Can anyone help with suggestions on propagation equipment?

[joe.citizen]

Hi Guys,

Am nearing ready to go - have some fem incredible bulk seeds and room all set with some CMH lights.  What do you guys suggest for a set up for seed raising?  Am thinking along lines of:

1 - small tent

2 - 2x CFL lights

3 - heat mat

4 - small ? 4in exhaust fan, passive intake, no filter

 

am I best running lights, heat mat and extraction fan 24/7 while raising seeds?  Plan for once raised for early veg throwing them under a 315w CMH light which I already have - just thought they'd raise better and be a bit more efficient under a smaller light - otherwise would you guys just run what i've got under a 315w for raising?

 

Thanks heaps.

Joe

[Serrated edge]

either way is fine ,just a matter of power consumption. Your choice Joe.

[Indycar]

Unless you intend on doing perpetual grows, joe. I'd just stick with your 315 setup, start the light at about 750mm to 1 metre above the top of the seedlings and have a fan blowing a light breeze across the top of them. It'll help strengthen their stems ans minimise the stretch somewhat. Once you see them responding well, keep lowering the light by about 100mm each day until they take up and can be grown out normally with the 315. If they're responding well, it should only take two or three weeks before they're powering.

[joe.citizen]

Awesome, thanks heaps. Will just go with the 315w then for a start. Do you reckon run a 4in extraction fan 24/7? Or just enough to keep temp / humid close to where it needs to be? Ta

[Indycar]

If it's one of your first grows, joe. I'd suggest to run 24/7 considering where heading into the warmer months. You could run the fan in increments /intervals, but the temperature and humidity is going to fluctuate considerably. If you were prepared to monitor these temp and humidity ranges you could then come up with theory/understanding of how to set the time for the on and off intervals. But as I said, it's something you have to be quite anal about.

 

So which is why I suggest to run it 24/7. And something else to consider, 18c to 22c is about the temp you want to aim for for your root zones. As the saying goes Healthy roots Healthy plants. So if you could monitor the temp at mid-pot level, that should give you a reasonable understanding to what's going on in that area.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Indycar