Theelementja's Grow Log

[Theelementja]

Strain:  Blosser Strain
Lighting: Indirect Sunlight, filtered by sterilite container and a CFL bulb 1 inch over container with a 5500k rating
Grow Media/Soil Mix: Jungle Growth soil. Mixed with peat moss, vermiculite, perlite and slow release fertilizer
Fertilizer: Going to use Maxicrop Liquidfied Seaweed on a bi weekly or less basis
Temperature Range: between 70 to 80 degrees
Humidity: 80 to 90 percent
Started From: Clone
Start Date: 01/31/08

01/30/08- I'm bored and hoping my two babies make it on time so I decided to start my grow log early, they will get to my house at around 2:30pm after three days of shipping. They're two 8-10 inch rooted clones bought from this sites shop, I hope they survived the USPS system.

1/31/08- Finally my two girls have arrives, although one is in perfect condition even after one extra day of shipping another one was split in half, one having roots but no leaves and the other no roots but roughtly five leaves. I named the plant that snapped in half The Twins. Also the one that made it intact is named Corazon.

2/01/08- I replanted the bigger of the twins in a mason jar so she can root herself, I placed it inside of my humidity chamber since I dont have any 2 liter bottles laying around.

2/01/08- I just put up a 28 watt CFL and placed it right above the container, hopefully this will perk them up a little bit as Corazon is still hanging down.

2/08/08- It's been eight days since I've planted Corazon and "The Twins," I've lost one of the Twins but the other one seems to be going strong as she just started to root in the water I placed her in. Corazon has grown some smaller leaves and I think has acclimated into her new home.

Other Details/Images:

Heres my humidity container.



The Girls, The ones circled in blue are "The Twins" also the one circled in red is Corazon.



A top and side view of the lucky twin.






The final setup.



New pictures of Corazon and "The Twin"

[Arcygenical]

Looks really good. I'd poke a single hole somewhere in your humidity chamber just for good measure.

Also, try to set up a CFL light on them for about 12 hrs a day, they'll really benefit!

[Theelementja]

I'll check those out, about how far to you think it should hang above it, or to the side of it?

[Arcygenical]

Depends on the wattage and style, really.

CFL bulbs should butt up right against the enclosure. A single 42w CFL should be more than sufficient for your plants, just screw it into any old desk lamp. Try to get "Daylight" ones, not "Warm white". They should have a Kelvin value of between 5500 and 6700k. Definitely drill air holes if you're using light, as heat can easily be trapped inside, even if the bulb is outside the enclosure.

Tube lighting should be as close to the plants as possible, so, I don't think they'd work well in this situation.

[Theelementja]

Ok, thanks for the info man.

[Paradoxic]

Looks like you got a nice home for the Salvia to move right into...you even pre-misted it    I think I've used the exact same two plastic containers for a humidity chamber for my Salvia's as well. I don't know how high the humidity is in your house, but putting a layer of damp perlite in the bottom of the chamber can help keep the humidity up in there. The only down side I've found to that is that after a while green algae or mold or fungus or something starts growing in it. Does anyone know of a good method to control that stuff? Someone recommended powdered sulfur so I think I might try that and see what happens.

[Arcygenical]

Sulfur has a very low pH, and thus I wouldn't ever use it in a container garden... You'll acidify your soil quickly.

I'm going to have to recommend Hydrogen Peroxide again... a 1:1 mix of it can be sprayed directly on your perlite to kill anything growing on it... Although, my perlite is almost completely green, and it's doing no harm!

[Theelementja]

So is there a major difference using gravel instead of perlite?

[Theelementja]

Anyone have any advice on what to do with the twins   

[JD1stTimer]

Does the one on the left have a leaf node on it? I can't see one in the picture.  If not it probably won't survive.  The other twin, you might want to try laying it on it's side so it can develop more roots more quickly. I think I can find the tek for you, let me check.

[Theelementja]

No, one half is just the stalk, laying on its side sounds interesting. I'll try it and see how it comes out.


Thanks for the reply 

[JD1stTimer]

I couldn't find an actual tek for the side-laying method, but you take off the large leaves, and when you look at the stem, one side will have more growth of the new baby leaves, and the other side just has eensy-weensy new leaves.  Put the side with more developed baby leaves facing up, and the side with teensy baby leaves facing down.  Again, this is after removing the mature leaves.  Don't bury the stem in the soil, the top side needs to have light.  From what I read which was attributed to Daniel Siebert (So it should be accurate), it gives faster root development and it produces as many plants as you have nodes.  One stem will go up from each node.  The other way is just what you are doing, remove the leaves from the stem going about 1/3rd of the way up, dip in rooting hormone, and just stick it down in a hole and press the soil around it.  You could also rinse all the soil off the stem and put it in water with some kind of cover around the glass to keep the stem dark (Construction paper?), and you can get it rooted in water.  You will also need a pop bottle or similar covering it.  This has the advantage of being able to see whether it's working or not.  Roots should appear around two weeks.  I'm obviously no expert though, having just got a plant one week ago today, so if anyone has any corrections/additions please feel free to school me here.   Although I have a 100% success rate making cuttings of another smokable plant, albeit one that takes a drier climate.  Maybe it's tobacco, who knows.  I'll never tell.

[Theelementja]

Well I might just do that with my broken stem with roots cause it does have a few small leaves on it. Then do the water rooting thing that Paradox suggested on my plea post oh uh I mean my help post 

[JD1stTimer]

Okay, if it has leaves on it it should be okay.  In fact, now keep in mind any advice I give is based on other plants which aren't quite as thirsty as SD, but the roots are larger proportionately to the leaf so they should be able to support new growth much more quickly, and the new leaves that develop will be more acclimated to your particular environment. (Different thickness of wax and more or less stomata [tiny holes in the leaf that can open and close depending on whether it needs to get rid of or hang on to water, oxygen, and CO2], trichomes, etc).  Bigger leaves lose more water.

[Theelementja]

The one with just the roots is looking pretty bad, starting to turn a brown and black color at places. I'll keep it there and see what happens with it in a couple of days or so. Thanks for the help JD.