coolio.
No, I didn't see that. You have a 400HPS for mums but fluoros over your flowering plants?

Nothing stopping you from linking to imgs in my gallery, mon. Will get to it myself if I can.

I use the old 'damp paper towel in a partly open plastic bag in a warm place' method, myself. Works a treat, as you also found.

Putting a seed on a block of damp anything probably won't provide a humid enough environment to crack the bean. Even on a heatmat, a small (40mm) RW cube won't warm all the way to the top, where you might put the seed.
For as rarely as most growers will be cracking beans, the old standard low-tech method is great.

__________________
Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

You are right Al I can copy the picture, And I will credit your for it. No, I don't have it over the Mothers yet because I don't have the mothers yet. I am switching strains because of the flowering time for the WW, Ice and Crystal I did have, I have three blue berry varieties now, two weeks in flowering on 4/20. I started with 3-400 watt hps lights. And like you said I could always go bigger, I am satisfied with the income at this level running about 2000 watts max for the 12/12 cycle and less than 800 right now for the veggig lights, fans etc. Remember I went from 60 amp service, having to be careful about what was turned on to 200amp, haven't blown a breaker since type service. And during that time all three of my wifes cildren moved in, soo use is already up enough for right now. VV

__________________
http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/53595-vv-singing-blues-seed-perpetual.html
http://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-de...p-journal.html

Way cool, VV. 2kW in the flowering area (and some dedicated effort) will butter your bread without leaving home.

__________________
Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

Question for you Al.

I'm in the 10th day of flowering with two BC Big Bud plants. Soil grow, using 1000w MH. Have just determined that one is male, one is female.

I decided that I'd just finish out the flowering to get seeds from the female for my next attempt.

But then...I got to thinking about cloning....and was wondering if cloning the female, pulling the male, and going back to veg for a few weeks. Would this work well? You're an expert I'd say (from reading many many many of your posts and threads) so I thought you might be the guy for this advice. Thanks for your time.

__________________
http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journal...c-big-bud.html

You can do some cuttings off the female, but do more than you think you will need- and do them sooner than later. Because the plant has been flowering for a while, your strike rate may be low.

When you do get them to strike, they will take several (6-8) weeks in veg cycle light and a few passes of pruning before they return fully to veg habit. In the interim, you will see some odd, mixed veg & flower growth such as single bladed fan leaves or large seed bracts at the nodes. This habit will eventually resolve to a more normal veg pattern, just keep cutting the plant back rather severely every couple of weeks until it decides to play nice. ;)

__________________
Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

Thanks.

I've got a friend who works in at a vineyard and said he'd hook me up with gel, its what they use for the grapes. You say powder is better? Should I clone straight into the soil, or use the rockwool cubes? I've got quite a few mason jars I can use for domes. Your thoughts?

__________________
http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journal...c-big-bud.html

You can get both gels and powders with varying concentrations per kg of butyric acid rooting hormone. 8g/kg will do for cannabis. Stronger than that is used for rooting woody stems, as one may find in a vineyard. If looking at a shelf full of rooting powders, select one labelled for green or soft stems instead of for woody stems.

Yes, powders form a paste which stays put better than gels through waterings, particularly in rockwool cubes. Gels tend to wash off after a few waterings.

RW cubes work better than soil as they can be used with a heat mat. Their shape allows heat to be transferred efficiently into the damp cube. They also allow you to keep very tight control on watering. RW cubes will protect new roots better than soil when moving new clones about or planting them in the grow media.

Domes are not necessary. If the clone can get sufficient water uptake from the medium through its stem cut, it won't wilt. If the stem cut is not neat (use a sharp scalpel, scissors crush capillaries) or the blade/watering solns are not sterile, water uptake can be blocked. Stem tip rot can be exacerbated by excessively wet media- and it's very easy to overwater RW cubes. If your clones show signs of wilt in 3-5 days post cutting, they can be recut- just take 2-3mm off the tip, dust it again in rooting powder and poke it in a new cube which has been soaked in a sterile pre-soak soln.

__________________
Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

I would like to add my personal experience to the Guru's advice.

Soil is shitty for cloning.

Sterlizing is the most important next to the rooting powder.

Rockwool cubes and a heat mat are essential.

Nutrients aren't necessary, but phosphorous does help in the root development.

Al, could I add some P nutes in a very light concentration to aid in root stimulation?

Say, after day 3-5?





Enigma

__________________

I think I would wait until after they have some roots before feeding them anything. You can have roots out the bottom of 40mm cubes in 5 days with pH 5.8 water, H2O2 and controlled conds, including a heat mat. If you are getting good roots in 7-10 days with a profusion of roots in 14, you're doing OK.

You certainly can play around and see what happens. By experimentation, I found that veg nutes in the watering soln for pre-rooted clones slowed rooting, corroborating other anecdotal evidence I'd seen. I did a control group and a test group with 400ppm nutes, the test group was about 5 days slower and less profuse, but caught up with the control group when in the flowering area.

__________________
Get a harvest every 2 weeks - A batch of clones in rockwool - Al B. Gone

I figured you would say that.

Thanks Guru!





Enigma

__________________