If you are a soil grower... why use rockwool??

Hello there all my dear friendly rollitupers. for a little while now i have been using a slightly different method for my cloning. it seems to work great for me and as a result it has allowed me to simplify my setup a little more.

I don't intend for this to be a complete walk through with a step by step guide on how to clone, but if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

the point at which i deviate from the normal cloning process is in the planting media, and i just wanted to put it out there in case anyone doesn't know. I cut my clones after the normal fashion and place them in olivias rooting hormone gel.
https://www.rollitup.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=627013&stc=1&d=1258863535

I have prepared my planting media by cutting a whole in the bottom of a small plastic cup. and i have filled the cup with happy frog planting soil. i submerged the cup in water that has superthrive added and ph down to 6.0. after i let the water drain off, i poke a hole in the soil and place my cutting.

the tray in this picture is full of SensiStar, AK-48, and SourDiesel that are 2 weeks old and about ready to plant. you can see one sourD that probably won't make it.. oh well.

the thing i really like about this method is the fact that, once the plants put down roots, they are not immediately starving like they would be in rockwool. the soil has the nutes the new little plant wants until it dominates that little cup and is ready to go into the regular grow area.

hope this helps someone.

https://www.rollitup.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=627022&stc=1&d=1258863708https://www.rollitup.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=627023&stc=1&d=1258863708

got any pics of how well they rooted?

ill post some when i plant them

i've changed this method a little more..

not that anyone really cares

i now place my cut clones into a mix of 50/50 perlite and coco fiber. i soak the mix in ph'ed water for 2 days then let it dry out for another day before i pack it in the cups. i use the small net cups instead of the plastic ones. i find you get much healthier roots that way.

i use great white from planter success for all my beneficial fungi and bacteria. i usually mix it up with the water and then let it sit with an air stone in it for 2 or 3 days before i use it. at about 3 or 4 days from cutting the perlite mix will be dry enough to need to add water. for this 1st watering since the cut i will give each cup about 7ml of the greatwhite brew. roots explode out the sides of the cup at about 8 days from cutting. for me this is faster than i have ever been able to clone before. it is at least a week faster than cuttings i place in rockwool.


ill try to take some pics, but even if i don't i wanted to update this little thread

i think the reason soil growers may use rockwool (and I'm a hydro guy) is because there's only one step.. soak the cube in ph'ed water.. and they work... no need to even have a process.. just ease of use.. for a few cents a cube.. it makes an economical, effective starter.

huh...never in my life used rockwool, but I've been thinking about it...I've always just used soil..., except long time ago, I tried sponges, natural. kept them in a plastic container with a really low water level...it worked, they just seemed to be alot easier to screw up. probably time for me to try something new though. Also, until recently I had problems finding rooting hormones, so I've always used confectioners sugar, works surprisingly well, though I guess its not that surprising, all plants love sugar...

yes cowell but my method re-uses the cups, and they root faster than rockwool will. the coco perlite mix is far cheaper than rockwool because of how much you buy of each at a time.

so my method is both cheaper and faster than rockwool.

not to mention the fact that i also don't have chunks of rockwool in my garden after i mix my old rootballs in with my compost pile.

soo.....what happens with the extra rockwool? does it harm the roots, or is it the purity thing that makes you feel better about it? don't get me wrong, perlite and coco sounds like a good idea to me, I just don't like bs arguments, faster and cheaper rock on, extra rockwell...um...if the plant doesn't notice, why do I care?

Seems to be 101 ways to do everything each with its own adv/disadv,, none of them have to be "the best" there's nothing to prove, just the more ideas the merrier, increases gives variety, and sometimes we run into things that work so well for us, they become part of the status quo each of us have in our gardening...

so yea...how 'bout them rockets?

im talking about rockwool chunks in my backyard vegetable garden, not the pots that i grow my herb in...

really no good reason for a "normal" person to have chunks of rockwool in the soil outside. For sure doesn't hurt anything, just may seem wierd if someone were to notice.

not that anyone is sifting through my garden or compost pile either just a typical paranoid stoner

I just stick em in wet sand, cost $7 for a lifetime supply as it is reusable, just simple playground sand, explanation with pic in my Riddleme's Nuggets (sig link)

nice. whats your success rate in the sand?

100%

I started cloning trees this way years ago so seemed like a good idea with MJ

I also soak em in a solution of 8 drops of bleach to 1 gallon of water for 30 minutes before going in the sand, this creates calluses where roots form

†LOL† yea, ridiculous paranoia is something are med prones us to....

Sand?! rock on....I love this place, I swear to god, I havn't been on this forum for a few days and I've learned more tricks than I have picked up in the rest of my life...

speaking off, been reading through your nuggets, lots of good stuff...nowhere near done, but of immediate use is the ascorbic acid to treat the water....

i use rapid rooters. way better than rockwool

100 % success rate with rapid rooters. also i see roots withing 8 days

do you soak the cutting in the bleach/water solution before adding root hormone? (for me will be confectioners sugar, but wateva....)

I dip mine in H2o2 before the rooting hormone.

groovy....thnx...

RavenMochi said:

do you soak the cutting in the bleach/water solution before adding root hormone? (for me will be confectioners sugar, but wateva....)

Click to expand...

Yes that is the proper order, bleach, root gel, sand, I add a few drops of H2O2 to the water in the sand to keep it healthy

"healthy" as in sanitary, yea? or is it helping in some other way as well, to continue making callus' and what not? stupid question I figure, but it is 5.22am here, and my brain not quite right,