This will be one of what I hope will be a series of posts about which methods work for me. I'll updated them as I learn from doing or from others, but everything here will be the results of my personal testing.
Cloning in Soil:
Day 1 -
Started with a cutting from growing mother plant. About 6" tall with about five nodes (leafsets).
Cloning in Soil:
Day 1 -
Started with a cutting from growing mother plant. About 6" tall with about five nodes (leafsets).
- Stripped - Pulled off all but the top three nodes.
- As I pulled them down, I tried to strip off the outer stem. I ended holding the removed leafset connected to what looked like a piece of thick dental floss a few inches long. This was discarded.
- The goal was to create a surface where roots would grow out from.
- Scraped - Razor scraped the bottom 1"
- Using a sharp and cleaned razor blade (cleaned with peroxide), I gently scraped off the top layer of the stem to expose the inner surface on the bottom one inch of the stem.
- Hint: Angle the blade so sharp edge is facing toward the top of the plant as you drag it down the stem. If you drag the blade toward the direction you are scraping (angled toward the bottom), you will catch and cut through the plant. (been there, dumb that)
- Rooting hormone - I rolled the stem through some Rootex gel spread onto a small dinner plate. Never dip them into the jar, as you can contaminate the entire container.
- Bury enough stem - I planted them far enough down to cover all of that scraped area and one full leafset that was not stripped (but was cut off blunt to about an eighth of an inch from the stem - basically crating a hump on the stem where that node used to be).
- Soil mix - I used FF Light Warrior soil, mixed six parts soil to one part vermiculite.
- I spayed in some distilled water as I mixed the 6:1 ratio, so the soil was moist but not clumpy wet.
- Trim leaves - I wait until the stem is buried before I trim the big leaves (really any full leaf). I just cut them in half width-wise, half way up the leaf so about the 50% of the original surface near the stem still remains.
- Distilled water only - I then water with one cup of distilled, closer to the stem since there are no roots at this point.
- Moisture dome - I use a clear plastic cup with a few small holes cut into the bottom (the part facing up as the cup is put upside down over the plant). Since the plant cant hydrate itself at this point, i want to minimize the lost of moisture through the leaves.
- Mist the cup - I'm not sure if this helps or makes me feel better, but I use a mister to spay water onto the inside surface of the cup to increase humidity. I will do this misting every few days for the first two weeks.
- This also helps me fight the urge to mist the leaves, which I also occasionally do but know it can cause problems.
