My first Sativa lady took over 100 days IN FLOWER to mature to harvest, and then started backbuilding on herself. I finally had to call a halt and harvest the poor thing!
I sometimes think of sativas (vs. indicas) as pole beans vs. bush beans. It might be that a sativa was meant to be harvested bit by bit, all season long instead of all at once. IDK. For years I have determined the harvest date by counting the number of days of the stretch period from the first 12-hour night period, then multiplied that figure by 1.5 in order to calculate the number of days remaining (
after the last day of stretch) - or by 2.5 to calculate the
total number of days in the plant's flowering period. See this link for details:
The 40:60 Rule .
It has, thus far, worked for me. If the strain is more pure of, err, sativaness then average, well... the odd flower that is not fully mature simply adds to the complexity of the mix, IMHO.
I haven't had any luck rooting cannabis in a glass of water on a window sill. I think it was too cold. I COULD try it in the cloning jar with a CFL over it.
One doesn't need much light. In fact, strong direct light seems to be counterproductive. Warm temperatures are a big help, though. Much of the time I use my oven (with its constant pilot light) as a seed germinating chamber. Alas, it is cheap - and old - and has no light, lol. Otherwise, it might make a halfway decent cloning box.
Most cannabis strains clone easily. I believe you mentioned air layering in your journal earlier? That'll work with just about every plant on the planet (including cannabis). Outdoor growers have returned to their seldom-visited crops and found - often, to their consternation, lol - that the branch(es) which were heavy enough to touch the ground occasionally rooted there (and if this was actually desired, a few shovelfuls of soil over the contact point facilitates this).
I used to use a heating pad. I would cover my "cloning box" with a humidity dome. I'd remove all save two or three leaves, and trim those greatly. I would dip the cuts into rooting hormone powder, then roll them into cloning gel, use a cloning solution nutrient, mist the remaining partial leaves every day...
...and then one day, I thought about the countless cuttings of other plants that I, Mom, Grandma, et cetera had rooted on the windowsill in plain water over the years. (And the little bits of plants that have "accidentally" broken off and fallen into Mom's pocket once or twice when she was walking through the woods or... the local garden center (
).)
Now I don't get too worried about it. I've taken a bunch of cuttings, heard the doorbell, and tossed them into the refrigerator for a few hours (or a day or two if I forgot about them). I once got up one fine morning, went into the living room, sat on the couch - and discovered a badly wilted cutting partially hidden between the arm of the couch and the cushion. That one lived to flower. I don't recommend such things, of course - but if I find a "wet noodle," cut the end again so that the wound is fresh (and open!), and stick it in a glass of water and see an hour later that it is standing at attention, I figure it's going to live.
I have decided that humidity domes and daily misting are... Well, if the relative humidity where you are is hovering around zero, lol, then yes, it can be helpful - to an extent. But a plant - or cutting of a plant - needs to be able to uptake moisture and nutrients. Rooting is like priority number one. I think the goal ought to be to see that it has enough moisture to keep it alive, but not much more than that. It'll grow roots as it seeks more.
A heating pad might be good if it is less than "shirtsleeve weather" where one's cuttings are. But if it's 72°F, I don't bother.
I still dip the ends into rooting hormone, or into Olivia's Cloning Gel. If I remember. And I'll still mix up a batch of Olivia's Cloning Solution to use when I feed them the first time. Sometimes. Or I'll mix up a very weak solution of some other nutrient. Again, sometimes. But I make sure to use a special medium to root them in. No, wait... I'll stick them in a cup of perlite. Or perlite with a bit of coco in it if I've got a cup with more drainage holes than I'd prefer. Or a really light soil mix. Or... a cup of water
.
One thing I do try to do is to have a clean workspace. And I make my cuts with a double edged razor blade instead of scissors, as I do not wish to pinch the cut closed. I'll often take that razor blade and
gently use it to scrape some of the outer layer off of the stem upwards a little way from the cut - I have later examined rooted cuttings and noticed roots growing from a larger area when I have done this (but it isn't
necessary). I like to take cuttings from plants that are still in vegetative growth, although one can take them from flowering plants (seems there might be a bit of a delay involved, but that might be because I've always increased the number of light hours on the cuttings, so there are a couple of things going on at the same time). You can find plenty of examples (in completed grow journals) where others have decided they wished to preserve a plant after flowering has started, and have done so successfully. I make my cut at a pretty steep angle so as to increase its surface area - and if I cut a tip and there is a delay before I can deal with it, I always cut it again above the original cut so as to not have to worry about whether or not the wound site has started to close. For cuttings that I've placed in a (mostly) perlite medium, I've been known to determine whether or not they have rooted by using the "pull test" - and I have occasionally been left with an unrooted cutting in my hand, lol. <SHRUGS> I just stick it back into the cup, tap on the top of the medium to ensure there aren't any big air spaces, give it a drink, and pretend that I never got in a hurry.
I think after the basics are covered (take a cutting from a healthy well-fed plant, give it lots of gentle indirect light, keep it warm enough for the average octogenarian's comfort, ensure that nothing EATS it)... The only real improvements are seen in the speed at which the cutting roots. I've seen S-L-O-W progress with the cutting that was placed into a glass of water (sometimes, several changes of the water took place in the meantime). People that buy - or build - "aerocloner" type devices that spray tiny droplets (or, better yet, a fog) of water onto the cut stem see much quicker results. I generally shoot for something in the middle, I guess. I don't need it yesterday, but I'd like to have it happen before my next birthday.
Do I see 100% success? No, but it's close. I think I could chalk the (few) failures up to laziness more than anything. Or stupid mistakes (too much light too close, allowing the medium to completely dry out, forgetting that I have cats living here, things like that). I have better success rates now then I did back when I was anal about it. Probably because I don't see them rot due to an overly wet environment. But even a small mother plant with a small amount of light is easily capable of producing more cuttings than I could use. I don't grow for profit any more (I know too many people who could benefit from cannabis - and how can you charge someone for medicine when it costs so little to produce it?), and things will likely remain small & humble here.
I'm just rambling again.
RE: permafrost. Yep, in a couple decades we will be using dikes to keep the seas from covering our coastal cities, like the Dutch do. There are several island communities along the West coast already washing away. The villages are being relocated to the mainland.
The weather is changing - not just generally higher temperatures, but the frequency - and severity - of the storms, too. I wonder what will happen to all those people behind the dikes... when they get wrecked.
The last time the earth's atmosphere
routinely contained more than 400 parts per million of CO₂, modern humans did not exist. I don't mean modern humans, as in people running around using cell phones - I mean that it has been millions of years. The last time this was the norm was probably
2-3 million years ago, in the Mid-Pliocene era. Sea levels were, on average, between
50 and 82 feet higher. (Better build those dikes tall.) Plant and animal species existed several hundred miles north (or south, if one is speaking in terms of points south of the equator) of where their nearest relatives live today. And what little Arctic ice there was... melted every Summer. And we're on track to blow right past that 400 ppm CO₂ figure, towards a world that will make the "marginally" hotter temperatures and higher sea levels of the Pliocene look quaint in comparison. <SIGH>
See, even YOU believe in the moon phase thingy!
Well, somewhat, yes. Anyone can see the effect that the moon - and, to a lesser extent, the sun - has by observing the tides. And emergency rooms seem to be busier during full moons. I haven't met a werewolf yet, though (err... to the best of my knowledge
).
re: Space size. Build your spaces, then fill the corners in with auxiliary CFLs. You will need more space than you think, esp if you tie down branches. Figure at least 30" x 30" x 60"H (including lights) per mature plant. Height will be dependent on how low you train your ladies and how far the light has to be above the plants.
Well, that's the thing. It'd be pointless to build a space that is larger than I can illuminate well. Counterproductive, actually, because I would then lose any benefit from having reflective walls. I am hesitant to just pick a size on the hope that I'll be able to light it up. It's a bit depressing, really, lol - I have enough genetics and, arguably, nutrients, to pretty much fill every room in my home. But I could never afford to buy enough lights for one (or to pay that electric bill).
I also hate to do size / lighting requirements based on plant count. I've had single plants fill closets - and I have stuck 81 plants in a 3' x 3' space. It depends on the method one chooses to use to grow them, strain, length that they are vegetated... and the type/amount of light that one has to offer them.
Oh, and please start your journal now, so I can sub! Pics and a list of particulars is a good place to start.
It is already started. The link is in my .SIG. There isn't much yet, one handful of hope and the other full of air, lol. I did include pictures of the seed (packages), though.
EDIT: Doggone it, I managed to screw the link to my journal up in my .SIGnature. I guess I'm not that popular or someone would have noticed and let me know. Oh well, mayhap it can be repaired.
EDIT #2: I
think I fixed it. Would you (or someone) let me know one way or the other? Thanks!
