Soak Up the Sun
Your clones will shoot up rather quickly and their energy needs will change just as fast . Back before LEDs were standard in most grows , we used to use 1,000W halogens . We would have to go in every couple of days and physically lower them to increase the lumens to keep up with the new plants ’ needs . In the beginning , your clones need about 800 lumens but by the time they move into the vegetation stage they should be up to around 1,500 lumens per plant . You should have no problem with an adjustable LED keeping your lumens in the correct range without having to manually raise and lower your lights . Initially , you will want to run your lights for 24 hours a day . Keep those babies on all the time throughout this propagation stage . These young plants need to soak up as much light as possible to jumpstart their growth . Obviously , plants in the real world are never exposed to a 24-hour light cycle . In a grow , however , these new clones can handle the the non-stop barrage of light without experiencing any fatigue .
“ Cannabis can grow in very low humidity , however , optimally you want it right down the middle at 50 percent .”
Due to necessity , I used to run my clones in prop for four weeks standard . The result was that by the time the plants made it through an additional four weeks of veg , they were practically falling over long before they were able to be moved to the flower room . Moving from prop to veg stage won ’ t require an overhaul of your environment , especially if your prop and veg plants share a room . Veg stage plants are slightly more sensitive to the cold , but since you are maintaining a 24 to 29 ° C temperature , you shouldn ’ t have any issues there . Now that the root structures have come to fill the smaller one-gallon fabric pots , you are going to transplant them into larger 11- or 19-litre fabric pots . If you are reusing pots , make sure they have been thoroughly cleaned and , if needed , sprayed with ZeroTol to kill any fungus or bacteria .
Time to Feed
When it comes to nutrients and fertilizer in this propagation stage , you don ’ t have to worry too much . Your clones will be strong and grow quickly as long as your environment is correct . You have a pretty wide margin of error when it comes to what you feed them . Back when I started growing commercial-scale cannabis , we would run the same nutrient formula for everything across the board . It didn ’ t matter if it was a clone or fully flowering and it didn ’ t matter what strain it was . All plants got the same juice and in the end , we produced some pretty killer cannabis . If you really want to custom tailor your regimen for each plant and strain you can , but the point I ’ m making is that your clones will thrive even with off-the-shelf standard fertilizer .
Make Some Room
How long you keep your propagation stage going is really up to you . Technically , you only need about two weeks of sprouting your clones before they are ready to move to the veg stage , however , many growers are often bottlenecked by their plants in other growth stages . If you are not ready to move your current veg-stage plants out of the veg room , then you have nowhere to move the plants leaving your prop room .
Keep a Light Schedule
Once your transplantation is complete and your newly relocated plants are in place , it is time to set your light schedule . As we have already discussed , if your veg and prop plants share a room , you don ’ t have much flexibility . You will be running your lights 24 hours a day . If you are able to change the light schedule for your veg plants , you can try running a variety of light schedules between 23 / 1 and 18 / 6 . The idea is that giving the plants a few hours of rest will result in stronger plants that are not fatigued by the light . Honestly , I believe this is all just theory . Personally , I have never seen any detrimental effects from running your veg in a 24-hour light cycle . What I have seen are lots of monster-sized plants that really began to pop once they hit the 12 / 12 light cycle in the flower room .
It ’ s Good to Vent
One thing I have not addressed yet is ventilation . Ventilation is important for so many reasons , room temperature being just one of them . Trying to maintain a set temperature can be one heck of a challenge . It is never as easy as set it and forget it . There is a delicate balance between the amount of lights you have and the amount of HVAC running into the room . Your veg plants are now soaking up around 2,500 lumens each on low and along with that comes a rise in temperatures .
40 Maximum Yield