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!

smackhead1984 Reviewed by smackhead1984 on 08-25-2008. rooting cuttings under 12/12 light? 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 Rating: 5

[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!