Dear Grasscity Growers, Do you start using nutrients (at seedling/cutting strength) right away on freshly taken cuttings? Or do you just use plain water until the roots have developed? Also, when would you start applying beneficial bacteria and fungi?
Hi... Mrs. Boo (who does the cloning) puts the cuttings into the aeroponic clone bucket (homemade) with just R/O water and a couple of capfuls of Superthrive. After the roots have formed (10-14-days), she puts them into beer cups with FFOF soil. Using only water, she grows them to about 6-8 inches at which point I plant them into the GH Waterfarms. While it is a little messy going from hydro to soil and back to hydro. The couple of weeks they spend in the soil really gets the root structure going. Once I have planted the girls into the Waterfarms, I start with a weak nutrient solution (1/4 strength) and use GH Subculture-M (mychorhizal) for the first couple of weeks. Good Luck!
Dear WhoBeBoo, Thank you for the directions. By the way, what is FFOF soil? Even though I think that it is very interesting, I don't think I'm going to do the hydro to soil to hydro method. Maybe someday though. But I am going to follow your instructions and use only water (with a little SUPERthrive) until my cuttings have developed roots. How much SUPERthrive do you use per gallon of R/O water; how many drops? Because the SUPERthrive bottles come with different size caps and I never know how much to use. Once the roots have formed, I plan on using the GH seedling/cutting strength nutes and will Subculture-M and Subculture-B them. I will put them in my ebb and flow system either then, or after a week of using the cutting strength nutes on them. Once they are in the system, I will use the, "mild growth" strength nutient level and give them a couple top-feeding doses of the Subculture-M and Subculture-B, to innoculate them. And I'll be using the FloraNectar so that these beneficials will have plently of sugars to live off of. Do you add Subculture-M and Subculture-B at the same time... I mean, should I? Or are you supposed to add one, then wait, then add the other? Does this sound good to you? Sorry for so much info! I'm gonna give you reputation points right now for helping me out... Peace
FFOF is fox farm ocean forest soil superthrive says to only add a few drops per gallon so it really depends but be careful with the superthrive i burned my plants BAD with a little overspray you might wanna try rockwool cubes to root clones they work well in hydro setups
Hey bongboi, Thanks for the info. Yeah... the clones are in rockwool cubes. I have them in a tray with a humidity dome covering... and heat-mat under the tray. Should I use only water to water the clone containing rockwool cubes? Based on WhoBeBoo's reply, I'm just watering the clones with plain water up until the roots appear. I trust WhoBeBoo but just want to have at least two sources of information. Oh... and I added two drops of SUPERthrive to the small amount of water that I am using on the clones. There are fourteen clones in the tray. One trick I discovered, that made it allot easier to water the clones, was to use one of those big suringes to squirt the water directly on top of the rockwool cubes. It's easy to get the tip of the suringe in there instead of trying to pour the water onto each cube with a cup. Thanks again for the info!
Only use plain water while the roots develop. After you see resumed growth and your plants have gotten a couple inches bigger, then you can start nutes at a 1/4 strength. I would recommend starting with Happy Frog soil from fox farms, then later when you transplant, you can use Ocean Forest. The Ocean Forest has a lot of nutes in it and can burn young plants. The Happy Frog is a perfect starter soil, and can be used for older plants. It's just a little more gentle, and a bit cheaper too.
Ok then. Two recommendations to use only plain water until the roots develop. Thank you very much grasscity growers!
I use plain tap water for 10-14 days, until roots are looking good, and the plants start growing again. Then they go directly into hydroto and full strength nutes. 1300 ppm FloraNova Bloom, with a bit of Grow, and all following top offs using bloom only. (Lucas formula)
I hear that all over about the happy frog except when you contact FoxFarm they don't say that. They say it has almost the same amount of nutrients in it because of how they make it. They both contain them just from slightly different sources. At least this is what they are saying. They also say the OF is balanced at 6.5-6.8 in bag but I have never bought a bag that actually is. Usually it is around 6.1 which is no worry to me because I mix with dolomite anyway. I have used both personally and have never had an issue with either burning young plants as long as I don't fertilize them for a few weeks after. Do you have more data on why it might burn them or the nature of the two soils? I am always looking for more data lol.