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Endless sky 400w DWC

Illadelph

Member
Want to take some clones tonight.

My cab has a clone chamber in the top of it. The cab is a steel cabinet like you would see in someones basement or garage, and there is a shelf in the top with a dome thingy for clones, and a 15w floro.

My question is, since i'm on 12/12 now, will light leaking down through the crack between the shelf and the door (1/4 to 1/2 inch) effect the plants down below the shelf that are in bloom. Because the 15w floro stays on 24/7 for the clones, but the HPS is goes off for 12 hours for the plants. I'm not sure how much light leaks down, or if it directly shines on the plants, probably not, but i just want to make sure that such a small amount of light won't upset my dark period in my 12/12 cycle.

(or, to put it simply, do the plants need 12 hours of total darkness, or is just "a lot darker than it is with the main light on" good enough?)

Also, i was going to take the clones one at a time, so that i dont get them all mixed up from which plant they came from. If i am dipping a clone into the root growth hormone (i have olivias cloning gel) right after cutting it, do I still have to put it in water first to prevent air bubbles in the vascular tissue? If so, how long does it need to stay in the water for? Using peat plugs and a humidity dome. Any other tips or pointers before i get to cutting are entirely welcome.

Also, Will two new bud sites grow from where I take the cutting? or is it too late in the plants cycle for that since i already switched the lights?

Update: 5 days later

I put weather stripping in the mentioned gap, see picture below. Also, included a picture of the cloning chamber to fit the description.


 
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FreezerBoy

Was blind but now IC Puckbunny in Training
Veteran
While things may not need to be light tight, I'd shoot for it. I once flowered in a walk in closet. I'd try to remember to throw a towel over the space between door and floor but, would often forget. I had no herm trouble but, may have simply been lucky.

While I feel the embulism thing is over-hyped, no sense in looking for trouble. When cutting, make each cut an inch longer than you need. Drop each cutting into a bucket of water until all cuts from ONE plant are taken. Take the bucket to your work station, pull out a cut, cut off the bottom (extra) inch, gel and cube. Personally, I soak each stem in full strength Hormex (liquid B1) between the cut and gel portion of the program.

I mark my donors and their cuts with colored toothpicks. If anything males on me, I just cull everything with that color. Dome was killing my cuts so I trashed it. Since then, I haven't lost a clone in years. I just keep my cuts short and leaves trimmed so the dangerously high humidity levels domes cause aren't needed.

P.S. Cloning is pure Voodoo. What works for you may wipe me out and vice versa. Keep trying stuff till it works. NEVER GIVE UP.
 

Illadelph

Member
Where do i get that liquit B1? hydro store, or is it a household item?

How long should a cut be?

I dont think my cuts will need a bucket, A dixie cup might even be big enough. Just the cut end needs to be submerged right?

I was only planning on taking 1 cut per plant, there aren't that many bud sites on each one, even though they are real tall.

Do you suggest I don't use a dome? or leave the vents on the top of the dome open, or partially open?

I def need to get some clones going just so that I can let the females grow taller, because when i start from seed, the males get so huge the crowd out the females, and the males get so big, i have to switch to flower before the females get to the height I want them for fear of running out of room.

FreezerBoy, once again, thanks for all the help.
 
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FreezerBoy

Was blind but now IC Puckbunny in Training
Veteran
B1 and IBA (indolebutyric acid) are found in a wide variety of cloning / hormone liquids. I'm sure any will do as well as Hormex. I like Hormex because I can usually find it at garden shops outside the hydro/cannabis arena.



I cut stems from the plant at the 4th internode (or well below the third) I remove leaves from the third and that's where I make my 45º cut, soak in Hormex, gel and cube.




I like small cuts, some like large cuts. I believe the larger the cut, the greater need for domes because unrooted cuts have no roots to support themselves and transpire water up the stem to the leaves. HAVE A DOME HANDY but, see if you can't do without. Drooping by the plants indicates danger. For a while I'd give each plant two drops of water on the growing tip. Once when they went into the cube and again 12 hours later. I don't bother anymore.



You can easily make a dome by cutting a 2 liter soda bottle in two. If you use the top part, you can use the spout as a vent (and the cap to close it if you want) Use the bottom and you can just poke holes at will. It's an old soda bottle, who cares?



For the water, I use GH Flora Micro and Flora Bloom @1/4 tsp per gal each, pH down and a couple drops of Hormex.

Most important, if this gives you any trouble, SCREW ME and try another way. I won't be offended because, I'm serious about the Voodoo crack. You can sort of see I'm using a variation of bubble cloner. I could NEVER get it to work with naked stems as it was designed. Lost EVERYTHING I ever put in there. Combining it with Rockwool, Hormex and Olivia's Cloning Gel, I can't kill a clone to save my life. Yet many here would say you never put anything into a bubble cloner except naked stems and plain water.

Whatever leaves you with rooted clones is the right way to do it.
 

Illadelph

Member
I see, thanks for all the info. I don't have one of those bubbler cloner things readily made, so i'm gunna try a peat plug under a dome for my first attempted method, if i dont have any luck with that i'll try the bubbler next.

What is a good medium to use for mothers? I struggle with soil ever more than i struggle with DWC, but i have 5 bag seeds from some jack herer that I want to plant and get a female to use as a mother. I was just going to set em under a shop light with two T40s in it or something. (its hanging from the ceiling, i wasn't going to bother lowering it down to the plants, if that is necessary, i'd rather just try something else. I have a shotty box that I rigged witha fan and 4 23w CFLs, but I can't get the door to stay shut on it so I kinda abandoned that project. But anyway, the question is what medium should i use for a mother? some special soil from the dro store? or coco coir or what? Also, what size pots should I use for em? should i Start in a small one and transplant it?

Sorry to bore you with such fundamentals. I am plagued by uncertainty.

My Lights are off right now but later on I'll upload some pics of the cloneing dome i mentioned. In the mean time box project that I abandoned.






Worked on the Mother Box a little today, Adding in 4 more CFLs. The main problem that remains is the door. Its hard to get it light proof around the edges because this Ikea type laminated particle board sucks. The corners aren't perfect right angles so its kinda skewed, Then there is the whole problem of the hinges, and fastening mechanism. Hopefully in time, it will come together. I'll have to find some way to stiffen up those drawer faces I put together because as a door they flex too much.

Here are some Pics of the new lights i put in

unfortunately the four light bulbs against the back wall have to be 2300K or whatever the bloom ones are, because thats what I originally had in there, and when i went and got the ones for veg 5500k or whatever, they have one more coil than the others, so they won't fit in the back, but i have them in the front.

Who ever said that those things don't give off heat need to guess again. I was sweating just standing infront of them. Does anyone think this could be a fire hazard, the bulbs aren't touching any of the wood, but they come within 1/4 of an inch.

shot of box with better camera (the one above was taken with a camera phone


 
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Illadelph

Member
SEE PREVIOUS POST FOR UPDATES AND PICS

FreezerBoy - as always, thanks for the advice.

put together this little bubble cloner today that i saw the design for in a thread by thunderkel. I want to take some cuts tonight, two per plant (yikes! killing my yeild) and try both methods. Still no pic of my dome because my lights are still off.

for this bubbler, should I use just strait distilled water, or should I add in a little root juice too. I wan't able to get any hormex today, but i have some root juice.






Got some weather stripping to try to block out the light from the crack between the front of the shelf and the doors of my cab that i was talking about earlier, hopefully that will help. (the top shelf is where the cloneing chamber goes) check back for pics.


Also, last night i was pulling some dead leaves off the bottoms of the plants and i snapped a branch off. It was about a minute before decided I would break it off compelely and put it in water to see if i could get it to root, I'm gunna put it in a starter plug tonight. I dont know if that one minute before i got it in the water was enough for emulsion to occur, any thoughts on that?

Is it harder to get cuttings taken from the very bottom of the plant to root?
I think the reason why its so small is because I cut that branch off when it was still a seedling, and it grew back, not sure though.

Will the branches i cut off the plant tonight grow back and form buds? or is it too late in the plants life for that to happen?

Also, i tied back the bigger plants (suspected males) to let the smaller ones (suspected females) get some more light. Check back late tonight for pics.
 
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FreezerBoy

Was blind but now IC Puckbunny in Training
Veteran
Illadelph said:
(yikes! killing my yeild)
LOL. Sucks the first time, don't it? It's OK. Really, it's for the best. (pats Illadelph on the shoulder reassuringly)

Supposedly, all you need to do with that bubbler is add cuts. Many here swear by them.

I take all my cuts as low as possible. Generally lower stems have the smallest buds so they represent the smallest loss of yield.

Consider LST on the Mom. The growing tip sends a message to the rest of the plant to "get behind me and stay there" The plant obeys. Cut the tip off and the next two take over, send the same message and the plant obeys. BUT, if you bend the tip over like a candy cane (twist ties work great to secure the stem to itself) something happens to the signal. The plant hears "I've fallen and can't get up." Now EVERY stem thinks it's the boss and will try to outgrow the others.

This will leave Mom looking twisted but, the increase in sideshoot growth gives you more cuts to play with.



The above looks like your exhaust is twice the size of your intake. If true, you'll want to reverse this. Not by decreasing the exhaust or switching ports but by expanding the intake to at least match if not triple the exhaust area. 2X exhaust is the standard starting point for passive intakes. I cooled my 150 HPS with a 4" axial and a single 4" intake. Upgrading to a 250 CMH put temps through the roof. Adding a second 4" intake cured my problem.

Heres a great link by NanoScroger from the "math of small holes" thread

NanoScroger said:
i think 3x the exhaust port is generally accepted for passive intake...
passive intake calculator
 

Thundurkel

Just Call me Urkle!!
Veteran
Sick bro I like that bubble cloner you got there :headbange glad I inspired somebody with my version... Yea man all you need is plain water, root juice may help but from everything I've read you just need good ol tap water and keep the water temp at around 75 - 80.. Nice cab by the way :rasta:
 

FreezerBoy

Was blind but now IC Puckbunny in Training
Veteran
I prefer a dilute nute solution. Many say none. But, distilled is fully devoid of anything useful. If your water is THAT hard, maybe try a 50/50 split.
 

Illadelph

Member
Thats a good ass idea freezerboy.

I have had the worst fuckin 2 days. My power was out for like 48 hours, no air pumps, no lights, nothing. Not to mention not having electricity in the whole rest of the house, no alarm clock no cell phone charger no fridge ect. Anyway, because of that, i didnt get to take any clones yet.

plus a bunch of other things went wrong with work and the rest of my life, but I'm grateful for the things that are going my way.

Some fucking shit going on with my plants, brown spots on leaves, and maybe even a little brown goo or something. I havn't checked the infirmary yet but i know i've seen this condition on there before. Brown spots on like random edges of the leaves. If anyone wants to save me some time. I'll upload pics later.

To be honest, i'm not really in an gardening mood tonight, because of the shitty week and there are so many other things that i have to do now that i have power again.

Sorry to be a debby downer, I'll be back to my normal self tomorrow i'm sure.

Any comments or input what effects the lights and pumps and fans being off for a good 2 days might have on the plants? Especially, during the first week of flower before they have even shown sex? I didnt' turn the lights back on right away, i'm waiting for the normal time, so that i can stick to my schedule.

Thanks freezerboy and everyone else for all the help and participation. i coudlnt' have a thread without it, not to mention success gardening, so thanks for helping out. Wish i could offer something in return.

Not to mention, thank you everyone for listening.
 

Illadelph

Member
Ok, so my disorder/difficientcy (the brown spots on the leaves) are a little different that I originally described. Sorry, i was looking at them in the dark with a mini maglite.

anyway, here some pics. It is starting from the bottom of the plant and moving up






















Now, keep in mind, my lights and air pump was off for atleast 48hrs, I dont know if that has anything to do with it.

~1500ppms PH ~6.0 Res Temp ~74F Airtemps ~82

also, i have this little clone that snapped off a plant about 5 days ago, that has just been chillin in the dixie cup with distilled water the whole time. It also had to go without lights for two days, You think it will root? It has one or two very small brown spots on the edge of a leaf, but other than that, looks pretty healthy as far as i can tell. Fuck it, might as well try. Might try to finally take those clones tonight.

Expect more pics too, specifically of my setup, the cloning dome I have mentioned, and the shelf it sits on. Not that anyone cares, but just because I said last week I was going to put up pics of em so that you can see what i'm talking about. Maybe I'll just edit them into the post which reffers to them.

Thats all folks!



 

Illadelph

Member
any ideas about the brown spots on the leaves? You think I shouldn't take clones tonight because the donors aren't in perfect health?
 

algrow12

Member
I would flush the res for one day with tap water and then I think you said you got the florabloom just add 8ml to a gallon and if you got the sm90 I would really put it in there at 5ml a gal did you put the other air pump in or not ?
 

Illadelph

Member
algrow

When I changed the res a week ago for the switch to bloom, I added florabloom in that amount, SM90 in that amount, and the Florolicous micronutes and calmag in the ratios given on the bottle. I think I might have added a little more cal mag and florobloom a few days later, but i think it was only 5ml each. How many PPM's total do you think I should be at? Can I just exchange for new water in that amount?

This is sounding like a problem that won't work itself out on its own, is that right?

What's up with all the tap water? I thought tap water was bad? and thats why i've been using distilled. I have hard water, according to a test i was told to do a long time ago measuring the ppms of my tap water, they were i think at like 300 or something and i think the test said if it was over 250 there are too many minerals and chlorine and florine to use it.

So what do you think it is? Burn? indicating by the advice to flush?

I took some clones, i'm about to upload the pics

also, here is the URL to my recent thread in the infirmary, so we can all be on the same page and shit, if anyone is interested.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=1903671#post1903671
 
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Illadelph

Member
Here is the "cloning chamber" portion of my cab.



this is where i put the weather stripping between the shelf and the door to fill the gap that i was talking about a few pages back.



Pretty basic but thats how i like it. I'm not sure it was necessary, but like freezerboy said, might as well.


Took some clones tonight. I have the donors labeled like this.

5678
1234

5-8 are suspected males (bigger)
1-4 are suspected females (smaller)

Plants 1 and 3 didn't have many clones on them, only very small ones, so I didn't take any off of them, but might if they become more developed before the plant shows sex.

I am trying both methods of cloning, I have 1 cutting from each donor in both methods. I have 2 cuttings from plant #2 in the bubble cloner, because i put that one in that I had in the dixie cup, plus a fresh one, see here




I only cut the tips of the leaves off of the bigger cuttings. I could put another tuperwhere on top of this one for a humidity dome, what do you guys think?

I mixed tap water with distilled water for the bubbler, I don't know what ratio, roughly 50/50. I Added about 7 dropps of that root juice I mentioned (it said 1 once/gallon, so i just played it conservative) The bubble cloner will sit on the work bench under the 2x T-40 work light, which is hanging from the ceiling about 3 or 4 feet above.

EDIT: I moved the bubble cloner into the "cloning chamber" shelf of the cab, next too the cloning tray i'm using for the other method.


Who thinks I should put another tuperware on top as a humidity dome?


The second method is the one that came with the cab. I took cuttings, dipped em in olivia's cloning gel, put em in the cloning tray, which i filled with distilled water until it came up to the bottom of the holes for the peat plugs. Added 7 dropps of root juice. Cut tips of leaves from bigger cuttings.

These clones will sit in the top of the cab, in the cloning chamber, under a 15w floro. With a humidity dome, I will open the vents after they root.







I'm going to try to disturb or bump all the clones around as little as possible, because i hear that helps.

Here is an updated pic of the DWC plants, I think i'm learning that they are burned, going to do something about it tomorrow, so if you want to weigh in with advice, please do so, Thank you Algrow who was quick to leave some. Good response time in this thread.



every time i reach in the cab to pull dead leaves or take clones, i break off fan leaves. What affect will this have. I only broke off a few actually, but still, I would like to know. I've heard that the bud sight paired with it doesn't get as much energy without its fan leaf, so you should leave them on if they aren't dead? Correct?

Also, will new bud sites grow in where I took the clones from? or is it too late in the plants cycle for that?

No signs of sex yet, been a week since i flipped the lights. Plus 2 extra days of dark during the power outage.
 
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FreezerBoy

Was blind but now IC Puckbunny in Training
Veteran
Illadelph said:
What's up with all the tap water? I thought tap water was bad?

No, no, no. Tap water is REAL water. Distilled is pretend water (It's not bad, just worthless)

Tap water quality depends on the local supply. Tap water supplies magnesium, calcium, iron and all kinds of Micronutes that Grow Formulas LEAVE OUT because they expect you to put them in with tap water. Distilled water has none of these necessary ingredients. It's useless at best and potentially dangerous as, other than being wet, it's only function is to kill the plants by starvation. You need some real water not the pretend stuff.

1500 ppm sounds like the x500 scale or an EC of 3.0. Every plant is different but my girls say an EC of 1.1 (550 PPM) is too high. What have the numbers read over the past week? If they're going up, you're too rich. Going down, too lean.

pH 6.0 is a great starting point as long as pH numbers are dropping. If numbers climb, start at 5.6.

74 isn't great but, I've grown in worse. Still, with all the problems going on, it wouldn't hurt to drop it into the 65-68 range until sailing is smooth.
 

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