What is the best light for Mother Plants?

M

Mad Professor

New Member
I'm setting up a Mother station with a friend and was trying to decide on the light fixture to buy.
It will house 3 mother plants and I would also like to keep some clones in it.
the size and dimensions of the station is undecided at this point but I have a lot of flexibility for station size and would appreciate any ideas on the space I should use for this plan.
My friend likes the idea of a 150w light, Ive read some good things about T5 bulbs and Ive also read about everything from 400w mh, to 250w and various fluorescent bulbs.
I would like to do it in a cost efficient way but still have very strong and healthy mothers.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
 
well i use t5 lights(8,four ft. bulbsfor the mothers and 2,two ft. bulbs for the cuttings) for both my mothers and my clones with great luck their is a heat problem with these lights tho. thay seam to keep the node spaceing tight and realy bush up the cuttings in no time.i just wish thay made them with external ballests.oh ya thay also come in a red and blue spectrum bulbs
 
you dont need massive light for a mother or clones.
I have a mother/veg closet using T5HO 4ft bulbs(8) 434w
I use a 125 CFL for clones
 
Thank you both for the replies and the first hand knowledge of the T5 system.
my friend liked the idea of a 150w but a review I read said it was only good for a small space of about 2' by 2'.
I'm leaning toward the T5 system and was hoping you could answer a couple of questions for me.
On the 8 bulb T5 I was looking at it said you can turn off 4 bulbs and make it a 4 bulb system. Do you ever run yours at just 4 bulbs?
Is the power consumption comparable to a 400w MH?
Is the T5 good for vegging plants all the way to being ready for flower?
I was going to use a 600w for flower or maybe a 400w.
any further insight would be appreciated :geek:
 
Mine has 2 switches to use just 4 bulbs but I use all 8 at the same time.
lower power consumption,lower heat BUT lower lumens and less penetration in the canopy...there is a tradeoff for everything
Yes you can go full cycle on that lamp. You can also change the bulbs for a different spectrum, veg VS bloom but some people just use the same bulbs
Its a very good lamp IMO
 
I use 8 x 23w (100w equiv.) 5500K cfls setup in a ghetto chandelier using 7 Y sockets. Offers great coverage over the moms canopy and is pretty cheap to make and maintain.

This mom was maintained with just half the bulbs.. 4 x 23w's.. I only upgraded the lighting last night:

DSCN02193.JPG


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Just wanted to start by saying anyone looking at this should click on "The VipersNest Continuous" and "McBudz Twilight, Great White Shark and Master Kush" links on here.
Those are both amazing grows that make you go :thedoubletake: just sic!
I actually came across McBudz while drooling over Vipers and was telling my friend about both the other night.
I am digging the T5 system for versatility, the new HT 35th has a pic of a bud near the centerfold that was done just on T5 and its crazy looking. you can even use it on reef tanks or planted aquariums.
I'm planning a 4' x 4' station and my friend is hooking me up 3 mothers (The Purps, Chemdog and Blue Haze) so I can keep him good with clones.
Energy consumption is a concern of mine and I do want to keep it down as much as possible. I also plan on setting up a 4' x 4' flower station with a 600w.
McBudz mother pic is sweet that thing is looking great and big like a bush!
would you make 3 light setups like that for 3 mothers are switch to long bulbs?
 
Thanks for the kind words :)

Well I am going to have multiple moms here in a short while and I intend on using several cfl chandeliers like I have now to keep them. Just cheap and easy. You can manage each one separately getting each as close as possible to the plants which would be more difficult with a long t5 setup. Its really your personal preference here and depends on your space.

Mad Professor said:
Just wanted to start by saying anyone looking at this should click on "The VipersNest Continuous" and "McBudz Twilight, Great White Shark and Master Kush" links on here.
Those are both amazing grows that make you go :thedoubletake: just sic!
I actually came across McBudz while drooling over Vipers and was telling my friend about both the other night.
I am digging the T5 system for versatility, the new HT 35th has a pic of a bud near the centerfold that was done just on T5 and its crazy looking. you can even use it on reef tanks or planted aquariums.
I'm planning a 4' x 4' station and my friend is hooking me up 3 mothers (The Purps, Chemdog and Blue Haze) so I can keep him good with clones.
Energy consumption is a concern of mine and I do want to keep it down as much as possible. I also plan on setting up a 4' x 4' flower station with a 600w.
McBudz mother pic is sweet that thing is looking great and big like a bush!
would you make 3 light setups like that for 3 mothers are switch to long bulbs?
Click to expand...
 
Mad Professor said:
I'm setting up a Mother station with a friend and was trying to decide on the light fixture to buy.
It will house 3 mother plants and I would also like to keep some clones in it.
the size and dimensions of the station is undecided at this point but I have a lot of flexibility for station size and would appreciate any ideas on the space I should use for this plan.
My friend likes the idea of a 150w light, Ive read some good things about T5 bulbs and Ive also read about everything from 400w mh, to 250w and various fluorescent bulbs.
I would like to do it in a cost efficient way but still have very strong and healthy mothers.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

ALL i got to say is i am using some 3 t-5 4' 54watt high output not only are they bright as day they run fairly cool , and so far veg is over an inch a day or my rope used on lights shrinks (joke) if they work as well in budding its time for everybody to get rid of those fossil hps and let technology light the way
 
Thanks for the input and ideas.
Mother station plans have been put off due to my friend having problems with the mothers he was supposed to hook me up with.
I think I will try the T5 for a veg. area and go with the chandelier style for future mothers.
So now instead of mothers and clones I'm starting a room with a veg. area and a flower area or maybe just one space for both veg and flower.
Once again thanks for the input and ideas.
 
NE14AJ said:
ALL i got to say is i am using some 3 t-5 4' 54watt high output not only are they bright as day they run fairly cool , and so far veg is over an inch a day or my rope used on lights shrinks (joke) if they work as well in budding its time for everybody to get rid of those fossil hps and let technology light the way
Click to expand...


I would love to use t-5's for flowering but have not seen a whole lot of evidence that they provide the same results as HPS (except for 1 High Times photo and 1 video on Youtube).
 
Hi, I'm wondering what are the best lights for a mothering station. I will be using a closet for 2 mother plants, so Maybe I don't need so many lights? Can anyone offer any advice please?
 
Mad Professor said:
I'm setting up a Mother station with a friend and was trying to decide on the light fixture to buy.
It will house 3 mother plants and I would also like to keep some clones in it.
the size and dimensions of the station is undecided at this point but I have a lot of flexibility for station size and would appreciate any ideas on the space I should use for this plan.
My friend likes the idea of a 150w light, Ive read some good things about T5 bulbs and Ive also read about everything from 400w mh, to 250w and various fluorescent bulbs.
I would like to do it in a cost efficient way but still have very strong and healthy mothers.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Hello Professor,
I just happened to find your post during a search and noticed the general preference for T5 lighting. I have a bit of an alternative approach that has been very successful for me. I used to use T5's and eventually I had 6 of the 8 bulb, 4 foot long fixtures over my vegging plants. It was getting the job done but that was about it. I had a couple more of these fixtures above my mothers. Again, no real complaints but nothing to write home about. So, one day I got to thinking about the cost to operate the T5's. Those 4 foot bulbs are 57 watts each X 8 bulbs per fixture. That's a LOT! That was when I decided to give Metal Halide a shot. I put 3 1000 watt fixtures over that 25' X 4' table for vegging and a single 1000 Watt Double Ended HID fixture over the moms. < not sure why I decided HID for the Moms but same room as the MH >
The shit went NUTS! I couldn't believe how big and luscious and healthy everything got ( after several years of vegging under T5's ). I haven't considered fluorescent lighting since I experienced this BUT I replaced the 2 outboard vegging fixtures with CMH and I recommend that also, highly!
Best of luck with your grow!
 
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