HopHead 1st Journal - Afghani - NL In Soil From 2007 Seeds - Harvested

[HopHead]

I've been busy mixing my soil for transplanting into 5 gal pots. I've added lime and took a pH reading - 6 - with the Kelway meter - accurate ?. I'll get better readings once my soil probe arrives. After switching the HPS for MH I noticed the growth slowed and a little stretching. So I put in a new MH bulb and things have picked up nicely. I have no idea how many hours are on the old bulb but I will keep track of this new one. The yellowing I experienced due to low pH is disappearing after adding lime and Abby and Nell are recovering from over watering. The 4 youngest plants (Adma, Nash, Adli and Nile) have benefitted from my earlier mistakes and are trying to catch up with the others. Starting to give off a nice aroma !! Looking forward to see how they fill out.

The Family of 9

Adma

Nash

Adli

Abby Recovering from being overwatered. Yellow leaves from low pH are greening.

Nell Recovering from being overwatered. Yellow leaves from low pH are greening.

Nile

Atly Picture taken just before transplanting from 6" to 12" (5 gal).

Ally

Noel

 

[HopHead]

So I got my pH probe and tested my soil that I mix and the soil in each pot. I also tested my well water and the water collected from my dehumidifiers. For soil testing I did not do a watering and test the water run-off. Rather, I just tested the soil as is. Therefore these soil tests are merely an indication and not an accurate reading. I found the drier the soil the higher the reading.

Well water - 5.9
Dehumidifier water - 6.9
My soil mix - 7.9
Abby - 8.1 (soil dry)
Adli - 6.6 (soil moist)
Ally - 7.9
Atly - 7.3
Adma - 8.1
Nell - 6.3
Nile - 7.8
Noel - 7.7
Nash - 8.0

Because the plants are all looking good to me I will not be adjusting the pH other than choosing which water I will use. The plants with high pH will be watered with well water which should lower the pH. The other plants that have the proper pH will be watered with dehumidifier water so that the pH doesn't lower any. I'll check the pH from time to time but I'll judge by the plant's appearance whether I should be concerned about the pH. Starting to get minimum temps of 10 - 11 Celsius at night. I expect the Afghanis won't mind but I'm looking at the NLs to see if they show signs of stress. Haven't detected anything yet.

Noel - colour and leaf shape - me thinks Northern Lights

Nile - darker green and wider leaf - me thinks Afghani

Nell - lighter green, fairly wide leaf, I almost drowned him/her - wait to see if leaves darken

Nash - dark green and wide leaf - Afghani I think

Atly - leaning towards NL I think

Ally - looks NL to me

Adma - looks Afghani to me

Adli - hmmmlooks like Afghani/NL to me

Abby - color and leaf shape - me thinks NL

Family of 9 - two more to repot into 12"/5 gal

So I've been researching Afghani, Northern Lights and Thai Sativa. My understanding is NL is an Indica prevalent cross between Afghani and Thai Sativa. At this stage my plans are developing for this grow. I plan on cloning the Family of 9 and then flipping to 12/12 to flower. I'm expecting half male half female so I'll cull the males and harvest bud from the girls.

Now for the clones. Should I pick strong looking Afghanis to breed for seeds or try and go after the Thai Sativa? That is my dilemma. If I go for Afghani seeds that will be straight forward. If I go for Thai Sativa then I probably would try growing them 13/11 to veg and 11/13 to flower. This grow would take me into warmer weather and higher temps which would jive with Sativa. I do have about 20 tiny seeds from 2007 which could very well be Sativa phenotypes. So I might be better off germinating those seeds in search of Thai Sativa. I think that will be a future grow journal. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

[HopHead]

Well things are developing. Yesterday I sat down and gave each plant a good look over with a 7x hand microscope to look for any pre flowers. And to my surprise I found some; 1 male for sure and 2 females I think. While looking I held a hot spotlight which I thought I was careful enough with but unfortunately I burnt 2 of the Family. I wasn't aware of any problem yesterday(no sign) but today it was obvious. Another lesson learnt at the expense of my plants. They are tolerating me but they must be pissed at least a little bit. Temperatures dip a little lower than I want to 11 C at night and a low of 16 C during the day. All other day temps are fine at 18 - 21 C and a usual 13-14 C at night. Humidity is pretty stable at 50-55%. One night the dehumidifier filled up and shut off and I found a 60% reading. It had rained for a few days outside so that probably won't happen again until spring. I believe the soil acidity is OK because the plants look good to me with very good colour. My MH bulb is verticle/base up and I find the efficiency sucks. I wish it was horizontal like my HPS which has way more light intensity. I'll probably have to research a bit and check to see if the bulb is universal; I think it is. Might have to get a different reflector or take a look to see if I can change it to horizontal. I'm starting to look around for another grow room so I can flower and veg because that time is coming. Also starting to plan my cloning. With the male showing he's in the mood I'm thinking I gotta make some choices.

Noel 50 days old (wow time flies), 10" tall, top and side views and the burn from me using a too hot light looking for pre flowers. Sex unknown so far.

Nile 38 days old, 8" tall, top view, I thought I had taken a side view but apparently not. I believe Nile is a she.

Nell 50 days old, 7.5" tall, top and side views. I believe Nell is a she.

Nash 30 days old, 4" tall, top and side views.

The Family of 9 soon to be 8. No males allowed.

Atly 50 days old, 13" tall, wins the prize for being the tallest, top and side views.

Ally 50 days old, didn't measure height because Ally is a male and is on his way out, top and side views and preflowers.

Adma 29 days old, 3.5" tall, top and side views.

Adli 37 days old, 7.5" tall, top and side views, and some leaf measurements, picked up the nickname Big Leaf. Male or female I'm strongly inclined to breed Adli. I wonder if Big Leaf means Big Bud. A very vigorous plant.

Abby 50 days old, 4.5" tall, top and side views showing burnt leaves from my too hot light searching for pre flowers. Abby has put up with a lot of my learning mistakes. Soilless growing medium with no nutrients, then acidic soil, then overwatering and now burning. Abby must hate my guts. Whatever sex Abby is I owe her/him time in the honeymoon suite.

So now I have to give some thought about my next move. Ally being a male is making me decide my next move and I have to do something soon. I'm going to breed Adli Big Leaf for sure; if male then I won't need another; if female then which male will I choose? I'll have to wait for them to show themselves. I want to clone all plants but they're not ready for that yet. I want to use the two bottom side stems for cloning and leave the rest of the plant natural. I'd like to compare their growth, shape, etc for selective breeding purposes. I'd like to eventually end up with strong vigorous typical Afghanis from seeds. I don't know a lot about breeding but I'm researching the subject. At this point my plan is to grow from my seed bank and select for traits I find desirable and breed them for seeds. This grow is short vigorous plants with big, wide, dark green leaves. Tomorrow I'll get to work preparing another grow room and maybe separate Ally until I can clone him. This is getting interesting for me.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

I agree you should keep Ally and clone him. Look at that plant structure. That is pretty awesome. I would make seeds with that guy for sure. Just pick off his pods.

 

[HopHead]

I agree you should keep Ally and clone him. Look at that plant structure. That is pretty awesome. I would make seeds with that guy for sure. Just pick off his pods.

Happy New Year Shiggy. Yea I agree; he's dense, short and compact and eager to propagate. I may take your advice and pinch off his pods or I may try to separate him from the rest (in a different room) and try collecting pollen until I have females ready to move in with him. I'm presently considering a couple rooms to flower them in. One is without heat and electricity but up on the 2nd floor where nobody would ever know. The other room is my brew room where I make wine and beer. It's on its own heating zone and I keep it at 20-22 C or 68-72 F day and night which is ideal for what I ferment. Not preferable for Cannabis; nights should cool off but it could do. Because I want to breed Afghani I'd like to try and replicate the conditions they originate from - cold mountainous regions of Afghanistan. Thinking the cold may bring out some colours as well which would be neat. So my 1st choice for flowering is upstairs where it's cold. I just set up a temp & humidity station to see if it's doable. If not then I will probably flower in the basement where they are now and veg in the brew room. Cheers.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

The cool thing is that you can put the male in the brewery at 12/12. And put the females in the regular flower room. I am about to do this with small female clones in 1/2 gallon pots. Then the male flowers, you bring the females in for one day and pollinate them in the brew room. Then bring the females back the next day to the regular flower room. And kill the male. The little female plants will allow you to have many different kinds and still end up with plenty of seeds. You can put them on the outskirts of the grow room since you don't care about bud structure. I will probably set mine on an overturned bucket so they get great side light alone the edge of the garden. They won't steal any light from the flowering sinsemilla girls. Win win.

 

[HopHead]

The cool thing is that you can put the male in the brewery at 12/12. And put the females in the regular flower room. I am about to do this with small female clones in 1/2 gallon pots. Then the male flowers, you bring the females in for one day and pollinate them in the brew room. Then bring the females back the next day to the regular flower room. And kill the male. The little female plants will allow you to have many different kinds and still end up with plenty of seeds. You can put them on the outskirts of the grow room since you don't care about bud structure. I will probably set mine on an overturned bucket so they get great side light alone the edge of the garden. They won't steal any light from the flowering sinsemilla girls. Win win.

Good idea. I would expect a few seeds from the sensimilla girls from wayward pollen though. Probably not enough to have too much of an affect. In 2007 I flowered 4 females and 3 males in a 3' x 5' x 6' high room. I would go in and shake the male stalks every few days. Man, it was like throwing a handful of flour in the air, pollen everywhere. I was surprised when the grow was over by the amount of pollen I had to sweep up. So when you return the pollinated girls to the sensimilla crowd I would expect pollen on the plant or you to get through. Another thing I would wonder about is if 1 day is enough. I don't know about the window when a female cannabis flower is ready for pollination. For example my experience with peppers and other garden veggies is that flowers have to be mature enough and not just in bloom. In my 2007 grow I left all 7 plants for the full duration and harvested over 2000 seeds. I'll be watching your journals to see how it works out.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

When you bring back the females into the regular flowering room (after about a day to sit after pollination)you mist them down with tap water really good to deactivate any pollen. Most will wash off from the misting and the tap water should help deactivate the pollen. I will make sure to post about this for sure as I will be doing it all very soon. New seeds for the new year.

 

[HopHead]

Today I cloned 5 plants that were of adequate size. I'll have to wait for the other 3 to grow side branches large enough to clone. Hopefully in about 2 weeks when these clones are ready to plant. The 1 male will not be cloned but will go into the flowering room when that room is ready. I have to install an electrical outlet because there is none in the room now. I've been monitoring the temp and humidity since Jan 1 and the temp ranges from 14 - 8 C. Humidity is 56 - 69 %. These readings are without any lights so I'll see what happens when I have lights on for 12 hours. A 430w HPS light should raise the temp during the day to 18 - 22 C I think. The humidity is too high for my liking so I'll see what happens when the light is on and plants are in there. A dehumidifier and or A/C may be necessary. We'll see. I'm hoping to start flowering this Friday the 15th. I will post pictures of the Family of 9 soon but today I'm posting a pic of the clones and a pic of my Cloning Record which I'm using to track the cloning process.

Today while taking clones I noticed Nile is looking male so I only took 2 clones. I took 3 clones from Noel, Atly, Nell and Adli. The last time I made clones was in 2007 when I did old school - perlite/vermiculite in a domed tray and hand sprayed daily. I had probably 50 - 60% success rate - not good. Looking back I think my problem was the cold environment of my basement. A heating pad would have helped I think. After researching I purchased a cloning machine and learned about scraping the stem. Looking forward to see how this cloning will go.
14 clones on Day 1

My Clone Record

The back of My Clone Record showing instructions. This is what I picked up from researching.

In the past I have cloned using rooting powder, gel and no rooting hormones; all with about a 50% success rate. So I'm going to follow the instructions noted above to see what happens.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

You will do great. I use a cloner and don't bother with cloned or peroxide. Consistently get 90%+ in about 7-12 days.

 

[HopHead]

You will do great. I use a cloner and don't bother with cloned or peroxide. Consistently get 90%+ in about 7-12 days.

Thanks Shiggy, You say you "don't bother with cloned or peroxide". Do you mean Clonex Solution ? Or Clonex Rooting Gel ? I know neither is necessary but the best roots on clones I've ever seen were grown following the instructions from my research. I think it was from a thread on this site. I used to clone with 24 hr lights but that always seemed unnatural to me so I'm going with 18/6. Just think plants should sleep.

Was pretty busy lately so I got behind on your Hunger Games Journal but I got caught up yesterday. Great looking harvest awaits you and fantastic trichome pics. Will check out your Hit the Brix Journal when I get a chance.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Thanks Shiggy, You say you "don't bother with cloned or peroxide". Do you mean Clonex Solution ? Or Clonex Rooting Gel ? I know neither is necessary but the best roots on clones I've ever seen were grown following the instructions from my research. I think it was from a thread on this site. I used to clone with 24 hr lights but that always seemed unnatural to me so I'm going with 18/6. Just think plants should sleep.

Was pretty busy lately so I got behind on your Hunger Games Journal but I got caught up yesterday. Great looking harvest awaits you and fantastic trichome pics. Will check out your Hit the Brix Journal when I get a chance.

All I put in the cloner is water. I have done it both ways and it didn't make any significant difference for me.

 

[HopHead]

Things are coming along nicely here. On Wednesday, 2 days after taking cuttings to clone I decided to move 6 plants into flowering. I haven't finished the flowering room yet so I commandeered a spare bedroom for the time being. Humidity seems to remain at 58% and temp so far is 16-17C during 12 hr daylight cycle and 12-13C at night. Today I got a peek at the first stigmas and couldn't help but notice the strong skunk aroma.
The 3 plants remaining in the veg grow room now have more elbow space er leaf space and hopefully will be ready to clone after the present cuttings have been planted in about 10 more days.

CLONES :
On day 2 (12th) I adjusted the pH which had climbed to 7.1 back down to the 5.7 - 5.9 range; actually 5.6 in anticipation of a further climb. Water temp is very stable at 20C, hasn't moved a degree since setup. I removed the dome for 1 hr 15 mins at which time I noticed a few leaves drooping. So I gave a little spray of water and replaced the dome.

On day 3 (13th) the pH rose to 5.9 which was fine. I removed the dome for 35 mins until I saw drooping then replaced the dome; no water spray. An hour and a half later I once again removed the dome for 55 mins. Noticed some drooping so replaced the dome. About 3 hrs later I removed the dome for the last time. No drooping since.

On day 4 (14th) the pH was 6.2 - 6.3 so I adjusted down to 5.8. I added 1/8 cup of Hydrogen Peroxide to kill any bacteria, pathogens, etc. I lowered the light, a single 24" 20w fluorescent t12, 1.5" so it is approx. 5" above the top leaves. I also fashioned a reflector shade out of aluminum foil.

On day 5 (today 15th) I adjusted pH from 6.0 to 5.8. Also noticed the first signs of roots. The leaves are very healthy looking; no sign of stress, a seemingly smooth transition so far. I will take some pics for my next update.

Most of these photos were taken on Jan 13 when I moved 6 plants into the flowering room. The exceptions are the photos of male and female flowers and preflowers which I took today. Of note is the sad demeanor of the 6 plants being moved to new digs. No, it's not because they didn't want to move. It's because they were in the dark, literally, for a few hours while I prepared the room, took photos, etc. They perked up when I checked the next morning.

Atly 64 days of veg, 17" tall, flipped to 12/12, sex unknown

Noel 64 days of veg, 15" tall, flipped to 12/12, female yeah!!! first sign of stigmas of any of The Family.

Adli 51 days of veg, 13" tall, flipped to 12/12, sex unknown

Nile 52 days of veg, 12" tall, flipped to 12/12, sex hmmm, maybe intersex, looks like both male and female flowers, you tell me.

male ?

female ?

Ally 64 days of veg, 11" tall, flipped to 12/12, definitely male, been picking off male flowers up until now. This flowering period is all his to enjoy. Any other males will be removed and composted. If the other males have characteristics I want to breed then their clones will get to have their own flower period. If they don't have characteristics I want to breed then the clones will also be composted.

Nell 64 days of veg, 11" tall, flipped to 12/12, maybe female, early stage and not the best picture but even up close with a magnifying glass very hard to know, should be come clearer in a few days.

6 of The Family of 9 flipped to 12/12 and enjoying the 430w HPS horizontal, way better than the vertical 400w MH

In the Veg Room
Nash 44 days of veg so far, 7.5" tall

Abby 64 days of veg so far, 7" tall

Adma 43 days of veg so far, 5.5" tall

3 of The Family of 9 still vegging

Good wishes to all.

 

[HopHead]

CLONES
Not sure what's wrong but I'm not seeing any roots. Actually it looks like maybe 1 or 2 are starting. It's day 10 and something is wrong. The water temp has been rock steady at 20C. I've kept the pH at 5.8 plus or minus 1. I thought I could detect the start of a root on Day 5.
Day 6 I had to add water because the top of the pump was out of the water so I took this to mean the cuttings were drinking. I also lowered the light 1/2". There was absolutely no signs of stress from the leaves.
On Day 7 I lowered the light 1.5" so it was 2.5" from the tops of the leaves.
On Day 8 I added water, 1.5ml Root Excelurator, 75ml Clonex Solution and another 20w 2' fluorescent light.
On Day 9 I added water.
On Day 10 I turned up the heat in the room 1-2 degrees C. I also raised the lights 1" because the leaves started showing signs of stress - bottom leaves turning yellow and drying.
Today Day 11 water temp was 21C (a 1 degree rise). I removed the light reflectors and raised the lights so they are 4" & 6" above the leaves. Lower leaves continuing to show stress.

I started off with the 1 20w 2' fluorescent light about 5" above the leaves. After 5 days the leaves looked perfect, however hardly any sign of roots. So I thought maybe more lighting is required. I started lowering, adding a reflector and then another light until I saw leaf stress at which point I started reducing light until I reach the sweet spot. Eventually I will get it right I hope. A learning experience for sure.

So this is the setup I'm using. This picture was taken on Day 6 when only 1 light was being used.

Day 6, 1 light and no leaf stress but no roots either.

Today, Day 11 and no roots visible. A closer look reveals a couple of roots starting.

FLOWERING
So cloning is disappointing but the Flower room is not. Plants have all stretched 3" in week 1 - Noel 4.5". Their thirst has increased as well. A few gnat flies are present so I only bottom water now. Should help to limit gnats as well as reduce any chance of mold. The top couple of inches of the soil is bone dry so the gnats will have to lay their eggs in the holes in the pot bottoms. I had yellow paper smeared with Tanglefoot in the Veg Grow Room but I don't think I'll need it here. We'll see.
Nile showed both male and female pre-flowers so off to the compost for Nile and it's clones. I could have waited to see stigmas to be sure of intersex but for me it didn't matter much because Nile didn't have attributes as a male for me to be interested in breeding him. These pictures were taken on Jan 16 before he/she was removed.

Atly is female showing her first stigma.

Adli is female showing emerging stigmas

Nell is showing female pre-flowers I think.

And here is 1 male and 4 females beginning the flowering cycle. Ally the only male is one lucky dude. He's the bushiest plant of them all - very dense. Will be interesting to see how he grows in the next couple of months. I wonder just how much he will stretch. I'll take a picture for the next posting.

VEG GROW ROOM
Not much change there with the three remaining plants. Haven't checked them yet today. Will do that next. Will post photos next update. The best to all.

 

[HopHead]

A short update on the clones. Today Day 14 I see very positive signs for the first time which I've photographed.

A little background. When I took the cuttings I scraped the stems and covered the entire stem from the cut tip to just under the Kloner collar with Cloning Gel. I'm now thinking this was wrong. I think it may be better to dip only the cut tip in the Gel. I'll be taking more cuttings from the 3 plants in the Veg Grow Room and I'll try different strategies with those cuttings to see what works best. Yesterday I cleaned any remaining Gel off the stems using a toothbrush. A couple of the stems had dead sections that I cut off. I cleaned the Kloner and added fresh water, Root Excelurator and Clonex Solution. The fresh water was warmed to 26C and today the temp was 23C which is the same as the room temp.

I'm now optimistic that I might get some cuttings to root successfully, albeit late. If I get 1 clone to root from each of the 4 females then this will be a success for me and will afford me the goal of sinsemilla girls. If it turns out that I have more males in the grow room that I want to breed then I will clone again.

So my thoughts about my next cloning is this.
1) Take cuttings, scrape stems, coat 1 cutting with gel on the cut tip, coat 1 cutting with gel over the entire scrape, and don't apply gel on the third cutting.
2) Use 1 light about 6" above the leaf tops for the first 3-4 days. At this point the dome should have be removed for a day or two and the second light will be turned on.
3) Very important - keep the water temp around 23C or higher.
4) Change the water after 7 days before adding the Root Excelurator and Clonex Solution. This will eliminate the need for Hydrogen Peroxide and provide a clean environment for the roots.

I expect these changes will have a very positive effect on my next cloning session. If my foibles help anyone besides me then it's all worthwhile. I'll be updating again in 3 days when the flowering plants have completed 2 weeks under 12/12.

Cheers

 

[HopHead]

Just a short but positive update. The good news is the clones are rooting quite well after a very slow start. After changing the water in the Kloner tub and keeping the temp at 23C roots have exploded. I planted 3 of the 12 clones yesterday after roots reached 1" in length. I planted the first clone before remembering to take pictures so I have 2 views of each of the other 2 clones. 3 more clones are getting close to the 1" length which will be photographed and planted hopefully tomorrow. I set the lights to 8" above the leaf tops and keep the pH in the 5.7 - 5.9. It appears to me the higher temp (20C raised to 23C) has made a huge difference. I'm very pleased with the recent results and can't wait to do the next batch of cuttings.

Here are a couple of pictures of Ally the lone male who's saying sweet nothings to the gals in the flower room. (The colors in the photo are misleading because of the HPS bulb. In reality all the plants are a healthy Afghani green. The older leaves very dark green with the newest leaves a noticeably lighter green.) He was 4.5" shorter a week ago and noticeably more dense than he is now. All the 5 plants in the flowering room have stretched 4 - 4.5" in the last seven days. Noel stretched 7.5" from 19.5 - 27" in the last week. Their thirst has increased as well. Not seeing many gnats now that I only bottom water. Temp in the flower room ranges from 12 - 16C at night and 17 - 21C during the day. Humidity is a little high for my liking at 53 - 63%.

Best wishes to all.

 

[HopHead]

Things are going well here. I hope the same is true for all members.
Clones
Today I planted the last 2 clones - Day 25 Whew! I planted the first 3 clones on Day 16. It took longer than I expected but all cuttings rooted and look healthy so I'm very pleased and looking forward to the next cloning. This was my first experience with a cloning machine and I learnt a few things that should help to reduce the time needed next time. When the roots reached 1" in length I sprinkled soil on the roots and gently planted them in 4" pots. Because of the long length of 1 of the stems it was planted in a 6" pot. They were then put on a heating mat 6-8" below fluorescent lights for 2-4 days in a room with daytime temp of 20C and nighttime temp of 15C. Then they were raised closer to the lights; about 2" without the benefit of the heating mat. Then they were moved to the grow room in the basement under the 400w MH at cooler temps. The water from the cloner is used when watering the clones. It has nutrients, hormones, etc that aide root development so it makes sense to use it instead of throwing it out.
Veg Room
Here is a picture of 8 of the clones in the veg room with the 3 remaining plants waiting to be cloned and then moved to the flowering room. The twig is a goji berry that was outside this winter and recently brought in to wake up from dormancy. Green is starting to emerge although it isn't visible in the picture.

Abby is 12" tall and 86 days old. I almost killed him from overwatering and stressed him because of my mistakes so he is stunted and behind schedule. The preflowers certainly appear male to me and I will take some pics of preflowers in my next post. I plan to flower him with the girls I cloned to get some seeds in the next flowering session which should be in about 4-5 weeks. I owe it to him after what he's been through and his genetics may turn out to be beneficial - stunted and resistant to overwatering ?

Adma is 13" tall and 66 days old and is looking female - pictures of preflowers in next posting.

Nash is 16" tall and 65 days old and looking female - pictures of preflowers in next posting.

Flowering Room
The following pictures were taken yesterday which was Day 22 since the flip to 12/12. 3 weeks down and I expect 4 more to go. I rotate the plants each day moving them from front to back and side to side. I'm not concerned about the varying distances to the light because this grow is primarily for seeds. It will also indicate to me what difference the distances to the light make to growth, colas, etc. I took measurements of the largest leaf of each plant for comparison and breeding purposes. The more data the better. I took a side picture and a picture of each future main cola. No fireworks yet but the first shiny crystals are beginning to appear on Noel. Her cuttings were the last to root in the cloner. Sorry for the washout from the light.

Ally is 29" tall. He stretched 10.5" in the last week and 18" in 3 weeks since the flip. Leaf length 165mm / width 34mm = 4.85 No pollen visible yet but should be soon.

Adli is 30" tall. She stretched 10" in the last week and 17" in 3 weeks. Leaf length 280mm / width 50mm = 5.6

Atly is 40.5" tall. She stretched 13.5" in the last week and 23.5" in 3 weeks. Leaf length 240mm / width 50mm = 4.8

Nell is 22" tall - this is misleading because she is bent growing in an arc (maybe a good candidate for SCROG). She stretched 4" in the last week and 11" in 3 weeks. Leaf length 205mm / width 50mm = 4.1

Noel is 37.5" tall. She stretched 10.5" in the last week and 22.5" in 3 weeks. Leaf length 220mm / width 40mm = 5.5

By the time I do a grow for bud exclusively (sensimilla) I hope to have an LED added to the 430w HPS. I'm looking at a USA made 1000w equivalent around $1200 CDN. That would make a big difference and allow me to flower 8 - 10 plants. At present the 430w is suited to 4 plants IMHO - 100w per plant.

Best wishes to all.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Flowering looks great! Here's a question for you. DO you have air stones in the cloning machine? I dont use any rooting product in my clone machine but I make sure there is a little bleach and also a large supply of air in the resevoir. Makes all the difference. Usually root in 7-14 days.

 

[HopHead]

Hi Shiggy, thanks. Yea, the flowering is coming along but I find it slow, but being 63 I am too. Congrats on your harvest. Didn't have time to check everything out but the buds look real tasty.

No, I don't have air stones at all. Not sure what benefit they would be in the cloner. I cover the pump with water leaving plenty of air in the reservoir, adding water as the cuttings drink. The roots never sit in the water but rather get misted continuously. So they have plenty of air and I don't know what benefit the air stones would afford. Being the first time for a cloning machine I tried different things and I think I have a good grasp on it now. I read a scientific paper years ago on rooting plants and the most important factor seemed to be temperature. Cold temperatures with every other variable being ideal resulted in little or no roots. When temperatures were raised root growth increased accordingly. That's why I like using a heating pad for seeds and transitioning the clones. In my situation nothing was happening at 20C but roots exploded at 23C. The downside of higher temps is the increased chance of pathogens so hydrogen peroxide was supposed to combat that. The peroxide would soon be H2O with no long term affect. In your case the bleach would eventually evaporate off I expect. What I ended up doing was to replace the water in the reservoir and that's what I plan to do in the future and not use the peroxide. I plan to replace the water after 7 days. As for the rooting gel - I'll be doing a comparison testing on my next cloning. 1st cutting with stem covered with rooting gel, 2nd cutting with just the cut tip dipped in gel and 3rd cutting with no gel. The 3 cuttings will be from the same plant. I know rooting hormones aren't necessary because I've had roots grow without it. But I think they help. A comparison test may provide proof one way or the other. If I do clones this summer I'll try water with willow soaked in it. Willow is supposed to have natural hormones. Another option I'm thinking about is aloe vera gel. I have a plant growing in the house and I'll probably try that in the future. I'm inclined to turn to nature rather than industry. The rooting solution I used fed the cuttings I believe because even after 24 days the leaves were nice and green. The lower set of leaves died off but the top canopy was perfect. A combination of the solution and having the lights about 8" above the leaves seemed to work very well. I tried less light and more light but found the 8" height with 2 - 20w 2' fluorescents the best. The last 3 clones to root were from Noel and were located in the first column on the left. I moved them to the center area after it was vacated. So I'm not sure if Noel was difficult to clone or if that area of the cloner is a kind of dead zone. I'll test that area out on my next cloning. I'm curious if you find your cloner has a dead zone?

One thing I did in this cloning was to scrape the stems. I had never done that before. At first I thought it didn't add anything but after the roots exploded I thought maybe it makes a big difference. Instead of the roots emerging from just the nodes they were seemingly splitting the stem between the nodes.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

My cloner works the same way. A manifold on a pump with misters. I have seen a big difference in efficiency when I don't use the air pump. I know it sounds crazy because you would think the misters would oxygenate the air sufficiently. My thought though is that the air goes stale in the cloner without the influx of new air from the air stones.