Al B. FAQt

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Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
AL B. in your mind is there any hydro method that is suitable for rooting clones or will this always be a hand water due to the clones tender needs ?
Some folks have had good results with aerocloners, which can be left unattended for several days at a stretch. I've never been able to get them to work consistently well, tho.

i too can be a lazy stoner at times and forget my clones
I water mine at very close to 12h intervals, makes it reasonably easy to remember to do.
 

crazy-mental

Well-Known Member
sorry for not reading all the posts.
how long did you vegg for?
how much do you expect per plant"dried"


nice looking plants.
 

crazy-mental

Well-Known Member
great .
how long did they take?.
what food did you use and how much?.
thanks
btw they look great.
some people say plants shouldnt be put straight in to 12/12.
but you proved them wrong in my eyes.
great job.
what lights did you use?.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
thanks .

how long did they take?.
8 weeks

what food did you use and how much?.
Canna Flores, 1400ppm

you're welcome

btw they look great.
thanks

some people say plants shouldnt be put straight in to 12/12.
some people can't find their arse with both hands and a flashlight.

but you proved them wrong in my eyes.
yours and everyone else's.

great job.
thanks

what lights did you use?.
1000W HPS in cooltubes
 

Phinxter

Well-Known Member
crazy-mental another good read is Al B. Fuct's https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/15030-batch-clones-rockwool.html it shows his method of cloning which yields very tall clones which works perfectly with his zero veg time and SoG lollipops
i recommend everyone give it a read if you plan to swipe just 1 technique from Al B. this is the one that helped me the most.
i went from maybe 2 out of 10 strikes on rooting my clones to closer to 8 out of 10 and will keep working on it until i reach 99.9999% which seems to be right about what Al B. is getting.
thanks Al. for your time and time again proven methods and patience to work with us newer growers.
and for sure everyone give his cloning thread a read it will be well worth your time
 

fitzyno1

Well-Known Member
I was? I did? Are you sure it was me?

This really doesn't sound familiar. Can you link me to what you say I said?

Where's pix of the rest of this system?
I can't find a link, but i'm near sure you said it, it makes sense, that the roots could block the exit nute pipe. But if you don't want to take the credit for it, thats ok :lol:

Sorry, that link mustn't have loaded properly for me, here's the photo of where the exit nute pipe will be coming from.

pots 003.jpg
 

SpruceZeus

Well-Known Member
Hey Al, long time listener, first time caller. Any thoughts on hydroton? i know you use fytocell, but can you offer any advice? I just was gifted 5 huge sacks of expanded clay and dont even know where to start when it comes to hydro. Thanks for being a great dope grower who doesnt need to but is really helpful to the growing community, noobs and vetrans alike.
 

benson

Active Member
Hey Al, long time listener, first time caller. Any thoughts on hydroton? i know you use fytocell, but can you offer any advice? I just was gifted 5 huge sacks of expanded clay and dont even know where to start when it comes to hydro. Thanks for being a great dope grower who doesnt need to but is really helpful to the growing community, noobs and vetrans alike.
put them in ur resoviour, when da water gos down put them in to keep it level wit ur pots, u could also use them 4 shooting cats tru a cat-a-pull-it
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
I can't find a link, but i'm near sure you said it, it makes sense, that the roots could block the exit nute pipe. But if you don't want to take the credit for it, thats ok :lol:
Well, it does make sense, but I don't think I can claim this one!

Sorry, that link mustn't have loaded properly for me, here's the photo of where the exit nute pipe will be coming from.
You're right that a well-functioning DWC will produce copious rootmass. About the only way around it that I can think of is to use a container so large that the roots can't possibly fill it to the point where it will block the drain. Unfortunately, any barrier that allows free passage of water will also allow free passage of developing roots.

I certainly see what you're doing and why. I'd likely do the something like that in this case.

One reason I prefer flood systems because of the central reservoir. Makes changing out the nutes a lot easier. You're trying to get that advantage with your recirc DWC, among other things.

However, when you have to plumb nute solns around, you run the risk of clogs from various causes, either from roots following the nute soln or from algae/fungi growth inside the tubing. Here's hoping you've used opaque tubing, or if you have not, at least have blocked light to the tubing to stop algae growth.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Hey Al, long time listener, first time caller.
hahahahha, jeez, now I feel like Bob McChesney. :D

Any thoughts on hydroton?
Yep, clay pellets have definite up & downsides. On the upside, being that they hold almost no water, roots in pellets can be flooded frequently without risk of overwatering, maximising the amount of oxygenated nute soln that can be circulated through the rootmass. More O2 to the roots means more vigor and faster development. Pellets can be flooded 5x/day just after planting clones in the stuff (wk1-2 of flowering) and as often as 1/hr for about 5 mins for mature, vigorously growing plants.

On the downside, if you clone in RW cubes, when planting the rooted cube in pellets, you must make sure that the cube is 1/2" ABOVE the flood level. If you saturate a RW cube 5x/day, roots will be drowned and the plants will quickly have big troubles from overwatering. Pellets are technically re-usable but must be fully cleaned of old root matter and then sterilised or root diseases can be transferred from crop to crop.

You have a way to go before you are ready to use your pellets. Once you get some clones rooted, pop back in & we'll chat about where to go from there.

put them in ur resoviour, when da water gos down put them in to keep it level wit ur pots, u could also use them 4 shooting cats tru a cat-a-pull-it
Wow, I think I've finally found Stoney McDoper's spelling & grammar teacher! :lol:
 

newportbeach949

Active Member
happy to see this thread going again, i was worried i wouldnt see it again.

absolutely no problems here , just doing my daily reading .

i'm going to start a journal tonight and would like a comment on how i'm coming along, i'll post a link when i'm done writing it up
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
yep, I had to put the brakes on for a while while I was catching up work in my own op. The time I spend here is actually when I'm tired of grinding it out in my op. My biggest complaints about running an op are the isolation and monotony. RIU is sort of the dope growers' watercooler. :D
 

ZEN MASTER

Well-Known Member
hey al glad to see you back. how was fiji, awesome i can imagine. i've alawys wanted to go there, but anywho glad your back.hate to hit you up like this, buti have some indicas and sativas in pots of soil they have been flowering for approximately 10 wks(when i started 12/12). now i'm not worried about the sativas, yet. but the trichs on the indicas are only about 80-85% cloudy, but the hairs are about 60% brown, and the trichs are pretty much the same on the sativa, but her hairs are only about 25% orange. now i want to wait till at least some of the trichs on the indicas are amber but seeing as the pistils are turning brown and orange i dont want to mess up and wait too long and the thc start to degrage. i think that it was you who said that in siol it takes a little longer for the plants to mature. what would be your advice for this situation(for the indicas and sativas). thanks in advance.


PEACE!!!!
-ZEN-
 

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
RIU is sort of the dope growers' watercooler. :D
Now that is quotable!

"Did you hear Mildred is sleeping with Oscar?" lol

Hey Al, how long to you keep a mum?
Any feelings about the genetics falling off from clones of clones of clones?

*Somewhere* You mentioned that 5.5mm stalks are best for cutting, but woody stalks take longer to root. Now I have yet, in my early experience, to see a stalk in the 5mm range that wasn't woody.

I've had about the same success % of woody vs non woody.
(been playing a lot lately. Its fun. Though some might think I'm nuts for killing viable females.)
 

corral hollow kid

Well-Known Member
You're back! Hi Al. How are things?

I think I have my pathogen prob under control, thanks to your H2O2 treatment program!!! Thanks again for the help. I am having to dose every other day...if I wait for the 3rd day the tank just explodes with pathogens on the second night. It seems to be working, for now. H2O2 is cheap! I am thinking of getting a dosing pump and automating this part of the op. What do you think of the Hanna dosing pumps?

:confused: Is it normal for the pH to want to climb a little bit all the time? or should it stabilize and say at like 5.8 for a couple of days? My pH is always wandering up. It can be 5.8 just before a flood, but an hour after the flood it is 5.9. The pH goes up fairly consistently .1 or .2 per flood. Is that normal? Am I being repetitive?

How you feel about pH automation? It looks a bit pricey...

Any suggestions you have would be great!!! Thanks, in advance, Al!!!
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
hey al glad to see you back. how was fiji, awesome i can imagine. i've alawys wanted to go there, but anywho glad your back.
Thanks :)

Fiji was great, but next time I'm not staying at a resort, gonna stay with some locals I got to know and love. I was rather wary of travelling to a place which is in the middle of a military coup, and quite reasonably so had I went to Suva. I flew in to Nadi and immediately off of the big island, over to Vanua Levu, where the political temperature regarding foreigners is a bit lower. The people by and large support the coup leaders. Their objection to the last govt was it seems to have a bias toward big money interests and economically disfavours native Fijians.

Former PM Laisenia Qarase certainly did have a stink of corruption around him and foreigners absolutely do dominate Fiji's tourism industry and property ownership, in many cases either not employing or drastically underpaying native Fijian employees. Foreigners, both residents and visitors, also tend not to respect traditional land owners' rights, tromping about & fishing in places which are of special cultural significance to the people, with no regard whatsoever for the sensitivities of the native peoples. I can see why the native Fijian people are peeved.

hate to hit you up like this,
heh, hit away, it's kinda why I'm here. :)

i have some indicas and sativas in pots of soil they have been flowering for approximately 10 wks(when i started 12/12). now i'm not worried about the sativas, yet. but the trichs on the indicas are only about 80-85% cloudy, but the hairs are about 60% brown, and the trichs are pretty much the same on the sativa, but her hairs are only about 25% orange.
I'd say it's harvest time. 10wks is about right for soil.

Hey Al, how long to you keep a mum?
It varies. Some keep producing vigorous new growth for 3 mos or more, some are never terribly good producers or the woody part of their mainstem gets too tall, forcing fresh growth to be a bit too high up, meaning it gets too close to the light in the 14 days between cutting batches of clones.

I don't feel bad about disposing of poorly productive or badly formed mums quite frequently. I have space for 10 mums in the veg tray. At any given time, 6-8 of them will be good producing plants and the others have been relatively recently introduced to the mum area and are vegging up to a productive size.

Any feelings about the genetics falling off from clones of clones of clones?
Yeah, it doesn't happen. You can cut the tails off successive generations of lab rats before they breed but never produce rats born tailless. Why? Because you haven't altered the rat's DNA, which exists in every cell in the creature. Similar thing happening with taking cuttings from plants. No change has been made to the DNA.

A cutting is genetically identical to the mother plant. However, a plant propagated by cuttings will be more faithful to the source plant DNA than your modified lab rat, which is reproducing through sexual means. Sexual reproduction is a good way to introduce errors or mutations into DNA.

I've been propagating Sweet Tooth #4 by cuttings from beans sprouted in 2002. If the DNA is going to start changing on me, it is certainly taking its own sweet time about it. :D

*Somewhere* You mentioned that 5.5mm stalks are best for cutting, but woody stalks take longer to root. Now I have yet, in my early experience, to see a stalk in the 5mm range that wasn't woody.
Here's some >10mm stems that are not woody.


mums just after cuts and 14 days later- lower growth does get woody, new material is fresh & pliant

I've had about the same success % of woody vs non woody.
(been playing a lot lately. Its fun. Though some might think I'm nuts for killing viable females.)
When you're proficient enough to get good results frequently enough to supply the needs for production and yet have leftovers, you are in a fine position to experiment. I grow an awful lot more vegetative material than totally necessary so I can choose the largest and most vigorous tissues for cuttings. Every harvest, between trimmings from flowering plants and waste from cutting clones, I put at least one solidly packed 9L bucket of plant trimmings in the compost, maybe 3-4kg of chopped up plant matter. You can bet my compost worms are some of the happiest invertebrates on (or rather, in) earth. ;)
 
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