Inside DLtoker's Room

:welcome: Well, I figured I would make myself a grow journal to document my grow process. I have a SWC (Shallow Water Culture) hydroponic system that I built myself. Many of you have probably seen pics of it one time or another. I placed the 3" net pots within 2" of one another. With this system I also have a tetra air pump ($20) that was purchased at walmart running two air stones. I am debating if I should drop another pump in there for explosive root growth to help expedite the flowering process. My system will hold 21 rooted clones. :farm:

For lighting... Well lets see. Right now I am using a 2' 2 blue spectrum bulbs T5 to get my 24 clones going. Once they are ready to transplant I will be using a 4' 4 bulb T5 fluorescent with 2 blue spectrum and 2 red spectrum bulbs. I ditched the HIDs and I'm not even going to start the debate on why... Like it or not I did it damn it.

This is my first time taking this amount at clones at one time so I pray I did everything satisfactorily. On top of that, I didn't give myself enough time and had to rush. First off, I soaked the rock wool in water with 1 teaspoon/gal of Vitamin B1 for an hour. I then proceeded to use the cloning technique that most all of you probably use... Cutting under water, 45 degree cuts,scoring for roots, Olivia's Cloning gel. I also trimmed half of the large leaves off as well. I don't see everyone doing that so I figured I'd mention that.

Right now my temp is in the mid 70s RH is a bit low at 75% but I will get it up to around 90% after some more vapor builds up in the dome. Other than that I think I'm done for now. I sure hope I don't lose all my clones and embarrass myself in front of all you:cry:...

Feel free to comment or speak about anything... Even why I chose fluoros hahah. Enjoy!

Whats up DLtoker. Well everything sounds and looks great. Not sure about your set up as we are soil growers but it looks great. Here is some GREEN MOJO to get them clones rooted for ya. Good luck mang and we will be following. :aok:

Hey thanks TBG. It's been 48 hours and they are looking happy. I am using Jumpstart by advanced nutrients as a foliar. I should start seeing new growth in about 2 more days with that stuff . Other than that everything is all good. Temp is between 71 and 74 and the Rh is in the high 80s. 8 days left and we should have roots lets see how it pans out!

Well, today is day 8 and there is no sign of roots. The tray is on top of a T5 lamp so the roots are being heated and the ambient temp is always around 74. I am also spraying everyday with Jumpstart and some biobizz stuff that I can't remember the name of I also keep the rock wool moist with this.). I still am very much so a rookie at this cloning game but I'm hoping for the best. I gave them a little tug to see if roots were growing. Most are anchored in except for 3 or 4 which were taken from the top of plants. Hopefully within the next few days we will have some root action! My mothers are in hydro and are already ready to have clones taken again

Well, yesterday I got my first ROOT out of this batch. It was on the largest clone taken. Other than that they aren't showing any good signs. I really wonder if I should take the hour and build a bubble cloner. Do they really work well? Anyways, should I make my clones longer next time to speed up root growth? Bah, clones hate me... but I love them.

Alright, day 12, all of the clones that are larger than 5 inches tall have roots showing through. I read somewhere that it isn't a big deal if the clones are cut small... I'm starting to think that's a load of BS. The smaller clones are starting to show signs of stress... I think I am going to give the a nice watering of 5.8 pH water. Till now I have been giving them water with Jumpstart. I'm going to drop the ones with roots into the Hydro system probably in 2 days once the roots are a little more established. By then hopefully the smaller ones will get a helmet and get in the game... Pics to come soon.

Damn it is about all I can say. Clones are just like FIM. Practice, Practice, Practice. Anyways, my batch of clones that I took over three weeks go now are all rooted, but only 10 or so have roots showing. I can easily give a good lb or 2 of force pulling on the stem and it won't pop out of the rock wool. Is it possible that I made too many rooting sites on the clones and they are ALL growing slowly? All I know is that my first grow crop is half gone and I'm super behind schedule... Guess I'm gonna have to buy grass for myself one or two more times... I made myself a bubble cloner. The clones are 5 days old and I already see roots on one. So who knows. Trial and error with these damn clones. The great thing is that there really is an unlimited supply becuase my mothers grow so fast in hydro... Once a week they need to be trimmed or cloned.

One positive look on things is that I have all my lights here... A total of 20 4' T5s. My ideal plan is to get a harvest every two weeks or so of around a QP or so. That way I will have plenty for myself as well as some to share with my close friends and fiance.... Not like she doesn't get her share as it is.

Really this update was for me to vent off some steam. I was doing so well with this growing as of late (nute control and pH... Just experience a studying felt as if it were paying off) and this cloning thing is just frustrating as hell. I hear about 90% success rates... Bah, I will get a hang of this cloning thing soon enough and this journal will continue.

I do have some good other grows going as well though... I have a few plants a month old started from seed in hydro going at it and I have 3 Lowryders going in my first soil grow still. There were 5 but I beat the crap out of the first 2 by not saturating the soil during transplant... So, till next time, I'll be growing and cloning away trying to master MY technique for success.

Sounds like you might have to dry stress them just a tad more. 'Hardening off'. If they are yellowing, I would feed them, but if they aren't, maybe just a dash of food. You want them to look for it, you know? I think they can be treated a little to well sometimes and they will just sit there.

Practice really does make perfect. I clone in the worst possile conditions as far as humidity...mine is terribly low. But I have it down now.

Yes Build the BUBBLE CLONER..... at least give it a spin.... you'll love it... I run mine with RO water only... no ph adjustments or any nutrient/clone amendments... plain water.... usually ten days give or take... nice clean white roots... I submerge the stem INTO the water... this way I don't have to worry about a humidity dome... the plants in the water will ensure they don't dry up.... Good Luck...

PS.... I don't use airstones on any of my lines DWC.... I just use an open ended line.... you can really churn up some water this way... probably more if you lose the airstones, than if you were to simply add another one.... IMO eace:

Hey thanks guys. I'm going to take both of your advice... Makes 100% sense.

I definitely baby my clones too much now that I think about it more. I just dropped a little Superthrive and a tiny bit of FF Grow Big. Right now I'm going to go test and see how the lack of airstones effect the DWCs.

I also am hooking up my Reverse Osmosis tomorrow and I truly feel I will see some great, immediate, results from this H2O.:bong:

Alright, It has been a while... I am still working on my hydro clones and I really am not very fond of them. I have been hand watering the rockwool a few times a day just to imitate a dripper system until their roots can reach the water. I went to my hydro shop and the owner convinced me that I didn't need one. Haha. I can't believe it. I really think Stoney is right. I need a dripper system for the first week of their existence for the roots to be able to touch the water... Then once that happens. They can go into a DWC system without the dripper. Anyways, here are some pics of what is going on in my area. Everything is still kind of jumbled around and not making too much sense due to moving. There are mothers, lowryders, clones, 20" tall plants that are going into flower (preflowers appered last week once I changed the lights around and these girls went from 3000K to 6500K bulbs...cool).

These 20" plants have just been in the back of my grow area for the past 5 weeks or so just doing there thing. I am surprised as to how they took off so well becuase there were times when there was only an 1" of water in the reservoir and the pH and nute levels would be all off. Every day I learn more and more how refer likes to be neglected to a degree. At least for me.

Anyways, In a few weeks I should have some frosty bud pics for you. Oh yeah, I bet you can't guess where I got the idea to throw in a ton of clones in a rubermaid full of dirt...

Love the soilbed, that is going to rock.:aok:

Just remember, until about 2nd week of flower or so they won't need much water at all....think like 1/3 of a container plant. I still use the weight method alot unless I know the strain.

It's so much nicer not having to deal with stupid drip trays and crap.

Lemme ask you something brosky...who is the hot babe in the pic?...hmmm:heart:

Skunk #11 would be the mothers in the building. They have been acting up on me a little since I started using RO water. I think it has to do with the availability of the nutes in the water. I have been tweaking my ratios a bit lately and I think I have it dialed in now. She very literally has a trunk on her. Kind of a cool site going into a small 1" rock wool cube.

I am flowering my soil clones and my hydro clones at the same time. I have gone through a tone of clones with this damn rock wool. Hundreds. I feel like putting an add in the paper for a master cloner! Anyways, I think I actually have a batch of clones that can sustain 8 weeks of flowering this time. Right now they don't look the healthiest but their root systems are growing every day. So it will be a fun little experiment to see how two different grow mediums get different results. One being the Hydro DWC system and the second being the FF 1:1 LW:OF organic grow. I am actually very excited to see how it come out. :bong:

I've been playing with the setup in my grow area as of late. And I have been getting amazing result with my fluorescents. They are hung like the light should be, but I tilt them slightly on their sides to give the lower branches more light and it is amazing how the plants explode.

I am becoming more and more fond of soil as the days pass. So easy and almost maintenance free. It does have it's downfalls though. I noticed mold on the top of my soil the other day in my clone box. I assume it developed due to a dead leaf that was partially covered in moist soil:huh:. I won't be happy if I start getting pests and mold in my area with this dirty, dirty dirt.

I have yet to use anything but alg-a-mic by biobizz. I don't plan on using anything either... Unless something drastically changes in the next 3 or 4 weeks.

DLtoker said:

Skunk #11 would be the mothers in the building. They have been acting up on me a little since I started using RO water. I think it has to do with the availability of the nutes in the water. I have been tweaking my ratios a bit lately and I think I have it dialed in now. She very literally has a trunk on her. Kind of a cool site going into a small 1" rock wool cube.

I am flowering my soil clones and my hydro clones at the same time. I have gone through a tone of clones with this damn rock wool. Hundreds. I feel like putting an add in the paper for a master cloner! Anyways, I think I actually have a batch of clones that can sustain 8 weeks of flowering this time. Right now they don't look the healthiest but their root systems are growing every day. So it will be a fun little experiment to see how two different grow mediums get different results. One being the Hydro DWC system and the second being the FF 1:1 LW:OF organic grow. I am actually very excited to see how it come out. :bong:

I've been playing with the setup in my grow area as of late. And I have been getting amazing result with my fluorescents. They are hung like the light should be, but I tilt them slightly on their sides to give the lower branches more light and it is amazing how the plants explode.

I am becoming more and more fond of soil as the days pass. So easy and almost maintenance free. It does have it's downfalls though. I noticed mold on the top of my soil the other day in my clone box. I assume it developed due to a dead leaf that was partially covered in moist soil:huh:. I won't be happy if I start getting pests and mold in my area with this dirty, dirty dirt.

I have yet to use anything but alg-a-mic by biobizz. I don't plan on using anything either... Unless something drastically changes in the next 3 or 4 weeks.

Click to expand...

Mold....nice....mycorrhizael fungi in action :aok: ...do not fear the mold bro...just beasties hard at work. I save those dried leaves and mix them back in later...as you noticed...the beasties love em.':heart:

Ah, OK nice. I need to make a top dressing for this mix... probably 2 gallons of soil. Should I grind up a few dried leaves and place them in the mix? I also have a new little idear for cloning. Rockwool cubes placed in my tray with dirt all surrounding it. It just so happened that I got explosive root growth once my clones were planted in the soil. I don't know what it is, but I am going to give cloning a shot in every medium available to see what works best for me. Now some real fun begins since my room has gotten so much larger. :farm: Lots of things are going to be getting flowered on a consistent basis. I also just got a bunch of beans for a good friend. K2 x White Widow is one that is going to put me in a coma :smoke1:

Right on DL. I say VEG VEG VEG!!!! Looks great. Good luck.



Stunzeed..:joint:

Just finished really getting my grow room settled in this new house. Right now I'm only using half of my total flower area. I touched every plant, and even found a plant I didn't even know existed. It's very branchy for not having any FIMing or topping done. And it is super flexible with nutes. Dead sexy. :heart: This is a pic of it's roots and the plant itself (the pic doesn't give it justice). The root ball is maybe a handful. No more.

I have the carbon scrubber hung from the ceiling, with a 2' long 6" hose venting out the window through black plastic.

I took clones, a bunch of clones, for the bubble cloner today and am flowering those massive 20" tall plants. I need to get more bushmaster tomorrow becuase I can't handle any more height from these pretty ladies. Well, I could deal with it, but it wouldn't be an economical use of my lighting.

Something cool... The 20"ers have trichomes all over their preflowers. I had no idea how that works. My mothers are a lot older than them and they don't even have preflowers. I imagine that is due to me taking cuttings every week or so...

So, I have the rubbermaid soil bed, the 20" plants (species TBD), Lowryder 2s and 21 partially rooted clones (I hope these make it this time.). Time to grow some bud.

Just posting a pic of some Twilight. Not a full bud shot becuase I wanted to get up close and personal with the trichs.

So, I just got done playing with my clones. They were taken 8 days ago. To my surprise, there were two that were fully rooted. :huh: ! These two were right next to each other in my tray. Could they have been taken from a bottom branch?...

Question... My mothers are huge. They are 2' tall bushes. I usually take 20+ clones once a week. I take them right from the top. I do this to control the height. I know they say to take bottom branches becuase rooting will be faster that way, but, every branch at the top of the plant is like a bottom branch to me. You can see the pic a few posts back of my mother. That shot was taken from the top. Should I just take 10" cuttings from the top to keep the height down and root them as little trees and then take my real clones from the bottom branches and get some more side lighting? Or does it really make a difference with a mother like this?

Well, just as I was getting so intense with cloning, I have stopped for at least a month. This morning I transplanted my mothers before the lights went out. Oh boy were the roots tangled. I had to pull them apart one by one! So, I had time for a pic of the roots in the DWC before transplant. My lights turned off just before dropping them in 1 gallon pots and I wanted to to have the dark cycle to recover.

I have started some Cherry Malawi beens and I am just wating for them to pop the soil. They were on the slow side with germing so I imagine it will take a few days for them to break ground. Let's see... Other than that I have some others that I will update on soon enough. But for now the Cherry will take the spot light.

The soil bed is working like a dream come true. The clones have doubled in size and are starting to show preflowers. I made a really nice, hot top soil dressing for the bed and after one watering with alg-a-mic and big bloom, they are loving me right now. They are fighting for the light and can't get enough of it. Amazing.

I really love soil. Well, not everything. They transplants and dirt spilling everywhere becuase I'm a klutz is a pain, to be honest. But, I have complete 100% control over what goes into my plants except for the FF soil mix. I chose my NPK values for the soil. I make my own teas how ever I want. There is none of this 2 teaspoons of this and 2 table spoons of that like it is when I do hydro. BORING.

There is love that goes into organic growing. As weird as it may be, but maybe not too weird for this site. I have such a stronger connection with my plants while grown in soil organically. It just makes the whole growing experience that much more for me.

Anyways, this journal has more turned into Dltoker's grow room's action more than anything else... I wonder if I can change the title? Enjoy and I will share more pics soon.