Noobin up a PPK

[bobblehead]

I've never worked in perlite myself - really hate the stuff.


But couldn't you just stay really ahead of yourself and keep the clones in a solo cup/T5 "nursery" setup for a longer period of time. That way your clones are very much well rooted in the party cup and you've got enough root ball to keep everything pretty much together in a 16oz cylinder of perlite.


I like to do this anyways so that I've got a very nice well established hardened "clone" when going into my room, be it straight into a flower room with a bit more veg before the flip, or into a "dedicated" veg setup. I don't count these days as veg until it hits an actual big light.

Yes and this is exactly what I do. All the same some perlite still falls out, particularly from the top of the cup since this is what dries out fastest and few roots grow at the top. The plants can reach 12-18" tall in a 16oz cup. That's about .5m to the rest of the world.

If I had better success cloning in a different medium, I would use it... But perlite works and I'm not about to change.

 

[farmari]

What is recommended for watering solo cup perlite clones? I watered the cup before adding clone, covered under humidity dome with maybe 0.25" of nutrient solution flooding the tray to wick up the holes in the solo cup. Is this good until they're well rooted? Then after rooting, water once daily or keep them sitting on a flood?

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

well next round im going to take some clones in coco (it works for me) some perlite (it would be better if it works) and some rockwool (ive never got this shit to work ever) and see what happens.

as an aside im showing great restraint by not posting pictures until sunday, and i havent yet yielded anything so its all hypothetical, but i am stating that the Perlite Pulse PPK (PPPPK) is the superior model and all you guys in turdface and DE areoing to cry when you see my results.
I have 3 clones all taken at the same time from the same source, all moved under the 400w MH the same day. I would say the perlite plants are maybe 5x as big as the coco now ?
Ive been growing in coco for maybe 5 years and i have never seen anything to compare to this. Having the coco control plant in the same room just cements my observations. I expect by sunday the plants will be about 2 foot tall.
Remember there is no air conditioning, no CO2, just GH maxigrow, GH floralicious+, and GH CaMg+. I think the airoponic style feed timings may have something to do with it ...

Sunday photos will tell

 

[DamnUglyDogE]

Ya might like 16oz. With a Rockwool cube in the center surrounded by perlite. .
Works great for me..
Kept my clones in this set up for over a month ..
Long roots out the bottom and when potted they just took off. ..

Rockwool gives a great place for root to stay moist and safe. .
The perlite will all fall away when transplanting , yet- the roots will be safe in the Rockwool..

80/80 is the key to 99% success rates. . IMO. ..

Chit. . Be the perlite king. .
I Would love ta fill the pools with perlite
.lite, easy and cheap.. all good things. .

Will be watching close. ...
Work ya magic, bro. ..


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[DHF]

Glad shit`s workin out for yas Dave.......Just don`t lose sight of coverin up the tops of the containers to prevent more algae , and less evaporation once they start drinkin more in full bloomage.....just tryin ta help......

Peace.....Freds........

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Glad shit`s workin out for yas Dave.......Just don`t lose sight of coverin up the tops of the containers to prevent more algae , and less evaporation once they start drinkin more in full bloomage.....just tryin ta help......

Peace.....Freds........

done deal big fella

its amazing how much more light there is in the cab when the pots perlite are covered in panda film. you can really notice it.
im wondering why everybody doesnt do it , coco, turdface, whatever

 

[DHF]

done deal big fella

its amazing how much more light there is in the cab when the pots perlite are covered in panda film. you can really notice it.
im wondering why everybody doesnt do it , coco, turdface, whatever

That`s why I`ve preached for yrs and yrs everything that`s not green in the grow areas be covered in reflectix......

Prodex and orca are supposed to work even better than reflectix , and panda`s waaay down the ladder with less reflectivity, dispersion , and diffusion than the above , and yet you noticed the difference immediately after the application......

Keep dialin Bro....Maybe yas have finally found a formula for success Dave....Pullin for yas over here......

Peace.....Freds.........

 

[forkup]

Dave you're a tease!

 

[bobblehead]

ok turdface, its been a week. Time for an update.

 

[bobblehead]

What is recommended for watering solo cup perlite clones? I watered the cup before adding clone, covered under humidity dome with maybe 0.25" of nutrient solution flooding the tray to wick up the holes in the solo cup. Is this good until they're well rooted? Then after rooting, water once daily or keep them sitting on a flood?

w/e works for you... but I don't use humidity domes. I water the 16oz or 9oz cup of perlite before sticking the cut, and then I water it again lightly to seat the cut. After that I might water the cups 1x a week if needed. I make sure the cup gets light before watering it again. Letting the cup dry out encourages root growth. There's no need to let the cup sit in runoff to wick. Think about it, most people root in cubes. A cup holds a lot more medium, more medium = more moisture. This will work with or without rooting hormone. The hormone tends to speed things up a little ime.

 

[SRGB]

farmari:
What is recommended for watering solo cup perlite clones? I watered the cup before adding clone, covered under humidity dome with maybe 0.25" of nutrient solution flooding the tray to wick up the holes in the solo cup. Is this good until they're well rooted? Then after rooting, water once daily or keep them sitting on a flood?

Hi, farmari.

These might be helpful:

Square Root Brand® Garden Bag - Drain-To-No-Waste [Methods]
A basic template, adjustable, scalable, modifiable.

Soilless Gardening
Experiments with various soilless media (standalone and mixes), and methods (in SRBGB`s).

We found during experiments with SRBGB`s that freshly cut scions tended to create roots when there was moisture present, yet an adequate amount of oxygen was also present within the root zone.

Overwatering tended to reduce the rate at which roots developed, by increasing the potential for rot of the submerged, or saturated stem of the scion, prior to the formation of roots that would be capable of uptaking that larger amount of water that an actively transpiring plant or tree would be capable of cycling through within the span between waterings. A potential experiment for the soilless gardener might be to periodically (gently) extract a scion from a given medium to measure the actual dampness of the scion stem and and medium, at mid-point in the container.

We found that selection of scions was similarly important as watering frequency. When selecting scions from a donor plant or tree, we found that those parts of the plant or tree which formed roots quickest were those on the lowest branches of the donor (the youngest branches), and further, those newly developing shoots closest to the main trunk on that youngest branch (the youngest shoots on the youngest branches).

A practice that we found to be consistenly successful was to select a young shoot, 2 to 6 inches in length, with at least one lower node on the stem of the scion. Using a sharp cutting tool, we would gently scrape off approximately a 1/2 inch (1.25cm), lengthwise, of the outer layer of the stem, starting at the joint of the lowest node (or, from the second node, if the scion was long enough to have two lower nodes), only until the cutting tool reached the cambium layer of the stem, or, the semi-woody part of the stem directly beneath the outer `skin` of the stem. The cambium layer might appear to be a pale tan color.

This practice, at least for us, tended to permite moisture to be drawn up into the plant of tree by direct contact with the cambium layer, as knob-like appendages formed; first at the joint where the cut was made (at the intersecting point of node and exposed cambium layer. This might be the area where a root might form, visible to the gardener.

When moisture was present on the collidial surfaces of the media, yet not enough to potentially rot the stem, a greater amount of knob-like appendages formed, which developed into distinct roots.

Their might be a general tendency by gardeners to overwater freshly cut scions in the pursuit of forming roots more rapidly. However, we found that oxygen is just as an important element as water during the development of roots.

Perlite tends to permit a fair amount of oxygen to be present in the root zone by its structure. The spaces between the individual particles of perlite create pockets of oxygen, which is where root formations might appear first - not in areas of over-saturation.

If a gardener takes a cut from a donor plant or tree, scrapes the stem to the cambium layer, at at least one lower node, and waters at least once per day, keeping a very minimal amount of the run off from that watering in the basin, the capillary properties of perlite should permit that moisture (run-off) in that basin to rise approximately 30% into the given container.

With SRBGB`s, that moisture `rise` is dispersed evenly across the entire bottom of the SRBGB, as SRBGB`s permits 90%+ of moisture and oxygen flow through the walls and bottom of the SRBGB; preventing water-logging in the media and further allowing environmental air to flow through the SRBGB`s walls into the media within the SRBGB.

Watering approximately once per 24hr period should provide adequate moisture for a scion in perlite to maintain turgor pressure and to form roots; if not, the gardener could determine to water more. A thin film of run off held within the basin holding the container should permit moisture to rise in the perlite based on capillary action - as long as the container has enough holes or slits for that moisture to have contact with the perlite inside of the container.

The approximate amount of water to provide at that once per day watering can be guaged by the accumulated level of the run-off in the basin - and conversely, how much that moisture level depletes over the span of that 24hr period. Some of the moisture (run-off) depletion might be attributed to evaporation of the moiture due to environmental conditions (heat, air flow, dehumidification), but some of it should be perlite drawing up the moisture into the container.

No hormones are necessary, but if preferred, they can be used on that cut portion of the scions` stem, at the cut joint (node), and on the slightly exposed cambium layer. No fertilizers are necessary. this is due to the selection of the youngest shoots, on the youngest branches, closest to the main stem (`zone of juvenility`). Those youngest shoots should container adequate - and the greatest amount - of elements necessary for development held within their young stem and leaves. The scion requires more oxygen and damp moisture than further fertilization at this point of root development. The scion might already contain the building blocks of stored nutrients in its green parts to sustain itself as a cutting until roots form the capacity to absorb a nutrients from a solution. No humidity domes are required. While they might tend to maintain moisture at the microclimate of the scion (the foliage), the gardener might tend to desire to encourage the scion to form roots by forcing it to develop them to sustain its turgor pressure - and survive. If any supplements were to applied, we would only apply a diluted mycorrhizae supplement, or, without endorsing any particular product, perhaps one of the floralicious solutions, again, very diluted, and only once per every several waterings - until the gardener extracts the scion to confirm root formation from the knob-like appendages that form first.

In conclusion, watering with pure water once a day, at most twice, should encourage root formation and growth on the new scion. Maintaining a thin film of moisture in contact with the perlite (approximately 1/8 - 1/4 inch of run-off) should be adequate amount of moisture for the scion.

Please feel free to post questions or pictures about your experiments with rooting cuttings in perlite only in our Soilless Gardening thread. None of those particular experiments included any coco coir within the soilless mix. Each of those inividual experiments posted are scions that were rooted in only inert, or predominantly inert rock. They were watered only once per day. No run off was ever dumped. See Drain-To-No-Waste [Methods].

An potential experiment for a gardener trying perlite, or other inert rock medium to root cuttings for the first time, might be to sit six (6) containers next to each other, with cuttings from the same donor, cut at the same time. Container A watered once per day, Container B watered 3-4 times per day. Observe which cutting forms roots first. Container C with hormones applied at time of cut, Container D with no hormones applied at time of cut. Container E with diluted nutrients of supplements applied at waterings, Container F with only water applied. Takes notes on development of each, make observations, share independent results.

We hope that this post might be helpful.

@DaveTheNewbie. Please let us know if you would like us to remove this post from your thread.

Best,
/SRGB/

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

Well they arent 2 foot tall ...

Well they arent 2 foot tall ...

here are my plants 1 week after planting clones :

here is the coco control clone from the same plant taken at the same time :

Here is the clone when i planted it a week ago for comparason :

 

[DamnUglyDogE]

Isn't this just about the time they kicked into high gear last time ?
Im ~ Buckled in and ready, lets see what they can do.

Looking good, bro. ..






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[forkup]

Looks like you're off to the races Dave

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

PPKs suck
they are so damn booring to run
i go in there to do "stuff" and theres nothing to do
its like ive been replaced by a machine

 

[bobblehead]

Don't let your guard down Dave.... One day the machines may send one of their own back in time to assasinate you...

 

[dreaded]

.. bobble...
good luck this round Dave.... looks good in there..

 

[DamnUglyDogE]

View image in gallery​

View image in gallery​

 

[Mister_D]

here are my plants 1 week after planting clones :

View Image

here is the coco control clone from the same plant taken at the same time :

View Image

Here is the clone when i planted it a week ago for comparason :

View Image

To be fair about this your coco plant needs be in a ppk also. I don't doubt the perlite will still win, but it would be much closer in terms of growth.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

To be fair about this your coco plant needs be in a ppk also. I don't doubt the perlite will still win, but it would be much closer in terms of growth.

no doubt if comparing perlite vs coco in a PPK
i was comparing PPK perlite to my old way of growing (blumat coco pot)