AKGramma's Perpetual Grow

[AKgramma]

I wondered why I hadn't been receiving 420 posts for the last few days. I checked all my spam filters, all my accounts, then checked the webmail attached to the addy I used for 420. Yahoo changed it's program, which dumped all the settings to forward my emails to my PC! Last straw, with Yahoo, man!

I read everything I missed on the Yahoo site, then, I changed my email to one I know works!

 

[NorCaliwood]

One of them t-12 fluorescent lamps work wonders with clones. I have most of my problems with temps. But for years all I ever used was starter plugs and a dome under t-12 lights. You can put them lights right ontop of them domes.. We have a friend here that uses dirt in little 4" peat fiber pots straight in soil, under a dome ofcourse. But comes a question, is it to you worth it to tie up a cloest for 2 weeks for clones? And alot of strains are hard to clone. I've cloned some that root in a tad over a week, and some that never did. I'm working alittle withh this Black DOG here,, and man she's a bitch. Hard to get any of the clones to come out swinging out the gate but as long as you got green,, you got a chance. GL and Keepem Green

 

[AKgramma]

NorCal: For me, it really isn't worth the effort to keep trying and failing. But after the last trimming, I had a few sizable branches big enough to try. I should KNOW better than to waste my time.

I lost 2 clones to stem rot below and above the soil line. I'm going to lose 2 more in a couple days. That will leave me one in soil and 4 in water. I forgot, I should have used perlite for the medium. :-(

 

[NorCaliwood]

Like I said if it is worth the time and effort.. .. But has to be some easy reason why none of them are working... Have you tried that plastic bag over head? At least that way if they don't make it,, you can call it suicide?
But I do have runs it seemslike I can't win taking cuts,, so I cut twice as many,, then I hit 100% the next time and have guilty conscientious over throwing away 5 or 10 cuts. I use this stuff called vitagrow for cuts,, but people do great with alot of things, even that willow water. Hey if you got acouple lowest branches, keep trying. There is always a little branch mom's can afford to donate at transion. I found I do better with the lower 'wooder' cuts than the top hollower cuts. And I don't f with all the stem splitting just a simple 45 cut. To much cutting can invite a infection or 'slime'. You are keeping the water blacked out. No sunlight no algea,, least less. But you'll get them going. Can even something as simple as the blade you cut with. I like to water mine about a hour before cutting with some B-1 tonic,, After afew days to a week add acouple drops of a bloom fertilizer mixed in some water may help. GL and Keepem Green

 

[AKgramma]

I checked my supply stash and didn't see any perlite, so I am trying vermiculite as a cloning medium. I had to do one final trim out of the revegged AK 48, which is being mainlined. This gave me 8 small clones, but I made sure each one had 6 nodes. The rest of the cuttings went into the leaf bin from edibles.

So, altho the cuttings are quite small (3 inches) they are miniatures, with 6 nodes. The bottom 3 nodes got trimmed out, then dipped in rootone powder. The gel hasn't worked for me at all.

The seedlings I topped for mainlining are growing rapidly. I only had to tie down one branch, but I'm not forcing them to exactly 90 degrees. I am more concerned about the height of the canopy so far.

I don't know when to stop pinching out side growth, maybe when I do the switch to 12/12? The tutorials say that after you have your 8 or 16 chosen branches, to let them do their thing. But mine started branching out, and it looked like 8 pom-poms on sticks. I don't think bushes on sticks is going to give me the large colas I'm looking for.

So, I chose the strongest branch of each pom-pom and trimmed out all other side growth. I have from 8 to 13 future colas on each plant, across 4 strains:

Revegged: Arjan's Haze, AK 48

From Seed: AK 47 X Duran Poison, White Castle.

 

[NorCaliwood]

Verm is better..... Hold the right moisture content. Sure isn't a hindrance I'd imagine..... I used to use Root tone with all my tomatoes when I worked a nursery. we use to clone 1,000's of them in the spring. But tomatoes root in a glass of water. I use to use thinks like them plastic containers you get roasted chick in as domes. Or a 2-liter soda bottle.

a kitty liter bucket

here's the manifold system

But here's the 2 liter bottle setup. Cut it in half and invert it fill the top with medium and cover with the bottom.

The cloners are endless.
But I think I'd prefer vermic over perlite. Hell perlite doesn't hold moisture it repels it vermiculite retains it..

GL and Keepem Green

 

[Weaselcracker]

Sue swears by that plastic baggie trick that she got from Lembatoast. Sounds like she hasn't lost one yet. And I would think that the inside of a plastic bag in Alaska is about the same as the inside of a bag anywhere else - assuming temps being equal.
Vermiculite sounds a bit too wet to me. After using perlite I don't like using mediums that can be overwatered and need babying. Rockwool is another in which cuttings rot really easily if you water too much, and root best when the RW is almost dried right up.
Perlite wicks water well but doesn't retain it- so you can have a little reservoir pool in the bottom of a tray and everything above the water level will be a very nice aerated but moisture rich environment.
Some people manage to clone cannabis in cups of water or in plain soil, but those two methods seem to be near the bottom of the list in terms of success rates.

 

[Tead]

Ya know... the broad range of what works in various people's worlds is just stunning to me regarding cloning.
I mean, there are really not that many variables in the mix really, but because you're working with a leafy twig, every one of those variables needs to be spot on for one's local world.

It's kind of been a fun subject in my world lately. I've been a little bored with the garden and have been trying new things for entertainment value. Tead has a slightly different version of the 'baggie clone method' than Sue...

One could easily put Tead's bag cloner into a big clear gallon ziplock bag if one needed to keep the humidity up... but my world exists above 80%RH these days.... so no need to cover the clones.

 

[AKgramma]

I have 2 AK 47 X Durban Poison clones left in soil. If they lasted this long, there might be a chance. Too early to tell on the clones in Vermiculite.

As much as I would like to switch the revegged ladies, their leaders are still less than a foot tall. But I may have a height issue if I wait too long. I should have chosen the lowest foliage to create the scaffolding. The bin is 14 inches then there's another 20 inches of scaffolding. And the tallest unit I have is only 6 feet tall, with some of that used up for lights.

Decisions, Decisions...

 

[AKgramma]

With the seeded plants growing wider (second level in training (mainlining), I had to start up the smaller shelving unit, and move two of the plants out of the main tent.

That leaves 2 revegged and 3 seeded plants in the main unit. I dont know what I'm going to do when it's time to switch the two revegged plants. They are too tall to fit in the smaller unit.

I read that most growers switch at 3 months, but that seems a bit early for me. I like them older and fuller. However, if the seeded plants catch up to the revegged, which seem to be growing more slowly, I might get away with switching the five when I can't wait any longer.

The White Castles are very vigorous, with large indica-like leaves. It is very likely they will be ready at 3 months. Since this strain is for my meds, I'm going to let them do their thing after the next trimming. They have been topped once, and have four equal leaders, laid out nearly horizontal. By selecting the 2nd node and the end growth tip on each, and taking off the rest of the tips, I'll have eight good leaders.

This is a shortcut to the mainlining technique that eliminates the last topping, and speeds up the process. There are so many variations of this method, that you can choose what works for you.

I have to remember, my goal is to eliminate mini-buds and larf, regardless of training method.

 

[AKgramma]

I lost the last of the clones in soil today to rotten stems. Now we'll see how the clones in Vermiculite work. I didn't have any perlite for the last batch of cuttings, so I figured I there would be less fungus/rotting issues in vermiculite. They still look good after a week.

I'll have to check the roots soon, as I have them planted an inch apart.

 

[AKgramma]

I DID IT!!!!! I got rooted clones! The roots are long enough that I think they formed on day 5 or 6.

It was the switch to vermiculite that made the difference. Right out of the bag, the vermiculite was obviously cleaner, without the issues that used soil mix can have (fungi, too much moisture).

So I have 8 rooted AK 48 clones (AK47 x Ice mother).

AWESOME!

So, I gotta plant them in solo cups till they develop a good root ball, and water the rest of the grow today. But first, a day or two acclimation to open air.

 

[SweetSue]

Well that had to feel satisfying. How wet do you keep the vermiculite? I'm going to give this a shot when I get some vermiculite.

 

[AKgramma]

Well that had to feel satisfying. How wet do you keep the vermiculite? I'm going to give this a shot when I get some vermiculite.

I gave the pot a good watering, let it drain well, then planted the cuttings. I never added any more water, but did lift the lid of the clone dome for a few minutes each day to exhaust extra moisture. Pics below.

This is a recycled water jug I used to plant the cuttings in. It has 4 drainage holes at the bottom and is filled with 100% vermiculite fresh from the bag.

Below is my DIY clone dome, recycled from a large pork rind jar (Sam's Club), cut down enough to lower small container(s) in and tend plants. The cover is a cheapo plant saucer.

 

[AKgramma]

I just finished potting the clones into solo cups. I used a tablespoon to dig them up out of the cloning "pot" so as not to disturb the roots.

The roots were 1" to 4" long! These little girls are raring to go! I sprinkled a little bit of MYKOS on each set of roots before settling them in. I'm going to give them some night time to let them recover from transplant shock, then will make a special spot for them in the smaller unit.

Again, the solo cups contain 1/2 vermiculite and 1/2 of my organic soil mix (soil "cooked" for about a month).

The family and friends like the AK 48, so I'm grateful these 8 clones came through for me.


I wonder if rooting them in a single "pot" had anything to do with the rapid growth. Sharing the rooting hormones, perhaps?

 

[SweetSue]

That was mighty impressive, and more so that the roots were so well developed. I really appreciate your recycling tendency.

 

[AKgramma]

The AK 48 babies did not wilt at all last night, and so I placed them in the smaller veg unit. I realized I needed to extend the depth of the shorter unit, so I jury-rigged a frame to put the curtain another 11 inches forward of the shelving. A couple extra dish pans on the floor will catch the water off any pots I put in this area.


That is, IF the two rapidly growing AK 48's will allow me room for more.

 

[Arctic Bowl]

Good morning AK hope you and yours have a wonderful weekend and holiday looks like you have been keeping busy and congrats on the clones!!! Always so nice when a plan goes great not much new up this way, been getting a little warm here but seems to rain most evenings but the temps are getting to warm in the tent so we need to correct that issue.

Have great weekend our friend and enjoy

Blessed Buds our friend and be well

 

[AKgramma]

Good morning AK hope you and yours have a wonderful weekend and holiday looks like you have been keeping busy and congrats on the clones!!! Always so nice when a plan goes great not much new up this way, been getting a little warm here but seems to rain most evenings but the temps are getting to warm in the tent so we need to correct that issue.

Have great weekend our friend and enjoy

Blessed Buds our friend and be well

Lots of fans, lotsa open windows! Same here, too.

 

[AKgramma]

My seeded plants are growing so fast that they will catch up in size to the two revegged mothers. So, in another month, I will switch them all in the big grow area and use the small shelving unit to veg out the 8 AK 48 clones.

The revegged ladies have grown very slowly, and I will take them down after harvest. They were not worth the space and labor. I do not anticipate 8 big colas from them. It was not an very interesting experiment. Most people would have terminated them early on, but I wanted to see what they would do.

Over the last three grows, I have found the AK 48's and AK 47 x Poison Durban's are very vigorous from seed, and easily cloned. Something about the AK 47 ancestry is special. Their stems are twice as thick as the previous AK48's I grew. Interesting pheno.

The White castles are bushy with large leaves, larger than the AK's. They want to be bushy, in spite of my trimming them out. So, I'm not going to fight them anymore. Since they are for me, I'm not going to force large colas, but WILL trim out the fluff below to eliminate mini-buds.

Not going to try to presex them. I'll work with what I get. Even the males make good cannibus powder.