Big Clones.....and air layers.....

[expealadocious]

Trout I always laugh at the plant limit idea...like uh... monster plants it is then...ok.

I started my first ai layer clone about a week ago. its like a 2 foot branch. excited for the idea to rock. I have a feeling it will

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Is putting an air layered transplant in a humidity dome or chamber completely necessary or will they survive just going straight into veg?

I have done both and they survived. My RH was around 50%. I think if it is less than that you may have problems.

I would just keep a eye on it for a day or two. If it starts to wilt just put it in a shaded area and put a clear plastic bag over it.

 

[Grow Tech]

I love air layering!
This clone went straight in to a beer cup no dome. It could have stayed on the plant longer but it has survived no problem

 

[Budley Doright]

Is putting an air layered transplant in a humidity dome or chamber completely necessary or will they survive just going straight into veg?

Nothing fancy required.....

just throw a meijer bag over the top of the plant.... 1 or 2 days max.....

check for wilting...

 

[StankyBeamer]

Thank you guys. Now I just gotta figure out what I wanna use as a medium, coco is drying out way too fast for air payering

 

[expealadocious]

Is putting an air layered transplant in a humidity dome or chamber completely necessary or will they survive just going straight into veg?

Roots. The rule of thumb is roots brother. A plant may survive without them depending on ambient RH but with one single root a cutting will survive in any RH.
The more roots prior to work time the better of course. They head start better and faster before they start working (light/food)

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Thank you guys. Now I just gotta figure out what I wanna use as a medium, coco is drying out way too fast for air payering

You can water it, I do.

 

[Budley Doright]

Thank you guys. Now I just gotta figure out what I wanna use as a medium, coco is drying out way too fast for air payering

Thats one of the properties of vermiculite....

Vermiculite is the difference in promix bx.....vs

promix hp....high porosity.....

I use vermiculite exclusively for normal cloning....

 

[StankyBeamer]

You can water it, I do.

I can't seem to water it enough to keep it from drying out, it ends up getting salt buildup cuz idk how to flush a puck of coco wrapped around a branch lol

 

[gh0st9]

Sorry if it's already posted in the thread... Whodatis told me to check out airlayering finally getting around to it. Question: how big can I air layer and how fast does it root? Last round of cloning in rw cubes I was averaging 12"+ my biggest being a 17" clone rooted in 10 days fully rooted system within 2 weeks... Cuts down on lead time for sure... If i can airlayer and reduce footspace for clones then that means more room for vegging plants-and I could always use more room

 

[Unclecrash]

I can't seem to water it enough to keep it from drying out, it ends up getting salt buildup cuz idk how to flush a puck of coco wrapped around a branch lol

I use a syringe for medical a big one 70ml. You could get one from a nute store. Or steal mthe old lady's baster

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Sorry if it's already posted in the thread... Whodatis told me to check out airlayering finally getting around to it. Question: how big can I air layer and how fast does it root? Last round of cloning in rw cubes I was averaging 12"+ my biggest being a 17" clone rooted in 10 days fully rooted system within 2 weeks... Cuts down on lead time for sure... If i can airlayer and reduce footspace for clones then that means more room for vegging plants-and I could always use more room

I air layer around 18 to 20 inches. I have some that came out around 26 to 27 inches. I have a friend who has done one at about 36 inches. Here is one of them.



I have had roots that showed in 6 or 7 days and up to about 15 days. It all depends on the strain as to how long.

The real benefit is plant count. If I cut a plant and clone it both the mother and the cutting count as a plant where I am at. If I root the clone still attached to the mother it counts as one plant till it is cut free. Then the mother and the clone now count and I have two plants.

This means that if I know my harvest date I can have a clone ready to be cut free when harvest is over. I completely utilize my plant count with no gaps while still staying legal.

Earlier in this thread I show a plant that I cut off the mother at ten days from the start of cloning. 41 days after I started cloning it was 3 feet wide and 3.5 feet tall. Pictures are posted so you can see for yourself.

 

[StankyBeamer]

I got a couple extra 100 cc syringes I use to mix up my res, I'll give it a shot, thanks for the tip. I think I'm gonna go with the peat pucks wrapped in cellophane posted earlier. Seems like it would be the best for moisture retention. I felt so stupid, I killed my only cherry pie mom trying to air layer it to save it from the pythium the gnats gave it this summer. The coco got dry and salty, twice a day watering wasn't keeping it moist enough. I love the idea of starting with plants big enough to flip, straight from cuttings. Lotta respect for budley and ich for sharing so much knowledge on the air layers.

I thought in michigan cuttings only count once they root? I had cops in my house because of my ex calling them on me, I was up to plant count without the cuts, and they said the dome full didn't count unless they had roots.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I can't seem to water it enough to keep it from drying out, it ends up getting salt buildup cuz idk how to flush a puck of coco wrapped around a branch lol

How long were you cloning it for? If it is getting salt build up maybe it did not take? Or you need to reduce your nutes. It does not need hardly any nutes because the mom is feeding it. I use about 0.5 EC to feed mine.

 

[StankyBeamer]

There's my problem. I tried coco and a rockwool cube on two seperate branches on the cherry pie. Had never flowered or cloned jt, it was sick because of the gnats that always manage to go crazy around july/august in my rooms every year. I soak my rockwool in a gallon with 4ml gh flora micro, 6ml gh flora bloom, and 1ml superthrive ph'd to 5.5. That mix ends up at a 1.0-1.2 ec depending on the condition of my filters, probably was too hot and the plant wasn't in great condition.

 

[Ichabod Crane]

Try dropping that to 0.5 EC. If that dont work try just water the first couple times.

 

[StankyBeamer]

Gracias. I've got a few plants that are a bit too big with no room in flower. I'm gonna play with air layering on them to see if I can buy some time without breaking plant count making a couple air layers out of the big gals

 

[Budley Doright]

Just as sort of an fyi..... I did an air layer ...... it rooted but I just put the plant into flower without removing the clone....

I did not water the clone for the 10 weeks of flower...... the plant flowered normally as far as I could tell..... the rooted air layer seemed to have no effect on that branch flowering normally.....the rapid rooter had dried.... the roots as well......

I will be posting some new different technique in the next few days.....

Stay tuned....

 

[Budley Doright]

I thought in michigan cuttings only count once they root? I had cops in my house because of my ex calling them on me, I was up to plant count without the cuts, and they said the dome full didn't count unless they had roots.

I was looking at the michigan law in this regard....I was satisfied that a cutting becomes a plant when 2 things occur....

1. it has roots...

2. its cut from the mother plant.....

So a cutting with a small root is a plant ...by my reading.....

An air layer fails on the second requirement ....so it does not become a plant until its cut from the mother.... or never

 

[Eighths-n-Aces]

there are only two branches that i didn't air layer on the plant and its only because they were too small.

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I suspect if you had done the other 2 branches your plant would have died.....

In post 90 I airlayered the last remaining branch and the plant quickly died.....

Here is what I said when I started the experiment...


==================================

It could die...... the roots of this plant no longer have food coming down the cambium....on its last branch.......

it may die....... I expect It might actually......but its truly an experiment on the basic science of air layering.....

Ive got some moms cooking....and they should be ready for some work....shortly after this experiment in 54 concludes....

If anyone has an opinion if this limb will die love to hear it.....

Im giving it 50\50 it will die in the 21 days of the experiment.....

========================================


The plant died within a few days.....

In your case if you airlayer and ring all the limbs....none of the branches can feed the roots....and the plant will die.....

Leaving those 2 branches was an excellent idea....

Since I only did one experiment..... its not exactly proof ..... but I think you need at least some growth that hasnt been air layered to feed the roots....

good information, thanks!

question: did you notice any difference in the plant before you ringed the last branch and it died? mine wilted on all the ringed branches just like i expected it to do but when it recovered and all the leaves perked back up again all the stem /branches were and still are very rigid while the small branches i didn't mess with are normal. the plant looks fine and seems to be doing great but the air layers all seem to have kept some of the wilted shapes they had when they were trying to recover and they're stiff/rigid ...... almost seems frozen, but without any other damage or negative effects.

i didn't notice this the last time i tried air layering, but to be honest i really wasn't paying close attention last time.

is this a pretty standard response ? did i do something wrong/different? do different strains make any difference at all?