How Do Bottom of Rapid Rooters Stay Humid?

[McGruppsMonsters]

I have 75 cuts in a tray upstairs in Rapid Rooters, inside of a humidity dome with a 20 watt CFL right above them. I'm using a heating mat with a thermostat so relative humidity is taken care of but I have a few questions.

How often do you guys spray your cuts in this type of setting? They have been in for about 24 hours, and I just gave them a solid spray... probably 20 pumps with a spray bottle and it looks nice and humid in there.

How exactly does that humidity get to the bottom of the cubes though unless they are saturated through? Once the roots come out of the cut and progress towards the bottom, I am guessing they need to be sprayed with a higher volume of water in order to saturate the cubes?

Thanks in advance. As of now they look great, no yellowing at all... look fairly perky and such... I guess the hard work is still ahead in keeping them happy until they show roots though, huh?

 

[fdd2blk]

the cubes should be wet to start with.

 

[cruzer101]

I use rooter plugs. They come pre moistened and stay that way for quite a while.
Right now I have ten seedlings and six clones and for the first time I am trying to root them together. I started them at the same time and have noticed something. The clones grow more roots toward the top of the cube and dry it out faster then the seedlings that have a main tap root that has shot to the bottom feeding them right now.

So you see I am dealing with humidity in rooter cubes as well. What I found that works for both of them is to keep a small amount of water in the bottom of the tray.

Water the tops of the cubes with about ml of water and spray water all around them for humidity. I don't spray the cuttings. Keep an eye on how fast the cubes evaporate when you move the light closer.

If you use a seedling heat map you will increase the temp and also the humidity in the bottom of the cube with the same amount of moisture in the cube. Just don't get over 85 degrees.

That may help you some.

By the way, It sounds like this is your first time cloning. You want the plants to look like they are dying.
It may sound strange but when the clones leafs are yellowing thats when I know roots are growing.

Good luck.
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[McGruppsMonsters]

Having a hard time testing my relative humidity in there, especially in the lower cube area.... you were referring to relative humidity when you said it shouldn't go above 85 right? How exactly are you testing it in there. I put my sensor in there the other nite for a minute and it was like 87. I thought they could root in high humidity areas?

My cuts definitely don't look like they are dieing at all, but they are only about 24 hours old... hopefully they are doing well. Not having any clue how they are reacting the care you are giving them is a bit frustrating, but I'm guessing they are just fine. Alot of this is a patience game too.

 

[cruzer101]

Nope, I ment 85 degrees as in the temp of the rooter plug. I use the external probe tucked inside an empty plug to keep track.

I dont know how you would be able to measure humidity in a rooter cube unless you had a humidity probe of some sort.

You dont water much anyway there is no root system. just get them moist once and the dome will keep them wet for a couple days. Keep spraying the dome and putting it back on. Usually by the third day I see the leaves yellowing a bit. I water them. then the end of the week they start comming back. I start watering every other day and cut the yellow leaf and of we go.

You will see. Its not that hard.
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[McGruppsMonsters]

Nope, I ment 85 degrees as in the temp of the rooter plug. I use the external probe tucked inside an empty plug to keep track.

I dont know how you would be able to measure humidity in a rooter cube unless you had a humidity probe of some sort.

You dont water much anyway there is no root system. just get them moist once and the dome will keep them wet for a couple days. Keep spraying the dome and putting it back on. Usually by the third day I see the leaves yellowing a bit. I water them. then the end of the week they start comming back. I start watering every other day and cut the yellow leaf and of we go.

You will see. Its not that hard.
​

Thanks for the tips. Kinda weird, you get some people saying to spray every 2-3 hours which I think is completely over-kill.. and others that say every few days. The dome has been staying pretty damn humid so I'm gonna lean more towards doing it just once every 18-36 hours and see how they react.

How yellowing yet, which from what I understand is a good sign, that's the sign of roots starting to form... yah? Thanks for the tip... will keep ya guys posted.

 

[cruzer101]

Cool Grumps.

Here is another tip on using rooters. I dont know what kind of lighting or medium you plan on using but once they sprout and you remove the dome you will want to get them closer to the light. You will find the rooters dry up kinda fast when you are close to the light.

What works for me is rockwool cubes. They have a hole in the top, put the rooters in there and get the rockwool wet. It will retain moisture and transfer moisture to the rooter.
Works great I got my seedlings and clones 2 inches from 8,000 lumens. Rooter plugs dry up in a few hours. In rockwool It takes a couple days.
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[McGruppsMonsters]

Cool Grumps.

Here is another tip on using rooters. I dont know what kind of lighting or medium you plan on using but once they sprout and you remove the dome you will want to get them closer to the light. You will find the rooters dry up kinda fast when you are close to the light.

What works for me is rockwool cubes. They have a hole in the top, put the rooters in there and get the rockwool wet. It will retain moisture and transfer moisture to the rooter.
Works great I got my seedlings and clones 2 inches from 8,000 lumens. Rooter plugs dry up in a few hours. In rockwool It takes a couple days.
​

Well I grow in SunShine#4. This batch of clones will be for a friend... or another lucky home once they root but in general I will be taking my clones once they root and putting them in my mother room and they will chill there until they go into my main area.

Hopefully I can time it so they won't be in the mothering room for too long before heading into the main area because drying up every 4 hours sounds like a royal pain in the ass!

I'll be using a 600 watter in the mom room, so I could see them drying up fairly quickly. I assume you mean the bigger rock wool cubes if you put the entire rooter in there? I likely won't have space to do that... so my timing will have to be pretty spot on if they do indeed dry out that quickly. Thanks for the tip!

So far clones lookin pretty good still... going on three full days tonight. When do you start to see roots Cruzer? Do you take the dome off at first sight of roots?

 

[cruzer101]

Yea, Putting the cube in a cube.

Here is a shot of what I got going on now.

At this point I water the rock wool and let the moisture transfer to the rooter.
They are on a removable rack that I dunk in a tub of water or nutes. Well not dunk.
Dip in just about a inch up, hold for a few seconds and we are good to go for a few days.

Oh, The empty one is where the thermometer probe goes. Now you got a better idea.
​

 

[OregonMeds]

cruzer101 your light looks like it is twice as far away as it should be. At least the plants seem to be saying it's too far away or not enough.

 

[cruzer101]

Pics can be deceiving. I keep it about two to three inches away. The camera lends makes it look farther.

Oh Grump, I pull the dome in about three days. I take it off on the third day then back on that night. If they look fine the next day well thats the end of the dome.
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[McGruppsMonsters]

about a week they have been rooting for now, no signs of roots just yet....could take a little longer. it;s hard to watch after rooting babies when you don't know how they are reacting to treatment at all. with flowering and vegging plants they will tell you what you do and dont liike....not so much w clones

 

[cruzer101]

Yea,
Funny thing about clones. They can look the same after a couple weeks and have no roots at all.

What I have observed is they look fine when I cut them, Next day the droop a bit. same the third day. By the fourth day I see some yelowing. (I take off the dome) Fifth day they srtaightin up again sixth day I start to see some light green new growth. (I cut off the yellow leaf) By the seventh day I take one out and look at the cube and there are roots.

Dosent always happen like that, some stay green all the time. But in general thats what I see.
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[McGruppsMonsters]

Took the clones 8 days ago now, no yellowing at all. Some of them have started to look a bit more like they are falling over a tad... or are weak... but most look like regular, healthy, small plants. The water in the dome seems to be disappearing faster now. I don't want to over-spray them because the cubes are wet, so I just spray the inside of the dome and let some fresh air in there.

So far, no roots to speak of but I'm hopeful!! I think I should start to see some within 5-6 days if they are going to root at all, don't ya think? Even a 50% survival rate would make me real happy as this is the practice round!

 

[worm5376]

Yea, Putting the cube in a cube.

Here is a shot of what I got going on now.

At this point I water the rock wool and let the moisture transfer to the rooter.
They are on a removable rack that I dunk in a tub of water or nutes. Well not dunk.
Dip in just about a inch up, hold for a few seconds and we are good to go for a few days.

Oh, The empty one is where the thermometer probe goes. Now you got a better idea.
​

Lovin the LED'S But like he is saying, You need to move those tubes down to about 2 inches from the top. Maybe your keepin them up to stuff those LED's in as well but it's gonna stretch. [it is]

 

[McGruppsMonsters]

I use just a 20 watt CFL and it covers my humidity dome fine. I just see no roots or anything like that yet...but I guess only 8 days in....I probably still have some time to wait. Patience young grasshopper, right? They usually show within 12 or so days if they are going to root at all right?

 

[worm5376]

If it ain't completely wilted, then you're fine bro. I patience is only a problem for those who dont toke =/ Not us.

 

[McGruppsMonsters]

If it ain't completely wilted, then you're fine bro. I patience is only a problem for those who dont toke =/ Not us.

Most likely they start to wilt by this point (8+ days) if they aren't going to root at all? Never done this and I have no idea what to look for in terms of positive response from the clones, or negative responses. They just look green, most of them sturdy, with a few weaker ones that are falling over a bit. I'd love to see some roots in the next few days!!!

I haven't fed them any nutes yet, but I did purchase some Dyna-Grow Liquid K-L-N rooting concentrate. It's .009-.011-.006. Do you guys think I should now use it to give them a bit of a boost? I've read on this forum people finding they actually root SLOWER when given nutes.

 

[worm5376]

they tend to tip over abit due to the fact that they are redirecting all there energy to starts new roots. it's perfectly normal.. DO NOT GIVE NUTES. wait till they have a stable root foundation. then start off on the smallest doseage possible to see how they respond. Then adjust accordingly.

 

[McGruppsMonsters]

Cool, I'll keep waitin. From what I've read they start to dry out REAL quick in the rapid rooters once they form roots so I will need to put them into some containers quick and find a home for them once they root. Should only be 4-5 days away.