wardo
New Member
Here is some info. I sent to my brother, give it a read and let me know what you think. Just remember that I am new HERE not new.
I am going to write this as if you are a first timer who wants to do production growing. You will want to save this series of emails in a folder for easy reference.
Ok well clones first. Cloning is an easy way to propagate a large amount of plants in a fairly small space. First off, you germinate your seeds a day before the full moon. This is not hocus pocus this is tried and tested fact. To germinate seeds you will want a reasonable sized flat plastic container that will allow at least 1" of space between all sides and each other. Dampen a paper towel and fold it so that it evenly fits the bottom of the container. Place your seeds evenly spaced on the paper towel. Place another damp paper towel on top of the seeds and lightly press it down to make contact with the seeds. Place the lid on the plastic container and put it in a warm (76-86 degrees) dark place and wait 2 days.
When you go back and open your plastic container you will see that 80-90% of your seeds have sprouted, ranging in size from a cracked seed to a sprout an inch or longer. Now you want paper cups, preferably the non waxed type, the cheaper the better. You will also want some high quality potting soil. I recommend FoxFarm Ocean Forest Blend potting soil or comparable in quality. Don't skimp on your dirt, it is what the plant eats! Fill your paper cups 3/4 full with lightly packed dirt. Then place 1 sprout in each cup leaving only the green portion of the sprout above the dirt. Place the sprouts in a vegetative lighting cycle (more than 14 hours of light a day) for 14 days.
After veging your plants you want to sex them. To do this you have to tell the plant it is time to flower. Place the plants in a flowering light cycle (12 hours a day) until they start to flower. The males will show first, tiny little bright yellow flowers will appear. These plants need to be isolated from the other plants. Unless you are reseeding, which will be discussed later, you will typically discard the male plants. The females tend to show 3-5 days later and will have small white hairs at the intersection of the main stalk and the branches. Usually the females will show at their tops first.
The remaining female plants at this point are going to become your mothers. A mother is a plant that you keep in a vegetative light cycle and you take cuttings from it to make clones. Mother plants can be kept for years. There are two main schools of thought on how long you can keep a mother plant. Some say that after one and a half to two years the "DNA" starts to deteriorate, others I know have plants they have kept for upwards of 10 years. You will develop your own beliefs and techniques as you gain your own experience with mother plants.
Mother plants take a certain kind of care to achieve maximum branching to produce larger amounts of clone material. After the top of the plant has developed 3 branches you will see a tiny sprout in the tip of the plant. Gently pinch and remove the tiny tip to force it to produce 2 tops. After the two new tops develop three sets of branches you will again remove the tiny sprouts at the tops. Diligently continue this process throughout the mother plants lifespan. If you have height limitations in your growing space you can cut the top of your mother for your first batch of clones. When you take clone material off of a plant, you don't want to take more than 30% of the leaf matter to prevent from shocking it or possibly killing it.
Now you finally get to propagate a clone. Clones are small cuttings from one plant that are nurtured into developing roots. There are many ways to do this, many devices and products are available to make it easier and faster. I will just give you the cheap basic home cloning procedure. You first select what portion of the plant you want to cut for cloning; you want at least 1 branch on each cutting preferably 2. When you cut your clones be sure these cuts are on an angle to provide more surface area for the cutting to absorb moisture through. There should be many small intersects on the mother plant where it has branched from being pinched back frequently and previously cut for clones. After you take a cutting you want to treat it with some type of root hormone. There are many on the market you can use or you can use vitamin-E oil or water in a bucket of soaking willow branches if you want to go the natural route. The one thing to remember is that less is more when it comes to root hormones and nutrients. If you can see it on the cut end then you have too much. Too much root hormone can cause a large callus type ball to appear on the bottom of the cutting. Gently dip the cut end of the plant in your rooting hormone wipe off any excess if necessary then, place the cut end in a root medium.
Root mediums range in type from rockwool, lava pellets, soil blocks or bags, to paper cups full of pearlite with holes for drainage. At this point, the root medium only acts as a support and moisture source for the cutting. You will develop your own preference of root medium as you develop your own style of growing. You want the root medium in a plastic tray to control water and allow you to move and cultivate your plants more efficiently. A clear plastic or lexan lid will help greatly to maintain a higher level of humidity for your clones.
To be continued...
I am going to write this as if you are a first timer who wants to do production growing. You will want to save this series of emails in a folder for easy reference.
Ok well clones first. Cloning is an easy way to propagate a large amount of plants in a fairly small space. First off, you germinate your seeds a day before the full moon. This is not hocus pocus this is tried and tested fact. To germinate seeds you will want a reasonable sized flat plastic container that will allow at least 1" of space between all sides and each other. Dampen a paper towel and fold it so that it evenly fits the bottom of the container. Place your seeds evenly spaced on the paper towel. Place another damp paper towel on top of the seeds and lightly press it down to make contact with the seeds. Place the lid on the plastic container and put it in a warm (76-86 degrees) dark place and wait 2 days.
When you go back and open your plastic container you will see that 80-90% of your seeds have sprouted, ranging in size from a cracked seed to a sprout an inch or longer. Now you want paper cups, preferably the non waxed type, the cheaper the better. You will also want some high quality potting soil. I recommend FoxFarm Ocean Forest Blend potting soil or comparable in quality. Don't skimp on your dirt, it is what the plant eats! Fill your paper cups 3/4 full with lightly packed dirt. Then place 1 sprout in each cup leaving only the green portion of the sprout above the dirt. Place the sprouts in a vegetative lighting cycle (more than 14 hours of light a day) for 14 days.
After veging your plants you want to sex them. To do this you have to tell the plant it is time to flower. Place the plants in a flowering light cycle (12 hours a day) until they start to flower. The males will show first, tiny little bright yellow flowers will appear. These plants need to be isolated from the other plants. Unless you are reseeding, which will be discussed later, you will typically discard the male plants. The females tend to show 3-5 days later and will have small white hairs at the intersection of the main stalk and the branches. Usually the females will show at their tops first.
The remaining female plants at this point are going to become your mothers. A mother is a plant that you keep in a vegetative light cycle and you take cuttings from it to make clones. Mother plants can be kept for years. There are two main schools of thought on how long you can keep a mother plant. Some say that after one and a half to two years the "DNA" starts to deteriorate, others I know have plants they have kept for upwards of 10 years. You will develop your own beliefs and techniques as you gain your own experience with mother plants.
Mother plants take a certain kind of care to achieve maximum branching to produce larger amounts of clone material. After the top of the plant has developed 3 branches you will see a tiny sprout in the tip of the plant. Gently pinch and remove the tiny tip to force it to produce 2 tops. After the two new tops develop three sets of branches you will again remove the tiny sprouts at the tops. Diligently continue this process throughout the mother plants lifespan. If you have height limitations in your growing space you can cut the top of your mother for your first batch of clones. When you take clone material off of a plant, you don't want to take more than 30% of the leaf matter to prevent from shocking it or possibly killing it.
Now you finally get to propagate a clone. Clones are small cuttings from one plant that are nurtured into developing roots. There are many ways to do this, many devices and products are available to make it easier and faster. I will just give you the cheap basic home cloning procedure. You first select what portion of the plant you want to cut for cloning; you want at least 1 branch on each cutting preferably 2. When you cut your clones be sure these cuts are on an angle to provide more surface area for the cutting to absorb moisture through. There should be many small intersects on the mother plant where it has branched from being pinched back frequently and previously cut for clones. After you take a cutting you want to treat it with some type of root hormone. There are many on the market you can use or you can use vitamin-E oil or water in a bucket of soaking willow branches if you want to go the natural route. The one thing to remember is that less is more when it comes to root hormones and nutrients. If you can see it on the cut end then you have too much. Too much root hormone can cause a large callus type ball to appear on the bottom of the cutting. Gently dip the cut end of the plant in your rooting hormone wipe off any excess if necessary then, place the cut end in a root medium.
Root mediums range in type from rockwool, lava pellets, soil blocks or bags, to paper cups full of pearlite with holes for drainage. At this point, the root medium only acts as a support and moisture source for the cutting. You will develop your own preference of root medium as you develop your own style of growing. You want the root medium in a plastic tray to control water and allow you to move and cultivate your plants more efficiently. A clear plastic or lexan lid will help greatly to maintain a higher level of humidity for your clones.
To be continued...
