whats up i was gifted an aerogarden and been using it to germ seeds using rw cubes instead of the plugs as mine didnt come with any my buddy used them up in his horrible attempt to grow some ganja with it. im sure it can be done but my genious of a friend tried to flower 6 of my cherry ak monsters in there and as expected failed horribly. now i read a post about how great of a cloner this thing is i get 100% germ rate with this with seeds poped about 50 seeds in it and all had sprouts in 24-48hrs and i want to give clonin in a a shot. i have rw square plugs and rapid rooters at my disposal to use ill prob use 3 of each to see which one is faster. any pointers or tips would be greatly appreciated and i also have a few ? on techniques. with the rw it has the insert hole poker into the top and i was wonderin if i should poke the hole threw the bottom so that the bottom cut end is in the water or right above the water or will it be fine if i insert it as normal and wait for the roots to pop out the bottom? also i was wondrin how long does it take u guys to get roots? this thing cut my germ time in half is it being unreasonable to expect roots in 5-7day instead of 7-14? i also add 2 extra airstones in it 1 on each side of the rez for more bubble action im a dwc bubble bucket head and have tons of hydro shit layin around i was also considerin using 1 23w 6500cfl instead of the lights provided any thoughs inputs are very appreciated strain will be lvpk as i know they are very easy to root so for my first try i want as little obstacles preventing me from being successful so the bubbamom i got which just hates to root it will be waiting in her place
peace stonE
Stoney: you have a couple of options here, you can go to your local hydroponics store and get a black rectangular plastic tray, a heavy black plastic tray with a plastic screen bottom that fits in the first tray and a third black plastic tray full of square compartments for fifty of the small rock wool cubes. That fits in the second tray and those are about two bucks each. The big humidity dome is about six bucks but it has two adjustable openings on top for ventilation. Total about twelve dollars. I don't use the heater and I light it up with a two foot long florescent fixture with two T-5 lamps that draw about fourteen watts each. I bought the fixture from Home Depot. They sold it to me for $17.99 but I think it was supposed to be $29. I hang that from about three or four dollars worth of PCV plumbing parts I used to make a frame. It's two inverted T's connected at the top by a two foot piece and to make it a little stronger I connect the rear bottom legs also. It's really pretty solid. I adjust the height with heavy enough linked wire chain that's easy enough to hook into itself. The humidity dome is tall enough to keep you from putting the lights too close to your plants.
As far as the 'clear plastic take out food box' is concerned, the system I designed above accommodates 50 clones which is usually over kill for me except when I'm cloning tomatoes or legal herbs in the spring for my friends. A buddy of mine saw my set up, made an identical frame and light arrangement and used a tall take out food to go box and put his cubes in there. I think it had had a large cake in it originally. It worked.
I have since done the same thing with one that my wife bought home with a little pound cake in. I holds 12 rock wool cubes nicely and fits in my empty A/G reservoir. That way I can use my A/G lights and it's very compact. Don't forget to burn vent holes in the top with a hot ice pick for ventilation. Six or eight will usually do. The only down side is that because of the electrical connections on the front of your arm/light stand, at the back of our reservoir where the pump gets its juice , you have to take it out for the foliar feeding that's necessary two to three times a day for the first three to four weeks. But it works, and it's a hell of a lot less expensive than the cloning systems they sell for three to four hundred dollars. Give it try my friend.
PS: the rock wool cubes you cloned your babies in will compress just enough to be rolled by hand on a cutting board into a small cylinder and stuffed into the planting holes in your A/G. Leave them about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch above the planting deck but the A/G will irrigate them nicely. I know guys that cut them down to size with a razor blade but they usually end up bleeding in the process. Good Luck.
