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How long should the plants sit in the cloner ? Or, at what stage do they go into the main system
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Typically in a cloner the plants are only about 1 inch apart. They can remain in the cloner until they start to get to big enough that they start overtaking the other plants. You can place them farther apart , or even only use every other space if you wish, that way the plants will have more elbow room. The idea is to save the space in the main system for the more established plants, saving resources and making it more efficient. Different plants grow at different rates, so a time-line is hard to say, but the more you use it the more you will know exactly how long you will want them in the cloner before transplanting them into the system.
Then you will know exactly when to start the new plants, so that they are ready to place in the system at the same time you harvest the other ones. That way you don't have any unused spots in the main system (not efficient), and once you have cleaned the system (or portion of a large system) between harvests if you want to, you have established plants to immediately place in it, taking weeks off the time needed to mature in the main system.
The big issue with how long it can be in a cloning system other than space is your lighting. When using cloners it is typical to use clf's for lighting. That is OK for seedlings, and if the lighting is strong enough small plants. But to grow healthy mature plants you will probably need the
metal halide or
high pressure sodium type lighting. In other words using
cfl's for the cloner (small plants) will be OK but the bigger the plants get they will probably need better lighting. Although plants like lettuce are from what I understand low light (requiring) plants, and will probably do good with good florescent lighting only (maybe even better from what I've read).
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I just set up a small enclosure, put some Hydroton, PH'd treated water and some nutes. I think the old term is a Luwasa system. I have 200watts of CFL (that's the equivalent of 200w). No lid though on it.
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I hadn't heard of the "Luwasa system" so I did a quick search for it. If what I found is correct it looks much like a pot with plants growing in it, if so you wouldn't want to let them grow so long in it that the roots all intertwine, and you cant separate them without damaging them. But just like soil plants they would be able to take some damage. The see through lid is just to hold moisture in so they don't dry out much, also to help keep them warm depending on the air temp but let light in.
I went real high tech with my new cloner. I was going to post these pictures later when the plants got a little bigger, the plants have only been in it for 2 days. But I have attached some pictures of the small cloner that I just made. It's about as simple as it gets with no moving parts, and for lighting I just stick it outside in the sun during the daytime. The water is only about 2 inches at the bottom. To make sure the rockwool cubes don't dry out, I just shake the container a couple of times a day. They hang above the water level, so they don't water-log the cubes. But when I gently shake the container, the bottom of the cubes get watered. So far so good.
P.S. I haven't light proofed it yet, though the bottom portion is doubled (one inside another) so it's pretty dark I hope.