Re: New City Grower
looking good,
with the topping you need to think how much veg time you have left before the plants start flowering, topping will stunt growth for anything from 3 to about 7 days, when you top the plant has to refocus its energy on other plants of the plant, once its done this the 2 new tops will grow and become the top of the plant, but if you do top you will be better off if you have got at least 2 weeks before they start to flower, if you dont have this much time then it will stunt growth and affect yield,
if you have more than 2 weeks then topping will be fine, the top can then be used as a clone so get hold of some rooting hormone gel or powder and make your own rooting pot,
all i use for my clones is
1 small pot,
1 rooting gel,
1 2ltr pop bottle,
with the 2ltr pop bottle i cut the top quater off so im keeping the part with the lid on and about 4 or 5 inches of actual bottle, then when i take my clone cut it at 45degree angle so their is more area for roots to grow, then remove the lowest set of fan leaves on the clone or if you have only left the top set then cut the fan leaves in half so the fingers on the leaves are much shorted, make sure you use a sharp clean knife or utility knife, once you have cut it at that angle gently scrape the bottom inch of stem so your scraping the outer layer of stem nearest the cut, not all growers do this but i find it produces roots a bit quicker, then cover the cut and scraped area in rooting gel or powder, i use a shot glass and pour some gel into the glass then dip the clone in making sure its all covered and leave it in the rooting gel for about 15 seconds,
make sure you have a small pot or any size pot and poke a small hole in the middle for the clone to drop into, the take the clone out the gel and put it into the hole so its at least 2 inches below soil level, i sometimes drop a tiny bit of rooting gel into the hole but not sure it makes any difference as both methods tend to root at the same time,
once you put the clone in give the soil a very gentle squeeze around the clone so the soil is touching the stem properly, then use a spray bottle and give the leaves on the clone a good misting with water, you dont need to water the compost unless its bone dry but keep it slightly moist but it wont dry out as quick due to the dome, once you have sprayed the clone grab the top part of the pop bottle and spray inside that then place it over the clone and push it into the soil a couple of ml so it has a good seal, then the humidity will stay high and it will root in a week or 2, each day or twice a day pull the dome off and let it breath for 1min, then spray the clone then put the dome back on,
thats the method i use and i find it works well and works pretty much every time, as long as the dome keeps the clone in high humidity then it will eventually root, you will know when its rooted as you will notice new growth, when you notice new growth leave the dome on for a couple more days then you can take the dome off and leave it off, but the first day you leave it off give the leaves a spray and check the clone every hour or 2, if you notice it start to wilt then put the dome back on as the roots are not big enough to support it yet, but if it dont wilt then the dome can stay off and you will then have a nice happy clone,
i just thought ive wrote all that and for all i know you might even have a cloner or something else, so i could of just typed all that for nothing,
"cough, cough... Yeah & your definitely going to need some of this & how much did you say you had to spend?"
