How many hours of light do you give your Fig cuttings per day from a plant light?

[Claymango]

I decided to stop using my Window because I'm afraid I may fry the cuttings considering the Window gets quite hot on 80-90 degree days in Southern CA right now. I purchased a small 30 dollar grow light from Walmart, nothing fancy. Turned a Laundry Hamper into a Grow box and covered the dappled holes on the side, laced the inside with aluminum foil, now I just need to get a Plexiglass to cover the top for humidity...


Sorry guys, back to the question... How many hours a day should the plant be getting from a 65 watt plant bulb?

[rusty hooks]

18-24..maintain 70-75 degrees...so you may have to untape one of the holes..use a cheap thermometer....leave it in there with the kids

are you using a heating mat?

[COGardener]

I have my lights on for 12 hours a day.

[nepenthes]

I have my timers set for 12 hours, too. I usually recommend 12-14 hours.

[Altadena Mara]

I have mine on 15 hours a day, more or less.
Please be careful with electric lights though. They burn too. I scorched some strawberry seeds with a florescent grow light set up combined with heating mats. You might want to check with a hydroponics store for their suggestions on a good plant light bulb if the Grow Light gets too hot.

[newnandawg]

I use T5 lights set at 12 hours per day

[eboone]

I use 2 std fluorescent fixtures with 4 bulbs total, 3 different grow lights, one a std bulb, and leave em on 24/7. Fig cuttings have grown just fine. Most are getting sun thru a window now, will start to transition them to outdoor sun now that spring has finally arrived here.

Not sure why you would want to use grow lights instead of the sun if you have it available. If I were in CA, I would start to transition them to the sun now very slowly, gradually, starting in shade. Of course, I have never grown in CA so that is just an opinion

[Rafaelissimmo]

16.

[Claymango]

I use 2 std fluorescent fixtures with 4 bulbs total, 3 different grow lights, one a std bulb, and leave em on 24/7. Fig cuttings have grown just fine. Most are getting sun thru a window now, will start to transition them to outdoor sun now that spring has finally arrived here.

Not sure why you would want to use grow lights instead of the sun if you have it available. If I were in CA, I would start to transition them to the sun now very slowly, gradually, starting in shade. Of course, I have never grown in CA so that is just an opinion

Is it safe to put a freshly rooted cutting outdoors to get sun?

[eboone]

Note that my suggestion said to start in shade. I had a few fried leaves last year on the first couple that tasted the sun, but learned my lesson.

[drphil69]

I keep my cuttings inside until established in a 1 gallon pot. I've babied them for months and don't want a gust of wind or sudden storm to destroy them.

[joann1536]

I have done it successfully here in the Bay Area. They can't get full sun all day long, get too hot, or get hit with frost. No extreme changes. Safer to start them out in the shade and transition them. If you put them in the sun, don't leave them for long. I fried one last year doing that, and it got pretty hot that day.

[Rob Ster 010]

16 hours on - 8 hours off has been giving me the best results.

[Claymango]

Think I'm going to go with about 18 hours until cuttings are bug enough to be potted into a 1 Gallon.

Thank you guys for all the help.

[Taverna78]

Claymango ,

I am not expert but I tell you my experience. I root 2 vdb and pot and I get 4 1gAl potted tree from member also one of the most belle tiger panache from another member that all are in pots i have on table in my garage 24/7 under normal "daylight" tube bulbs and they thrive look belle! I try to put outside in normal sun and (besides huge rain tis week) I bring back in Garage under normal daylight tube light because as you hear is too much and start to curl. My wife make funny yet true statement ... " baby fig is like when old people (80+) make sex.... Slow and steady..." Or because is baby take baby steps.... Baby steps for baby tree is how I am learn hard way. Under/overWater. Sun light. Move too much. temperature. You must treat like baby child.. Feed when is sad. Don't move too much... And if your tree poops it's self you have major problem ahaha! But honest normal white light nothing fancy. Don't over heat it and you will be set.

[drphil69]

12 hours per day is a commonly recommended minimum. Longer equals more growth, but at diminishing returns above about 16 hours.

[Claymango]

Claymango ,

I am not expert but I tell you my experience. I root 2 vdb and pot and I get 4 1gAl potted tree from member also one of the most belle tiger panache from another member that all are in pots i have on table in my garage 24/7 under normal "daylight" tube bulbs and they thrive look belle! I try to put outside in normal sun and (besides huge rain tis week) I bring back in Garage under normal daylight tube light because as you hear is too much and start to curl. My wife make funny yet true statement ... " baby fig is like when old people (80+) make sex.... Slow and steady..." Or because is baby take baby steps.... Baby steps for baby tree is how I am learn hard way. Under/overWater. Sun light. Move too much. temperature. You must treat like baby child.. Feed when is sad. Don't move too much... And if your tree poops it's self you have major problem ahaha! But honest normal white light nothing fancy. Don't over heat it and you will be set.

I really enjoyed this feedback, you put this in outstanding perspective!

[Taverna78]

Grazie my friend.
I learn a lot from tis website from members and they all are very great very smart people.. And not hear to outdo the next. We all hear for reason and is to learn from each other. Again slow and steady
Buon a notte

[Thepodpiper]

Is anyone using HID lighting? I am going to need a bigger footprint so am thinking on using my 600watt MH when I get enough plants to justify it's use.

[COGardener]

I use a combination of lights. T-12, T-5, LED and metal halide.

I have yet user a 600 watt but I do use 250W HEI, 400W Mogul base and 1000W mogul base.

The heat and radiation for the halides do require you to distant the bulbs from the plants, especially new and very young plants.

I also use a light mover to reduce the amount of lights that I need.

[Taverna78]

I am finding best results recently that the T5 system for cutting growth work great because you can get light to many trees. When is potted up you really can only get few under it depending on your light size. So I have been using clamp on metal work spot lights from homedepot with a 120w bulb. Cost maybe $8 for whole thing. I buy 5 and the bulb is special spectrum. Fruit trees prefer red/orange rays and even tho we can't see the color the trees are loving it greatly!

[don_sanders]

Have you tried with 5000K or 6500K lights? I thought most plants liked more blue during the vegetative state and the red during the fruiting / flowering stage.

[drew51]

16 hours on - 8 hours off has been giving me the best results.

Yup, me too.

[lifigs]

I keep mine on 16 hours per day. Obviously the exact amount isn't critical since people are saying they get good results with anything from 12-24. I think the ambient temperature the cuttings are kept at is more important.

[Harborseal]

I personally don't think a 65W incandescent is enough light but I hope it worked well. HID lights work fine. I use a 1000W and it's 7 feet above the floor. Cuttings are typically 18" off the floor in that room in the Spring. I use fluorescent tubes for my youngest in the Winter just because my HID room is cooler than I like for them right now. Anything over 10 hrs for HID and 12 for Fluorescent seems to work for me. The more light the more often you have to water and the faster they grow. I don't want them outgrowing the space I have for them so I leave the HID on 10 hrs and the Fluorescent for 12. That prevents lanky growth.

[fruitnut]

My T5s run 24 hours most days. I think more light equals more growth. And I don't think there will be any negative effects of that long photoperiod. Could be wrong but mine grow well and some set fruit right from cuttings.

[don_sanders]

I've never tried 24 hours but I have read that it can mess with the plants hormones causing issues when they come off the 24 hour cycle. Kind of like a steroid user coming off of steroids. It would be interesting to see comparisons of 18 and 24 hour cycles during vegetative growth under them as well as after they transition into sunlight.

[Taverna78]

I do 6am-10pm

Don. I never learn about "k" of lights. I just talk read was the bulbs I show photo of is best for fruit tree all around so I give try. And is working wonderfully. I have t5 also and these bulbs are showing more growth on trees than t5 is. They both great lights but for me tis bulb is really doing better.

[drew51]

I have a T5 VHO (not HO!) with 4 bulbs 4 feet. Figs are about 2.5 feet from light as it strong enough to grow pot. It does not have to be close. So I can fit ton's of plants under it. I would not buy a VHO again though as it consumes the power, and is very hot! . Each bulb is 95 watts giving off 7,200 lumens each. You can buy 3000K red spectrum too, if you think that works better. I also have a 2 foot 2 bulb T5 HO that works great for seedlings. I grow many veggies from seed including onions, peppers, and tomatoes. My next fixture will be a 6 bulb 4 foot T5HO. I like the HO bulbs they give off 54 watts 5000 lumens each so a 6 bulb fixture would be 30,000 lumens, which is slightly more light than the 4 bulb VHO. Yet will not be as hot! T5 bulbs rock IMHO.

[Harborseal]

My T5s run 24 hours most days. I think more light equals more growth. And I don't think there will be any negative effects of that long photoperiod. Could be wrong but mine grow well and some set fruit right from cuttings.

Alaska has that kind of lighting and they grow monster vegetables. Here's a cabbage compared to the size of a washing machine and it's not the world record holder.

http://www.adn.com/article/20140829/...ska-state-fair

If I had room for 3 months of that kind of growth I would have mine on 24/7 and fertilize, too.

Also, the color temperature of the light isn't that important for us. It makes a difference in the potency of marijuana and possibly the number of flower buds but very little difference for us. Leaves have many pigments that can pass off electrons to chlorophyll and all of them have absorption peaks at different wavelengths so they can use a very broad spectrum of light. That's why the chlorophyll absorption spectrum has 2 peaks but the photosynthetic activity spectrum is almost a plateau. Certain wavelengths affect plant physiology but those wavelengths are present in almost all natural and commonly used artificial light. See

http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-ho...6230#post56230

That said, with all else being equal (and they never are :- ), photosynthesis is more is more efficient with orange and red light than other colors. That doesn't mean I'd leave out blue.

[don_sanders]

So to simply this...in a two bulb florescent shop light, would you recommend a 6500k bulb and a 2700k bulb or some other combination?

[drew51]

Well the industry says 6500K for vegetative growth and 2700 for flowering. I only use 6500K lamps and my plants grow like weeds. If it's not broken don't fix it. I have no desire to promote flowering.

[don_sanders]

I'm pretty much in the same boat using 6500k exclusively. Seems that Taverna78 is having a good experience with 2700k. And it looks like Harborseal is saying that it doesn't really matter that much for us but he'd use both leaning more towards red.

I don't think I would replace all of mine but could mix in some 2700k as I need bulbs if that would make it more efficient.

[smithmal]

I'll be moving my figs (approximately 3 months old) from T8 6500k setup (18 hours per day 1-3" distance from fig canopy) to Metal Halide. I plan to keep them in a shower stall with the HA light hanging from above and a white out cloth over the doorway to ensure maximum "reflectance."

What would be the best way to proceed with this transfer in terms of:

1. Light schedule to slowly harden off figs to HA light lumens (how many hours to start off with and how slowly should I increase light hours)?
2. Overall time to shoot for HA light per day (I'm assuming 15-18 hours)?
3. Light distance from plants (start distance vs. optimal distance once hardened off)?
4. Interior temperature concerns (how hot is too hot?)?
5. Optimal humidity for figs (should I try and mimic ambient humidity for my area)?

I'm assuming that once moving the figs from the HA light room to outside I should also do a hardening off period or is this not necessary due to the lumen intensity of a HA light vs. regular daylight lumen intensity?

Thanks,

Malcolm