Sorry, here's a couple more I missed....
your clones are huge ( stem mass and leafs ) how do u keep them from turning yellow , drooping and looking bad . i take 3" cuttings use rockwool 1" for cloning and dome and tray and they always turn yellow curl .
You're keeping your RW cubes too wet. The stem tips are rotting and stopping water uptake. See
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/15030-batch-clones-rockwool.html The humidome may also be causing problems. I don't use them.
My clonebox actually has a vent fan (at upper left), which runs on a thermostat (hidden behind plants) set for 30C. There is a passive air intake down low, also behind the plants in this pic, which I cover in the colder months. I don't control humidity, only air temp.
also i use soil and i think i am having drainage probs. my plants got huge when flipped them to 12/12 they are over 6'. so heat from the light does not reach the soil sometimes it 2 to 3 days before i can water again....what can i use next time to help with water draining and soil drying.
thanks in advance
snipsnip
I'll warn you in advance that I'm not a soil guy. However, I can tell you that you can solve that problem by watering less often. Don't water until 50% of the water weight has gone.
You've found the primary disadvantage of soil- you cannot introduce oxygenated nutrient soln frequently. Dissolved O2 in water will dissipate in about 24h (or less), meaning that overly absorbent media will allow water to stagnate (lose all O2) before you can water again. This is why we use media in hydroponics which (usually) can tolerate frequent watering, or no media at all in the cases of aero & dwc.
I was wondering if I am using perlite as a stand in for the fytocell ( I can't seem to find it where I live...), should I add a small amount of vermiculite to the mix to increase water absorption? If so, how much do you think I would need? Thanks.
No, I don't think I'd add anything to make it more absorbent, for the reasons I just covered in the last para. If your plants suck up so much water that they need watering more often, water them more often. Your timer will thank you for giving it a job.
The only reason to use a highly absorbent medium is when you cannot look in on your op every day and need a failsafe in case of a pump/timer failure.
Hey Al I had one more question. I'm taking my first clones off my mums to determine their sex. When they are in the clonebox and eventually set root, can I just switch the flouros to 12/12 and sex them right in the clonebox?
You could, but remember that those plants which have been exposed to 12/12 won't be useful as replacement mums. There would be a very significant reveg time before they would grow in full veg mode. If they're female, there's your first batch to flower & harvest in 8 weeks' time.
Also should I hand water them flowering nutes at 1400ppm until they show sex then transplant the fems to my tables?
Handwatering is best for clones. They won't need any nutes until after they have roots, but once they do have a few roots, they will adore some food. They'll do OK on 1400 under HPS, but with fluoros, that might be a bit strong. Plants' nutrient requirements are lower under low light or lower temps. Keep it to about 700-800 while they're under the flos.
Also when I am shaking the excess presoak water out of the cubes how much should they weigh would you say, approx 20grams or so?
Yeppers, 40mm wrapped cubes weigh 5g dry and 20-25g when just 'damp.'
I tell ya one thing I'm deffinatally investing in a salad spinner after this batch!!
Poor you... bit o' the tennis elbow going there? I know that all too well...
I destroyed the plastic gears in my salad spinner some months ago. Had to run a bolt through the drive mechanism and put a couple of nuts on it, jammed against one another, so that I could drive the spinner with a cordless drill.
