Re: New City Grower
@rico, lol.
AG or OZ brit for 5,
anyways let me go dig this air layering link out,
air layering what is it?
air layering is the process where you grow the roots on the plant before you take the cutting, so while your growing roots the plant is still growing as normal, this means the clone your going to take is still growing so growth does not slow while the roots are growing, once you have a root mass you just cut it from the mother plant and plant it into the pot you want the clone in, you will now get some slow down in growth while the plant takes its nutrients in only from the roots it has got instead of being fed as normal by the mother plant,
air layering works if you keep the area totally dark,
1, choose the part of the plant your going to cut off and the part you want roots to grow from
2, scrape away the outer layer of the skin on the stem you want roots from, only scrape away the outer skin using a sharp clean knife,
3, rush rooting hormone over the exposed part of the stem making sure you cover it with rooting powder/gel, the part you scrape the skin back on needs to be about 1inch long on the stem and the skin removed all the way around the stem, so you should have a 1inch pice of skin missing all the way around the stem/branch you want to grow roots from.
4, get soil or other growing medium and push this all around the stem forming a sort of ball around the stem, this is what the roots will grow into, so squash growing medium or soil around the part you put hormones on, make sure its pressed onto the stem,
5, using cling film or foil wrap this around the growing medium making sure you leave a gap at the highest point so you can spray some water into it to keep the growing medium slightly moist, not soaking wet but slightly moist.
6, makes sure the area your growing roots is totally dark, so if you cover with cling film then make sure you cover that area with card so no light is leaking into the area you want roots,
now sit back and wait for the roots to grow, if the growing medium dries out then squirt some water into the top where you left a small hole and get it moist again, then leave it, after 7 to 14 days keep checking and you will soon so the roots growing into the growing medium, leave it on the plant until you have a good mass of roots,
once you have a good mass of roots use a sharp knife and cut the cutting away from the parent plant just below the part where you had it covered, carefully undo the cling film or foil then plant as normal in another pot, growth will slow for a couple of days while the roots grow into their new pot,
using this method means the hardest plants to clone can clone with ease, clones can be any size you like so if you was doing a sog style grow you could just veg out a huge mother plant and take huge clones and flip 12-12 once they have settled into their new pots,
the biggest clone i have taken using air layering was a lower branch and the stem had several side branches on it, once it was rooted and removed from the parent plant it was a plant on its own, ready to go 12-12 with once it had settled into its new pot,
ill try and find the link to jons journal where he used the method, he was pretty pleased with it as he had a strain that would not clone at all, he tried it once and it worked,
ill go dig the link out
