I have two rooted clones growing in soil,under 300 watts of cfl daylight.Im not sure if i should have a fan blowing on low,or at all.Do they need constant wind at this stage,there around 3 weeks old.And if anyone knows,how close should the lights be from the plant.And are nutrients needed at this point?Id appreciate some help with any of the above concerns,thanks for reading.
Plants use the wind to breathe, a small fan blowing on any plant is a cool idea, the leaves emit O2 and require CO2, best way is to use a fan. Nutes are useful if you need the plant to grow, but use diluted nutes at this stage better to foiler feed every second day with half strength Keep the plants as close as you can with out burning the tips "V"
Smoketons: if you really want to make them happy, give them a shot of CO2 when the lights are off. The fan circulates the air. We can move around but they can't so we move the air around. Remember you want a gentle breeze, not a hurricane. As far as the closeness of the CFL lights is concerned, heat is the problem and I like the 'back of the hand rule,' for measuring it. Move them within a few inches from your plants and hold your hand over the tops of your plants. If the back of your hand feels warm raise them, if not leave them alone. The problem is they might grow an inch to two a day so if you've got them close you're going to have to check them at least once a day. And it's not something you can eyeball. A far as nutrients are concerned, the soil you're growing in is an excellent buffer to the mistakes we make that would kill them in hydro. They need nutrition just like we do. Don't feed every time you water. Some nutes manufacturers recommend: water, water, feed and some say water, feed, water. Consult you nutes maker first. If and when you change formulas for different life stages like: vegging to flowering, it's a good idea to give them a 1/2 dose of the new formula to see how they handle it. If there's no visible plant stress then you can go to full strength on the next feed. I hope this helps. Hank
Soketons: I've been thinking about this and as far as the foliar feeding is concerned I stop that when they're sufficiently rooted. Usually at a couple of weeks. A friend who's a big believer in folair feeding after they're rooted used to continue it but then he started having problems with mold and mildew. Once they're rooted that's where they feed anyway. Just give them good nutes. A friend taught me a neat trick on how to water clones until you get them into your grow and not over water them. Mine are in rock wool cubes or starter pods and separated into plastic tray with fifty square spaces, ($4 - $5), that fits into a 10" by 20" starter tray under a humidity dome. You buy a second tray, $2, and pour in a couple of inches of cutting/seedling nutes. Take your clones tray out and put it in the nutes tray. Let them sit there and soak up the nutes and drink their fill for about 15 minutes then take them out, put them back in their original tray and pour the left over nutes back in the gallon jug. If they're still in the humidity dome with the vents wide open you'll only have to feed them every couple of days. I hope that helps. Hank