Okay, so I had my DIY Bubble Cloner on for 6 days and 8/12 of the clones rooted. Since this was just a test run and I took some of them off the middle of the stem, I decided to repeat the procedure. Except this time, some issues have risen.. First off, it's been 4 days and there aren't even budding roots. I saw budding roots after 2.5 days before. Second, the pH of my water is 6.5.. but after sitting in the cloner and after adding some liquid nutrients, it went up to 8.0. So, I added some pH down and got it to 5.8 (which I read was adequate for hydro). However, and I'm not sure if it's related to the liquid pH down I used, I noticed that the air stones had come to have a sort of white residue on them. I cleaned the container and the air stones as best I could, filled the container up again and repeated the procedure with the nutrients and pH down and so far the water is okay but one of the air stones stopped producing as much air (it only does so from one hole). I don't have a way to check water temperature but from touching it I figure it's about room temperature. So.. am I doing anything wrong? Thanks!
Sounds like you got a handle on things. Was the white residue slimy? it sounds like bacteria. If so you were right to clean it out. I don't know how your stone has become blocked. Did you scrub it hard when cleaning it? You may have blocked the pores when doing so. Try scrubbing again under water but with the pump running air through it. Getting blistering on the stems in 2 days is pretty dam fast. As long as you have roots in a week you have done well imo
You were right about the stone. I cleaned it again and it's fine now. I also suspect the little hose might have been loose. The white residue wasn't slimy, but I don't know what caused it - was it the pH down or just the water over time..? Should I continue to use pH down or just stop using the nutrient solution? Or should I just leave it at 8.0 pH? It seems like some of the cuttings have more roots now.. but it's not as successful as the first batch. Lastly, the first batch, which have been in soil for almost a week.. aren't doing too well. The leaves are yellowing and they're not getting bigger. Did I plant them before they had enough roots or did I plant them wrong?
I don't use nutes when I clone but you are getting fast results so maybe a little might be worth it. I would still keep the EC/ppm pretty low though. A PH of 8 is too high I think. I would adjust it to around 5.5 - 6. It sounds like your soil may have too high a concentration of nutrients. What soil are you using?
No, the correct amount of nutrients = faster growth Too much slows the movement of water, and too little slows the movement of nutes
I use this soil for everything I plant. Some plants seem to like it - like my bonzai tree plants and my pumpkin plants.
Different plants take up nutes/water at different ratios. Marijuana prefers very low concentrations compared to most plants, especially fruit bearing plants like pumpkins. But also because the clones have just rooted they will prefer a lower concentration than usual
You can either rinse the soil with water, or wash the soil from the plant and re pot in low nutrient soil. Peat works very well I would probably just hope for the best, and cut some new clones