Hey now, nice looking flowers. And Scrogg is lookin good.
Wanted you to elaborate on you're areo cloner tech. I've been running home made 5 gallon buckets with 14 holes but usually only use outside 10 holes to avoid overcrowding.
Question 1 water source? I'm using water from britta filter. Water is supposed to come out at 0 ppm. Not sure if that is good for cuttings to have no minerals. I'm sure you have an educated opinion.
Question 2 ph? Have heard people like 5.5, but when I tried that I didn't have so much luck. So then I did a test (this is with my old dug well as opposed to new drilled well, so different mineral profile) 5 5gal clones with ph going from 6.1, 6.3, 6.5, 6.7 and 6.9. Found the 6.5 to be most productive.
Question 3 clonex gel or more liquid one. I saw you're post comparing clonex vs aloe. And at what rate?
Thanks DollDolphinfin
To answer your questions....
I also use a 5 gallon bucket but I'm getting ready to by an oxycloner. Not that my bucket doesn't work, but I just want more cloning sites and like you say, more space. I have 10 sites in my bucket and it can get way crowded.
A Brita that does 0 ppm??? that's pretty unheard for me lol. I use my RO water. But, I also supplement it with a liquid cloning product (I use the clonex brand but any brand will do as long as it's full spectrum).
I don't aim for a specific pH, other than a range of 5.5-6.0. It usually creeps back up over the course of a couple days so that's why I shoot for the lower end.
So the clonex gel... you can do it their way by sticking the cuttings right in the gel for about 20-30 minutes, which is fine. The way I usually use it is I take a solo cup with about 3/4c of water in it (so it's a 2-2.5in deep) and I add about 5-6 drops of the gel to the water and stir it in real well. Then I soak my cuttings in that overnight and put them in the cloner the next day.
The aloe gel works the same as the clonex. You can rip off an aloe filet and mush up the gel inside the leaf and stick the cutting right in the leaf gel, or you can add the leaf gel to water (just line the clonex), puree it a bit and then soak the clones overnight in the liquid. I'd say for 3/4c of water, a couple tablespoons of aloe should do the trick. I've done it both ways. They both work.
Have you had your new well water tested? I'd just be using that if it's good clean water! Sometimes they can be a bit alkaline (which is great for us, but not the best for the soil haha).