McTokers' 3rd Grow ~ Hempy Buckets

Good morning Shake ~ The breaker is two 15 amp modules tied together. Anyway, we've got enough power to do what we need to do. Other things in the shop are on their own circuits (lights, compressor, welder, etc...) so we should be OK.

The babies are doing pretty well. The BA's are really shooting up and out.:thumbsup: We're really torn between cloning to determine sex first or throwing a couple into flower and play with cloning later. Yup, you guessed it. We're out, again.:( Either way, we have a couple weeks to decide.

i gotcha MCT. just trying to throw my $.02 out there as always.

why not try your hand at cloning? you don't have to take cuttings off of all of them. it's easier than most are led to believe. i just use jiffy pucks and an old rubbermaid tube with plastic wrap on top. haven't lost a clone yet. again, take with a grain of salt.

sucks to be out, but i feel your pain. perhaps i can shove a nug in the mail for ya once harvest time is about!?


-shake

Thanks shake, but, we'll last.

I was reading an article on cloning to determine sex last night that said that going with 10 on/ 14 off lighting will cause them to show their sex in only 3 to 4 days. I think we can afford that.;)

One of the B/A's will be ready to take a clone from quite a bit sooner than the rest so we'll give it a shot. Heck, the cloner is already built and ready to rock n roll.:thumbsup:

I forget to mention, a few days ago, that we culled out the deformed WH. We went ahead and removed the plant from the bucket to inspect the roots. Noticably absent was anything resembling a tap root. There were only 2 small roots that only extended about 1 1/2 inches from the jiffy cube.

It looks like we'll be ready to try cloning as early as tomorrow on the larger of the 2 WH's.

I hope I'm correct in assuming that the water in the cloner should have the same corrected pH as used in hydro gardening.

We'll be sticking with Botanicare Power Clone (gel and solution) products for cloning since that is what we're using in all the other stages.

In the pic, from left to right: AK-47, two Wrecked Homicide, two Blue Apollo

We fired up the cloner yesterday only to find that the air stones suck. Not litterally. One put out a few bubbles and the other did absolutely nothing. Went back and read the sticky on cloning, again, and found where Opie Yutts recommended the air tubes. Off to Wally World for tubes and a bigger air pump. Now, we have air.:thumbsup:

This morning we cut two clones off of the biggest BA and set the light timer for 10 on and 14 off. We're using a single 2700k CFL bulb in a clamp-on shop light over the cloner.

you want to keep that CFL running 18/6 or 24/0. and keep it backed off just a bit, higher than normal.

the pH of the cloner should be about 5.5-5.8. i don't think you'll have any problems. remember though, when they root to keep an eye on hardening off.

good growing!


-shake

Shake ~ I would agree with you on the lighting times if we were trying to veg these clones. But, we're just trying to determine the sex of the donor plant. These two clones will just be "throw-aways" after they show their sex.

That is, if it works.;)

So far (knock wood) it's been over 24 hours and both are still alive.:thumbsup:

The donors are still too young to take viable (potent) clones from. I've read that donors should be at least 2 months into veg and that up to 4 months of veg will produce even more potent clones. We'll see.

One of the clones didn't make it. Starting to have doubts about showing sex in 3 to 4 days like the article suggested.

We topped the largest of the BA's so we could even out the light. We bumped up the Grow nutes to mid-vegging level a couple days ago. The babies seem to love it. The fan leaves on the BA's are HUGE.

The lone clone is still alive. No signs yet.

BUT, one of Killa's purples (WH) is starting to pre-flower. Shouldn't be long before we know on that one. :)

I think for our next attempt at cloning, we'll veg them for a bit first before turning off the light.

Will the learning ever end?;):D

The "lone clone" didn't make it.

Executing PLAN B. We moved the cloner to a warmer spot in the room. Cut 3 more clones, 1 from each BA and 1 from the AK. The plan is to leave them under 24 hour light and veg them first. That reminds me, I need to change out the CFL to 6500k one. After some roots take hold we'll move on to flowering them to determine sex.

The WH that started to pre-flower hasn't shown what sex it wants to be, yet.

sounds like a good plan McT! hope it works out for you this time!

-shake

Well, the WH that showed pre-flowers turned out to be a male.:( We'd had our suspicions but waited a while to make sure.

On the clone front, the two BA clones are just starting to form roots.:D The AK clone is withering. Ain't gonna make it.:(

We'll try for a WH and another AK clone later today or tomorrow.

howdy bro!

Hey Shove. Glad you're still checking in.

We found another thing that doesn't work on the power converter. Twice in the last 24 hours we've had to replace the CFL bulb over the cloner. Guessing they just don't like the lower amps or ???

The converter kit came with a 4-prong converter, as well. We're going to test it and see if it works out any better. If it does, we'll just run an extension cord over from the outlet for the welder.

We went ahead and cut two more clones, one each of the AK and the WH.

Also had to start LST on one of the BA's. It was just getting too much taller than the others.

The latest AK clone has already keeled over. Guess this plant just doesn't want to give us clones. So, we'll just veg it a bit longer and put it in the flowering tent.

The other clones are hanging in there.

We decided to go ahead and move the AK into the flowering tent on a transition mix of nutes. Hopefully it will be a girl and give us some meds while we play with cloning the others.

The roots on the BA clones are looking GOOD!:thumbsup:

WH clone is hanging in there.

We're thinking about enlarging a couple holes in the cloner to accept Jiffy cubes. We feel it may ease the transition to a vegging pot after growing roots.

Mrs. McT can't decide if we have a farm or a laboratory.:)

if the cloner is giving you trouble you can just put your cutting in the jiffy cube and put it in something that will retain humidity. i use a rubbermaid tub with plastic wrap over the top. works like a charm and 100% success rate. hardly ever have to deal with hardening off either. (sorry if i said something about this before, but i haven't been on in a while and i'm really stoned!)


-shake

Quote:

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Originally Posted by headshake

if the cloner is giving you trouble you can just put your cutting in the jiffy cube and put it in something that will retain humidity. i use a rubbermaid tub with plastic wrap over the top. works like a charm and 100% success rate. hardly ever have to deal with hardening off either. (sorry if i said something about this before, but i haven't been on in a while and i'm really stoned!)


-shake

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Lucky you.:D About that last part, that is.:jointsmile::D:jointsmile:

The cloner is working fine. We just thought we would explore the option by enlarging a couple of the clone spots. Seems like it would be easier to just stick a jiffy cube into a hempy bucket when the time comes. Just an experiment.:) If I recall correctly, that's how Opie Yutts has his cloner set up.

i hear ya about the experimenting McT. i do it all the time. get's me in a good bit of trouble sometimes as well!

keep pushing it my friend!


-shake

Hey!!! This cloning thing really does work.:D

Not sure how long we should let the roots on the clones get. But, since we are in experimental mode, we went ahead and stuck them in their hempy buckets. We ran about a gallon of pH corrected and CalMag'd water through the buckets before transplanting the clones.

The WH is just starting to show an itty bitty root.:)

1st pic is the roots on the 2 BA clones.

2nd pic is a group shot of the vegging table.

3rd pic is the two new BA clones.

The AK was unavailable as it was night time in the flowering tent.

WooHoo!!! It's a girl!!!:D

We have our first confirmed female of the grow. The AK-47 has shown its sex after just a few days in the flowering tent.

Both BA's are showing female pre-flowers. So........ we moved the larger one into the flowering tent. It's only larger because of longer space between nodes. She was trying to take over the vegging bench.

The current line-up:

In the cloner: 1 WH & 1 AK (this is one we had given up on. now it's starting to show some life)

On the Vegging/Mom bench: 1 mature BA, 1 mature WH & 2 BA clones

In the Flowering tent: 1 AK & 1 BA

good news

keep up the good work!

-shake

Just a quick update.

CLONER:

The 2 cuttings in the cloner weren't doing much. Pulled them out. Changed out the solution. Put 2 new WH cuttings in the cloner.

Veg/Mom Table:

Adults (1 WH(?) & 1 BA-Mom) are happy.
2 early vegging BA clones are doing well.

Flowering Tent:

AK-47 is almost 2 weeks in and starting to bud up nicely. The BA is a week behind the AK so not much change showing yet.

It's been a bit since we posted any pics....... so ....... here goes.

Pic 1 is the 2 BA cuttings in the cloner

Pic 2 is (L to R) WH, 2 BA's from clones, BA Mom

Pic 3 is the AK at 2 weeks into flower

Pic 4 is the AK (on the left) and BA in the flowering tent

We just moved our first BA clone to the flowering tent. It's the first time we've ever put a plant this small into flower. She's about 10 to 12 inches tall. We're going to play around with some topping/fimmimg on the other clone before we flower her.

After still more reading we started adding Liquid Karma to our nutes.

WooHoo!!! We've got thrichomes showing up on the AK!!!:D

those are some fantastically healthy looking plants! keep up the good work!

-shake

Thanks Shake. Here's a little group shot from the flowering tent this morning.

The AK-47 is on the left, the Blue Apollo is on the right and down in front by the fan is the BA clone we put in yesterday.

Cloning update: The 2 WH clones are hanging in there but today marks 2 weeks in the cloner. There are 2 small roots forming on one of them. Hopefully another week will do the trick. I guess they are just slow.

The BA's rooted and were ready to plant in one week.

Glad to hear the good news, McT!!

Also glad to see that you're still here on cann.com. :jointsmile:

I'm gona try not to be such a stranger. It's just hard to be here and not be able to do what I enjoy doin' so much. (growing, that is) :hippy:

Soon enough, in the next few months or so...I should have a nice fresh new log going.

Be good and be safe you two.
And tell the Mrs. that be says, 'Hi!'.

Welcome back BeFree!

The WH's in the cloner are starting to look puny. We're just not having any luck cloning AK-47 or the WH. Guess we'll wait until the AK is done and move the mature (vegging) WH into the flowering tent. We really want to see some purple buds.:D

At least we got one good healthy BA mom to clone from.:thumbsup: