The Gee Spot - You Finally Found It

[Gee64]

I cut 8 clones from the Indica's yesterday. Every time I fiddle with them I'm just blown away by how small and compact they are. I think I could take care of 16 Indicas with less work than 4 sativas lol. It's been about 5 years since I have really grown one and I plain out forgot how easy they are. So I'm all excited about cutting 8 outdoor clone branches as I have never cloned an outdoor plant before and the plants have stellar brix levels so it should be awesome and I clean the cloner, set it up with lights and timer in my favorite cloning closet (Mumma needs to OK this), get it bubbling, set out my tray with all my stuff on it and head out back to cut some clones. In my mind I already see the cloner with 8 big beauties in it. I stop at the 1st plant, dig in at the bottom, and find these 2 little clone branches that are barely big enough to even clone in soil. Then it hits me. "Hey idiot, if the plants are miniature did you really think the clone branches wouldn't be?" So I have 8 clones in the aerocloner that are not what I am used to so lets see if we get roots.

Arent they so small and cute? Dang I am going to have to learn to be gentle.

I used Stimroot#2 rooting powder for semi-hardwood cuttings.

I put them in my 8 favorite sites in the cloner with the fullest spray patterns.

In an hour its 18" T5HO flourescent light will come on and we shall see if they wilted or perked up overnight.

Do you guys treat clones cut from the outdoors the same as the ones you cut from indoor grows?

Hehe new territory here, I'm excited.

If I can get these ready for flower before September I can toss them back outside and flower them for free .

Yesterday July 24.

Here is how I prep my clone. I trim the leaves and side branches to stubble like this, and thats how much rooting hormone I use. 30 seconds after this its already in the aerocloner getting the powder rinsed off. Thats all you need. Don't get it on your skin, nature designed it to be absorbable. Even callous skin will absorb it.

I apply it like this, and the blade has been dipped in water. This amount does 2 clones and it turns into a bit of a slurry on the blade as I roll the cuttings in it. After 2 cuttings its gone and I pour another little blob on the blade and repeat. Then when you are done tap off any blobs that stuck and you are good to go.

After application.

Tapped off and ready for the cloner.

I do soil clones exactly the same up to this point.

Thats enough hormone for 1 clone in soil. In a cloner it washes off the clone and becomes a ppm in the cloner reservoir so with 8 clones it adds up.

Most people put way too much on. If you read the instructions it will concur.

This right here is the 1st major determiner of success or failure. Its why lots of die-hards refuse to use hormones.

Too much and its a fail.

None and a strong cutting will make its own.

I find that dialing it way back like this is the fastest way to roots for soil or aeroclones.

There may be better ways but this is reliable and cheap so I stick with it.

The light is set to a 16 hour veg cycle as close to the sunrise/sunset times as I could get it.

 

[Keffka]

I try to stay ahead of it, but if you add too thick of a layer it can plug the passages as ewc is dense, so I have found more applications of lesser amounts seems to work better for me.

I'm always feeling the soil so you learn by feel when its time.

If my soil feels clumpy and stiff when dry what’s that telling me? When I try to push my finger in, pieces of it seem clumped together and I have to break them apart with my fingers. (This is in an area I’m prepping for gardening and it’s almost like the soil is a shell)

 

[Gee64]

If my soil feels clumpy and stiff when dry what’s that telling me? When I try to push my finger in, pieces of it seem clumped together and I have to break them apart with my fingers. (This is in an area I’m prepping for gardening and it’s almost like the soil is a shell)

If it hasn't been topdressed my 1st guess is a calcium deficiency.

If it has been topdressed, even with ewc, then after each of the 1st 2 waterings you need to crumble the top inch back into dirt.

Some soil mixes do this the 1st time you water them too.

After the 2nd crumble it usually settles beautifully.

And then it's time for another topdressing... rinse and repeat the entire grow.

 

[Gee64]

I should clarify a bit. After the 1st watering when the top is dry you crumble it up. Then after the 2nd watering and the top is dry you will probably have to crumble it again. After that hardly ever a 3rd time.

 

[Gee64]

From a small closet at an undisclosed location where no one can hear them scream.

Day 1 of PK cuts

24 hours in and they look small and frail.


Day 2

48 hours in and they are doing great. Very perky and stress free.

So far so good.

 

[Gee64]

July 26 Plant #4 Outdoor.
Clone cuts 2 x #4
Clones from #4 are on the bottom left quadrant by the cord.

Brix 19
Calcium excellent
Rev's Recipe pretty much.
4 flower spikes.

 

[Gee64]

July 26 Plant #3 Outdoor.
Clone cuts 2 x #3
Clones from #3 are on the bottom right quadrant.
Brix 22
Calcium excellent
Rev's Recipe pretty much.
4 flower spikes.

 

[Gee64]

July 26 Plant #2 Outdoor.
Clone cuts 2 x #2
Clones from #2 are on the top right quadrant.
Brix 21
Calcium excellent
Rev's Recipe pretty much.
4 flower spikes.

 

[Gee64]

July 26 Plant #1 Outdoor.
Clone cuts 2 x #1
Clones from #1 are on the top left quadrant.
Brix 21
Calcium excellent
Rev's Recipe pretty much.
4 flower spikes.

 

[Gee64]

These 4 have a good shot at a great finish. Stretch should start in a week and a half or so. They are 59 days old today from seed.

 

[Gee64]

Cut #2 gets really stinky every time I pluck a leaf for brix. Skunky.

 

[Gee64]

I was literally on my way to the tent to cull these 2 and both have turned themselves around.

Their color is coming back and turgidity is finally returning.

Well I guess they get to live for a few more days.

I have a 40 gallon cloth pot coming to do an indoor scrog and should be here on Monday. If these two can keep improving the scrog can wait but if they start to sputter they are worm food.

It took a long time to shake off the overwatering.

 

[Gee64]

Day 3 for the PK clones.

They look very happy. No significent stress showing.

If you zoom in on the bottom picture you can see all the side branches are happy too.

Thats always a good sign.

 

[Gee64]

Here are the 4 PK's all numbered.

Day 4

Here are the corresponding clones. The 2 in the quadrant came from the clone with the same number.

Still no roots.

Day 14 of Flower.

The 2 headed clone has come a long ways but it still looks wet. At least the leaves are no longer swollen and crinkled.

A little lop-sided from me raping leaves for brix readings, but still improving.

 

[Gee64]

It's been 9 days since I shaved the water roots off and switched to top-watering,and feeder roots have come back.

Here is the other side.

This one didn't get shaved but has also been switched to top watering only. Only 2 feeder roots have appeared.

 

[Keffka]

I was literally on my way to the tent to cull these 2 and both have turned themselves around.

Their color is coming back and turgidity is finally returning.

Well I guess they get to live for a few more days.

I have a 40 gallon cloth pot coming to do an indoor scrog and should be here on Monday. If these two can keep improving the scrog can wait but if they start to sputter they are worm food.

It took a long time to shake off the overwatering.

Honestly.. overwatering is so terrible for the plant and medium. I’d rather underwater than overwater every time. The plant and microbes are really good at pulling out every last molecule of water.

This is why I always add perlite to my soil.. always.. an extra 10-15% in the mix and it becomes almost impossible to overwater through normal top watering methods. I’m thinking for these bottom watering methods you may want to look into a little bit heavier of an aeration amendment. Pumice would probably be super useful for this.

 

[Gee64]

Honestly.. overwatering is so terrible for the plant and medium. I’d rather underwater than overwater every time. The plant and microbes are really good at pulling out every last molecule of water.

This is why I always add perlite to my soil.. always.. an extra 10-15% in the mix and it becomes almost impossible to overwater through normal top watering methods. I’m thinking for these bottom watering methods you may want to look into a little bit heavier of an aeration amendment. Pumice would probably be super useful for this.

Swicking was fun for a winter project but I get much much much better rootballs with top watering. I don't want water roots, I want feeder roots.

I was curious if a plant could be flipped back and apparently it can.

Now I have to decide if I flower these for 8 more weeks or if I feed them to the worms and start a scrog project in a 40gal.

I'm really itching for the 40 gal.

I have 40 gallons of properly cooked soil, 20 gallons of EWC, and a full bag of perlite so all I need is some coco.

I'm thinking 20 gallons of soil, 10 gallons of ewc, 5 gallons of coco, and 5 gallons of perlite, more or less.

And some spikes and layers.

I will have to come up with some custom dripper lines but that doesn't take long to build.

But if these clones keep progressing I will probably flower them out.

I can always start the 40gal project in a solo in 6 weeks, but I would really like to start it right in the big pot.

 

[Gee64]

Plant #1 July 28 21 brix

I apologize for the terrible picture. The sun is blazing and it makes it hard for the camera but you can make out the 21 and fuzzy. @StoneOtter the leaf stems read 6 and fuzzy.

 

[Gee64]

Day 16 of flower.

The 2-headed clone is still a bit light but if you zoom in on the pot you can see a massive onslaught of feeder roots popping thru, so it should flower OK and seems to have completely gotten over the bottom shaving.

The one I transferred to a swick with only 3 litres of perlite has a few feeder roots poking thru but not hundreds like the shaved one. It appears to be getting healthier every day since changing to a top watering routine.

Flower isn't really the time to build rootballs but lets see how they finish.

I have been itching to start a fresh grow from seed under the new light but I think I will let these ones finish just to see how they do.

I do believe this will be my last bottom-watered experiment for awhile. Water roots are what you strive for in synthetics, but in organics they are useless, so I will go back to dripper lines and top-watering.

Day 4 for the PK clones and they look very happy.

The high brix seems to feed them well, they are almost praying.

I hope all the food in those leaves doesn't slow rooting. It shouldn't, I don't think.

Gee's theoory thinks it should actually enhance rooting, but what does that Gee guy know. Fingers crossed.

 

[Gee64]

Plant #4 had brix of 20.5 and calcium looked good.