Propagation sub-forum

[oceangrownkush]

I think its about time IC had a sub-forum for this, articles on rooting clones seem to be very spread throughout the site. I was trying to post a question just now, had a plug get unplugged mysteriously and my clones were left in the cold/dark for 8+ hours without my knowledge.... Wanted to ask if anyone had experience with this type of shit happening and if I should just throw them out and cut new or if there's a chance they'll still root?

But alas, there is no specific place for asking questions on propagation.. I've heard of about as many different rooting methods as I have growing methods in general, I think it would be a benefit to the whole site to have a place for discord on these methods. I'd even volunteer my time to moderate said sub-forum if you guys end up making one.

Peace.

 

[aridbud]

Good idea, ogk....sub section on propagation. Haven't looked around the forum for that specifically. Maybe something out there already.

Your clones should be ok provided you returned them to incubator warmth and humidity. If "cold/dark for 8+hours" means temps below 38F...then I'd recommend starting again. I cloned a good 2+0 yrs...had good transplant rate.

Give your clones a little love and warm environmental encouragement....and hope they are troopers and come out w/ roots!

 

[Mate Dave]

I like the sound of a propagation forum, propagation is what I do. I will contribute to the thread with what I can.

Rule one is be clean. Source propagation materials from certified suppliers, use fast growing meristems free from P&D for cuttings and use seeds which have been stored correctly to maintain viability to ensure the best success.

Remember plants like warm bottoms and cool tops.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I strike cuttings in 42 mm jiffy 7's, using plain tap water with no hormones using the basil and nodal method or leaf & bud/leaf-bud.

Look these techniques up and how to do them properly in a good propagation book, or search one of my threads, they're skilled techniques. Cloning is babyshit simple. I generally use 50 pellets at a time into a 10ltr bucket of water, wait an hour, place the pellets into the trays that jiffy provide to enhance the rooting performance, next I select the plant material and make the individual cuts and place cuttings one at a time into a pellet, at no point do I ever squeeze the pellet to allow moisture to escape. I simply firm in the cutting to get a bond between the cambium layer and the pellet.

This works 100% of the time if you good, no faffing about, quick and reliable as fcuk and I done all the ways going.

I get Dread-lock roots that usually fill out over the full seed trays in a tangle, I then root prune them to increase the amount of roots given by the plant in the plug.

Very very high plant density’s can be achieved and maintained in this style.

Maintaining the mothers is where it gets tricky and space and refreshing the mom's is the answer to that.

Environment-environment-environment is what it's about.

I've tested ALL commonly available substrates in controlled test environments to give me insight into which media suited which environment best and what media suited a particular cutting method.

In conclusion domes are not an essential part of propagation. Plant Material is.

The ideal environment allows minimal water loss from plant materials, allowing adequate light penetration for photosynthesis, supplying warmth and drainage to a media with the correct acidity/alkalinity reaction allowing an atmospheric balance between the temperature of the air and the moisture level of the media to maintain humidity.

Key environmental factors above and below plant propagation materials contribute to the success of both seeds and vegetative propagation as such they need to function correctly, an understanding of how they function helps carry out proper maintenance of both environments.

These environments can be broken down into separate areas of control;

They are the aerial environment and the environment of the medium.

The aerial environment can be broken down into factors such as, temperature, humidity, light transmission and gaseous balance, whereas, the medium environment covers the temperature, moisture status, aeration and the acidity/alkalinity reaction of the media.

Controlling the aerial environment involves maintaining the dew point, which is the temperature at which water vapour, in a volume of humid air, is at a constant barometric pressure and will condense into liquid water.

This water vapour cools around the leaves of cutting and plants. Moisture loss from the leaves is eliminated, encouraging healthy root growth and the leaf surface remains dry preventing moulds.

This environment can be achieved by using self regulating thermostats that keep the temperature in the optimum range for maximum water holding capabilities.

Furthermore, manual operation of a correct watering procedure, implemented with strategic opening of the polythene covers, ensures optimum maintenance of the environment allowing gaseous exchange to take place limiting evaporation and reducing transpiration.

At a high temperature, water vapour pressure deficit is usually high and Relative humidity consequently low and vice verse.

Controlling the media environment is firstly reliant on control of the aerial environment because a too humid or moist conditions increase the chances of infection in the plants.

Temperature needs to be controlled on a daily basis to compliment the fluctuation of the climate and to assist in maintaining a wet and dry cycle to control aeration through correct watering.

This can be done by checking the weight of the propagation container.

Controlling the acidity/alkalinity reaction of the media is done prior to propagation, choosing a suitable substrate to the particular needs of the plant.

If further assistance is required you can supplement the water supply and pre-charge the medium with controlled fertigation with pH suited to that particular plant type.

The least expensive method to maintain environment conditions is to keep the grow space dry when going into the night when the temperature drops.

There is no better performance than a mist bench performance in my opinion.

Once you control the "dew point" its very productive.


Good luck with the strike rates.

I will add that I often keep cuttings in sealed bags, rooted and un-rooted in a fridge for up to a month just because, and they grow/root fine, I like to grow it fresh to order myself.

Overview

To achieve great strike rates in cutting propagation, you need;
• Clean tools.
• Good quality, active cutting material.
• Good hygiene practice & aftercare procedures.
• Good growing media, correct alkalinity/acidity.
• Ideal environment - Low stress, correct root-zone temperature, transpiration evaporation limited.

To create ‘Warm bottoms and Cool tops’ requires a careful watch over cooling and humidification. [/FONT]