regions conditions. I do this very soon after the clone is rooted, this allow for the least impact possible on the plant. I clone in very high humidity, roots appear in about a week, then it takes about a week to bring them out of the chamber. Each day the cover is removed until the plant is noticably struggling, cover back on, next day same thing, at one point it doesnt wilt at all and is fully adapted.
As you can notice the 3 plants in the brown pots are a lot more lanky than my other bushes in the green pots. This is because i decided to leave some plants in high humidity until they outgrew the chamber, i then adapted them and those are what you see. When they are adapted the stalk are much stronger, the leaves break with a hard snap, the colour is a little deeper but not as full as in humidity (if that makes sense). The plants seem to be much stronger given stress and the ability to overcome it, and as i said as you can see its better to adapt early if you are going to. I do leave my watering jug in the room full of water usually, this also allows the chlorine to break down in the light. I do spray them, everyday mostly, sometimes more than once, i mix b-1 in as a foliar spray, it a great multi purpose applicant, once the bottle is half empy i fill it with water, then half empty again, up with water, until its clear water, then mix more b-1.
I keep the temperature the highest possible, i dont have a heater in the room, but do leave the door closed sometimes. It's approx 20 degrees celcius, up to 25, you do notice effects when the temp is colder, under 20 celcius, but they have been very cold before and had no problems.
I have tried many different lights under my plants, when all those were only 3 plants they were under a 150w hps, then they moved onto a 400w mh, and finally when i cloned the 3 plants to nothing making all those i made my 360w flourescent tube setup. The best flourescent tubes are the sunshine full spectrum, their cri is around 98. I have 6 plant and aquarium tubes, cri 90, and 2 sunshine full spectrum bulbs in the middle on the opposing banks. I would have bought all sunshine but they were twice the price, so fuck it, i have always used plant and aquarium bulbs for flourescent tube growing purposes, and they are the shiat, but there is always something better.
The plants grew alright under the hps, but they lacked something i could tell. The 400w was too intense in my opinion, even though it was around 3ft from the plants, the leaves were curling, too light in colour green, i wasnt satisfied. At the beginning my first plant was under flourescents so i decided to switch back and it was a good choice.
I have a 400w ceramic mh bulb which i really want to setup but i need a pulse start metal halide ballast, a regular 400w mh ballast doesnt work, it needs an ignitor. Its a new technology of bulbs that has higher red than hps and higher blue than mh, the centre core looks crazy, completely round ceramic. Phillips and GE are the only companies making these so far, and the highest watts is 400.
My soil is a mix i made myself, i always like to customize my growing mediums to the vibe im getting for the plant (fuckin hippy, lol). Anyway its mostly coconut fibre, approx 75%, then there is some pro mix, maybe 15%, then some black earth, 10% i guess, and some sand and rocks in the bottom, thin layer, to help drainage. The coconut fibre is excellent, it doesnt really compact when you water, and it holds a good ratio of air and water.
I use a 3 part chemical fertalizer for nutrient applications. For years i have gone back and forth between 2 companies, Advanced Nurtrients and General Hydroponics. They both have many lines of nutrients, but i always favoured their 3 part, micro, grow, and bloom. There are a few difference between the 2 companies, advanced nutrients is a little cheaper, and does uses cheaper chelates on their metals. There is more sulfure in the advanced nutrients bloom, that can be a good or bad thing depending. I never follow the directions on the side of the bottle, and i havent had a ph or ppm pen for a long time, iv been working with this shit for long enough that if i know what the plant wants, and i can usually tell cause its not hard, really, then i know what to mix for that plant. Salvia can take the feed, like dope, but its only in veg and doesnt produce like dope, so you can take it easy on the nurtrients, just make sure it gets the full range of macro, micro and trace elements. Again i say you should know what the plant wants, so you know what to give it more or less of, not exceeding its ppm desired.
