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- #3,901
They sure do, lol. When I don't have my back against the wall trying to save this pheno I will try and experiment more with trying to do it without a dome.
Homer's Legal 4-Plant Max Perpetual Minimalist Garden In Ontario
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Just do what works for you in your set up. That’s what I do.
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- #3,903
That does make sense but I find the dome to be a mixed blessing because it keeps the plants healthy and alive but they grow dependent on it and it is hard to get them out and they tend to rot in there so I would prefer to find a system where I don't need a dome like yours eventually.
Mine is just pure coco in a solo cup. I go easy on the water so they don’t rot and damp off.
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- #3,905
That is so strange; I remember you describing that method so that is pretty much what I did with the ones that wilted on me so quickly. I ordered some of these off Amazon because it is a nice little bit of growing medium in a little sack so I will know pretty quickly if I have roots or not.
Previously I have been putting cuttings in ¾ quart-size containers so I had no idea what the roots were doing. The last two cuttings that died went about five weeks with three weeks under the dome and then another couple weeks slowly dying outside it and they had no roots whatsoever but I didn’t know that in those big containers till I gave up and culled them but with these new small things I will know much sooner if I have any roots which should save me lost time on cuttings that aren’t rooting.
But I mention these pellets because besides the different medium, I did exactly what you did. After I hydrated these things I squeezed out the extra moisture as recommended by some video I watched about these pellets and then put the cuttings in there with a teaspoon of water pretty much as you do. Quite the mystery? I’m going to keep experimenting just to try to figure out why we are getting such different results without a dome. It is perplexing.
Take off the covering from around the plug. They may be hitting the lining and can’t push through it.
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- #3,907
Apparently, the lining is designed for roots to go right through it besides if I took the covering off I think the growing medium would just crumble and the plant would flop over. Hopefully, it works out.
A lot of people say it stunts the plants if they leave the covering on.
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- #3,909
I can believe that because I find they get dependent on the moisture in the dome so they don’t feel they have to grow roots so yes, that could be considered stunting because they don’t grow much either or at all.
The whole crux of this method I am trying is that after tomorrow I am supposed to crack open the dome a bit to lower the humidity so that in a couple of days the little pod dries out completely but I keep the plant alive by spraying it and that drying out of the medium is supposed to stimulate root growth.
Once the pod dries out you are supposed to moisten the bottom just a little bit so the roots grow down into the pod and they say if you water from the top it actually slows down root growth. At this point, you also close up the dome again because apparently once the roots start growing getting a kick start from drying out the medium, a really moist environment is best for making them grow more.
I find I can keep them alive for a long time in the dome but they don’t necessarily grow roots so this drying out method I am hoping is the kickstart they claim for root growth but we shall see. I’m really curious.
Yes, as long as they’re getting moisture they have no need for roots.
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- #3,911
That seems to be the problem with my old system; keeping them inside the dome in the humidity and happy sometimes they never rooted. I’m hoping this drying out method changes that. Starting today I was supposed to crack open my dome so that the growing medium can start drying out while I spray the plants twice a day. It is supposed to take three days till the pods are completely dry.
I figure it’s pretty important to control the humidity in my dome during this phase so last night I threw in one of my little hygrometers. Good and moist in there when the thing is closed.
Here they were this morning before I cracked open the dome a bit looking mostly pretty healthy. The two in the middle are the ones that were outside the dome originally and the one second from the right doesn’t look like it’s fully recovered but I only need one to survive.
The one on the far left being the biggest also looks like the healthiest and the article I’m going by says the bigger the better which is the opposite of what I have read elsewhere. Seems to me I keep reading little ones root faster but they don’t seem to agree in this article.
I made a little hook out of malleable baling wire so I can adjust the size of the opening in my container to control my humidity because the secret is to dry out the pods in three days without killing the plants in the meantime so I bet there’s a sweet spot there I hope to find with my hygrometer.
After a few hours, it was down to 86%. And then a few hours later it was down to about 68% but the plants were showing quite a bit of stress, shall we say. After hearing Penny say they mail them for a week without any moisture I figure they can take it until the pod’s dry out.
It struck me these pods are never going to dry out sitting in these cups so I put the pods on top of them. I would have just removed them but I need to keep track of which had hormones added and which don’t. Next time I probably won’t use cups at all but I need to come up with something to put in the bottom of this thing to make it level. This container is really made to sit flat not tall like this.
So I’m going to be babying these things for the next three days watching my humidity levels trying to keep the plants health-ish while the pod’s dry out timing it to three days ideally. I think if I can keep it around 85% humidity that would be best but that’s just a wild guess but my starting point.
Hope everyone’s week is going well.
Good luck with these, next round try rockwool or coco and see how it goes.
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- #3,913
Thanks, Penny. I was thinking of trying Rockwool but it costs twice as much as these disk things I am using and I wanted to follow the article exactly but I am open to experimenting after this with Rockwool or coco.
I run a bag of jiffy plugs and never used it again. They’ll work but they’re a pain in the ass
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- #3,915
I find they are too small or aren't dense enough because they hardly want to hold up the cutting because there is nothing really to them but that may be an advantage if this system works because the whole point is to dry out the medium the cutting is in stimulate root growth. For me, the jury is still out depending on if this system works but yes if I wasn't trying to dry them out I would stack two of these on top of each other because there's not much to them. I understand your opinion of them.
I feel ya, I tried aero cloner but that didn’t work well. Just have to find the method that works for you.
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- #3,917
Have you ever tried oxygenating your water with an aquarium pump and an air stone before you water your plants with it? I have read that roots need oxygen so I was wondering for a while if I should so I googled it and apparently it is helpful to plants.
What got me thinking about it was when I used to mix up mashes to make alcohol sometimes they would stall before all the sugar was converted which was a real disaster so I tried oxygenating my water with an air stone when I was mixing up my mash and it made all the difference in the world. I mixed up a mash last Monday and it is already completely worked out with no sugar left and ready to run.
If it made that much difference with yeast I wonder what it would do with cannabis plants. Because the water I use is tap so it's just in sealed pipes running to my house. And then I let it sit for a day to get to ambient temperature. I figure it's pretty oxygen-depleted.
Yup. I will get it. I am pretty sure the big guy will make it. And I just need one from this batch.
What got me thinking about it was when I used to mix up mashes to make alcohol sometimes they would stall before all the sugar was converted which was a real disaster so I tried oxygenating my water with an air stone when I was mixing up my mash and it made all the difference in the world. I mixed up a mash last Monday and it is already completely worked out with no sugar left and ready to run.
If it made that much difference with yeast I wonder what it would do with cannabis plants. Because the water I use is tap so it's just in sealed pipes running to my house. And then I let it sit for a day to get to ambient temperature. I figure it's pretty oxygen-depleted.
Yup. I will get it. I am pretty sure the big guy will make it. And I just need one from this batch.
I’ve run airstones in my rez before, it helps keep things mixed
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- #3,919
I read that helps supply oxygen to the roots with hydro too.
It helps some, and also when you let pot dry out it’s pulling in oxygen. That’s why fabric pots work so well
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