Yellowing leaves and slow rooting clone questions (with pics)

[Morhawk]

Straight to the point:  Yellowing leaves

Jack's classic and blossom booster in a mix of 1/8  and 1/4 per gallon respectively.  (jacks calls for 1/4 per gallon, but I'm thinking they can take a little more)

Sunshine Mix #4 advanced, Tap water, Eye Hortilux 600 W HPS

Question, these can be seen in the "orange" pics, but these are on day 45 of flowering, is this a normal amount of yellowing?  Are they supposed to yellow as they mature like it is the autumn season?  The sugar leaves in the buds are still green, however the ends of the larger ones are starting to yellow.  PH of soil is normal (6.7 with a soil sample test)  Nutes always self buffer to 6.5.  My only thoughts are i need more fertilizer, light bleaching, or this may just be normal.  Any thoughts? (Bruce Banner is the strain pictured btw)
 

 

[Morhawk]

Now my Clones question:

 I typically have no problem cloning.  Powder rooting hormone and humidity dome and all goes well except for one strain, Purple Gorilla.  All the rest will root in 10 days, but this one has made it to 20(some)  before it has rooted before.  I actually just tried to clone some and I got to day 18 and I left the humidity dome lid off for an hour or 3 (meant to for only 10 minutes or so, but something about short term memory, I can't remember) and they died.  Dried right and crumbled in no time. (UGH!! 18 days in!!)  So I took some more clones and some pics and figured I might as well write a novel and hope maybe someone has some advice on what to do with these kind of strains that take a while to clone.. I have attached pic of mom (blue light pic).. It has short fat leaves and nice hardy stems.. Again, I think this may be normal for this strain, but any advice or suggestions are welcome on both topics..

[AmishRnot4ganja]

First: your flowering plants.

Yellowing leaves are not unusual at six weeks into flower. In fact, I shoot for yellowing leaves at six weeks. The only thing I am concerned with at that time is the color of the new growth on the buds. I couldn't care less about the shade leaves at that stage. I cut most of them off. I stop feeding at six weeks (for 8 week plants) and just give them water until harvest. Less chlorophyll in the buds = milder smoke. Be concerned with the color of the buds only.

 

Cloning: mother plants will develop yellow leaves after a while. No concern. Cut them off and carry on. I replace my mother's every 4-5 months. They just get too old.

Some plants are just hard to clone. There isn't anything you can do about that. I now concentrate on keeping only plants that are easy to grow and clone. If they display any problem areas I dump them and move on to other strains. There are a lot of great stains out there that are also easy to grow. Why waste your time?

Oh. I also keep bonsai mother's. They never get over two feet tall. That mother in the picture looks big.

Edited August 29, 2017 by AmishRnot4ganja

[Morhawk]

Yes, the mother is big because the previous clones died and she is the last living member and she's not flowering until I (hopefully) get some successful clones.  I wouldn't waste my time, but I fell in love with the buds that are produced..  solid.. I think it is a fair trade off if I can be successful in cloning it.  I can wait an extra few weeks for one or three, I wouldnt invest my whole allotment on it.   The biggest waste of my time has been my cut of headband.. It gets pot bound and sheds down to little puny leaves and puny buds. I had a plant big enough for 3-4 ounces no problem and it's not even worth trimming..  That one falls in the category of "why waste my time?" and I no longer will be with it.. Twice it happened, wasted a nice large section of square footage.. Happens.. This Purple gorilla doesn't care though.. lol

[AmishRnot4ganja]

Do you use a rooting hormone on your clone cuts? I switched to some stuff called "Hormex Rooting Powder". It has a high concentration of hormones. It works well for me - but not all THAT good. I have been getting 100% success lately, but I think that I may get the same rate with any other rooter. You have to experiment to find the ideal rooting environment for clones. Then again, I see articles about cloning on the internet in which the clones are just kinda thrown into a humidity dome Willy-nilly and they put out huge roots in 7 days. WTF? I do definetly believe that some strains root easier than others however.

I keep my clones under a dome for 4-5 days then I let them air out for 5-6 hours then I put them back under the dome again for a day then repeat. I don't mist the clones. I mist the inside of the dome. If they don't have roots in 10 days I leave them outside the dome and mist them 3-4 times a day. I do this out of frustration. Like " FU then! Grow roots or die muthafucka!" They usually grow roots. I don't know if this helps, but if I have to water the medium that the clones are in (I use Grodan cubes) I put the water in a container and let the cubes soak it up. Just a tip I read on the net.

Edited August 30, 2017 by AmishRnot4ganja

[Morhawk]

Yes, I use Schultz or take root or whatever is 3 bucks at walmart..  I have tried root tech as well, but that is just 5 times the price and I get the same results.  All other clones will be showing roots and ready for transplant in 10 days or so.. Not these ones, if I try to "air them out" they die.. lol  All other clones I can, this is just a peculiar plant I guess.  I tried scraping the stems on this round thinking the woodiness of this plants stems may be slowing it down.

 

[matt79]

The yellowing leaves could be light stress. Thats what happens to my tops whenever i turn my ballasts up to 1000watts. I now run them at 750.

Take a look at the leaves farther down. Are they still green? If so then its a light stress issue.