How to properly propagate using stone wool
Rockwool allows growers to employ precision growing techniques to maximize plant health, vigor, and rooting speed. BUT the #1 rule for cloning is. healthy mom… healthy clones… be sure to have a healthy mothering process to keep the plants adequately fed ensuring optimal health when cutting helping you receive maximum success. You will want to properly prune and train your mothers allowing you to get an even cutting of clones from the entire plant.
Prepping the cubes
– Not enough growers take proper care in this step which leads to poor cloning success rates. If you have had issues with cloning in the past follow this step exactly and you will have no issue.
– ** stone wool is INERT meaning no nutrients, many growers just soak with plain water, however success rates vastly improve when using a “cloning” or “seed starting” nutrient solution such as “green up” (we choose green up for its unique ability to feed plants BEFORE they have developed a root system. Keeping them healthy and fed while developing roots.
– Soak your cubes in nutrient solution with roughly 1.5 EC, and a ph. of 5.5.
– Submerge the cubes for 30 seconds (possibly longer), or until bubbles stop coming out of the stone wool. This means it is fully saturated and there are not dry pockets. (Dry pockets lead to salt build up and decrease the amount of space for root mass.
Tips for taking cuttings
– Try and choose growth which is no younger than 14 days old, preferably 3 nodes in size.
– Cut from top of plant … preferably
– When applying rooting gel/powder have a separate container to dip the cuttings in, and try to prevent excess rooting gel/powder from building up around the stem, this can cause mould and the stem to go soft and rot.
– A humid environment MUST be maintained once cuttings are taken. Since they have no roots, they cannot uptake water properly so they rely on the ambient moisture from the air for water uptake.
– A moist warm climate is easily controlled with dome
– Place stems around ½ “into cubes allowing rooting from the top of the stem
– It helps to weigh the cubes when dry, when after soaking and a few shakes. This gives you an idea on when you need to irrigate. You don’t necessarily need a scale, just by hand you can tell how heavy the tray is when its fully saturated vs when its on the dry side.
Cutting care
– Once in the cubes and the dome is on the cuttings need a stable environment, this plays a crucial role in root development. Try and follow this humidity chart.
o Tip – when taking lots of cuttings it is easier to set an enclosed space up, keeping the humidity in with no domes and moving air.
Days
– 1-4
o Humidity 80-90%
o Temperature 75-80
o Fert EC 1.5
– 4-7
o Humidity 75+
o Temperature 75-80
o Fert EC 1.5
– 7-10
o Humidity 65+
o Temperature 78-80
o Fert EC 1.5
– 10-14
o Humidity 60+
o Temperature 75-80
o Fert EC 2.0
To conclude, if you apply this precision growing technique to your cloning regimen you will maximize the speed of development and increase the quality of the final cuttings.
Take aways
– Healthy moms = healthy clones, have a proper training, pruning, IPM and fertilizing program for your mothers
– Monitoring and adjusting the climate will improve root initiation, as well as help prevent disease.
– Using a proper nutrient regimen will ensure cuttings have the fuel needed to thrive for your success.
– Properly soak cubes to prevent dry patches
– Environment is everything
– YOU CAN DO THIS!!