Mix for clone transplant

Hey everyone-

I am having a blast with my first indoor no till garden! My first cycle is getting close to harvest and, knock on wood, it looks like I will make it to the finish line with a usable product.

THAT SAID…. I am learning how much I do not know really quickly and I need advice from more experienced organic growers. While my 2x4’ bed looks acceptable, my seedlings this run have struggled.

I splurged on Saturday and bought a clone that I’ve wanted for 20 years. It should be here tomorrow and will go into quarantine until I confirm they’re no bugs and I HLVD test is negative.

One of the things I realized is how little I know in terms of how nutrients interact and how excesses/lockouts etc manifest.

I want to give this clone the best chance of survival and I am unsure what soil mix to put it in. I believe the current mix I am using, which my new seedlings struggled, is too rich castings.

I have everything needed to make a soil mix, but I am wondering if I am better off with a bag of Happy Frog since I am not super confident on mixing soil for seedlings/young plants.

Finally, can anyone provide me with some basics on transplanting a rock wool cube into soil? I am sure I am over thinking it, but want to make sure I don’t do anything stupid.

-Leave the top of the rockwool cube exposed when transplanting?
-Whats the thought process on watering since it will not be drinking much. Just keep slightly moist making sure not to overwater until the roots develop?
-Would putting back under a humidity dome with the tops open help keep the pressure on the plant low, or should I not cover it?
-Ideal PPFD for rooted plug once transplaned to soil?

I’m sorry for the list of questions, and REALLY appreciate the help!

Planting my clones right now,I use promix HP that got mixed with Gaia 444 and a small amount of ewc about a month ago.1/2 cup 444 per 5g of promix.

I make a big hole in the dirt for the RW cube to sit in,sprinkle some MYKO in push cube down in cover with just a little dirt.

My dirt is moist already so no watering for about a week.

You could take some old soil and mix with new so its not so hot.

Used soil is great for clones with no ammending.

or promix mixed with about 15-20% castings and very little amount of dry amendments, or all purpose dry fertilizer like @myke said wil work fine.

I water daily no matter what size or stage. Just small volumes for young clones or seedlings. Like a couplefluidoz a day.

temps and lighting are just as important as soil mix for clones.

No dome if they are rooted. The domes are just for rooting process.

The promix is just light and airy can sprinkle a little extra perlight also.
Since switching to organic a year ago or so I always have some promix with dry amendments in it sitting around. Once these solos get root bound I’ll put them in a mix again of my soil from last round and some of the promix.

green_machine_two9er said:

temps and lighting are just as important as soil mix for clones.

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Thanks! What do you recommend in terms of PPFD & temps? I am around 68-74 in my veg tent and I can dial in PPFD/VPD as needed.

I ended up buying a bag of Mother Earth Terracraft for the clone to get it started.
So one person is covering their cube with soil and I see a photo of one uncovered. Is there a best practice here or does it not matter much

Thanks everyone!!

I covered the cube after the pic.

The Mother Earth Terracraft looks nice and fluffy unlike Fox Farms that has a bunch of un compost material.
It maybe a little hot as most are.

myke said:

The Mother Earth Terracraft looks nice and fluffy unlike Fox Farms that has a bunch of un compost material.
It maybe a little hot as most are.

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they had two Mother Earth Potting mixes and this was the lighter of the two mixes according to hydro bro.