super soil Subcool's Super Soil

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

In the first post you wrote

 

1 Kilo Bone meal / IE 5 Pounds

 

I'm not trying to be picky, but is this a mistake or am I missing something important here? It could imply some of the other weights are way off. Unless of course it's just a typo.

 

I'm always up for introducing new things into a mix, but I'm in the same situation as the others, these products aren't available in my world.

 

thanks just the same.

 

rob

[subcool]

Robbie great call.

I need to edit that as I mistakenly posted the REUSE amounts not the fresh batch.

I use 2 kilos or 5 pounds not 1 kilo as stated

 

I wanted to address why I grow Organically.

The planet is in deep shit fellas mainly our fault in the US and only soil can be recycled at no expense to the planet.

Chemicals build up and no matter where there deposited they make our planet toxic.

I know that the fungi and mycorrhizal present in soil can repair our toxic planet as the literally clean metals out of soil.

 

My foot prints large enough burning lamps so I choose to grow in mother earth and not do her any more damage.

hemp can save the planet but action on each of our parts can do as much faster!

 

Sub

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

I hear ya mate. Learning about soil, studying it ( not at uni or anything, just through my gardening life) was and is one of the most enlightening things I've been into.

 

The earth is alive, it breathes, eats, excretes, lives, dies and regenerates. The earth being a living breathing entity was something I used to think was just a upherism (spelling error for sure. I mean just a corny phrase). But it's not, it really is a living being.

 

I love soil. I grow hydro becuase of several reasons, none the least because of my back. but in plants that dont have to be hidden, no dig living gardens are amazing.

 

Peace mate.and thanks

rob

[mull]

Nice work mate

 

Have you considered a cheap cement mixer for spinning the mixes?

[subcool]

I am a person who thinks hard work is good for you and a cement mixer would make me lazy

The soils one of my only daily exsersize.

 

 

Chopping Broccoli

To get a good start on this style it’s important to top the plants early. As soon as my clones have rooted well and have started to grow I chop out the meristem causing the plant to divide into 2 growing shots. If this is performed low enough the plant will actually develop 3 heads just leave 3 nodes .

[subcool]

Its Clone day here at TGA and I want to tell you a little secret.

We do not keep mother plants!

Thats right we breed without a net

 

 

Here is the trick. We take cuttings from out vegging plants a few days before they go into bud.

This means we have to really be good at cloning but it has worked for us and saves room.

MzJill fits into the room better than I do and she cleans up the sucker shoots and we then clone em.

[Reverend]

Hi,

How long do you keep the one strain going by taking clones of a clone. Does the plant lose any of its characteristic's.

Cheers

Gills

Edited May 15, 2008 by gills

[subcool]

I have been cloning Jacks Cleaner for 15 years.

As long as the genetic material used for cloning is healthy and young there are no problems.

 

Sub

[subcool]

Now before we get into the work lets do some reviewing:

I run three area a small vegetive area that uses a 400 and a cfl.

I have a combo Veg/bud area with a 1k MH

We run a 2000 watt 11x6 bud room

 

The veg room grows up while the bud room makes meds.

 

As the main bud room gets close to finishing its time to take clones from the vegging plants prior to flipping there light cycle to 12/12

 

So as you can see in the pictures the bud room is done with plants in there final stages of maturation. Shown are Vortex and Tinybomb. A glance into the main veg area shows large plants close to 18” already topped pre trained and ready for 12/12 but before we do this I have to take cuttings. We do not keep moms! Yes that’s right I have kept al my moms alive for over 6 years without ever keeping a permanent momma plant.

You think cloning is important now? You bet on it it’s the key to mastering the art of Fine cannabis production.

 

 

So I take cuts after a long dark period cause of a report I read once and I figure it can’t hurt.

 

Technical stuff

From Clarke on Rooting

 

Rooting

 

A knowledge of the internal structure of the stem is helpful in understanding the origin of adventitious roots.

 

The development of adventitious roots can be broken down into three stages: (1) the initiation of meristematic cells located just outside and between the vascular bundles (the root initials), (2) the differentiation of these meristematic cells into root primordia, and (3) the emergence and growth of new roots by rupturing old stem tissue and establishing vascular connections with the shoot.

 

As the root initials divide, the groups of cells take on the appearance of a small root tip. A vascular system forms with the adjacent vascular bundles and the root continues to grow outward through the cortex until the tip emerges from the epidermis of the stem. Initiation of root growth usually begins within a week and young roots appear within four weeks. Often an irregular mass of white cells, termed callus tissue, will form on the surface of the stem adjacent to the areas of root initiation. This tissue has no influence on root formation. However, it is a form of regenerative tissue and is a sign that conditions are favorable for root initiation.

 

The physiological basis for root initiation is well understood and allows many advantageous modifications of rooting systems. Natural plant growth substances such as auxins, cytokinins, and gibberellins are certainly responsible for the control of root initiation and the rate of root formation. Auxins are considered the most influential. Auxins and other growth substances are involved in the control of virtually all plant processes: stem growth, root formation, lateral bud inhibition, floral maturation, fruit development, and determination of sex. Great care is exercised in application of artificial growth substances so that detrimental conflicting reactions in addition to rooting do not occur. Auxins seem to affect most related plant species in the same way, but the mechanism of this action is not yet fully understood.

 

Many synthetic compounds have been shown to have auxin activity and are commercially available, such as napthaleneacetic acid (NAA), indolebutyric acid (IBA), and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4 DPA), but only indoleacetic acid has been isolated from plants. Naturally occurring auxin is formed mainly in the apical shoot men stem and young leaves. It moves downward after its formation at the growing shoot tip, but massive concentrations of auxins in rooting solutions will force travel up the vascular tissue. Knowledge of the physiology of auxins has led to practical applications in rooting cuttings. It was shown originally by Went and later by Thimann and Went that auxins promote adventitious root formation in stem cuttings. Since application of natural or synthetic auxin seems to stimulate adventitious root formation in many plants, it is assumed that auxin levels are associated with the formation of root initials. Further research by Warmke and Warmke (1950) suggested that the levels of auxin may determine whether adventitious roots or shoots are formed, with high auxin levels promoting root growth and low levels favoring shoots.

 

Cytokinins are chemical compounds that stimulate cell growth. In stem cuttings, cytokinins suppress root growth and stimulate bud growth. This is the opposite of the reaction caused by auxins, suggesting that a natural balance of the two may be responsible for regulating nor mal plant growth. Skoog discusses the use of solutions of equal concentrations of auxins and cytokinins to pro mote the growth of undifferentiated callus tissues. This may provide a handy source of undifferentiated material for cellular cloning.

 

Although Cannabis cuttings and layers root easily, variations in rootability exist and old stems may resist rooting. Selection of rooting material is highly important. Young, firm, vegetative shoots, 3 to 7 millimeters (1/8 to ¼ inch) in diameter, root most easily. Weak, unhealthy plants are avoided, along with large woody branches and reproductive tissues, since these are slower to root. Stems of high carbohydrate content root most easily. Firmness is a sign of high carbohydrate levels in stems but may be con fused with older woody tissue. An accurate method of determining the carbohydrate content of cuttings is the iodine starch test. The freshly cut ends of a bundle of cuttings are immersed in a weak solution of iodine in potassium iodide. Cuttings containing the highest starch content stain the darkest; the samples are rinsed and sorted accordingly. High nitrogen content cuttings seem to root more poorly than cuttings with medium to low nitrogen content. Therefore, young, rapidly-growing stems of high nitrogen and low carbohydrate content root less well than slightly older cuttings. For rooting, sections are selected that have ceased elongating and are beginning radial growth. Staminate plants have higher average levels of carbohydrates than pistillate plants, while pistillate plants exhibit higher nitrogen levels. It is unknown whether sex influences rooting, but cuttings from vegetative tissue are taken just after sex determination while stems are still young. For rooting cloning stock or parental plants, the favorable balance (low nitrogen-to-high carbohydrate) is achieved in several ways:

 

1 - Reduction of the nitrogen supply will slow shoot growth and allow time for carbohydrates to accumulate. This can be accomplished by leaching (rinsing the soil with large amounts of fresh water), withholding nitrogenous fertilizer, and allowing stock plants to grow in full sun light. Crowding of roots reduces excessive vegetative growth and allows for carbohydrate accumulation.

 

2 - Portions of the plant that are most likely to root are selected. Lower branches that have ceased lateral growth and begun to accumulate starch are the best. The carbohydrate-to-nitrogen ratio rises as you move away from the tip of the limb, so cuttings are not made too short.

 

3 - Etiolation is the growth of stem tissue in total darkness to increase the possibility of root initiation. Starch levels drop, strengthening tissues and fibers begin to soften, cell wall thickness decreases, vascular tissue is diminished, auxin levels rise, and undifferentiated tissue begins to form. These conditions are very conducive to the initiation of root growth. If the light cycle can be con trolled, whole plants can be subjected to etiolation, but usually single limbs are selected for cloning and wrapped for several inches just above the area where the cutting will be taken. This is done two weeks prior to rooting. The etiolated end may then be unwrapped and inserted into the rooting medium. Various methods of layers and cuttings rooted below soil level rely in part on the effects of etiolation.

 

4 - Girdling a stem by cutting the phloem with a knife or crushing it with a twisted wire may block the downward mobility of carbohydrates and auxin and rooting cofactors, raising the concentration of these valuable components of root initiation above the girdle.

 

 

Even though Rapid Rooters dont need rooting solution I am old school and still use the cheap stuff

 

Ok so lets get started. I clean my scissors well and lay out all my materials.

I wet my rapid rooters well and start by taking some lowers from each plant in veg.

 

I use a Vita Grow to clone with but any of the ones on the market work well even take root powder.

 

Its very important to remove all but top leaves and if there to large I even trim these back.

 

Lets move to the next step.

[subcool]

Make sure you cut the clone and a sharp angle like a spear. I do not scrape my clones stems but many people do.

 

I use the pen to make a hole in the rooter and hold it open as I pull out the pen. I gently find the hole and slide the cutting down never forcing the cut.

So now we have a labeled clone in a moist rooter this goes into the clone box at 75 degrees.

 

I keep repeating these steps until all the plants on the list are checked off, if a plants small still its marked as ‘In Veg” and will be cloned later when it’s a larger plant.

 

Its important to take notes when your actually smoking strains like these

 

I see people wasting coin on all kinds of contraptions only Really designed to take your hard earned dollars out of your pocket.

 

Cloning is about temperature and humidity more than anything IMO.

 

There is also a wierd thing that if you have confidence and dont really care about the clones once there done they do better than when you stress over em kinda like a watched kettle never boiling.

 

Will this ghetto method work?

 

 

Sub