Cheap light options for EZ-Cloner?

Indoor Growing
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Hello fellow growers!

New here, well not new, but new to posting and having an account! Great to see so many of us growers helping each other out.

I am one of those in need of help lol. I have recently built an aerocloner (EZ-Cloner) and a new vegging room to put it in. I’ve had a hard time keeping my garden renewable these last couple years and am hoping having a dedicated room to veg and start clones will be the answer.

I haven’t decided how I want to light it yet. I’m trying to keep the cost down as low as possible, or even free. I have always grown from veg to harvest on a 1000w HPS and I’ve never grown on CFL/LED/Fluoro before.

I’m mainly just wanting a light sufficient enough to root cuttings in my aerocloner. It’s one of the bin types, 12 sites. I would really like to be able to keep them in the veg room and let them veg for a few weeks after rooted as well before I move them into the flower room, but I’m mostly concerned with just getting my clones rooted.

I already have a couple options that would be free:

I have 6x 17w 24inch T8 Fluorescent tubes with single ballasted fixtures for each, and I was thinking of just combining maybe 4 of them together. Do you guys think the light provided would/could be adequate? Obviously I’d keep them quite close during rooting. I’d prefer this method if the light would be adequate.

I also have two 3500K CFL bulbs here, brand new never opened. I’m sure if I look around the house I can also find some old single sockets too but no splitter. I could make a hood and put two sockets in it for the CFL’s easily enough.

Are either of these options viable for the results I’m looking for? Or would you suggest another cheap, but less cost effective solution than what I’ve proposed.

Thanks so much to anyone who reads or replies to this, I realize I’m new here and it’s considered bad etiquette in many communities to make your first post looking for help, but seeing as I’ve been coming here for years and just now making a post, it will have to do :slight_smile:

Happy growing!

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You could cobble a cheap fixture like this together,

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OR use the 24" T8’s you have. Just about anything is fine for lighting clones. The T8’s would need to be closer to your clones, with the 9w LED bulbs you can have them 12-18" away.

CFL doesn’t give concentrated light, I’d rather see t8’s in use over CFL.

Those screw in LED bulbs are cheap and easy to modify for growing.

My seedlings seem quite happy under the fixture I pictured above.

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Welcome back/Welcome to the new OG, happy growing, and post updates when you figure out what you wanna use!

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Awesome thanks for the info! I’ve never seen lights like those before, they look like they put out alot of light! I’ve also been reading into other LED lighting methods as well and they look very promising.

Unfortunately my budget has gotten super tight so the thought of buying all those sockets+bulbs is quite bothersome. I think I’ll try the 24’’ T8’s (They’re all warm too unfortunately) I already have until the babies are rooted, by that time I should have a little more cash flow to plan out a better lighting option.

Thanks for the advice! I’ll be sure to post any updates as I figure all this stuff out.

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I like (T-8, T-12, or T-5) for cuttings.
No hot spots, even light displacement, low wattage.
*Grow spectrum works best, of course.

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Yeah, the sockets run about 2$ each, and the bulbs depending on your area if there is a subsidy in place or not can be anywhere from .99 to 10$ a piece.
All the bulbs are is walmart specials with the plastic diffuser removed. You’ve probably seen them and haven’t even realized it.

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I had all this crap on hand from projects that never came to fruition so my cost was free.

If you’ve got the T8’s already, you can make them work in your favor.

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Oh those! Yeah those run about $10 here in Canada, and the cheapest sockets I could find were $5 each at the hardware store. I’m sure I could scrounge up some old sockets from lamps and other stuff. The joys of having an old lived in house. I built a 4x4 veg room today out of lumber the previous owners had left here so the whole room was free lol :slight_smile:

Thanks again for the tips everyone!

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Welcome @Lucy247420! :grin:

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a 12 site cloner you could prob get away with a 2’ t5 or 2’ LED, it would probably also be fine just receiving indirect lighting from whatever you are vegging under. quantum boards or @Baudelaire has led strips with the same diode for cheaper i believe

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Welcome aboard the Trichome Train @Lucy247420

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Flouro’s and leds are great and inexpensive to keep on a 24 light schedule

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I’ve got a grower friend that grows very nice weed using the LED screw in light bulbs… and to be honest I don’t use lights over my rooting clones… I just put them where they can see and sense the lights used for veg… if your humidity is low and your room is cool I suggest a warming pad and a dome.

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I would use the T8 for rooting and save up for a 400w MH for veg.

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Menards or similar store has 65 watt (roughly I forget exactly) cfl bulbs. Get a $10 multi socket bathroom vanity and you’ll have plenty of light for cloning. I like this setup better than a ton of the little 15w lights strung together.

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The bathroom fixture is genius! Turns out my province does have ongoing rebates on LED lights. Maybe I could throw 4-6 of them in one of those bathroom fixtures. Exciting stuff.

I went over my fluoro fixtures today, they’re going to require a ton of modifications since their built in hood is wayyyyy too big to try to put them next to each other.

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I am watching @DavesNotHere

He’s getting into some LED’s for vegging on his No Till and Chill thread.

99%

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I can’t take the credit for it. I stole the idea from @lotus710

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He let you have it! Haha.

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i was going to get one of these 7 in 1 socket adapter at one point but never did

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Figured I’d post an update since it’s been a couple weeks. I decided to go with 2x24’’ Soft White T8’s and 1x26w 6500K CFL.

Put them all about 20 inches above the clones.

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Now I don’t know how many of you have experience with LPA/Bubble cloners but this is my first one. It’s been 10 days now and I don’t have any roots yet on my Silver Kush cuttings. I’ve always cloned in rockwool or straight dirt in the past but with less than stellar success rates.

I kept low temps (66-68F) in the reservoir to ward off bad bacteria, and usually around 70F under the dome. I’ve added 2ml per galllon GH RapidStart on day 6, as I heard it wasn’t very beneficial until the cuttings have rooted. I also went above and beyond to sterilize my unit with a bleach solution. I also add a small amount of H202 to my rez to keep things clear. pH is in the low 6’s.

This strain has very purple stems, it’s mother and siblings all have very purple stems. But when I cut these clones, they were mostly green. Now they are turning the same dark purple as the adults I have in my flower room.

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Strange thing is, they are still very bright green below the neoprenes.

As you can kinda see in my first picture, I have some other cuttings in a control to the right of my cloner. I put about 10 in a glass vase and 6 or so in a homemade bubble cloner I had made. They are just now starting to die, but my cuttings in my aerocloner seem to be doing alright, but are starting to yellow a little bit as well as a bit of drooping. The stems are still rock solid though.

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I don’t like the idea of checking every day for roots but I do check every now and then and today I did notice what kinda looked like nubs (keep in mind I’ve never cloned in hydro before) but I can’t be sure yet. I’m hoping these don’t fail because I’m counting on being able to keep my garden going for a while.

I’m wondering if there’s anything I’m doing wrong or should be doing differently. For example is my light too close? Is my room/reservoir too cold? Am I just being impatient lol?

In other news, about a week ago I found some signs of Spider Mites on my adults. Been growing for years and this is the first time I’ve ever had them. I read Neem oil was the best option to fight them, but it’s restricted here where I live and very difficult to come by. At the hydro shop I was given Bug-B-Gon insecticidal soap and used the recommended dosage to wash my babies and I must say it seems to have worked wonders and left no residue. So crisis temporarily averted.

You know, I grow my own medicine to combat my anxiety, but sometimes it just ends up adding to it.

Thanks to all for your help :slight_smile:

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i’m not familiar with that cloner, is it a DWC style with the stems sitting in the water or a sprayer that mists the stems? does the humidity dome have air vents and if its DWC style is there an air pump or anything oxygenating the rez? i imagine you’ll have roots soon, i think increasing the temperature may help speed it up but i’m not sure, my only attempt at aerocloning failed from too weak of pump to properly mist the stems

i did have roots on some after 3 weeks but i ended up just throwing them all out

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