I have been doing auto grows for about 3 years now and am ready to switch to regular plants i currently have a seed(blue power from vision seeds) in germination i plan to use a small cabinet for 2 mothers and 4-6 clones max it is about 18Lx24Wx36H i plan on starting the mother in my flower closet that has some autos in it starting on 18/6 then switch it to the cabinet, the cabinet is lighted by 4 40w CFL 6400k will the switch in lighting be ok for the plant or should i just start the mother in the CFL cabinet? any other suggestions/tips is appreciated as i am new to non-autoflowering plants-Thanks
IMO, you're nuts to use CFLs...but I understand why some people are limited to it. Here is a chart/post showing why. The numbers aren't precise, because standard in physics are in terms of meters, not inches, but they're correct to 2 significant figures, at their worst. The further out, the closer to matching they get. But industry standard for measuring initial intensity is 1 inch from actual source (from emitter). A light meter will confirm this for you. Those are for direct light shining down on your closest point. Various variables increase effective light (angle of light, distance from light at the angle, inefficiencies in reflective materials, and so on), but it takes maths I avoid like the plague except when absolutely necessary. A motherplant needs more energy than a normal growing plant. Simply because repeated trimming created "damage"...they're "injuries" the plant must heal from to remain healthy. Less healthy motherplant, less healthy/quality clone. More light is better. But usually means heat management problems. Blue wavelength heavy light is higher energy. Better for anything but flowering stage. CFLs and HIDs (and most LED systems) are still short in UV wavelengths (solvable by throwing in a couple desert reptile UVA/UVB bulbs for about 20 bucks a shot for 20 watts in hoods that can be wall or hood mounted with a pair of screws). They're also short in IR, though LEDs tend to be much better about this. But plants don't need all that much IR. A motherplant...I'd make sure to do the reptile bulbs. "A happy mommy is a happy baby", you know. 18/6 MINIMUM for motherplant. Never less, once designated a motherplant. Flower it ONCE, force back to veg. Any future flowering, it loses potency, and any future clones will suffer the same since a clone is LITERALLY the same plant as the one it was taken from.