The Musings of Serapis

I actually have to smoke the couch lock stuff or I never get anything done... I've had three projects going on simultaneously before and I have to stop and sit down and smoke a bowl to slow down the thoughts. When i'm not like that and having a good day, I do like sativa type buzzes.

Grumpy Old Dreamer said:

I get the impression that you're a Sativa kinda guy.

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Hey Serapis. I have two plants two weeks in 12/12. Fuckers look like Xmas trees lol. I totally feel the removing useless foliage. Would you mind if I put a couple pics up here and you could tell me what you would remove?

subed and along for the ride.. Ive been playing around with foggers too with great results, not no were nice as yours.. + rep ..

Hey Serapis - just got caught up and subbed.

I'm wanting to try using a fogger for cuttings in the near future, assuming I can find one for cheap. But I'm curious if mineralization from the nutrients interferes with the fogger over time?

I'm on a bio-organic kick right now and was thinking that beneficial fungi and bacteria might survive in that kind of hydro environment better than in DWC or bubble-cloning. My biggest concern though would be that bio-organic nutrients would destroy the fogger faster than inorganic nutrients. Have any input/knowledge/guesses on if that concern is well-placed or misplaced?

incognegro999 said:

Hey Serapis. I have two plants two weeks in 12/12. Fuckers look like Xmas trees lol. I totally feel the removing useless foliage. Would you mind if I put a couple pics up here and you could tell me what you would remove?

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I would strongly suggest you consider at least thinning out the middle a bit to improve air flow. Before you do though, please feel free to post your pics. If they are huge, please just insert the thumbnails so it won't fill a page.

chillychill said:

subed and along for the ride.. Ive been playing around with foggers too with great results, not no were nice as yours.. + rep ..View attachment 1502441View attachment 1502442

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Not bad! Take close notice of which two rooted the quickest. If you repeat and take cuttings more similar to those, your results will improve greatly. How hot does it get in there?

TaoWolf said:

Hey Serapis - just got caught up and subbed.

I'm wanting to try using a fogger for cuttings in the near future, assuming I can find one for cheap. But I'm curious if mineralization from the nutrients interferes with the fogger over time?

I'm on a bio-organic kick right now and was thinking that beneficial fungi and bacteria might survive in that kind of hydro environment better than in DWC or bubble-cloning. My biggest concern though would be that bio-organic nutrients would destroy the fogger. Have any input/knowledge/guesses on if that concern is well-placed or misplaced?

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The first foggers to hit the market did have mineralization problems on the ultra-sonic discs. Manufacturers have responded by coating the discs with ceramic material. You can use vinegar water to clean up between uses and the prices for replacement discs have really come down.

I'm thinking bacteria may do well in a fogger reservoir as well, perhaps too well. My knowledge in that respect to growing is infantile, so I'll have to ask you to experiment or research that and get back and let us know please.

I don't hang on to leaf taken in vegetative growth. It is usually mowed over with my lawn mower and then deposited into compost heap to decay and add nutrients to the soup.

BluBerry said:

I have been wondering what to do with my leaves that I trim off. I'm still vegging but cut some leaves off to open up for the inner shoots. I have been throwing them away or burning them. I guess I need to look around and see what they can be used for other than trash. I have never made hash, cookies or anything with bud. Only smoked it. Any suggestions?

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hanks serapis. I know you didn't even intend to but you dropped a gem on me. I wanted to save my clippings for compost but don't like leaving "plant matter" laying around (till I build my outdoor garden) and hitting it with the mower first never occured to me. Perfect way to get rid of it but keep it. I bet it smells for a few mins lolb but I'm not worried about it could even mix it with some lawn clippings.

I have a few question about composting that reminds me of... I want to make a compost bin and have a couple ideas but don't really know which would be the best. I don't want to have it spread out over my yard.

My first idea is take a 55 gallon drum and either rap it with balck plastic or paint the outside black (if I can't find a black one) and put a bunch of 1/2 in holes in it. Thrn ill cut a 16" (aprox) circle out of 1/2 plywood (this will go flat in the bottom of barrel). I'll take a 5' 2x4 or maybe 2 nailed together to make it a 4x4 (to make it easier to nail to) this will stand straight up and down and the bottom will be nailed to the center of the plywood circle. Kinda likw a wheel and axle but verticle. Then one foot up from the plywood ill nail a 16" 2x4 horizontally, another one 32" from the bottom, then one on top for a handle. Basically ill turn the handle and have those "beaters" inside to mix the compost with. Make sense?

Do you think that will work or do you have another diy method for a composting bin?

I'm not so sure I'd want to try to turn that mess. It sounds as though you have put some thought into it though. I'm going to stake off a 4x4 area and use chicken wire. When I pull the chicken wire walls, I'll leave stakes on outside and use bail wire to fasten fence to stakes. When it is full, I'll cut bail wire and roll the compost cube so that the bottom is now the top. It'll become top dressing for my garden beds over winter.

I ordered the Cataract Kush and got 6 free Confidential Cheese, then the TH promo seeds and the UFO's and a Birthday shirt. I have a pack of G13 PE I'm dying to bust, but I germed a UFO PE and it is doing real well.

Dropastone said:

I got the same tracking message about a week ago. Still no seeds. Should be this week though. I grabbed some G13 labs pineapple express. What did you settle on?

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I'm glad to hear that! Sorry about the subs though. I expect I'll have similar results. I haven't killed my 7 day old clones yet, so I'm looking OK here. I have a Pineapple Express Vegging along with a Vanilla Kush. In my nursery are 10 Sure-to-Grow cubes, 5 with Dankee Doodle seeds and 5 with KC Mango. I hope to get two nice mothers out of the 10 seeds.

I also have a Papaya of unknown sex that is about 3 weeks old and he/she is beginning to node up quickly. Once it's got about 5 nodes, I'll FIM it and then eventually sex a couple of cuttings asap.

That is what I have going on instead of germing my attitude order.

TheLastWood said:

Mine got here serapis. All good except they gave me critical + and blue widow instead of diesel an white widow freebies.

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Lolits gettin so hot here already I'm gonna save my catarfact and cheese till it cools off. I've got 5 plushbery seedlings and I'm gonna grow my 3 widow crosses n find a good mother. My widows are blue widow, hypnotic (chronic x ww) and moby dick (hazex ww)

Well, I'm tired of wiping up drips. I've tried silicone beads, silicone weatherstrip, foam weatherstrip, the damn thing still leaks and drips water. I've adjusted heads and tried everything else I could think of.... Whomever said the Rubbermaid Roughneck doesn't leak is questionable. I've gone ahead and ordered an EZ Cloner. While the fogger was giving some results, I'm not happy with the success rate.... many seem to die off just as they start to develop roots.

I'll be taking the Rubbermaid cloner outside to root some vegetable plants once the EZ Cloner gets here. I also have a spare top and some 3.75" net pots and root guards, so I might just use it for DWC as well.

To anyone thinking about building your own cloner, it can be cheaper, but once you start adding everything up, your going to go spend approx $50-$60. Then you are going to have to battle leaks and drips. Foam weatherstripping, as used on the original tutorial, is useless, because once it's saturated, it begins to drip. The silicone bead sold for doors and windows would work well, if the damn adhesive on the back was worth anything. My final straw was waking up and seeing a puddle of water on my shelf and on my floor. Luckily the floor is covered with tarp, newspaper and a cotton drop cloth. The shelf was lined with panda-poly and it just collected the water. The neoprene inserts that I used to waterproof the entry points for the air line and pump cord were leaking, as was the top that I had just spent $20 sealing with a top of the line silicone bead weatherstrip. I'm done sinking money into a homemeade cloner that continues to leak,...

i have a rubbermaid roughneck that i use as a cloner and it doesnt leak at all and ive got holes drilled in the sides for air tubes even. can you take a pic of it maybe all apart and then all together? I just hate seein people spend that kind of cheddar on somethin that shouldnt be that much. Also, for the plug i just drilled out an extra site hole in the lid, cut out the bottom of a net pot, put on a plastic site plug with a hole drilled in the middle and a cut on one side, then stick a neoprene discaround the cord, into the site plug that is around the cord which goes into the net pot. I put some gorilla tape to seal it to the top and its all done. Ill see if I cant get a pic of it for you. the only holes I drilled in the side were for air tubes for airstones when the pump is off. I use a timer as a substitute for a cycle timer that sprays for 15 mins, then is off for 45.

I watched a PHD researcher studying Cat Claw plants and how they grow because their roots are high in alkaloids, something health food and supplement companies want to boost the immune system. He was raving on the EZ 30 site, saying he had root growth in 5-7 days and as a plant researcher, he was very surprised at it's efficiency. That floored me.. I've done all type of cloning and nothing was ever plug it in and forget it..... until now.... I built a bucket, it works, but it holds 6 sites only. I did spot a new type Rubbermaid tote that looked like it would do the job as far as stopping drips, it even had lock down clamps on the handles, but the top wasn't flat enough to lay out efficient insert sites....

I tried to save money, and ended up easily going over $100 and was still getting drips, call me an idiot, but I'm over it... Money has already been spent.

Serapis said:

I tried to save money, and ended up easily going over $100 and was still getting drips, call me an idiot, but I'm over it... Money has already been spent.

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done the same thing...originally made a rubbermaide cloner, wasted money on that failed attempt. So i got a real nice 20 site clone box for like 150 at my hydro store...then the cops took it. So i found this cheap one, looks great too but havent used it yet.

yeah serapis i know exactly what you mean. that why i rarely do diy anymore. for me i can make the things i need pretty well but there is someone out there that makes the product professionally and it works just like it should. i made my own carbon filter which worked but did not do the job exactly like i wanted. after spending 40$ on supplies i gave in and just got a phresh filter. from now on if i dont think i can duplicate a product exactly i just bought.

Serapis said:

Yeah, after 100 bucks and still not a solid solution in sight, I gave in and ordered the EZ Clone 30, brand new for $222

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Same thing here. I originally tried to DIY my cloner and bought an Ebb an Grow 12 site with resevoir and controller. After much trying and frustration I sold the ebb and grow and bought an EZ-Cloner...turns out DIY DWC buckets are easy to make and work well while DIY cloners leaked mercilessly on me, as well as issues with the jets spraying roots one time and then not next time I check.

You'll be happy with your EZ-Clone. You can set it up and run it on ONE resevoir for 6 weeks and every clone I put in is rooted and ready in 7-10 days depending on how you like your roots and your schedule. I know the 6 week thing sounds crazy but I read an interview with the EZ-Clone creator Billy Blackburn and upon his recomendation it works well. The article is at UrbanGardenmagazine.com.

Good luck grower!

I hate my 25 site botanicare cloner. White plastic. Full of slime. I'm either gonna paint it black or sell it and just use rapid rooters.

CaptainCAVEMAN said:

Same thing here. I originally tried to DIY my cloner and bought an Ebb an Grow 12 site with resevoir and controller. After much trying and frustration I sold the ebb and grow and bought an EZ-Cloner...turns out DIY DWC buckets are easy to make and work well while DIY cloners leaked mercilessly on me, as well as issues with the jets spraying roots one time and then not next time I check.

You'll be happy with your EZ-Clone. You can set it up and run it on ONE resevoir for 6 weeks and every clone I put in is rooted and ready in 7-10 days depending on how you like your roots and your schedule. I know the 6 week thing sounds crazy but I read an interview with the EZ-Clone creator Billy Blackburn and upon his recomendation it works well. The article is at UrbanGardenmagazine.com.

Good luck grower!

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Thanks a lot for your post! I'm going to go to that website and read up on that. I can't wait for it to get here. I also ordered a humidifier with built in hyfrostat from Drugstore.com This thing turns itself on and off as needed and has a 5.5 gal reservoir. I got it for the nursery to keep it from getting below 50% RH in there. Yesterday it was 26% humidity and it was stressing the clones and I had to add a dome. I know plants aren't going to root when the leaves are stressin...

TheLastWood said:

I hate my 25 site botanicare cloner. White plastic. Full of slime. I'm either gonna paint it black or sell it and just use rapid rooters.

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I don't blame you. That sucks.

stumps said:

do you get leaks from using sprayers?

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Oh yes.... Those sprayers have some kick, especially with a 450 gph pump. I even tried adjusting sprayers so they weren't spraying at the res/top seam and still no damn luck. I think the ONLY thing that would have stopped leaks was plumbers putty, but I wasn't going that route. I'm looking for simplicity and turn over. I'd like to have plants going into my flower tent every 3-4 weeks.