Clone Recovery

I have had trouble with my clones almost lost them after transplanting to solo cups with coco and perlite.
Been 3-4 weeks they are just now showing sign of a little new growth. they are not growing like they should at all I have been using rhizatonic with half dose feedings around 400ppm. is there a chance that they are root bound even tho there is not much plant matter there. I guess my real question is does a plants root growth kind of match its green growth ?

Are there holes in the bottom of your cups? If they were root bound you should have roots coming out the holes in the bottom. If you can see roots you should already have transplanted.

With coco and clones/seedlings, you need about twice the amount of perlite you would use in a fully grown pot to prevent overwatering/root rot (in my opinion, not fact), as well as minimum of 5 small 3/16 or so holes in the bottom and bottom sides of your cup.

400 ppm is slightly high to start a clone out in my opinion.
My rule of thumb is start with 100-200 ppm cal mag once she has roots, and increase about 100 ppm each week, adding full blend fertilizer at about 250-300 ppm second week of growth.
I've seen clones burn with 300 ppm which had several small roots already.

Also, coco is NOTORIOUS for salt buildup. Is your humidity low? This compounds salt buildup. I usually water coco/perlite mixes with about 33-50% water of the pot size. So a five gallon pot gets 1.75-2.5 gallons of water. This insures you remove MOST of the OLD salts/nutrients, and don't keep lingering nutrients your plant hasn't fully used yet.

I haven't seen pictures of your plants, but the next time they need watering, you should water with plain pH water. Collect the run off water that comes out of the drain holes in a cup. Test that cup with a cheap 20 dollar TDS meter and pH drops, or handy combo meter, whichever you have (if you don't have one, I would highly recommend getting one. There are many people on this site who have posted the absolute cheapest, reliable meters if you do a search). Get the run off close to what you're adding to it (if you add 60 ppm tap water, get the run off ppm less than 80 ppm). Then continue with 250 ppm and work your way back up.

Good luck, I hope you can learn from mistakes I've made (and most of us have made) in the past. Happy growing !

JayY2015 said:

I have had trouble with my clones almost lost them after transplanting to solo cups with coco and perlite.
Been 3-4 weeks they are just now showing sign of a little new growth. they are not growing like they should at all I have been using rhizatonic with half dose feedings around 400ppm. is there a chance that they are root bound even tho there is not much plant matter there. I guess my real question is does a plants root growth kind of match its green growth ?

Click to expand...

Also, It is highly unlikely your root ball has filled out the cup, unless the plant's leaves are wider than the cup. I have grown (although highly root bound and I wouldn't recommend it) 18 inch tall plants in solo cups. I would think if you try to transplant at this point, without seeing some roots out of the bottom, could cause detrimental harm.

Give her a flush and start over. Unless you have a virus/root rot/disease, your plant WILL bounce back.

I tried to use just water but the coco needs at least 300 ppm to not throw the pf buffer out of whack.
I always water untill I see good run off
I have a nice oakton ph pen and blue lab ppm pen
I have GH ph down with ADV. ph down on order
small tent around runs 75-80 with 60-60% humidity

Is the ground the cups are sitting on cold? Happens this time of year. Cold stunts root growth. No matter tho its an easy fix. Don't bother flushing or fucking around with them too much at this point. Keep them off the ground ,2 bricks and a saucer, whatever you gotta do. I highly recommend humid acid and mykos at this stage of growth. Water the cups once and leave em be for a week or so. If you poke your finger into the cup and feel moisture then no need to water. I start mine 500-700 ppm or so , your just fine with your nutrient strength. Don't listen to too much advice and make it more complex than it needs to be, it's a plant and it wants to grow. What if anything are you using to promote root growth?

*humic acid

I was using gh rapid root, now switched to canna rhizotonic, just purchased house and garden gold roots accelerator On ebay to try it next.
clone tent is now on top of veg tent
It was on cold ass concrete floor when it happend.

There's your answer, cold cups. I would advise staying away from all of the expensive root enhancers and use humic acid and mykos for that, amazing results and very cost effective. Good luck regardless tho!