Pinkgrows
02-04-2009, 06:02 PM
So this is my first go round at hydro, ive always been a soilless peat based media guy but in my new locale it will be easier to dump water down the drain then to dispose of all that soilless media. Ive been reading forums to ad nauseum and finally found a home here I think, it looks like there is lots of help and mature posters with lots of experience. But I have one question that I havent found an answer to.
What pH should my cloner be?
heres my situation, I started my mothers in soil out of habit, looking back I would have done them in DWC, and as soon as I could I cloned the tops so that I could sex the clones and take them to harvest. Ive settled on this method because in the past it has resulted the best mothers for me, I get nice even branching from the bottom, since after I pinched them it usually takes longer to see preflowers.. I digress.. so out of my 6 clones I got 5 and moved to DWC buckets once I saw nice roots, it took about 10 days to see root primordia and 15 days before I felt comfortable to move them to the DWC buckets
my cloner is homemade its a 20" by 16" by 6" rubbermaid, it holds about 5 gallons of h20 at the level I need. I used 2 inch net cups with neoprene inserts and filled with water up to bottom of nets cups, I use 8 inch ceramic stones to make microbubbles instead of spray jets. I foliar spray intermittently for the first few days since I dont have a dome. I flew totally blind on the first clones, no testers at all(I know I can hear the moans already) I ordered a ph and a TDS meter from emeraldelectronics but I had ordered calibration liquids with them which they wont send if its to cold, which they wouldnt tell me at the ordering center, so after 2 weeks the fulfillment center finally sent it without the liquids and sent me a nice email apologizing..grrr. I sent in my order the first week of january, and I finally will receive it tomorrow. When I set up my DWC I went out and got GH pH drops to get me by until I got my testers, I didnt want to spend another 200 bucks, probably more like 300 at the shop.
So.. That brings us up to yesterday, I fill the cloner with water again test the pH, about 7, im still using drops so I dont know exact, plug in stones let it run over night with heater on to bring temp up to 65F. Today I add 2.5 oz of rootstock, the same amount I used last time with success, which is about 1/2 the recommended, I add 3oz of my subculture stock(i inoculate a gallon mason jar with about a tbl of SC and put in a PVC joint in the bottom and top off as needed with a little bit of organic nutes, it makes a pack last a long time). After adding nutes I test h2o and pH is like 4.0! Is this ok? I didnt add any pH up last time and didnt have problems. I know the the microzone around roots in soil mixes are always lower than the surrounding area is this why the Rootstock drops the pH so much? looking for any help, I would like to clone soon butdont know if I should adjust the pH, I didnt last time. Im just a dumb dirt farmer tryin to learn. Thanks for any suggestions.
What pH should my cloner be?
heres my situation, I started my mothers in soil out of habit, looking back I would have done them in DWC, and as soon as I could I cloned the tops so that I could sex the clones and take them to harvest. Ive settled on this method because in the past it has resulted the best mothers for me, I get nice even branching from the bottom, since after I pinched them it usually takes longer to see preflowers.. I digress.. so out of my 6 clones I got 5 and moved to DWC buckets once I saw nice roots, it took about 10 days to see root primordia and 15 days before I felt comfortable to move them to the DWC buckets
my cloner is homemade its a 20" by 16" by 6" rubbermaid, it holds about 5 gallons of h20 at the level I need. I used 2 inch net cups with neoprene inserts and filled with water up to bottom of nets cups, I use 8 inch ceramic stones to make microbubbles instead of spray jets. I foliar spray intermittently for the first few days since I dont have a dome. I flew totally blind on the first clones, no testers at all(I know I can hear the moans already) I ordered a ph and a TDS meter from emeraldelectronics but I had ordered calibration liquids with them which they wont send if its to cold, which they wouldnt tell me at the ordering center, so after 2 weeks the fulfillment center finally sent it without the liquids and sent me a nice email apologizing..grrr. I sent in my order the first week of january, and I finally will receive it tomorrow. When I set up my DWC I went out and got GH pH drops to get me by until I got my testers, I didnt want to spend another 200 bucks, probably more like 300 at the shop.
So.. That brings us up to yesterday, I fill the cloner with water again test the pH, about 7, im still using drops so I dont know exact, plug in stones let it run over night with heater on to bring temp up to 65F. Today I add 2.5 oz of rootstock, the same amount I used last time with success, which is about 1/2 the recommended, I add 3oz of my subculture stock(i inoculate a gallon mason jar with about a tbl of SC and put in a PVC joint in the bottom and top off as needed with a little bit of organic nutes, it makes a pack last a long time). After adding nutes I test h2o and pH is like 4.0! Is this ok? I didnt add any pH up last time and didnt have problems. I know the the microzone around roots in soil mixes are always lower than the surrounding area is this why the Rootstock drops the pH so much? looking for any help, I would like to clone soon butdont know if I should adjust the pH, I didnt last time. Im just a dumb dirt farmer tryin to learn. Thanks for any suggestions.