Mother Plants - MH or CFLs?

oddworld

oddworld

Active Member
Sup guys haven't been on the site in a while but it's about that time again...

For my next grow I'm planning on using a 5'x2' closet area to house 3 or 4 mother plants which I will take clones from. I plan on LSTing them regardless of lighting choice just because I have in the past and it does wonders. How I will grow the clones I am still unsure of, but if I go with CFLs I will probably use a seperate area (PC or DIY Humidity Dome)with its own CFL lighting. I will be flowering with a 400W HPS in a separate tent to make sure there are no light leaks for the girls.

My main concern is really the mother plants. I've only ever grown in veg with a MH, but seeing as I'll only have 3 to 4 mothers constantly being clipped, I'm thinking CFLs would still be sufficient and much cheaper.

So I guess the big question is, are CFLs enough to maintain 3 to 4 mother plants while still seeing sufficient growth?
 
newb19547

newb19547

Well-Known Member
of course they are. just depends on how many you have. The bigger watt ones are your best choice.
 
oddworld

oddworld

Active Member
newb19547 said:
of course they are. just depends on how many you have. The bigger watt ones are your best choice.
Click to expand...
That's another thing I was unsure about. I read somewhere to use 100W for one plant and an additional 50W per plant. Is that using the altered rating on the CFL bulb or the Incandescent equivalent? I was planning on getting about 8 CFLs in the 26W range about 2-3 per plant.
 
newb19547

newb19547

Well-Known Member
you want actual watts, not equivalent. Depending on how big your mothers are going to get, you will want more than that. I think you will want a least 100 watts per plant......at the very least. Go for some 40-85 watt CFLs. Or even bigger if heat isn't an issue ( I think they make the CFLs up to 250 watts.)
 
oddworld

oddworld

Active Member
If I bought 100W per plant in CFLs that would be the same power consumption as a 400W MH bulb. I don't see the advantage other than heat issues with the MH. Would a 250W MH do better than 300-400W of CFLs?
 
weedyoo

weedyoo

Well-Known Member
oddworld said:
Sup guys haven't been on the site in a while but it's about that time again...

For my next grow I'm planning on using a 5'x2' closet area to house 3 or 4 mother plants which I will take clones from. I plan on LSTing them regardless of lighting choice just because I have in the past and it does wonders. How I will grow the clones I am still unsure of, but if I go with CFLs I will probably use a seperate area (PC or DIY Humidity Dome)with its own CFL lighting. I will be flowering with a 400W HPS in a separate tent to make sure there are no light leaks for the girls.

My main concern is really the mother plants. I've only ever grown in veg with a MH, but seeing as I'll only have 3 to 4 mothers constantly being clipped, I'm thinking CFLs would still be sufficient and much cheaper.

So I guess the big question is, are CFLs enough to maintain 3 to 4 mother plants while still seeing sufficient growth?
Click to expand...
yo just get one t5HO 540 whatt
 
newb19547

newb19547

Well-Known Member
It really all depends on lumens. You'd have to see if the MH will give off more lumens than those CFLs. Also, an advantage of CFls is you can place them all around the plant as opposed to right above it.
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
You may wish to watch the segment of a video made by Greenman of how to build a grow room. In this segment he builds and explains what is needed to keep mothers and clones. You may find it helpful. The rest of the video is worth watching if someone needs general grow room building info or wants to make their own hydro setup but as I said this segment is about mother and clone needs when it comes so area and lighting.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kapr9A_Z8NA&feature=PlayList&p=AACBD644C6E47868&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1
 
notoriousb

notoriousb

Well-Known Member
yea man, I'd go with the t5 54w HO as well. good for mothers and cuttings. gives a nice even distribution of light and you can veg plants fairly large with t5's
 
MEANGREEN69

MEANGREEN69

Well-Known Member
yeah what he ^^ said...i just got a t5 8 bulb 54w HO fixter, and they work very well for mums/cuttings..i was useing shop lights but trashed them when i got the new lights..i have 3 mums in 1 gal bags/ez cloner 60/ 2x2 ebb&flow all under the T5's and im only useing half the bulbs!!!
 
dubbleoh

dubbleoh

Active Member
Just scanning the answers in here and I came up with a follow up question: how "robust" do we need to keep the mother plants?

I have been hand watering my one mum now for the last 6 months. She's in coco fibre and gets watered once daily with either a vegetative nute solution or with plain water. I alternate between water and nutes.
As far as lights are concerned, she is getting 18 hours of light from 6 x 23watt cfl (cool white and soft white mix).

My mum seems to be pretty happy. She produces 10-12 cuttings every 3 or four weeks and that is more than sufficient for me. I'm actively trying to keep her alive and viable but I'm not trying to encourage a heck of a lot of growth ... basically, I just want her to stay healthy, but stunted... so as long as she is not stretching, my low-light solution seems to work. I would be interested to hear how others feel about that.
Peace!
d-oh
 
Jerry Garcia

Jerry Garcia

Well-Known Member
newb19547 said:
of course they are. just depends on how many you have. The bigger watt ones are your best choice.
Click to expand...
Higher watt cfl's are LESS EFFICIENT than lower watt cfl's in terms of lumens per watt ratio. The most efficient cfl's you can use are 23 or 26w that put out 1650-1700 lumens.

High output T5's are the most efficient fluorescent...the 54w tubes put out 5000 lumens, which is by far the highest ratio (higher than the 2' 24w t5 HO's that put out 2000 lumens).

I think you would want a different light for clones than you would for keeping mothers...clones like very diffuse light sources (like standard shop light fluoros) while they are trying to root...too much light or too intense light actually make it harder on the clones.

I don't have any experience with bonsai-ing plants, but it seems like a viable option for maintaining a mum...

http://www.cannabase.com/cl/pages/mums/mums.html
 
oddworld

oddworld

Active Member
Thanks for all the info guys. I think I'm gunna go with two 54W T5's since that would amount to 10,000 lumens which is perfect for the area I plan to keep the mother plants. I might go with just a few CFLs for the clones though. Trying to keep the total wattage as low as possible.
 
TechnoMage

TechnoMage

Well-Known Member
Those 54w T5's are going to be 48" long. Unless you get the compact style like I use (2G11 base). They are only 21"-22" inches long.
 
B

brucetree

Active Member
for mother plants HPS, not metal halide. you will get bigger thicker stemmed clones with not as much leaf with HPS.
 
dhhbomb

dhhbomb

Well-Known Member
no dont use hps the t5 is good or mh of ceramic metal halide but im using t5 sometims i think a mh would be better
 
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