U_Wrang's Grow

[U_Wrang]

Strain: Blosser
Lighting: 23W daylight CFL
Grow Media/Soil Mix: potting soil/perlite/vermiculite 2:1:1
Fertilizer: General Hydroponics MaxiGro
Temperature Range:60^o-80^oF
Humidity: ~90-95%
Started From: Clone  
Start Date: June 20, 2008

Other Details/Images: see
http://www.salviasource.org/forum/cultivation/woo-hooo!-ima-grower-new!!/0/

Day One; Recovering from Jet Lag.



Edited to fix hyperlink....

[U_Wrang]

Day 3:


Lined the bucket with alu. foil to maximize the light:


I also plugged the 23W CFL into my Kill-A-Watt P4460 Power Meter; it's going to cost ~$12.28/year/23W CFL to operate with the light on 16 hours/day.

[k2ybugger]

wow it looks like everyone receives a better starter clone than me...and i ordered right from the source, salviasource that is haha i like the bucket idea i might try it, will probably encourage that amazing business that some guys here get.

[U_Wrang]

5 1/2 Weeks:


It's been 3 1/2 weeks since I transplanted to a 1 gallon pot (soil is Miracle-Gro/Perlite 2:1) and began slowly acclimatizing the plant.  In a few days, I'll take the first 4 clones and transplant the mom into a 5 gallon bucket with some gravel in the bottom for aeration and drainage.  For now mom stays indoors to keep her away from bugs; once I have rooted cuttings, I'll start planting outside. 
I'm going to try out the new Coffee Can Cloner® for the cuttings.  See my post under
Community/Cultivation/Coffee Can Cloner® for info about this cool idea I came up with.

[gnorme]

Looks really good, keep us updated =)

[U_Wrang]

I will!     Here's a side photo so you can see it's height:



She's all of 8" tall and already getting thick and bushy, with several lower branches long enough to nip and clone!   

[U_Wrang]

Clones in da house!!!!

I got all excited about trying out the new clone machine, so I took a close look at mom and found 4 plenty long branches to propagate, so the bubbler's bubblin'!  Wooooo Hooooo!!!   

Day 1:  Happy birthday kids!



The tallest one is about an inch high right now, and there's been no drooping of leaves that I can discern thus far.

Then when I went to collect the lower leaves I had removed from the cuttings, I saw that one leaf stem still had a tiny little developing branch that had come off with it and was still firmly attached, so I decided to try and get it to grow, too.  I couldn't use the 13oz. coffee can cloner, though, because there wasn't enough material to reach through a 2" foam net pot plug.  Instead, I used an old 2" plug as a raft and gentle clamp to hold the leaf stem.  Floated that in a coffee cup full of water and set it in a plastic potato salad container that was in the recycle bin, and (temporarily) used a small, white plastic pot that happened to fit the potato salad can.  Not even an air stone.  I've dubbed this the Stoopid Simple Clone Control Experiment.  Hope it takes off!!





Update:  It's been almost 48 hours since taking the cuttings and they all look healthy.  What blew me away was when I changed the water in the stoopid simple experiment, the little tiny branch looks like it's grown bigger!  If she survives her name is going to be Tina for sure!  I tried taking another macro photo, but it wasn't from the same angle and didn't really show the change.  I'll take another at 4 or 5 days, and if I'm not seeing things, the growth should be obvious in the photo.  I'm going to swap the water for nutrient solution if it is bigger then.  Checked for signs of roots on all of them, too; nothing yet.  Replaced the white pot with a sheet of clear plastic, 1" hole cut in center and held on with a rubber band

[MstryShovel]

sweet man looks good for sure, i hope you have some luck with water cuttings, ive had nothing but disaster myself!

[U_Wrang]

I hope I have some too, lol!  I'm just using techniques i've learned in 30 years of soil gardening, 4 years of hydro, and what i've learned about salvia here (THANK YOU, SalviaSource Forum) and elsewhere to give them the best odds i can.
But hey, the proof is in the pudding, as they say, and there ain't no roots yet, lol!  I've had a lot of different garden vegetables and houseplants start rooting in just 4 days in my aeroponic chamber and in rockwool cubes in an NFT (nutrient film technique) system I had, though this is my first experience with deep water culture, but the principles are the same.  We shall see!
Meanwhile, I've decided to call mom Mary, for after all, she is the literal "goddess mother."   As for the 4 babies sharing the same crib, maybe Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice?  lol.  gonna have to see how each "feels" to me.
I just took another look at Tina with a 4x Loupe... my eyes aren't tricking me- it is bigger.  There's now detectable growth in all 4 plants in the quad cloner, too. 

[Sea Mac]

Give them lots of light!

Mine get too much ...

[U_Wrang]

Update:  ROOTS!

Aug. 6, 2008
Roots are showing on the 4 clones in the Coffee Can Cloner, and they all have shown growth.  No roots on Tina yet, but she’s doing great and I am very optimistic.  Rinsed and microwaved the containers and filled with fresh nutrient.  Increased nutrient strength to ¼ today; 300ppm @ pH6.2.  Added 5 drops/gallon SuperThrive and 30ml 3% Hydrogen Peroxide/gallon.

Roots!


Tina is looking good!


Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice are almost ready for soil!


Mary is right at home with my other houseplants:


Edited to add:  If you haven't tried SuperThrive, do so!  It's a mixture of plant vitamins and hormones, and it really boosts growth.  I add 5 drops /gallon for cloning and 2 drops/gallon when I fertilize potted plants.  The 3% hydrogen peroxide is used as a sterilizing agent in the hydroponic nutrient solution and is harmless to plants when mixed 30ml (1 fl.oz.)/gallon.

August 7, 2008:  Less than 24 hours after changing to 1/4 strength nutrient solution, Tina's first leaves have cleared the top of the net pot plug, and you can see the formation of the square stem at the base, and the developing growing tip.

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Looking good U_Wrang. After reading about you using an air stone bubbler with unrooted clones to get them to root I tried a similar thing. Mine have also shown roots about the same length as yours. It seems to be a very good way to get fast roots! Can't wait to plant mine in soil either.

JARG

[U_Wrang]

Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice go to pot:

Now I have 5 plants!   


so I took 4 more cuttings from Mary and put them in the cloner:


Tina has a root, too.  Very small, not even a 1/16" yet, but she IS rooting!  Way cool!   

Update:
August 15, 2008       The nutrient solution for Tina and her 4 new sisters was replaced today.  Added ¼ tsp MaxiGro, 5 drops Superthrive, 2 drops pH Up and 30ml of 3% H₂O₂ to a gallon of water.  One of the 4 has its first root!  Tina’s one root hasn’t gotten much longer, but it has gotten thicker.

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

What was the length of the roots when you plopped them in soil?

JARG

[U_Wrang]

They were about 3/4" to 1" long and there were 10-12 roots developing on each clone.  This morning one of them looked a little wilted so I've been misting them more today.  Other than the one, which I'm sure is just a bit of transplant shock, they look great!  I'll probably need to transplant to larger containers in a couple weeks, but wanted to get some good healthy root development first.