it too.

[smackhead1984]

thanks for the good info, not heard of the micro before i'll look it up

[stinkyattic]

This is going to sound silly, but IMVHO that stuff is an absolute Godsend for growers. It's just meant to be the 'micro' part of the GH 3-part, rather than sold individually, but I have found it to be a really nice predictable way to foliar-feed micronutrients to suffering plants. Even before I figure out WHY they are suffering, if it's a lockout or deficiency, giving them foliar micros will simply bypass the root system and prevent whatever is wrong from getting worse- with some exceptions, but for stuff like pH or overfert lockouts, it's priceless!