Journal of my attempt at the "Mr Green" hydro setup (with influence from Al B Fuct)

On Saturday I changed my clone tank and decided to give the clones a little more SuperThrive (.25ml), Hygrozyme (12ml), AquaShiled (10ml) and an air stone. Set the pH to 5.1 and let 'er go. The next day (about 24hrs later) I checked the pH and it was up to 7.2! I lowered it to 5.1 again, and checked 6hrs later and it was back to 6.9. Something definitely wasn't right, so I dumped the tank and started over. This time I went back to just water and AquaShield pH'd to 5.3. Checked the tank 16hrs later and it was at 6.1 (more on par with previous expectations) and lowered it to 5.1.

Hopefully this will get my root production going again - it has really slowed (image attached).

I really wish I hadn't used the clone gel on this batch as I think it may have slowed things for me. Should I be giving these gals a little bit of nutrients now that they have some roots, or is plain water still good enough???

During the first stages of root growth , I use just; Micro, Hygrozyme, Jumpstart, and Roots excelurator. Thats pretty much everything the little ladies need. and ph should stay around 5.4. Happy cloning!

I don't really think they are ready yet, but my space is limited and I had to do something... I put 14 of 'em in the flower room today.
On the one hand I feel like an idiot for doing it since I could be killing off any hope for them, but on the other hand I feel I've learned a lot about my new cloner and can likely get the next batch of clones ready much quicker.

Flower room
I have my light set about 30" above the clones - will likely leave it there until I start to see new growth on the plants then move it to about 20" above.

I figure I'll leave them on a low dose of nutes a little longer than "normal" since they aren't quite ready to go yet.

Light is set for 12hr on/off, and I decided to go with 3 pump sessions per lights on. 1st is 20min after lights on (to give me time to check on things), 2nd is 5hr later and 3rd is 1hr before lights off.

I still need to get a pump for my flower tank's air stone & a second circulation fan, but they can wait a day or two.

This is my first attempt at doing a main tank w/o H2O2 (The Man's keepin me down ) so I used 5ml/gal of AquaShield & 5ml/gal of Hygrozyme - hopefully that will keep the funk in control. Set the tank to pH 5.6 - 706ppm - .99mS/cm. Does that seem a bit "hot" for starters?

I guess I'll be taking clones on 4/20 - how appropriate : :

Here's a shot of the tray as it was filling for the first feeding.

The clones I threw into the flower room are doing OK - they aren't dead, but they look a bit gimpy. Actually I'm surprised none of them have keeled over yet
I have the flower room set to pump 3x per lights on, and I've been hand watering (w/nutes) twice during lights on. Hopefully they will take hold and grow.

Did another batch of clones yesterday evening. My mothers were so over grown that it was hard to pick the best clones - lots of spindly little twigs, and most of the best ones were in various stages of light burn. More than 24hrs later and they are looking good too. Decided to go w/5ml Aquashield and 5ml Hygrozyme this time around. ...and I left the clone gel in the fridge...

Here's a couple shots of the mess

Cool shit man. Very interesting. Mr. green is a character.

Had an unfortunate incident with my pH meter over the weekend. I was checking the pH in my cloner when I bumped the tip on one of the sprayer nozzles. That slight bump broke the glass tip in the end of the probe - $100 later I had a replacement tip...

While at the grow shop I stumbled upon a stash of H2O2 that they were closing out (they got it from another shop the went belly-up). I can keep my mothers happily bathing in H2O2 for a bit longer now.

The lil ones in the flower room are still standing. Many appear to be showing the first signs of new growth, so I'm hopeful they will eventually make it.

The clones I took 6 days ago are starting to show root nubbins now - that's the quickest yet!

I've noticed that the first actual roots on each clone seem to show up where the stem is held by the neoprine seal. If I push a clone down a bit, once it starts showing the white bumps (pre-roots), there are almost always a lot more bumps and/or actual roots up where the stem was in the seal. What's the deal with that? Does that point to it being too wet and therefore I should put my cloner on a schedule - something like 1min on 4min off rather than always on as the owners manual states??

wow this grow is looking real nice... so i have one question. when your clones get roots in the aero cloner do u just place the clone inside the net pot with the hydroton around it.. like do u not need like a rapid rooter to support the clone staying up??




later

brontobrandon1 said:

wow this grow is looking real nice... so i have one question. when your clones get roots in the aero cloner do u just place the clone inside the net pot with the hydroton around it.. like do u not need like a rapid rooter to support the clone staying up??

Click to expand...

Thanks much!

The first batch out of my cloner had to be taken before I felt they were ready (not too many roots). All I did was bury them fairly deep, the bottom of the stem is buried about half way down the pot, and they've stayed standing for over a week. I also kept the circulation fan turned off for the first week to give them time to set.

As you know I'm no expert, but it seems to be working so far. The clones in the flower room are slowly starting to show signs of new growth...

My latest batch of clones (1 week in the cloner as of today) are doing great! Several plants have nice batches of roots starting, and most of the rest are showing lots of white bumps too

Attached is a picture of the clones from earlier today and a picture of both halves fully lit...

So did you abandon the top feed drip system and just go fully ebb and flow? That's what it looks like based on the pics, but sorry, I only read about half the thread. btw, you need to bury those rockwool cubes beneath the hydroton to keep algae from growing on the top. (in case you already didn't know) Good job though, way to go.

Ahzweepay said:

Thanks much!

The first batch out of my cloner had to be taken before I felt they were ready (not too many roots). All I did was bury them fairly deep, the bottom of the stem is buried about half way down the pot, and they've stayed standing for over a week. I also kept the circulation fan turned off for the first week to give them time to set.

As you know I'm no expert, but it seems to be working so far. The clones in the flower room are slowly starting to show signs of new growth...

My latest batch of clones (1 week in the cloner as of today) are doing great! Several plants have nice batches of roots starting, and most of the rest are showing lots of white bumps too

Attached is a picture of the clones from earlier today and a picture of both halves fully lit...

Click to expand...

Dammm alright ya that makes since now, thats what I was thinking, but I've never had experience with a aero cloner.. im def gonna buy one of those so the clones wont take up room in my veg ebb and flow table..

The clones can grow at a pretty good size in the aero cloner right.. like i could veg a extra week in there jus so my plants get a little bigger?? ( my clones are fairly small)

Im lovin the pics of both rooms, i cant wait to get my perpetual grow started


later bro

hey AWP, happy to hear you got nubblets!! i get that too from time to time roots half way up the stem under the neoprene, i think your right, if water is on too long it gets soaked under there, personally i played with the times a lot and came up with 30/30 even if you left it on for 1 min, i noticed the neoprene gets wet and water runs down the whole stem, this alone is good enough to clone with, 15/45 also work well for me and to be honest, i had poor results when i left it on all day, they tend to lean over like they are suffocated

brontobrandon1 said:

Dammm alright ya that makes since now, thats what I was thinking, but I've never had experience with a aero cloner.. im def gonna buy one of those so the clones wont take up room in my veg ebb and flow table..

The clones can grow at a pretty good size in the aero cloner right.. like i could veg a extra week in there jus so my plants get a little bigger?? ( my clones are fairly small)

Im lovin the pics of both rooms, i cant wait to get my perpetual grow started


later bro

Click to expand...

oh yea! after you see roots you can definitly leave em in there for a few weeks and let them get beefed up, if your a little handy you can save yourself some cash and build a good cloner for $60

haha thats the problem, im not handy at all... but to be honest it really doesnt look TO difficult to build ya no

Mcgician said:

So did you abandon the top feed drip system and just go fully ebb and flow? That's what it looks like based on the pics, but sorry, I only read about half the thread. btw, you need to bury those rockwool cubes beneath the hydroton to keep algae from growing on the top. (in case you already didn't know) Good job though, way to go.

Click to expand...

Nope - didn't abandon the drip system. I use the drip system on the Veg side for the mothers and the ebb/flow system for flowering (just like Mr Green).

When I initially put the mothers in pots I didn't know about burying the rockwool cubes. I have covered them with some squares of panda plastic, and plan to swap them out with some new mothers as soon as I get a decent batch of clones (hopefully this batch).

Thanks

morrisgreenberg said:

hey AWP, happy to hear you got nubblets!! i get that too from time to time roots half way up the stem under the neoprene, i think your right, if water is on too long it gets soaked under there, personally i played with the times a lot and came up with 30/30 even if you left it on for 1 min, i noticed the neoprene gets wet and water runs down the whole stem, this alone is good enough to clone with, 15/45 also work well for me and to be honest, i had poor results when i left it on all day, they tend to lean over like they are suffocated

Click to expand...

When you say "30/30" do you mean 30min on & 30min off?

yes, i wouldnt steer you wrong bro, i think any como of 15 on up to 60min off is fine....15/30 or 15/45 i think you would like, when i first started messing with aeroponics, i discovered how roots are scavengers, the more i would leave the sprayers on, the less they would grow, when i started giving less on time they would grow down looking for water until they sat in the bath

morrisgreenberg said:

yes, i wouldnt steer you wrong bro, i think any como of 15 on up to 60min off is fine....15/30 or 15/45 i think you would like, when i first started messing with aeroponics, i discovered how roots are scavengers, the more i would leave the sprayers on, the less they would grow, when i started giving less on time they would grow down looking for water until they sat in the bath

Click to expand...

Didn't think you were steering me wrong - just wanted to make sure I understood.
Thanks for the clarification

Are you using an "expensive" cycle timer on yours?

aWESOME, HEAPS OF INFO

nah, just the 15min segment timers HTG gives with they're setups, i cant find them anywhere but hydro shops, also those cap 1/5 timers arent programmable, and expensive for a timer

morrisgreenberg said:

nah, just the 15min segment timers HTG gives with they're setups, i cant find them anywhere but hydro shops, also those cap 1/5 timers arent programmable, and expensive for a timer

Click to expand...

Cool - I get whatcha mean now.
Looks like I can get one around here for about $18, much better