JACK: So, the first picture is of KLN Dyna-Gro, which is a synthetic rooting compound. The Microbe Hydroponics RootDip is something I received as a sample and have been trying it out, and so far really, really like it.The first step of using the RootDip is to soak the cuttings for at least 15 minutes, and I soak them longer.
So, it's two-ounces of the RootDip per half gallon of water. My half-gallon container is just a watering can.
My cloner has 19 sites, so I decided to take five cuts of four strains, with one being only four. So, I took four cups and labeled them and then added the RootDip.
Next thing I do is clean my shears with alcohol. I clean the shears after changing plants, if that makes sense. So, the type of plants that I use are the rapid-growing tips; the areas of the plant that are growing up toward the light that are nice, healthy, and green.
And where I cut is usually dependent on the plant, but I try to cut enough off to be able to get a long enough stem to encourage root growth.So I make my cut and then I clean off any unnecessary foliage with a scalpel that is also cleaned in alcohol; and leave at least two good-sized sun leaves on the cutting. They get submerged in the rooting compound until they're ready to be put in the cloner. That's it.
RE: KLN
The KLN is something that I used in the past in my cloner and have inconsistent results. So I've been using the RootDip.
RE: RootDip
They say the recommended time is at least 15 minutes, but with clones I found that soaking them a long time before putting them in a cloner helps them become turgid and more sturdy for cloning.
RE: Why do you want to leave on sun leaves?
Sun leaves are like your solar panels. So they're what absorb sunlight, turn it into energy and then will help grow roots.
RE: Microbe Hydroponics
The thing I like about the Microbe Hydroponics is it maintains the cuttings completely green through the whole rooting cycle. Sometimes with rooting compounds, by the time the cutting sprouts roots, its cannibalized some of its energy and its leaves will turn yellow and some of them will die off.
With this new Microbe Life product they just stay green all the way until roots.
The other thing is when I went to clean my cloner, I turned my cloner off for two days prior to cleaning it and left the microbial product in there, and I was expecting to have a bunch of funky sludge to have to clean off the inside of my cloner. And all I did was dump it out and it was completely clean. Not a trace of funky organic material whatsoever.So, that's a real positive, as sometimes when I run a synthetic rooting compound I get slime in it. So, this product is really consistent.
Click here to view all photos in the Cannabis Tops Photo Album courtesy of Flickr.
RE: Cloning Process
Cloning is something that's always been difficult for a lot of growers. Some people get it right away and some people struggle with it for a long time. I am in that later group. I struggled with it for a really long time and I tried just about every method of cloning.
I used rock wool cubes and peat pucks; what is it, vermiculite. Anyways, I've tried a lot of different methods. So when I finally saw a post online, somebody saying hundred percent guaranteed cloning results for $25 in materials, I thought what did I have to lose. So I went and purchased the materials, built it, and ran nothing but cold tap water in it and got the most explosive root growth I'd ever seen. And I'd gone from the survivability rate of my clones being about 30 percent to a hundred percent all the time. I never not get roots with what I'm doing.
And now with this microbial product, it's just helped me get over the survivability of the clones. Sometimes they come out and they're really in bad shape and it takes a while for them to recover.RE: How To Get Better At Cloning
I would say for the beginning cloner, just expect casualties. If you want 10 clones, take 30, and if you kill 20 of them you just learned how to kill 20 of them, and just don't do that again.
Click here to view all photos in the Cloner Photo Album courtesy of Flickr.
Thank you for reading this verbatim interview with
Jack of The PotHole Gang.
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