cloning/SOG-pot size?

I have been growing for a little while now and have slowly picked up my skills. however, i have not attempted cloning yet and had a couple questions.

To begin, i want to be cloning either white widuow max or blueberry. I was planning on taking the cuttings and allowing root to form while in solo cups with 50/50 perlite/vermiculite with a dilute all purpose fert.

This is where the q's come in.
-how long should the roots be before planting in soil
-what is a suffiecient pot size? -- i was thinking either milk jugs or 2 liter bottles
-how long after putting in soil should i wait to flower

Also, if i am not concerned about keeping a mother, is it a crazy idea to get one plant going with many sites possible for cloning and basicaly cutting the whole thing down into clones for a better SOG???

on a different note, i also have Aurora indica seeds that grow very short and are supposed to be good for a SOG. Are milk jugs big enough for this or do i need to get a tit bigger?

a little more to add...height is not an issue so basically wondering what is the best pot size yield ratio for a toom that is about 3.5 x 2 under a 400watt hps

Cloning - Personally, I just use solo-cups filled with soil to clone in, cover with a sandwhich baggie until rooted. You'll know it's rooted by gently tugging on the cutting, if there's any resistance there's roots. As soon as the roots hit bottom they can be transplanted, but could go another week or two in the same container without a noticable difference in health.

Pot size - Cram 4 plants into each square foot.... so any container that's 6 square inches would be great, and a 1 gallon container is pretty common in most SOG setups.. That'd be 28 plants in your size space.

When to flower - With a SOG setup, as soon as they're rooted. Less amount of veg time as possible the better, makes setting up a times table to run off of easier.

Mother - If you can't keep a mother, then yes one huge clone run off one plant is your best bet. In my opinion/experience, atleast one mother is key in a SOG, but I'm thinking of perpetual style growing, which SOG setups usually are.

thanks, i am trying to think of a good way to do this where i can get a few different strains involved. i have blueberry, white widow max and orange bud seeds on the way. i do have the space to set up a short mother room. It would be about 2 ft. tall with 4 20 watt flouros running opn the top. That should be enough space for the the fresh clippings too.

is 3 different strains with 3 different mothers over extending?

i was thinking 5 stages 2 weeks apart total 10 weeks at harvest. each section containingabout 5 plants. This i think is ok

i am concerned about the 3 mothers. is it going to be a big deal if i dont take cuttings from a mother for a 6 week period (as i would be taking cutting from only one mother each cycle)? i guess i could take a cutting midway through to maintain size.

when you say i should flower as soon rooting takes place does that mean i should flower while still in the 50/50 perlite mix? or are you saying as soon as the rooting takes after transplanting to the jugs?

thanks again

flower after roots have developed on the clone and you put into the pots you are going to use the remainder of the grow. 2 liter bottles would probably work but i wouldent be willing to water that often so id probably go with a gallon jug for a container. I just use milk jugs cut off about 3/4 of the jug.......
i run the same setup that you are asking about, and i must say that it works wonderfully. For a 400watt I believe that its the best way to go to get the most out of what you have.

awesmoe, thanks man

do you have an estimate on how long that rooting takes? are they under flouros when you are doing this, how close?

do you mind if i ask what strains you are doing?

thanks again, you are helping a ton

past times said:

awesmoe, thanks man

do you have an estimate on how long that rooting takes? are they under flouros when you are doing this, how close?

do you mind if i ask what strains you are doing?

thanks again, you are helping a ton

Click to expand...

most people try to find a strain that flowers quickly and stays short with tight internode spacing.
i use 4 ft t12 shoplights for rooting. I find that they are strong enough to make root but not enough to fry it before they get the roots. I keep t12's about 4-7 inches away when trying to root clones. I use a 2 liter bottle over the top of the plant as a humidity dome and lightly mist the cuttings for about 3-6 days. mine take root in 2 weeks @ the longest. I use rootone hormone powder and my cuttings are from 2-6 inches long when i attempt to root them.
if you find that you cannot clone by this method make a dwc cloner. there are DIY forums on here for them.

If you say height is not an issue, you could let them go a little longer in veg and take advantage of that light/height. Just my .02

sog is the best as far as using all the light that you have from a 400watt.

what is your average clone height if you flower pretty much right after rooting?

i use a bag seed. it was seedy northern lights. mine usually finish about 2- 3 ft tall. But i also veg for 2 weeks before putting them into flowering. I always prune mine so that it grows 2 branches for main colas from that. then i take one as a clone and that leaves 1 top cola.
my roots have always taken by 2 weeks of cutting the clone.
but the height that they end up depends on the strain.
Ive never used a strain that is specifically short just for this method although they say its more efficient, I am doing fine without a lowryder strain or any short on like most people do.

cool, i have one strain that is supposed to stay short then the rest are growers also so i guess i should expect about the same.

Do you have any pointers on how to treat the mother plants? or know a good link on caring for them. i feel like everything is geared toward the clone and the mom gets neglected a bit on all these sites.

Is there anything special you do with the light cycles (18/6?, 24/0?)? i know to starve them on N prior to taking the cutting. i have a lot of experience in training so i know i can manipulate the ladies. guess i am looking for more specifics on how to treat the moms

dont fix something that doesnt need fixing - thats the best piece of advice anyone can give. i had a purple urk mom that i got from my brother but it had gotten spider mites(about 7 months ago). so i took 20 or so clones from it and tried to get all the info i could on it and over watered over nuted and just OVER DID everything. the only clone that lasted is now my 3 ft mom. i never give her nutes cuz like i said if it doesnt need fixing dont fix it! just play around with it.... try try and try again...

thanks guys

i did fond a great site with pictures on how to make a bonsai mom

mums

care for moms individually with love and care like you would if you only had that one plant. inspect it read and learn as much as you can. take care of the mom just like you would any other marijuana plant.

i keep my mom in my room but shes bout to die i think

thanks for all your help guys, got the seeds a couple days ago and they are in germination. i am thinking about making a journal covering the making of my mums. not going to post right away but will put it up after have a few weeks of photos. if your interested keep your eyes peeled

Your setup sound nearly identical to mine in terms of space for both flower and veg.
I've been running it for about 3 years now growing a grapefruit x hashplant with about the following time table

Veg / clone room - 24hour light 2-23w CFL
2 weeks for clones to root
4 weeks for veg

Flower - 12:12 125HPS w/ 4-23CFL
12 weeks
4 plants in 6qt square "pots" -actually food storage containers that maximized the available space, and rotated each plant 1/4 turn every 2 days for even lighting.
Each plant spent 3 weeks in each location in the box, rotating through.
I get about 25-35g. per plant depending on what the temps have been.

I did a 5k SOG and it is the best way to get past the single GPW point. You have to have a strain that works well though. I basicly use 4k for my tight SOG and 1k for my different haze varieties and flowering out the moms once in a while.
With strain selection it is also important to get stretch out of the plant if you want to go straight to flower after rooting which is going to produce the fastest results and more harvests per year.
I did a white widow run and I currently run blueberry, the blueberry crushes it hands down. The plant stretches more than the widow, and yields twice as much. It is one of my biggest producers. I currently run Violator Kush, Purple Wreck, Blueberry, Old Time Moonshine, Cannalope Haze, and a Seedsman NL (This strain is awful and won't make another round) and the blueberry and violator kush are up there in yield.
I started out flowering everything straight from rooting and wound up with alot of plants that didn't stretch, and in turn did not yield. So you really need to know if the plants stretch.
I now also take large cuts between 6-8" so I don't require as much stretch. I have a 90% rate and take more than I need to cover the 10% and allow me to pick and choose.
And finally I used to use 2 litre bottles and they work ok. However, you would be much better off if you got the 6" square containers (5"s work just as well) that are 4 litres or better. This again will give you a large jump in yield. I started averaging 7g or so per plant and now I average about 17 per cut (some larger an some strains lighter) with the increase in pot size. My tallest plants are about 28" or so. The purple wreck, canna haze, and Kush like to stretch more than everything else. Hope my post helps. Damn I must be high, that's a long ass post!

damn i just realized how old this is, lol