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cloning Cloning using DWC

Toleman

Toleman

So my seasons coming to an end and im thinking about taking some cuttings and rooting them. If I keep them happy over winter, they should be good for flowering spring time.

I was thinking about rooting them in a lunchbox sized container with ph'd water and an airstone in the bottom. The cuttings would be suspended above the water by an inch or so and the popping bubbles would give a good mist.

Once rooted well they will go into a compost, perlite and vermiculite mix.

How big should the cutting be and I've read that no nutrient or rooting hormone is required?

Thanks, Chris
 
Well I myself am not a hydro-head so the info I give you is based on my readings and findings. Clippings can very in size but you dont want them to be to big. I guess a rule of thumb could be enough to sit 1 inch above the bubbles and to have foliage a little bit above grow media. So a guess would be maybe 3 inches would be enough.

As for your second question no nutes really don,t seem to be required since roots will grow in just water. However the use of nutes would be beneficial to your plant(s) and other chemicals (pH up/pH down) to make sure water pH is right. If you do use nutes the GH (General Hydropoinc) 3 part kit comes highly recommended by many ***COUGH*** gardeners.

Hope that helps and if I am wrong with anything I have said please fellow THPers chime in and let me know as I too am still learning.
 
yeah I have all the equipment from my nft grow. just wondering about cuttings really and starting them off.

Cheers Crazy

Chris
 
I was able to get roots on some pepper cuttings using this method. My cuts were about 5 inches long and I let the very bottom touch the water. Peppers took much longer than tomatoes and basil so be patient. I used plain RO water, but I think a tiny touch of nutrient, superthrive or hormones could have helped. I'd also say the bigger the container the better. I used a 12 gallon rubbermaid and kept the same water for over a month. Good Luck!
 
You need to change the water out when doing this. If you do it the old way with a cutting in water in a jar, you have to change the water every other day. Doing DWC you still need to change the water at least every 2 weeks, and this goes with any hydro setup. And you do need to use nutes when doing cuttings in DWC, otherwise the plant has no reason to grow. There is a dosing amount on hydro nutes for cuttings and seedlings.
 
Cheers guys.

The cutting/ seedling dose on GHE is 2.5ml of each in 10 litres. I presume I would go half this (1.25ml of each per 10L) ?

When I was using my NFT earlier in the year I had to add 0.5ml of ph up to get my ph from 5.8 to 6. This was in 20 litres so im going to want microscopic amounts for a small cloner.

Chris
 
Toleman said:
Cheers guys.

The cutting/ seedling dose on GHE is 2.5ml of each in 10 litres. I presume I would go half this (1.25ml of each per 10L) ?

When I was using my NFT earlier in the year I had to add 0.5ml of ph up to get my ph from 5.8 to 6. This was in 20 litres so im going to want microscopic amounts for a small cloner.

Chris
Click to expand...

I have always stuck with what my General Hydroponics schedule recommends, which is around 3.3mL per 10L of gro, micro, and bloom. And they have yet to let me down on anything and this ratio works great for seedlings. And keeping the pH correct is very important, luckily when I mix my nutes I don't have to adjust the pH.
 
when doing pH should it be done on just the regular tap water or after you add the nutes? My thought would be after you add the nutes but thought I would ask anyway. What are some decent but cheep digital pH testers available?
 
I would stick with what they say buy I think your wasting nutrient.

My plants were amazingly happy producing tons of pods throughout the season on no more than 1ml per litre of grow, bloom, micro.
(20 litre reservoir, 20ml grow, 20ml bloom, 20ml micro)

What I found is, I was maybe overdoing the Nitrogen during fruiting last grow. Strangely the micro contains most of this - opposed to the grow?! When they start fruiting next year I may try halving the micro and see how they get on. 25ml grow, 25ml bloom, 10ml micro?

Chris
 
crazy8 said:
when doing pH should it be done on just the regular tap water or after you add the nutes? My thought would be after you add the nutes but thought I would ask anyway. What are some decent but cheep digital pH testers available?
Click to expand...

After nutrients as they will affect the ph. They are normally around ph nutral so if you start at ph 8, its likely the result will be between 7 - 8. Likewise my rain water is 5.5 and the nutrients bring it to about 5.8. I then push it up to 6.

Remember the harder the water, the more ph adjuster you will need to move it. If using very soft water (rain or RO) you need drops rather than ml.

Add the nutrients and allow the buffers to stablise it. then add your ph up or down stiring well and leaving a further 2 hours before testing again. Eventually you will get an idea of how much you need to add in one go.

Chris
 
I let my nute solution aerate for 2 days before testing, and before it goes into my system. And mirco is one of the elements you dont want to do without from all the info I have been told. I cut the amount they say to use for grow in half when doing nutes for flowering and the other way around for when doing the vegetative phase.

But local water can have alot to do with having to adjust the water, even after using RO water. I saw better results using regular tap water and letting it sit for 2 days to get rid of chlorine. But my tap water runs right around 7.0 for pH.
 
Toleman said:
How big should the cutting be and I've read that no nutrient or rooting hormone is required?
Click to expand...
How big is your space for cuttings ? I have taken everything from 1/3 of the plant to tiny sucker sprouts from bottom of stem.
They will 'take if you dont use rooting hormone. BUT what rooting hormone brings is IAA or IBA, in which both give the plant a signal to move hormone in a southern direction (auxin). Where as with out, the plant still is sending hormone north to grow. (Cytokinins which promote cell division).

I try to use it on all cuttings everytime, but I get lazy sometimes ;)

rds040800 said:
I let my nute solution aerate for 2 days before testing, and before it goes into my system.

But local water can have alot to do with having to adjust the water, even after using RO water. I saw better results using regular tap water and letting it sit for 2 days to get rid of chlorine. But my tap water runs right around 7.0 for pH.
Click to expand...

I also use tap water and let it PH stabilize and let chlorine evap
over 24- 48 hrs before it goes into the system. (ebb&flow) Even though I have tank water ;)
My tap water runs at around 6.5.

Good luck Toleman with your DWC :)
 
rds040800 said:
You need to change the water out when doing this. If you do it the old way with a cutting in water in a jar, you have to change the water every other day. Doing DWC you still need to change the water at least every 2 weeks, and this goes with any hydro setup. And you do need to use nutes when doing cuttings in DWC, otherwise the plant has no reason to grow. There is a dosing amount on hydro nutes for cuttings and seedlings.
Click to expand...

I have to respectfully disagree. It's good practice to change the water often, but it's not always necessary. I was just taking cuttings for fun, and not because I needed more plants so I took the easy route. My bubbler was outdoors in the shade and worked well even with month old water. I also was also able to root a T. Scorpion "the old way" by just keeping it in a cup of water in the shade. I dumped the water only 2 or 3 times and had roots after 6 weeks. My recipe for rooting pepper cuttings is pretty easy:

1. Healthy donor plants
2. Shade
3. Big reservoir
4. Lost of PATIENCE

As long as the cuttings don't die, just wait, you'll have roots eventually.

All that said, if space is a concern or if your donor plant is on the way out then you might want to use more precise methods to increase your odds.
 
I have been wanting to build a bubbler for some time now and last night I couldn't take it anymore. I broke down and went to my local white trash wal mart and picked up my parts. Once I had the parts in hand I also couldn't wait to start putting what I could together. Would you believe me if I told you I actually am a patient person? :lol: Anyway Ill post up some pics for you all. It is a little one intended for seedlings/cuttings. Today I am going to get the whole saw but might not finish this until the weekend.
Im really not trying to jack the thread, Just a little pumped ;)
 
crazy8 said:
I have been wanting to build a bubbler for some time now and last night I couldn't take it anymore. I broke down and went to my local white trash wal mart and picked up my parts. Once I had the parts in hand I also couldn't wait to start putting what I could together. Would you believe me if I told you I actually am a patient person? :lol: Anyway Ill post up some pics for you all. It is a little one intended for seedlings/cuttings. Today I am going to get the whole saw but might not finish this until the weekend.
Im really not trying to jack the thread, Just a little pumped ;)
Click to expand...

No problem mate. :lol:

I can't go into any big home diy store without looking at pipes, fittings and containers and think what I could make with them.

Chris
 
Well over the weekend I made a bubble cloner/system. I think the only thing I dont like about it that I did was use duct tape on it. If I had to redo it I would have painted it. Anyway it turned out quite well and I have put it through some test and will put it through one more but everything seems to work quite well. I have 8-2" net pots in it and will use this to start up some plants or clones then move to a bigger system that I will make later. Well I know this is like a tease but I will try to get some pics up tonight for you all.
 
Well here are the pics I said I would post. Like I said the only thing I really dont like is the tape and I have been thinking about taring it off and painting it. Anyway hope you all like and hope it inspires some ideas. After this one I spawned some new ideas for the bigger bin Ill make.

Here is a pic of the whole thing.
IMG_0234.jpg


This is what it looks like with the lids on the net pots.
IMG_0235.jpg


Under the lid to see the 2" net pots.
IMG_0237.jpg



Net pot with lid off
IMG_0238.jpg
 
I did a little customizing on the gang valve so that it could be mounted flush (using hot glue) on the container.
IMG_0242.jpg


IMG_0240.jpg


Here are the air stones I used and they seem to work pretty good. Once I filled this up woth water it didnt look like it would work well but when the bubbles pop, the water does hit the pots and thats whats important.
IMG_0239.jpg
 
Well I do know how to clone but thanks for pointing that out because I didnt think to put the stem through the middle or out the sides to hang closer to the water. For some reason I was just thinking of having it surrounded by the Hydroton. But having it hang down closer to the water would be better. I also use the same cloning gel as shown in that link. Works great ;)
 
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