Have; T5, Rwool etc...outdoor guy needs some more help though :)

I've read Al B's thread over and over and think it's great. I might consider turning this cabinet in the pics below into a "dry" cloner...no lids. But I need to bang out some clones from my outdoor plants in the coming weeks so I'm gonna roll with the cheap cloning chambers.


I have donors...

Same strain...strain unknown. Was told she was LA Conf. If you want the full grow journal here it is...https://www.rollitup.org/outdoor-growing/201874-tree-like-potential.html

One Dutch Passion White Widow that got a late start...this photo is from 7/17.

Two White Berry's with the same late start. This one has two really nice Chopper handle bars shooting out of the bottom.

I want to expand my growing experience beyond the outdoors and head indoors with rockwool.

I litterally purchased this stuff today. I have some install and clean up to do but this is the basics of they lay out. I want to clone these three plants, make mothers (that's another thread and discussion possibly) and see what I can do with them. The bushy fucker needs to stick around till next year because he has major potential. I just didn't do a few things right early on and really could have had a something close to a tree here.

Here's the goods.

Two cloning chambers...why not right.

A HydroFarms 4ft T5. Was gonna buy two but felt one would get the cloning done for now. Experienced buddies agree.

A light timer and some Rockwool Soak...I know I don't need the timer and can run 24hrs for cloning but I may choose to do less than 24hrs. I think I might need these clones to grow slower anyway. Don't know yet cause I haven't started and don't have a place other than outdoors to put them yet.

Got a lot to do in 10 days or so.

What else???

Bought some wool cubes of different sizes.

Here is the goal.

Clone some strains with my cloning set up shown (currently and obviously incomplete).

I am going to pick out a few of the best clones and they will become mothers. I believe in the principle of mothers. They are going to go into this cabinet;

She too is not done yet. This is a plan man...

Minus the center board being cut out I will have this 8.33cuft cabinet to house a few mothers of the strains I'm going to try and clone with Rockwool...something I know nothing about. it will be all ventilated and have proper lighting, etc.

Notice the cool removable lid...not the little one but the one that covers the entire cabinet. A nice feature I think.




As of today at 8pm that is the plan. It's definately gonna be rockwool unless I put some rockwool clones outside in soil.

I'm primarily looking for input on how to handle and maintain a rockwool set up...both cloning and mother. I've been reading on watering rockwool...but I have simple questions like what to do with fluid or condensation build up in the pan. Should I set up a drain? Stuff like that.

For now I'm going to hand water...any additional tips appreciated. I've read and searched the piss out of this site and the net but now that I have my spaces and locations available for scrutiny I would like some feed back. Long term I think a resi is gonna be the ticket with watering. But I like to start simple and expand as I become comfortable with what I've got here. If this were indoor soil I probably wouldn't even post this thread because of its forgiving nature...but I'm so out of my element. Wait, I suck at soil too

Share with me your thoughts.

I hear that there are coco mats that can go under the cubes once you've got a bigger tray and full grow going. Those suckers were pricey...couldn't you do a perlite base instead or would that get moldy?

I'm pretty intrigued about this rockwool thing.

The cloning set up wont knock your socks off but should be effective.

* You can get warming mats for that cloning dome which helps. Some of my friends use the round rockwool plugs to start the clones. Then they slide that into a block and grow it and then they’ll take that block and set it onto a larger block. I’ve never seen it done before but they say it works well. I’m not too sure about using that wooden cabinet? I think that thinner wood would get funky under those conditions? Remember to soak your rockwool 24 hours before you use it. I use rockwool, but just to get my clones going. Then I throw them in hydroton in a drip system. Although I’m thinking of building a NFT with sprayers or misters.

abayareabum said:

* You can get warming mats for that cloning dome which helps. Some of my friends use the round rockwool plugs to start the clones. Then they slide that into a block and grow it and then they’ll take that block and set it onto a larger block. I’ve never seen it done before but they say it works well. I’m not too sure about using that wooden cabinet? I think that thinner wood would get funky under those conditions? Remember to soak your rockwool 24 hours before you use it. I use rockwool, but just to get my clones going. Then I throw them in hydroton in a drip system. Although I’m thinking of building a NFT with sprayers or misters.

Click to expand...

Many of my friends don't use the warming mats. But I'm using a T5 which i would imagine is much cooler than the cheaper flouros they are using. My friends say they get adequate temps using just the light.

I might paint a heavy dose of high gloss white paint for easy clean up. In the event of a spill I shouldn't have to worry about mildew if these chambers in fact do their job and hold in the humidity. The cabinet will not be enclosed but will have that breathable black "Sun Shade" mat material as a curtain. Just to keep the light down.

We will see.

I do have some 4" cubes for when they get bigger. Those will go into a different cabinet. Bought some jiffys too if my rockwool cuttings take a dive on me I need to have some back ups till I get this rockwool thing down.

Thanks for the info.