Well I feel like a lucky fellow these days. I just received some more clones of American Dream from SensiSeeds,an indica that flowers in 6-7 weeks , a storm destroyed my last crop I tried to grow outdoors. So I got 5 clones(in rock wool), problem is the original grower doesn't seem to be too good at cloning, they seem to be over fertilized. The new growth is twisted and very green, the old growth is yellow. I asked at what Ph he had been watering the clones with, to which he responded "7.0 with just water and when I feed them with 1ml per liter of AN (advanced nutrients) at Ph 5.6." That just doesn't seem right to me. One of the 5 had roots coming out the bottom of the rock wool, so I went ahead and soaked some 3"(?) GroDan cubes in Ph 5.5 for 30 minutes then then popped all the clones into the cubes regardless of roots showing, I figured it wouldn't matter. I don't have a humidity tent so I place a sandwich bag loosely over the babies and remove it when I mist with water at Ph 5.7 2-3 times a day. Its been 3 days in the GroDan cubes and they are still heavy so tomorrow I will install the drip system for watering. One of my biggest questions is when do I start to feed? I will be using General Hydroponics 3 part with hard water micro. The PPM of my tap is between 4 and 5 hundred so I plan on diluting with R/O water to about 2-3 hundred ppm. The tap for a year has been a constant Ph 7.0. About how much fertilizer should I use in these conditions? After three of the weakest get to be about 8-12 inches I want to transplant into an Ebb and Flow system for flowering under a 400w hps. I plan on Scroging. I think if I put 2 27w daylight cfls on all four sides of the grow space it should add some blue spectrum as well as light up the outer colas that may not be receiving as much light as the center in creasing yeild for my space. (may not increase grams per watt) If anyone can direct me to a good feeding schedule for General Hydroponics 3 part formula that is more intended for cannabis growth it would be awesome. The better looking of the 5 I will make into mother plants. So thats my plan any thing you may for see going wrong let me know. Also, about how many indica plants would it take to fill a 3x3 screen, and when should I flip to flowering? I wouldnt mind using more plants if it would decrease veg time, but then I forsee an overcrowding problem if not timed properly. Peace and Much Love.
Ok well so Ive pretty much been on my own with this one. No one seems to want to respond. hmmm??? Well 3 of my 5 clones died, one looks textbook, while the other looks like its hangin in there and might come around might not. So I got the 2 clones in a top feed system, in individual 8 inch pots filled with expanded clay pellets. Im feeding with PH 6.0 with GH 3 part at 1.5ml per U.S. gallon (hardwater micro with tap) in a ten gallon rez. they're under 150 some watts of CFL daylights and the 2700k spectrum bulbs. The temps get to 90-93 easy and RH drops to lowest 34%, I spary with seltzer water (carbonated water, not club soda) and the temps drop to about 85-88 for a couple of hours and the RH goes to about 55% max. Sounds like Spidermite heaven to me... dun dun dunnnn.... Any advice?
From what I can tell you're drowning them on a hot day at the beach... Try to get your temps down below 85F and back off on the misting. They should perk up and then begin drooping again when they need water again. You also might want to try looking into the Lucas Formula since you're using GH nutes. Don't know if you've played with that one yet but I highly recommend it for both noobs and advanced growers. My experience with clones from 'other' growers hasn't been that great so far. Compared to my own clones... these that I've been getting are just garbage. *sigh* Only a few more months and I'll be able to pick up the C-99 beans I need. Then I'll be back to my own clones again
When I clone, I use plain distilled water for the first week. Then I use the Advanced Nutrient(1-1-1) recipe of 0.5 mL per litre... so a PPM of ~300 for the second week... Then third week 1 mL per litre so a PPM of ~600. Then after this, just move them on to full strength vegetative growth mix. For clones that root quickly, start(root) them at 600 PPM, then move them to full strength their second week. P.S. This is using distilled water and just the Grow - Micro - Bloom with no additives.
RO water with a bit of tap mixed in for the first 7 days in a bubble cloner. (they usually have roots in 3-5) after 7 days it's full str veg at 0-5-10 (no additives) for a week Into the flower chamber on 20/4 for a week of veg still 0-5-10 Then flower full str 0-8-16 till ready to flush. Then it's back to RO water for 5 days or so depending. If I use the GH Grow I have to pull out the pH pen and TDS meter and I'm too lazy for all that anymore. (I also save a bit of dough by not buying it)
Lol, I've been saving money by not buying one as well, except for me it's replacing it, my friend accidentally knocked my meter into a reservoir.... Those PPMs are just what I went with before when I did have it. I've never used a bubbler cloner... I was thinking about it, but then I realized that when you do that, the roots develop outside of the medium... Do you just bury the roots in hydroton and let it grow into your system? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I've only ever cloned using rockwoll, but the bubbler method sounds very, very nice and fast.... Also I've been looking to stop my usage of rockwoll because it's not biodegradable, this sounds like a viable alternative.
I highly recommend the bubble cloner method to ANYONE no matter whether they're using hydro or soil. If you're having issues with getting 98% success rates or better, give me a PM and I'll walk you through it. (thinking about doing a tech on it *shrug* I'd have to really organize it LOL) You'll want to check your clones daily and watch for the white bumps forming on the stem. You'll see one or two of them pop and start to grow out as a root... at that point you want to transplant it into dirt if you're going to. If you're going into hydro like I do I'll wait until there are 1/2" or 1" roots hanging off and then I'll plant straight into my hydro media in the cup. (I use lavarock) Just put a layer of your media in the bottom of the netcup, arrange the roots on top and gently fill the rest of the cup up. If you're using heavy medium like I do (lavarock) you may want to just cover the roots and then stack more rock on the next day. (the roots will have toughened up and will withstand the extra weight without crushing.) Grow On!
Ok, so they are takin off, I got the Ph at 5.8, switched to lucas formula. After a day they they developed burnt tips, so I made a 1/4 strength solution phed to 5.8 in a gallon jug (1/4 water from rez, rest distilled) and leached the medium as well as added 3 more gallons to my rez making it 14 orginally at ten will 30ml micro (hard water) 60 ml bloom + ph down, so now its diluted al lil and will see how they do. Birtha is about 8-10 inches with about 15 internodes super close together like about a centimeter or so, not even a finger width. Cindy now looks like Birtha did a few days ago, I guess them roots are growing aye. I started to LST Birtha to promote side growth for cloning, I plan on throwing Cindy into the Flowering room with a metal halid to veg into her screen in a scrog set up 3x3 400w mh/hps switchable ballast, with cfl side lighting (daylights) for spectrum and more lumens to outer garden, I may decide to bowl my screen to get more use out of my space Edit: P.S. I got the temps down to a constant 83-85, Rh at about 60. Thanks for the info guys. Mucho Frijoles por todo!!!