Turning the lights back on

[stinkyattic]

Find a healthy shoot that has a cluster of leaves at the tip, plus another node lower down the stem.

Label a leaf you're not cutting off with a sharpie. Be gentle.

Remove it from the mother at least 3/4" below the node to give yourself something to work with. Strip the node. This means removing the fan leaf and any side shoot developing.

Snip the remaining leaves short by about a third. This is to reduce surface area and by extension water loss by transpiration.

Using a sharp sterilized xacto knife (if you use flame to sterilize, let it cool first!!!), diagonally cut a wedge off so that there's about a half inch left below the node.

Quickly drop into the hormone solution and leave it there while you take more cuts. 5 minutes is good. I wouldn't go much longer than that.

Take a rapidrooter and flip it upside down. Stab it with scissors to make a new hole. Put the cutting in it, most lightly with protective solution, and place in the dome. Hey look! It stands up on its own!!!

I like to put a couple drops of the hormone solution right onto the plug for extra encouragement : )

 

[stinkyattic]

Last, prune up what's left of the donor plant. It's good practice to cut back to about 1/8" above the next healthy node anywhere you've taken cuts. If you exposed a hollow section of stem, plug it with a piece of bamboo skewer to keep bugs and mold spores out. Here's a before n after. Note the very mild and minimal LST - i basically knocked her over a bit to get light to low shoots and she delivered!

Look at those 3 new side branches- going to be a nice shapely shrub when it grows up!

 

[oldfogey8]

spiral bound flip book on waterproof card stock in the making...

 

[stinkyattic]

Lol I'm basically starting over here with new improved versions of all my old canncom instructional stickies... notebook in the making...

 

[Rosebud]

Hi Stinky, i love your journal, I am so glad you are here. Keep up the good work please.

 

[stinkyattic]

Thank you Rose I'm happy to be here in the corner of the pot internet with the grownups : )
I will tell my plants to keep up the good work too, can't have them slacking off, they're on the clock! I expect to be taste testing my first crop since my comeback for my birthday the first week of February lol gotta keep the pace brisk!

 

[Rosebud]

What day is your birthday, no wonder i liked you, Pieces or Aquarius?

 

[stinkyattic]

Aquarius, year of the horse, double stubborn lol
Edit: does that mean you're a February kid too? Cool beans! I always wished I had been born groundhog day, and I'm sure my parents did too, as they ended up getting snowed in at the hospital for 3 days during the Blizzard of 78 in Boston!

 

[Rosebud]

Everyone i have ever loved is a February birthday. Husband, daughter, mom, on and on it goes. Mine is on the 28th . It was a leap year so mom had me induced, she didn't want me to be without a real birthday. i was her 4th kid so i guess it was no big deal.

 

[stinkyattic]

That's a great story!
My trip home from the hospital was practically a parade; it included a Statie, a highway snowplow, and my parents' ris5ty early 60s Volvo wagon. They hadn't lifted the state of emergency yet and my folks were going stir crazy and made a run for it. Of course they got pulled over almost immediately, and stuck me in the troopers face like, BAYYYYBEEEEE! After a couple repeats, the cops decided to give in and just escort them back to Lexington lol

 

[2RedEyes]

I married my wife 20 years ago this coming Feb 29th...we’re gonna go somewhere, like we do every 4 years...maybe go to HI and check out soma that mowie wowie stuff I heard about...I’ve never been so why not...

 

[oldfogey8]

I got married to my current wife 20 years ago this coming Feb 29th...we’re gonna go somewhere, like we do every 4 years...maybe go to HI and check out soma that mowie wowie stuff I heard about...I’ve never been so why not...

HI is awesome. If you can, I’d stay away from Oahu. Maui is absolutely beautiful and less touristy but there is a lot to do. Mrs Fogey and I went there for our 25th anniversary. Wailea was the area we liked best. Calm beach by the hotels but 15 minutes from some serious surf if you like big waves. Sorry SA to kinda hijack here. I will stop now...

 

[stinkyattic]

Im exhausted from laying flooring and my knees hurt. No repotting tonight. Here's the crew, bouncing back from their recent haircuts. Below the big kids we have grape kindergarten and lemon preschool. Not many lemons, the germination rate was low, but I'm delighted to have gotten a couple. The grapes already stink.
Beneath them is the nursery of cuttings. I kinda baked them the first day but so far only one was a loss.
Not much going on in Plant World this week just waiting for roots to show up and doing house projects.

 

[Lesso]

Looking good

 

[novitius]

Hi Stinkyattic! Great journal!

 

[stinkyattic]

Thanks Novitus!
Let's play footsie! A week in rapid rooters, little nubbles popping out, and 2 weeks in rockwool, straight up legs! Lost one of the second batch to drying out, user error. No fungus, love my thyme oil fungicide.
Note the lower leaves are yellowing. They are using up stored energy to make new growth at the tips. I take this as a sign to start hardening off.

 

[Lesso]

Awesome. Cloning is hard for some folks. You made it look easy

 

[stinkyattic]

Dip-N-Grow. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone; can't be giving away ALL my secrets lol!
But TBH one thing I like to stress especially when learning (and we never stop learning!) is to try not to overthink things, which can be hard when Grow Shop Greg hands you a little jar of glowing blue jello with a $50 price tag and a celebrity endorsement in high times, instead of the cheap ol' Depression-era proven technology hidden on the top shelf. Your plants are more important to you than his commission, and vis a versa. Give it 5 minutes in the diluted dip. Once it's sucked into the cutting, there's no reason to have a blob of jello hanging off the foot!
I don't like wiggly things anyway. No puddin' on my plate please!

 

[Keef]

Just saying hello !--
Stinky I've grown Umbra's stuff-- They all have had one thing in common -- I call it the Umbra frost !-- I got the same lemon and some his grape crosses up and running -- U look to be a couple weeks ahead of me though -- I got a kick out your cloning technique -- My technique is not quite as fancy -- I take a cut - stick it into an aero cup and collar - drop it in an empty hole and forget about it !-- I had some rooting hormone once !-- Quit using it because I saw no difference cloning my way -- Sometimes I clone in nute water sometimes not -- it does take longer to root with nutes but if U in no hurry It's not a problem !-- I like cloning in aero because those pre root nodules U mentioned -- Many will never see !-- Since I'm in no medium I can watch it all happen !--
Frost coming to your house !--

 

[stinkyattic]

Yes hard freeze predicted next week! Brrrrr time to bust out the fuzzy sweaters! I'm so excited about these grapes, I'm a real softie for that sweet sweet grapey-ness!