Adventures in Cloning.... help please?

[giggletwig]

Hi guys! I am trying to clone some plants from my (large and bushy) new babies who are 3 wks. old. I've followed cloning instructions, did the cuts, the scraping, dipped in Clonex and put in pots to root. I'm a real cheapskate, so what I've done is put the clones in coco in solo cups, and am using plastic baggies over the tops as domes (they fit pretty good) with a stick in the cup to hold the bag off the plant (read about this method on another site). I have four little clones and put them in the dark bathroom to rest for the afternoon and night. This morning I misted the baggies and put them back on, and put the clones under my T5's with my other plants. The clones were nice and firm and hydrated when I put them in the light, but now 2 hours later, they are all laying on the dirt wilting. Aggg! I remisted them and put them back in the bathroom, no lights. What did I do wrong? The baggies are not sealed at the bottoms so a little air can get in... should I seal them with rubber bands or something to make them tight? (I'd open them up and mist a few times a day). Should I put them under a separate CFL light that's less intense? The temps have been between 75 and 80 deg. in either room.

Timely help will save these little tykes! (grovel grovel)

giggletwig Reviewed by giggletwig on 10-27-2013. Adventures in Cloning.... help please? Hi guys! I am trying to clone some plants from my (large and bushy) new babies who are 3 wks. old. I've followed cloning instructions, did the cuts, the scraping, dipped in Clonex and put in pots to root. I'm a real cheapskate, so what I've done is put the clones in coco in solo cups, and am using plastic baggies over the tops as domes (they fit pretty good) with a stick in the cup to hold the bag off the plant (read about this method on another site). I have four little clones and Rating: 5

[giggletwig]

Hey Ranger! I can't imagine doing a couple hundred clones! And I've never heard of oasis cubes. Is that only for hydroponic growers?

I still have 3 out of 4 clones. And they're looking pretty good. I've removed the rubber bands and have clipped a tiny corner of the baggies I'm using as domes so they can 'harden' gradually over the next week. Hopefully then I'll be able to take them out of the domes and give them more light. This has been a fun experiment and may be a really nice way to stretch my dollar.

[tlranger]

Ok, cat knows her stuff. :joint1: But here is a dime bags worth, cloning, 1st- the cut, no scissors, brand new razor blade(treat it like a condom and get rid of it each session) 2- medium- stay sterile for first ten days then go to dirt(red solo cup) 3- light- diffused florescent(I go 24 on) 4- temp - tropical fish temp 5- misting, go easy mold. 6- water - distilled till roots appear, then you can play god.:jointsmile:

[catbuds]

Cleanliness, you got that right Ranger. Keep a spray bottle of isopropal around your work area & clean your tools often. Nothing like prevention. While most plant diseases are fungal in nature, nothing will close the capillaries in a cutting faster than bacteria. & absolutely sterile medium, regardless of what it is. Here's a little something worth passing on. WHERE YOU GET YOUR GROWING MEDIUM! All packaged planting medium is sterilized where it's processed & packaged. But it can become seriously contaminated between there & your grow. Places like walmarts & hardware stores are retail stores, not horticulturalist. Most mediums are packaged in bags with tiny little holes to keep moist medium from going sour. I've seen both home depot & walmart have their bags outside sitting on the ground. The process of 'wicking action' will draw moisture from the ground into the bags, bring with it bacteria & a host of soil bourn plant diseases & if it rains while these bags are on the ground, that speeds up & multiplies greatly. Nurseries, florist & grow stores, however, ARE horticulturalist. They know about plant pathogens & will place their bags on pallets, or some other means to prevent contact with raw soil. So where you get your growing medium is very important. I know it cost more, but this is an instance where you get what you pay for. The same for nutes, but that another topic
---- So many posts have mentioned the importance of keeping cloning/grow areas clean, but not once have I seen mentioned how to avoid contaminated medium, & it's so VERY important. ~~~ PEACE! ~~~


P.S. Shame on you Ranger! We don't use dirt! We use SOIL! LOL! just playing with you !

[catbuds]

Milled spaghnum has been shredded, sometimes ground. Better brands (especially in seed starter mixes) have been pH ballanced & stabilized. I don't care for coco. Bad experience with the one I got having enough salt to KILL. If you've found one you like, DONT CHANGE BRANDS, or you may wind up repeating my experience. Peat pots are bad because they loose that pH stability, cheaper stabilization process.
---- You had nute burn. Fox Farms ocean forest too rich for seedlings. I love it. Its what I transplant into about a week before 12/12, but I still cut it a little. 3 pts ocean forest, 1 pt pro-mix organic. Love pro-mix organic, but nutes aren't long lasting enough to see you through to the end. Only about 1/2 way. I use pro-mix standard as a seed starter for all plants, veg & floweres too. Mostly milled spagnum & perlite, no nutes, so no seedling burn. I start my seedlings off by watering with fish tank water, but it MUST be from an untreated tank. No meds or salt. I like the fact that there's low, non burning nutes & TRACE ELEMENTS here, but mostly growth hormones that encourage femininity. Gold fish (no tropicals) make the best tank water. If u have no fish, then I use Fox Farm Big Bloom diluted to 1/4 strength. Do either till seedlings are big enough to take nutes. Big Bloom seems to have the same growth hormones as tank water to encourage femininity, & that makes sense, since it also has sea bird guano in the formulation, & they eat fish.
---- Pro-mix is a nursery product that usually DOESN'T cater to what we grow, & you actually need a nute free seed starter because seedling roots can't actuall take it up at first, & they burn so easily. Thats why I use & recommend the pro-mix standard. And what I highly recommend to start them off good & healthy is the fox farm Big Bloom. Thats carried wherever ocean forest is carried. As soon as I get off my lazy ass & get some work done around here, I'll be posting more detail about this on my camper closet grow. Probably next week. Damned! This reads like a sales pitch! LOL! But I'm passionate about products I love. ~~~ PEACE! ~~~

[catbuds]

Florist use it. Thats the green foam that hold flower arrangments in place. Most of the shops Ive worked in used 2-4 cases a week. I've had green arrangments start growing on me because everything rooted. I've even had the occasional rose take root, but that's usually depends on where the stem end was cut in relationship to location of a leaf node, & its kinda rare. Its especially good to use if you've had fungus issues. Its sterile & holds more water than a sponge.

[catbuds]

Since you like trying new things, you might get a kick out of seeing roots growing out of the cubes. I still prefer a sterile soiless seed starting medium of spaghnum & perlite, but everybody's different, that's why there are choices out there. But I do agree with Ranger & think you should give it a try &decide for yourself.

[giggletwig]

I think I prefer a soiless seed starter too. I try and stick to soil-like mediums, it just seems more natural. Can I ask you about spaghnum? Do you prefer it over coco? I don't know anything about it. I've heard peat is too acid for mj. I've been at a loss to find a good seed starter - most store bought stuff seems to have food in it. The coco is ok, but has absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever. I've been trying to go between - mix coco with a little Ocean Forest. My seedlings grew like mad when I put them in the stuff a month ago. But they went through some weird reaction I haven't figured out. Grew like crazy, then one clawed up, one slowed way down and had brown leaf edges, and even the robust one had brown edges. I tried to be patient with them till old enough to feed, and they now seem to like the food and new leaves look good (occasional brown tip). They're not supposed to have food the first 2 weeks, and even looked like they had too much... or not enough. I'm still confused as to what was off.

[tlranger]

Oasis foam is a brand name, so I probably shouldn't use it, wallyworld has floral foam in crafts dept(expensive sub). Foam is sold in sheets to fit nursery grow trays, even has holes for seeds of that is your thing. Have seen in grow stores but expensive, and I am camera shy. So it's the one thing I internet, it's a pain with all the sneaky-sneak, so I buy a case every three or four years.

Main thing to me, it's sterile, and holds water nice.Attachment 296005

I usually only do forty at a time for headquarters, which only takes maybe ten girls that are ready to go to the bloom room, but it's easy to increase the number of someone wants a sog.

[giggletwig]

Oh my goodness - I have to see a pic of this giant cat of yours! How much bigger can he get before you can ride him? :P