After wanting to try growing for almost 20 years, my state has legalized 6 flowering plants. Figured I would give it a try. On 2/7/17, I got 6 clones from a buddy: 2 x Chocolate Mint OG 2 x Critical Kush 2 x Green Crack I got some Rapid Rooters for the clones - I dunked them in water and added several drops of a rapid start chemical that came with a clone dome. The clones were dunked in Clonex and then placed in the Rapid Rooters. I placed the clones in the clone dome and used the heat mat that came with the dome. I hung a 2 bulb 4 foot T8 light above the clone dome. I am on city water, so I filled a 5 gallon bucket and let it breathe out chlorine for 24 hours. I checked the PH of the city water with a chemical PH test, which was highly alkaline - at least 8.0. I PHed down to about a 6.0. I misted the clones and the dome twice daily. After a couple of days, two of the clones were showing signs of some serious distress. I started to worry a bit that I would have to start over. I left the vents on the dome closed for first 3 days, and then slowly opened them each day. I didn't think I had watered the plants enough during their time in the dome, as the rapid rooters started to dry out. On day 5 I gave a heavy-ish watering. There wasn't enough water to drain into the bottom tray, but just enough to saturate the rapid rooters. Temperatures were fairly stable right around 75 degrees. RH was a bit low, although I'm not sure how much I trusted the reading of the Indoor/Outdoor digital therm/hygrometer. It indicated about 22% average inside the dome, despite that I misted the clones and domes daily. On Day 5, I mixed up some very light nutrient solution - I added 5ml of General Hydroponics' Cal-Mag and 5ml Florabloom to a gallon of 5.0 - 6.0 PH corrected water. I misted the clones with the solution without visible results (which is good, I was afraid to burn them). On day 7 (2/14/17), no roots were showing through the rapid rooters. However, I definitely had new growth on the 4 health clones. I lost a Green Crack clone and a Critical Kush clone after a few days in the dome. I waited until Day 8 and then decided to transplant the clones even though roots weren't showing (against everything I read). I felt that it couldn't be that great for the roots to poke through the rapid rooters into warm dry air. I threw the rapid rooters into some clear solo cups filled with Promix. I watered with plain water until the cup felt heavy enough and a tiny amount of runoff out of the bottom of the holes I cut. I put red cups over the clear cups to block the light to the roots, and this allows me to view the clear cup to see root progression. I placed the cups back in the clone dome overnight. I had put a web camera on the plants so I could watch their movement/progression. I noticed no wilting overnight after being transplanted. I removed the cups from the clone dome for a few hours and still noticed no wilting. I decided it was time to throw the clones in my tent. I put the clones on the outer perimeter to titrate some of the light, which was hung about 3 feet high On 2/16/17, I moved the clones to directly under the light (vented light hooked up to 6 inch in-line blower). It is now 2/17/17, and the clones are still showing new growth (albeit slow growth) and showing no signs of distress. There are some other cups in the tent as well (Kale and Peppers) for now. Kind of a camouflage for curious friends and family members. Even though cannabis is legal, it is still a bit taboo (for now). Pardon the poor picture, but I took it from the web camera. More details to follow - wanted to write down everything so far.
Day 14 Clones are still apparently rooting, as they have slow growth. I'm guessing they are very close to taking off quickly. I am misting them now, as some appear to have slight wilting. Critical Kush Yesterday the Critical Kush was wilting a bit, so I fed with a 1/4 strength Florabloom and Floramicro solution PH corrected to 6.0. It is looking much perkier. Green Crack The Green Crack is showing a bit of discoloration on the fan leaves - kind of looks like a purpling. Otherwise looks healthy. Chocolate Mint OG Clone 1 The Chocolate Mint is showing some slight browning tips - I'm guessing its normal from cloning/transplant stress. Chocolate Mint OG Clone 2 This clone is still a bit wilted. I top dressed it a bit, as the cup had some trenching on the top soil. All clones have slow but steady new growth. Please leave any feedback so far.
Day 15 I was originally venting my light by inline fan with the intake being the other 6" opening of the light. After speaking with a friend, I added a 6" hose so the intake for the fan exhaust is outside of the tent. This makes the fan/light its on environment, preventing moisture and whatnot from entering the light box. I was having problems with low humidity even though I was running a veritable fog machine in the tent. I added a 4" inline fan on the outside of the tent with a hose in one of the high side opening to pull out hot air and vent it out into the room the tent is in. Not a good solution once Spring rolls around, but temps are low enough that it shouldn't be an issue. 4" fan is hooked up to a Willhi temperature controller () set to upper limit of 77.0f and lower limit 76.0f. This causes the exhaust fan to kick on every 10 minutes or so for about a minute. By decreasing the lower limit to 75f or so, the fan would kick on less frequently but would run much longer, pulling out humidity from the tent. It's an interesting balance of temperature and humidity controlled by the variables of light fan exhaust speed, exhaust fan timing, whether the door is open to the room the tent is in, etc. I think I've dialed it in pretty well. I have an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer in the tent so I can see the readings on camera remotely, but the Willhi controller's probe is in the same spot and is 2-3 degrees less than the digital thermometer. I'm not sure which reading to trust. My RH now floats around 55%, and the temperature around 77f. All cups were feeling and looking dry enough. Critical Kush and CMOG #2 fed with 1ml/Gallon Floragrow until run off. G.C. and CMOG #1 watered with approximately a half cup of plain PHed water each. I am still trying to get a feel for how much water is appropriate at this stage. The clones still are showing very slow growth and no roots are visible in the clear cups yet. I am concerned the root structure is not doing well.
Day 15 update Well after some research I realized I was using my nutrients wrong. I found a better feeding schedule. I ended up feeding each clone until run off to ensure I have enough nutrients. Here is the schedule I found:
Day 17 GC is finally showing roots. First root I have seen. I am hoping the others will be "showing" very soon as well. Patience has been the most difficult part of the process so far.
Day 18 Critical Kush CK is finally showing a single root. Green Crack The GC has been the quickest clone to take root. Several roots are now showing, and one of the roots is reaching out of the solo cup already. Chocolate Mint OG Clone 1 Clone 1 has been the stronger clone of the two CMOGs. No roots yet, but the healthy new growth leads me to believe it will show roots any day now. Chocolate Mint OG Clone 2 Not a lot to say about the CMOG clones. I expect they are starting to root heavily, as its starting to yellow the bigger leaves, and they have plenty of nutrients.
Day 28 Watered each clone with half a solo cup of nutrient solution (1/2 tsp Floragrow, 1/2 tsp Floramicro, 1/4 tsp Florabloom per gallon) which resulted in approximately 20% runoff. Runoff solution in all 4 clones measured an average of 600ppm with a PH of 6.0. GC clone and CMOG#1 fimmed. CK left as is, seems to already have multiple branch sites forming. CMOG#2 pinched off new growth.
Day 30 Everybody transplanted into 1 gallon pots except CMOG2, as it's not quite ready. Critical Kush View attachment 2261894 Green Crack View attachment 2261895 Chocolate Mint OG #2 View attachment 2261896 Chocolate Mint OG #1 View attachment 2261898 View attachment 2261899 30 Day Summary/Random Thoughts: -Clones rooted in 17-23 days (visible from clear solo cup) with 80% success rate. I'm hoping to improve upon these stats by using an aerocloner next round. -Matured from Rapid Rooter to 1 Gallon Pot -Likely the most stressful time as a first time grower. I wouldn't recommend starting from clones for a first grow, but it worked for me. -One thing I learned early on is that straight Promix could use some amendment. I added a bag of perlite to the mix that I filled the 1 gallon pots with.
Start of LST, all tied down except Choc Mint #2. Removed humidifier. I believe it was causing more trouble than worth, as I wasn't cleaning it often enough. Will also dry soil out faster, as I may be overwatering. They seem healthy overall, but I did remove a few dying leaves from the bottom of the plants.
Ran into some problems with lower leaves turning yellow. Suspected powdery mildew from humidifier. Sprayed with diluted h2o2 and sodium bicarbonate. Responded well. Pots were staying too wet as well, when I transplanted I believe I super saturated the soil. Live and learn. They've been fed and looking much better. View attachment 2271698 View attachment 2271699 View attachment 2271700 View attachment 2271701 View attachment 2271702
About 5 weeks into flower. Interesting development on this: apparently the clones were mislabelled in the very beginning. It is now suspected that what I thought was Chocolate Mint OG is actually Green Crack, and vice versa. I'm sure they will all make for some good medicine, but a little frustrating that it's up in the air as to genetics. Rookie mistake, live and learn.