Didn't Poke Hole Through Rockwool Cube For Cloning

[purklize]

So, as the title says, I didn't use a nail or a stick to poke a hole all the way through my rockwool cubes. I just stuck the stems of cuttings in the hole at its default size, which was about halfway through the cube. Now, all of them are clearly rooted - I can lift the cube by the stem, it's very firmly attached - but none of the roots are poking through the cube (it's been two weeks). Should I try to carefully slide a nail alongside the stems to poke a hole through the bottom for the roots?

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Hempcheff]

cubes may be too wet, the roots dont need to go anywhere to search for water. let them dry a bit and see?

[purklize]

They do look fairly saturated with water, I was worried about the root tips drying out and air pruning, though I s'pose if I keep the humidity up that shouldn't be a problem... so the roots should just spring out from all points of the cube? Not just through a hole at the bottom? Should the cube actually look *wet*?

[Hempcheff]

they will pop out from anywhere in the cube (cept the top of course) sometimes 2-3, sometimes 10, as long as there is moisture outside the cubes, water in the tray, high humidity etc..., they wont "air prune"

[purklize]

Hmm, not using a tray... I just have the cubes in beer cups with little sandwich bags pulled over the top, which I check and spray regularly to keep it humid... if I keep any water in the bottom of the cup, the cube ends up soaked. Just now I went and dabbed a lot of the wetness out of some of the cubes with napkins, hopefully that helps.

 

Is it unwise to pull off some out layers of the rockwool cubes to speed this up? Leaves are starting to yellow badly... I sprayed with a dilute foliar spray...

[purklize]

Alright, curiosity got the best of me and I peeled open one of the rockwool cubes. There are very fat, short roots forming, none of which appear to be penetrating the rockwool well. I guess the material was too wet and it could only really grow in the hole provided and the space close by, otherwise it couldn't get oxygen. Can I take this cutting out and stick it into soil? Would that be really stupid for some reason I'm not seeing?

 

I wish one of the countless cloning guides I read online and in print had mentioned how to get the moisture content right on these cubes... they all just said to soak it, then stick the cutting in... I guess these experienced growers thought it was too obvious to mention.

[TajMahal]

Read a tutorial many moons ago that mentioned weight as a guideline for proper "wetness" of a rockwool cube.

 

Memory is an elusive thing though,......wouldn't be much, you could mess with this idea though, and take notes! or google the idea.

 

Here is one link.

 

http://www.kindgreenbuds.com/marijuana-grow-guide/watering-seedling-and-clones-in-rockwool.html

[Sinsemillaplease]

Leave them be. Best advice on cloning I ever received.

 

Also make sure your ph is below 7 or at 7 if you got time to check it daily. Just picked up a digital pH meter and checked my really slowly rooting clones. That tote was at 7.3. I lowered it to 5.8 and the roots that were just little nub like growths were bursting through the rockwool cylinders and a good 1.5 inches long in under 18 hours.

 

That advice is contradictory... oops... take what you will. Also lower leaf yellowing is a very good sign. It means your clones are using up nutrients to grow roots. It doesn't always happen for me in aerocloners but it does in rockwool alone.

[johndeeremuskies]

give them more air they should be hardened off by 2 week start leaving the bag off longer and longer.If they are fat roots are coming be patient grass hopper.

[AmishRnot4ganja]

give them more air they should be hardened off by 2 week start leaving the bag off longer and longer.If they are fat roots are coming be patient grass hopper.

 

 

I agree with the "more air" idea. Clones need air. I started having more success when I weaned them off high humidity earlier. Punch some holes into the bags and if you feel you need to spray them, spray the inside of the bag - not the clone. I recently tried rockwool cubes. I kept the cubes wet - not standing in water - and placed them in cups inside a humidity dome. I only sprayed the inside of the dome periodically, but I had standing water in the tray (not touching the cubes). The idea is to provide a warm, humid environment with minimal light (I have a 200 watt fluorescent hung 8-12" on top) for the clones. I got 100% with the rockwool and think it is OK stuff.

[purklize]

Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to help me out here. I'm going to get some more proper tools and do this right, namely a pH/TDS meter, I have pH strips but I find them hard to read with reasonable accuracy. The cubes are much more dry now, not seeing any roots poking through yet but hopefully they come soon.

 

This is slowing down my whole operation, waiting for clones to root. I have 5 strains, 1 plant of each, and 1 cutting of each. The idea is once the cuttings root I plant those, throw them in the veg tent and flower the big girls. But I know it's a lot more difficult to root a cutting taken from a flowering plant, so I'm concerned that if I flowered now, and the clones died, I'd lose my genetics (which I don't have access to anymore). Should I be this worried about it? I've been vegging 8-10 weeks and they're getting massive, the chocolope is 30" tall, 40" with the pot and my tent is 80" tall, a little worried that vertical space could be problematic.

[TajMahal]

In case of clone death and no back up there is always re-vegging, takes awhile, not guaranteed, but have heard it works.

 

Ph meter, TDS meterfor sure, if using an additive such as Liquid Karma that colors the water (nute mix) it is pretty hard to even guess what the PH is using drops.

 

Can't clone for chit either, good info here.

[Wild Bill]

Here's some info from Grodan the rockwool manufacturer.

 

Transplant/Root

[johndeeremuskies]

I wouldnt worry that much about ph meter for clones with rock wool, been using it on and off for 15 or 20 years never checked ph.use the conditioning solution and be patient.You might get a magnifying glass and check for mites they will slow down clone production and love the humidity in the clone area,and it is that time of year.I havvent had mites in years and am fightting a battle now.I have been putting my rooted clones in white garbage bag with hot shot strips and keeping them cut backand checking for mites. As soon as flowering is done I will be painting bombing bleaching and ending the problem heading into fall after first frostThis time of year you can transport mite in pretty easily

[MrShpongle]

If your plants are 40" tall in the pot I would move them into the flower room ASAP. if they stretch significantly you will have major problems in a few weeks. I would plan on doing some LST for the next 20 days so that they don't end up touching your lights.

 

If your clones die, I'm sure you can find some more. I move my girls the exact same way that you do (waiting to put them into flower until the clones are healthy and in dirt), so I've been there and feel your pain. if you lose any I'll gladly gift you whatever I have available to get you back up to speed.

[purklize]

Roots exploded out of the blueberry cube yesterday, there's two or three that are maybe an inch long and a bunch more just starting to poke through. It's yellowing bad and looking real sickly so I'm going to get it into soil asap and let it get some nutrients. The sour diesel is looking rough too but the others are all looking good. No roots in anything else at this point.

 

I guess I'll get ready to flip to 12/12 asap, those plants really are getting big. Unfortunately I now have enough fungus gnats to serve as a complete protein source so I'm going to be spraying tobacco tea all over the soil and seeing what comes of that.

 

Didn't get a pH/tds meter yet, but probably will soon, I've been intending to pick one up for a while.

 

The tallest plants are 40" including the pot, so from the base of the stem to the tallest point it's 30". That's the chocolope, very high sativa, I guess I got room for it to double in height at most, so this could get interesting.

[MrShpongle]

FOr the fungus gnats, go to Home Depot or Lowes and get some mosquito dunks and you'll be set. I used 1/4 dunk per 5 gallons of water and they are gone gone gone for good.