cloning Cloning cuttings...Cloning with water...

[McGuiver]

Well after 24 hours of running it, no leaks. Plants look healthy.

Lucky Bamboo is happy. It already had some roots.

Tomato plant looks happy, and not wilting. No roots yet.

Sweet Basil is also happy, but no roots yet.

I will check every 24 hours and post when I see the first signs of life or utter destruction.

Only thing feeding these cuttings is RO water, and Cal-Mag with 1% Nitrogen. I may have to add some rooting hormone.

 

[CaptainCook]

Wow the colors are wonderful, even more when you know it's the same plant! It reminds me of my unconditional love for Japanese Maples which I also like a lot for their color changing leaves!

This nickname suits you well, always good and rewarding to fix things yourself

 

[McGuiver]

Well I cheated, and on the way home picked up something to help the roots grow.

 

[CaptainCook]

That should speed things up considerably! 

 

[Weed]

I dont know much about bamboo, but green roots mean too much light is getting in usually.

 

[McGuiver]

You are right. This bamboo was previously growing in a clear Dixie cup with RO water. The roots were fully exposed to light. Lucky Bamboo roots will turn orange to red color if it is healthy and happy.

 

[McGuiver]

I have been reading about vitamin B-1 and other B vitamins for plants. I have read that if a plant has roots, it does less good. If a plant doesn't have roots, it can help roots form like rooting hormone. I have added 100 Mg of finely ground vitamin B complex to the 5 gallons of water. This vitamin B complex contains Thiamin (vitamin B1), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Biotin, and Pantothenic Acid. It is water soluble. I have heard people making tea with this stuff to feed their plants. I hope my witch's brew works. B-1 is what helps the roots form, the other stuff should help too. Time will tell.

 

[McGuiver]

I added a second air stone tonight. I now have 2 tee'd off in the tank. There is a lot more air moving inside. Is there such a thing as too much air? The container is so air tight, that the lighter Sweet Basil's net pot will lift up and burp out air. I will try to shot video of the net pots burping air. I may have to put a snorkel inside to vent excess air pressure. Any thoughts?

 

[filmost]

All I have to say is you have an incredible setup! Totally wish I could do all this but alas it would cost me an arm and a leg.

 

[Weed]

I added a second air stone tonight. I now have 2 tee'd off in the tank. There is a lot more air moving inside. Is there such a thing as too much air? The container is so air tight, that the lighter Sweet Basil's net pot will lift up and burp out air. I will try to shot video of the net pots burping air. I may have to put a snorkel inside to vent excess air pressure. Any thoughts?

 
 
Well if you were using hydroton instead of those inserts in the netcups air wouldn't get trapped like that. You could probably put something like a snorkel on the lid. Or just a hole with a light trap over it.

 

[McGuiver]

Well if you were using hydroton instead of those inserts in the netcups air wouldn't get trapped like that. You could probably put something like a snorkel on the lid. Or just a hole with a light trap over it.

Thanks for the suggestion of hydroton. I had thought about using pearlite, but like the success of the "EZ-cloner". I also would like to keep any bugs out, spores, or anything that likes to make the water nasty. That is why I was thinking about a snorkel. I think I will still buy some hydroton to at least have on hand. I have used polished beach glass in the past. You can wash it in the dishwasher, and easy to sterilize by boiling. The only downside is it does let light in. Polished beach glass is free if you go down to the beach a collect it. People break champaign bottles or beer bottles in the sand and eventually the ocean grinds then up in the surf in between the sand. Cool to see. You don't see it much anymore. Cities are running heavy EQ to comb thru beach sand and pick up debris. I did find a lot as a kid. It was in my rock collection.


Well here is a short video of the plants dancing. Click on the picture. It will take you to Photobucket for the video.

 

[McGuiver]

Well tonight I checked the cuttings. Nothing yet. But on the Tomato it looks like the cutting is calcifying and a nodule is forming. I'm hoping it is a root.

 

[Weed]

Tomatoes will try and root 3' up the stem if it rains for a couple days.
 
Did you say how many watts of solar you have?

 

[McGuiver]

I think my AC grid tie is 3.2 KW, and my straight DC is 160W.

Tomatoes will try and root 3' up the stem if it rains for a couple days.
 
Did you say how many watts of solar you have?

I have seen that with my tomatoes. I would hand mist them to help them from wilting. I would get nodules starting to pop out just above the soil. I know these were roots.

I think my AC grid tie is 3.2 KW, and my straight DC is 160W.

 

[McGuiver]

I feel like I'm creating Frankenstein. I just check this morning. 4 1/2 days in cloner...root nodes are starting to for on the Tomato, Sweet Basil, and Mint plants. Lucky Bamboo already had roots. Just using it as my "Canary in the coal mine". I will check again in 12 hours and update with some pics.

 

[McGuiver]

Success. Roots are there, just small.

Root forming on Sweet Basil.

Roots forming on Mint.

I can see them on the tomato too, but won't show up in the pic. Maybe wait a day till they grow out.

Here is the final setup pic.

Roots starting in 4 1/2 days is good. Fastest I have seen. I want to go and cut my rose bush to clone that next.

I do thin down the end of the cutting with a scalpel. Cut away only the surface to make it raw (scarifying). I have had the best success of rooting Sweet Basil in just water that way.

 

[McGuiver]

Well I don't know if adding the B Vitamins helped. It certainly did not hurt. I will continue my brew until I get undesirable results.

After grinding up an entire pill to dust, this is what I had left. I only put 100 mg in about 6 gallons of water.

This picture doesn't do it justice. The water is really yellow. Looks worse then someone urinating in it to fill up the container. Hey whatever works. I promise you there was no urine used in this experiment.

 

[McGuiver]

Well 12 hours later and roots are surely visible.

Sweet Basil roots...

Mint plant roots...

More Sweet Basil...

Here is my control piece in just plain RO water. It rooted at the same time, but the plant is more a pale yellow.

The color of the pieces in my cloner are healthy dark green, just like the mother plant. Will let this experiment carry on.

 

[Weed]

A few of those shots look like the stems have rotten. Looks like you might need to watch the temp in there. I bet that pump is doing some heating. The b vitamins are totally unnecessary.

 

[McGuiver]

Are you referring to the white part on the stems? I think they are calcifying. I do cactus the same way. I've never had a problem with rot.
The Vitamin B is still up on the air. I will be experimenting with different levels to attain faster and healthier growth. These are old vitamins anyway.

When I soak the Basil in RO water I cut back to raw meat to have it calcify. That is about the only way to get cactus to re-root. Roots won't form from fresh cutting until the cacti calcifies.

I'm still learning. Trial and error. Always having a control plant to gauge it against.