So this is what's been keeping me busy...transplanting the clones I took weeks ago right before harvest. I learned a lot about cloning this time, as I tried some new stuff (some worked, some didn't) and really payed attention to what was going on and observed things carefully. My biggest problem was keeping the dome on for WAY too long. The roots don't grow if they can't get enough oxygen. Oh and I was also dipping my cut ends directly into the cloning gel which apparently ruins it. Plus the gel I was using was over a year old too. With this said, although it did take over 3 weeks for them all to root, I got 100% success on the last round of clones. Not a single one bit the dust. I must be getting better, that or I found the strain for people that suck at cloning!
Here's my new big 3 on cloning that I just learned the hard way:
1. Start with the dome on and leave vents closed.
2. Each day open the vents a little more so that by day 7 they are completely open.
3. Take the dome completely off at the end of day 7.
Also, I decided to use all bigger pots this time, to make sure that the plants do not get restricted due to pot size. The only problem is...I keep running out of soil! I can only get 9-10 pots filled out of each 2 cubic foot bag of FF Happy Frog soil. Between the bigger pots and the greater numbers that I'm doing this time, I went from needing 1 bag tops to at least 3! Oh well, as long as it's worth it. I still have 9 clones to pot up, and it's taking a while cause I have to sneak the bags of soil in at night up 3 flight of stairs past my neighbors. Let me tell ya, growing on the 3rd floor of an apartment building is not that easy!
So pic #1 shows my setup again (after being cleaned up a bit), pic #2 is a group shot of what's completed so far, and pic #3 is a close-up on the ISSxHB seedlings that are kicking ass and taking names. These are going to grow fast! They have crazy vigor. Once I finish potting up the rest of the clones, I have to move on to transplanting the seedlings. I'm really getting tired of transplanting!
For the next cycle I'm going to do 20 clones using these 1.5 gallon or whatever they are pots. I'm going to veg for about 2 weeks here under the MH bulb that I popped back into my cooltube for now, and then flip em. Only this time I think I'm going to do some SERIOUS pruning to lollipop the hell out of all of these girls. My plan is to grow them all to about 16" tall untopped, then flip em, and gradually leading up to the flip I'm going to be pruning off ALL of the branches except for the meristem and the roughly 4 top laterals directly below the cola. Let's just say I'm REAL tired of trimming up popcorn bud, and I just want to have great big nugs that trim up super easy. Plus light will penetrate a lot better and ventilation will be greatly improved. So stick around and see what happens, this is definitely going to be a vast departure from my traditional techniques!