Total Noob using teas and I am a believer

Mad Hamish

Mad Hamish

Well-Known Member
Well guys, I have to give credit where credit is due, first of all. This is where I learned about this way of doing things:

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/15030-batch-clones-rockwool.html

Al B. Fuct is my SoG guru. Wish he was still around on RIU :( But looking at what is happening with cannabis law across the globe, I think he's kicking ass in his job as a writer for the cannabis scene. MAX RESPECT!

Stow, so far I have 100 percent success rate (knock on wood) which is awesome, I take 15 clones for each cycle of 9 that hit the SoG and choose the STRONGEST ones. I like being spoiled for choice there. Means I usually keep 2 or 3 mothers per pheno I intend on running. Right now I am mothering up 4 clones of my favourite LVBK pheno, the Tahoe just does NOT veg fast enough even with 4 moms. The Dream Beaver is going to be a dream, I can tell already, SUPER vigorous. I don't like leaving the mums as bare as Al does. I guess how you cut the clones is totally up to preference, I have seen very little info refuting one method or another, but yes I also cut at angles and strip the lower nodes. I do NOT scrape at the stem however, they really do root a lot faster that way. But yes, over-shooting by double should have you really happy! Even thin little branches will root no problem, but there is a threshold for TOO thin, and then they can take up to 14 days to show good root development.

Rrog, I find if you stack the cubes pretty close together, they need one watering of 25-35 ml a day. I like keeping them on the lid so I can move them all out at once, and it makes for a nice little 'mobile workbench' that I sterilize before and then I usually make cuts right on there. I have about a billion uses for those lids, LOL... The nice thing here is the vents don't work all the time, they are pretty much there for heat-control, the ducts I added as light-traps for the little fans I have in-line with the lamp so they are quite oversized, it was the only size ducting I had lying around at the time. I still need to neaten it up, it went into operation almost instantly, I really should take the time to make it look a bit nicer now it's standing idle for a bit :/ So the vent fans kick on as soon as the temps go around .3 degrees C of where I set the controller. When it gets warmer the heating mat also gets connected to the controller so it switches off when temps are at the set amount. So I have a humidity of between 55 and 65 percent most of the time, which they seem to like just fine. I had too many issues with domes... So I find the relative humidity kinda sorts itself out, but keep in mind I designed it EXACTLY for my needs, I've tried with just one or two clones in there, but then they need a watering sometimes twice a day. I did compensate for that by almost over-watering them last time and it worked great, so instead of a 'moist' cube I went for full-on WET. Worked out well, seeing as my watering mix always has a little H2O2 in there so they never suffocate. Best part of this is, no 'hardening off' required, and they adjust to the HPS really fast too. Took me a while of playing with it to get it perfect, and bigger cubes do work a lot better.

I have to add one of the little things that REALLY made this kick along is a Dutch rooting powder called Rhizopon. It really kicks ASS. Clonex is left in the dust by this stuff, I don't even wet the stems, just a small little dusting and BOOM!
 
AllDayToker

AllDayToker

Well-Known Member
All I use to clone is rockwool, powder rooting hormone, and a normal humidity dome. So far 100% success rate, even with clones that got damaged and I had to move my dome, came back. Mist maybe 7 times a day.

Honestly it's the most simple thing I do lol.
 
GandalfdaGreen

GandalfdaGreen

Well-Known Member
I love your cloning box bro. You showed it to me before. When I first saw it I knew you and I were going to hit it off. :eyesmoke:

That is some great info there. I am inspired to step up the game. I'd say you have your cloning down. :lol:
 
GandalfdaGreen

GandalfdaGreen

Well-Known Member
AllDayToker said:
All I use to clone is rockwool, powder rooting hormone, and a normal humidity dome. So far 100% success rate, even with clones that got damaged and I had to move my dome, came back. Mist maybe 7 times a day.

Honestly it's the most simple thing I do lol.
Click to expand...

I don't even mist. I used to. I have been playing around with things in my riot cubes. I don't soak the cubes before I put my clones into them. I use Olivia's cloning solution with the cubes but I use it in a wick system. I place about 1 cm of Olivia's in the tray. I put my cut in the cube and place it in the holder. After all the cuts are in cubes there will be no more water in the tray due to the wicking of the cubes. I then put .5cm of Olivia's solution back into the tray and let it go. I always check the tray for a touch of the solution. Never let it get above .5cm. Never let it dry out. I add the .5cm of Oliva's twice in 10-14 days and then I have roots. Done deal. 90%+ everytime. I am now playing with Azos on my cuts and putting them right into my seed/clone mix. I do have the slam dunk machines too. There are a bunch of ways to do it.

I like the Azos. So far it is working. I mix the Olivia's per the instructions on the bottle. What are some organic ways to clone that you guys use?
 
Crankyxr

Crankyxr

Well-Known Member
GandalfdaGreen said:
I don't even mist. I used to. I have been playing around with things in my riot cubes. I don't soak the cubes before I put my clones into them. I use Olivia's cloning solution with the cubes but I use it in a wick system. I place about 1 cm of Olivia's in the tray. I put my cut in the cube and place it in the holder. After all the cuts are in cubes there will be no more water in the tray due to the wicking of the cubes. I then put .5cm of Olivia's solution back into the tray and let it go. I always check the tray for a touch of the solution. Never let it get above .5cm. Never let it dry out. I add the .5cm of Oliva's twice in 10-14 days and then I have roots. Done deal. 90%+ everytime. I am now playing with Azos on my cuts and putting them right into my seed/clone mix. I do have the slam dunk machines too. There are a bunch of ways to do it.

I like the Azos. So far it is working. I mix the Olivia's per the instructions on the bottle. What are some organic ways to clone that you guys use?
Click to expand...
I don't even use my dome anymore. I just dip the cuttings into some clonex, put them in the root riot cubes, put em in the tray with some water and wait.
90%+ success rate doing it this way
 
Mad Hamish

Mad Hamish

Well-Known Member
Yup there are MANY ways to go about it. The only reason I do it the way I do is for a predictable time-table, 7 days to root, 10 days for vigorous root growth. I just found with most other methods it would sometimes be 7 days, sometimes 14, sometimes even more than that. There is no real difference in the health of clones between methods, but having a controlled environment means I get to repeat results pretty much exactly the same over and over. And this is ONLY to fit in with a 2-week rotation SoG that I took this road. A clone box like what I am using is merely the cheapest way to keep them in precisely the same environment constantly, I can move it anywhere and ambient temps can vary outside the box but inside it stays nailed spot-on.
So the key reason I chose to build one is not efficiency nor a perception of any kind of superior result at all, but only that one thing: Predictability.

I am going to try the same method, but straight into a diluted living soil mix with mycos added right in the planting hole. Thinking of buffering the clones from the soil a little with a small 'plug' of coco. I would like to root straight into soil and get the natural processes going ASAP. My thinking here is that the benes can start working for me a lot sooner this way. The rockwool cubes dropped straight into soil are working pretty well I must say, I do enjoy dusting the roots with some mycos before dropping them in.

I am also considering getting rid of the H2O2 in my clone water mix, and using mycorrhizae instead. If that works, my next experiment is going to be using willow water as my clone mix and ditching the rooting powder altogether. Baby steps, but I want to go FULL ORGANIC with my clones now too. As soon as I have big mums again and tons of shoots to play with, I will start playing with these ideas. I just want to be sure I can cut my losses wherever I fail ;)
 
st0wandgrow

st0wandgrow

Well-Known Member
Crankyxr said:
I don't even use my dome anymore. I just dip the cuttings into some clonex, put them in the root riot cubes, put em in the tray with some water and wait.
90%+ success rate doing it this way
Click to expand...

Funny you posted this, I just finished doing it exactly this way. I'm used to taking big cuts with my ez-cloner. My cuts were so big that they're kinda falling over, so I had to prop them up against the side of the tray a bit and I can't put the dome on there now. Oh well. Smaller cuts next time.

Gandalf, I saw your post so I figured I would try the riot cubes too. I put a few in rockwool as well to test this out.


The Church.jpg
 
Crankyxr

Crankyxr

Well-Known Member
st0wandgrow said:
Funny you posted this, I just finished doing it exactly this way. I'm used to taking big cuts with my ez-cloner. My cuts were so big that they're kinda falling over, so I had to prop them up against the side of the tray a bit and I can't put the dome on there now. Oh well. Smaller cuts next time.

Gandalf, I saw your post so I figured I would try the riot cubes too. I put a few in rockwool as well to test this out.


View attachment 2825235
Click to expand...
my cuttings are always about 5-7" tall, sometimes larger and they always droop. but they'll prop back up soon enough
 
Maphyr

Maphyr

Active Member
Ehhhh... I dunno...

There is no grey area in organics, you either are or you aren't. You can't "sorta kinda" be organic. Someone put it once as - it's like being pregnant, you either are or you aren't.

We use all these organic materials to keep true to the "organicness" and then using a product like Protekt seems like it just throws all that organicness right out the window. You're spraying your plant with synthetic shit... that is the exact opposite of being organic.
 
Rrog

Rrog

Well-Known Member
"synthetic" is in the eye of the beholder. This is a compilation of info, most from Coot and his research. He's a member of the Oregon Tilth and all.

Couple links-

http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/blog/2010/06/silica-the-hidden-cost-of-chemicals/ about silica

http://www.fngla.org/education-and-research/research/reports/75/finalreport.pdf more on Silica


Potassium silicate is found naturally, Basalt contains this mineral compound. The problem is, as usual, that the cost of extracting it is prohibitive.

USDA NOP (National Organic Program) has a general regulation known as 205.208(e) (link) which covers bio-pesticides and bio-fungicides including mineral compounds.

Chemical compounds are contained in a database known as Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) which is part of the American Chemical Society. The listing for Synthetic Potassium Silicate is CAS # 1312-76-1

Under the general blanket regulation noted above, synthetic Potassium Silicate is approved with this stipulation:

Quote:
The silica used in the manufacture of potassium silicate must be sourced from naturally occurring sand may be used if the requirements of 205.206(e) are met.

AgSil 16H from PQ Corporation was the product that brought about this ruling by USDA NOP whereas prior to that, synthetic sources were prohibited. Their application and final approval allowed if the restrictions were met.
 
Maphyr

Maphyr

Active Member
So, Protekt is synthetic but made from organic material..? is what I'm gathering from the information above.

The bottle just screams, Master Farmer Bud Candy DX 5000 to me, and no where in the description or on the bottle does it mention being organic.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to use this Protekt stuff because it boasts some very good benefits. I'm just not sold that this is an organic product, and I'm not about to throw away my organic grow for a flashy bottle.
 
Rrog

Rrog

Well-Known Member
To me I am not concerned about a label. The value to the plant and safety as a material make it OK that it wasn't mined in that exact form.
 
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