A batch of clones in rockwool - Page 9

doggiepaddel11 · #81 05-11-2008, 12:07 PM

Hey AL, what is the optimum humidity level to root clones?

Al B. Fuct · #82 05-11-2008, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doggiepaddel11

Hey AL, what is the optimum humidity level to root clones?

Doesn't matter. Avoid humidomes. If the cutting is getting sufficient water uptake through the stem cut, they're not needed- and usually cause problems.

Pay more attention to rootzone temp (a heatmat fixed on 30C takes care of that) and air temp (26-27C). A clonebox should serve only to limit drafts/air motion to keep the temps stable around the cuttings.

DrGreenFinger · #83 05-15-2008, 01:58 AM

Al,

Can you reply to this thread?

Thrive Alive and rooting clones

Thanks much.

Al B. Fuct · #84 05-15-2008, 02:50 AM

did.........

DrGreenFinger · #85 05-16-2008, 04:51 PM

Al B,

I don't know where to get at you, but I want to ask you about breeding G-13 seeds. Check this out:

Breeding G-13 Clones for Seeds.

As you know, you ARE appreciated.

Sponge Ass No Pants · #86 05-17-2008, 01:40 PM

Al, I've never used this forum or any other except for browsing untill now and I think you sound like a pretty experienced grower, so I would like to know is your clone tray fed manually or on a timer and roughly how much how often, also how tall do your mothers get (from the bottom of the stem) before they're replaced? cheers pal, all the best

Al B. Fuct · #87 05-17-2008, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrGreenFinger

Al B,

I don't know where to get at you, but I want to ask you about breeding G-13 seeds.

I'm not the guy to ask about breeding. I sprout beans and propagate by cuttings. I let others do the breeding work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sponge Ass No Pants

is your clone tray fed manually or on a timer and roughly how much how often,

Please read the entire thread. Your questions all are answered in the discussion, but I'll cover them here out of courtesy.

I water clones by hand. Each cube is watered by dipping only a corner of the cube into a bucket of a watering solution made from 10L tapwater, 10ml 50% grade H2O2 and pH corrected to 5.8. I water cubes 2x/day at 12h intervals.

The trick is to keep cubes damp, never wet. A 40mm cube weighs 5g dry and 20-25g when properly just damp and not wet. Saturating cubes drives all air out of them. Oxygen is necessary for the formation of root nodes on stems and also to prevent opportunistic anaerobic pathogen problems, which can cause stem tips to rot. Overwet cubes will cause slow rooting if not the death of the cutting. Get it right and you will have roots out of the bottom of the cubes in as little as 5-7 days.

Quote:

also how tall do your mothers get (from the bottom of the stem) before they're replaced? cheers pal

The height of a mum on retirement is kinda hard to say as I am always cutting them back and really quite severely. I retire them when they are no longer vigorous or have signs of having picked up some gnats in the rootmass.

Before cuttings and after. Mums recover this entire mass of veg material in 14 days. They're about 500-600mm tall before cuttings, perhaps 225-300mm after.

After a number of passes of cuttings, despite repeated severe pruning back, the woody mainstem of a mum gets so long that there's not enough vertical room in the mum area for them to veg through 2 more weeks without the new material getting up into the light. I do retire mums that get too tall in this way. I always have at least 2 replacement mums being vegged up at any given time. I prune those back as needed, without necessarily using the clippings for clones. Usually takes about 3 weeks and at least a couple passes of maintenance pruning to get a new mum into shape to deliver cuttings in the style I need them.

With a flood system beneath them, the mum area needs about 1900-2100mm (~6.5'-7') vertical height from the floor to allow sufficient lamp-leaf spacing.

Al B. Fuct · #88 05-17-2008, 03:02 PM

I don't spend a lot of time talking about the mums- perhaps I should.

Grabbed the cam when doing the last batch of cuts.

The two on the left are young mums, only having had a maintenance pruning so far in their roughly 3 weeks in the veg area, when they went in as ~200mm tall clones. About 550-600mm as shown. These two haven't delivered any cuttings for clones yet, but are ready now as pictured. Check the 12mm thick mainstems- those fatties will make some nice clones. The thinner stems will be cut back to a lower node, the material discarded and new, thicker stems will shoot up to replace it all in the coming 14 days.

The two on the right have delivered several passes (perhaps 3-4 post their ~3 week veg-up time) of cuttings. Note thick, woody mainstems. These are getting a bit long in the tooth and will soon be replaced by the ones on the left. As they lose vigor, mums tend to deliver thinner stems that don't root as profusely nor quickly. They can also become too tall, such that they're up into the light before the 14 day cutting interval has passed. I say so long and thanks for all the cuttings- as they go sailing into the compost bin, which feeds my all-organic veggie patch out back just fine, thanks.

Here's the whole mob.

Pretty obviously, there's a lot more veg material there than absolutely needed to deliver 30 cuttings. I do compost a LOT of vegged material. However, I get more stems to choose from to get the best quality for clones.

With plants out of the mum area, you can see just how small it is. It was built around the tray, which (I'm guessing) is about 300mm x 900-1000mm. Covered by a 400HPS, ventilation by a thermostatically controlled 150mm axial (200CFM) fan, passive intake.

The mumzone is built in one corner of the flowering area. The tent-like walls are formed by a single piece of 250micron pandafilm thrown over a 2x4 screwed to the ceiling, with white sides outward. This assures no light leakage into the flowering area.

Sponge Ass No Pants · #89 05-17-2008, 03:37 PM

My apologies Al I've just finished reading this thread in full as i only just realised there were multiple pages (wot a dumbass, but i am learning) and this typing buisiness is quite time consuming. Thanks for the info, its more than i thought to ask so here's another thanks.

I would like to show you my op at some point when i get round to asking my brother how to get pics from my phone, to this poxy laptop. please dont waste your time explaining it, i would appreciate it but probably wouldn't understand. I need to be shown an re-shown, im sure you know what i mean.

I think I might tackle the famous '2 week thread' now i have new knowlege, but its getting late here and the missus needs servicing, saying that i would like to iron the last few unanswered questions......

" Up the chair sniffing "

DrGreenFinger · #90 05-17-2008, 09:09 PM

thanx al!