been following along since the start and taking notes, love the info on how to prepare the plants to get them ready for taking cuts. game changer for me.
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Great looking seedlings a fair bit of uniformity to them so far. I’ll tag along for the show.
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Thank you all. I appreciate the kind words. We have several months to go, and I hope to reveal more usable gems along the way.
I intend to use this thread as a depository for all my base methods and recipes from seed to finished bud. I’m on several boards but plan to stay based here on Overgrow.
In fact, very soon there will be a new sponsor and forum here to host my future projects. 
Coming soon:
Thanks again for your interest
-al
12 Likes
Probably best list them as exoticgenetix bro. Exotic seeds are another breeder/line. I used their tangerine kush in my JR cross.
Other than that you got some 
stuff going on here. I’ll perch and watch from my little spot here 
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I’m interested in some clarifications on your aero tea; from the proportions you gave, it seems like you make 5 gallons of tea at a time and then use it very sparingly. 2 cups/40 gallons, which is the highest ratio I’m seeing, would mean these 5 gallons dilutes into somewhere between 1600-3840 gallons. Are you using this all immediately after brewing it, or storing it for use over a couple weeks? As far as I know, compost tea needs to be used within ~4 hours after you stop actively aerating or the bacteria will start to die… or am I confused about something here? It seems like this is just a compost tea with worm castings, humic acid and mycorrhizal inoculants that you strain before using.
Also, what kind of strainer are you using? I typically strain my teas before using them as well, but they don’t come out anywhere near clean enough to use in an aero setup… or is that not a concern simply because of how much you dilute them? I guess at 320:1, it would be tough to get enough to congeal and clog.
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I’m still not great at the quote thingee yet. So let me try to answer. I got several tea questions from other folks that I will add at the end.
The tea has to be used sparingly for a couple reasons. First is that there is significant Nitrogen, enough to tamper with NPK balance, and certainly the bloom cycle. Second, that too high of population of biota and concentration of food can clog spraylines and create fairy rings of goo. I know what this looks like and its normally a start over situation.
The tea is going to areo devices so dO2 will sustain our friends. We want them to set up shop and live long term with the plants. I use a lot of tea and replace it every week. I have a very green back yard!
Yes it is a simple recipe, but effectiveness is what matters, and you will see the results yourself here.
I use a mesh tea strainer that fits over a cup. You just need to strain out the leftover worm castings bits and suspended colonies of critters. It’s not a lot volume, so particulates are low.
Hope this helps. Thank you for your questions and interest!
-al
Several others had tea questions so I’ll add them here.
-al’s Mail Bag
Occasionally I will repost questions asked in other forums or mail that seem relevant.
Tea Questions - Answers Here!
So you just feed plants the tea only? -m
No the tea is designed to be used with base synthetic nutes. You can use any brand, just reduce the concentration slightly until you are familiar with the tea effects. For me the tea changes the base res ppm by less than 10 and is negligible.
Do I really need a big air stone? -k
Yes it’s critical. The stone forces Oxygen into solution. This helps the beneficial aerobic bacteria we are growing, and poisons the harmful anaerobic varieties. A tiny air stone doesn’t have the surface area to keep the bucket bubbling vigorously.
How long is it good for? -b
I make fresh tea once a week. It’s best at 48 hrs and begins to degrade after that.
Do I need Ancient Forest? -k
Any high quality humus will work. We are looking for wild type beneficial bacteria and fungi spores.
What’s with the molasses, and do I need a specific brand? -b
Molasses does several things here. It feeds the critters we are brewing, the sugar metabolites provide critical krebs cycle building blocks for your plants, and has many vitamins and minerals in it.
Molasses is the main ingredient in many expensive bottled products. It’s used in many finishing products and foliar sprays.
Even the cheapest supermarket molasses has awesome stuff in it:
The best choice is the least processed. Sulfured Black Strap molasses is the gold standard. But any will do, and I used the cheap stuff to show that here.
Did you really grow in bleach water? -m
Yes we called it Zone or pool sticks, basically Chlorine. It was required to control pathogens in sterile systems. And it certainly did not enhance flavors!
Thank you all for your interest, and feel free to add your questions or comments to the thread, as I’m sometimes slow with mail right now.
-al
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I don’t know whether to be more impressed or horrified that you go through over 1600 gallons of water a week. 
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I use about 3 gallons of Aero Tea, 4 gallons of Veg Dirt Tea, and 4 gallons of Bloom Dirt Tea per week. The leftovers have my lawn happy, unfortunately in patches!
-al
Dunno how I missed this thread
Dig your style @als_weed …
You say you use Sulfered molasses in your teas?
I kind of always believed from what I’ve read on the subject that the extra sulfur used when processing the cane into molasses inhibits beneficial microorganisms/bacteria to some degree.
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Glad to have you here!
Yes the Sulphur can inhibit some of our friends, but the concentrations are low and the effect is minimal.
I like Sulfered molasses because the plants need it, particularly in recirculating systems that use low levels of nutes. Less than 400 ppm levels is the sweet spot I work at and this is a nice fix.
Thank you for your interest
-al
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O k that makes sense now
Clearly your plants must be happy cause those bud shots look killer !!
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Even More Tea Questions
Every time I used teas my roots brown and looked sick. Show us your roots! -b
Sure. I went around took these today to show what they look like at different ages. Roots can get a slight tinge from tea, but should never be slimy. As they age, you will see some coloration in late bloom as exposed roots in the air eventually decline.
Here you go:
Do you have to deep clean after using all the bios? -m
I only use bleach on the first cloner the cuttings go in. All the other cloners with rooted plants just get sprayed out. Hose out the sludge and replace the blown out pucks.
Thank you for your interest
-al
7 Likes
Some hydrogen peroxide helps but at that late stage there bound to getting brown .
I try to transplant around your 21 day time frame.
It’s Finally Cloner Time!
Before we can stuff the cloner with our carefully cultivated shoots, it needs to be set up with the nutes to root.
Here’s what you need:
Disclaimer First: This is what I use. Your mileage may vary. You can harm your plants if made, used, or dosed incorrectly.
als Rootin Tootin Cloner Setup Sauce
In 8 gallons Reverse Osmosis Water
20 ml A (heavy Nitrogen)
20 ml B (heavy Phosphorus)
10 ml SuperThrive
1 tspn Rooting Agent
2 tspn Aero Tea
This works out for me to about 225 ppm and a pH of 6.0.
You can use any brand of nutes you like. Just keep the ppm under 250. If you increase the nutes any higher, you will slow root development. Why grow roots if you insist on force feeding them?
I use this specific rooting gel because it has B1 in addition to the rooting hormone. This bubbles up in the res, so it tells you when it needs to be refreshed. Don’t dip cuttings in the gel, just add a tspn to the res. Cuts way down the amount you go through and it just rinses off when you dip them anyways.
As always, your questions and comments are welcome.
-al
6 Likes
To the Cloner We Go!
Moms by strain -
Starting with WAGZ:
Next is LVCZ:
Here’s PRMZ:
And finally GDPZ:
Time to snip. We are going to take the top and the largest 2 side shoots.
Here’s a before:
And after:
We immediately put the shoots into a labeled cup. Positive Identification and Traceability are required in this work. If I find something without a label, I throw it away. If you don’t REALLY know what something is, it is worthless.
Notice the mom plant is now a perfect cone of shoots ready to grow. And with the top gone, the plant can now concentrate completely on those shoots. This is a good time to transplant to a medium small pot, but I think we will keep them in cups for a while longer.
Clean up the cuttings until just the top shoot and a small set of leaves remain. I like to leave 5 - 7 inches of stem, and cut with a box cutter at a 45 degree angle. If you leave strings or fibers hanging, the cutting is more likely to get infected. Make sure your cuts are clean and leave no leaf buds or leaf petiole tissue on the bottom of the stem.
Here’s a before:
And after:
And finally everyone in the cloner!
I have added Pure Michigan, Lava Cake and White Angel to the run as backups in case anyone refuses to root.
This is the trickiest bit, trying to get 21 individuals to root in a reasonable window, so that we can get useful information on everyone.
Hold onto your butts! Here we go!
Your questions and comments are always welcome.
-al
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@als_weed do you use a cover/dome on the clones in the clone machine? also what do you consider a reasonable root window?
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Great Question!
I actually do the opposite of domes and gently blow them with oscillating air. Because the aerocloner maintains the rootzone with fully saturated air, both in terms of water and the dissolved oxygen in it, domes become a hindrance to transpiration.
This is why aerocloners work so efficiently. Plants are really straws, so blowing across them helps. Don’t do this with peat pellets!
As for timing, my hope is that we can get a representative from every individual rooted by around day 21. This should get us on target for 40 to 50 days veg.
Here’s the cloner 24 hours later:
Thank you for your interest.
-al
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Nice healthy clones you’ve got there.
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-al’s Mail Bag
Occasionally I will repost questions asked in other forums or mail that seem relevant.
More Cloner Questions
What is your biggest worry about the cloner? I hate aerocloners. So undependable. -b
It’s August. I use biotics, some wild type. We face searing heat waves, rolling blackouts, and getting above 84 degrees in the res means start over.
The tea helps a lot. I haven’t ran an aero device without it for a decade. The old ‘flapper’ style of sprayer will stick and kill everything, but those are relics.
The big problem with new cloners is that the reservoir is too small. Makes it too easy to heat up, and when the plants transpire, can concentrate the nutes to the point of burning. My old 64s hold 8 to 10 gallons, while the ‘new and improved’ low profile ones hold only 4 gallons.
You don’t cut your tips? -m
No. I just make sure the center of the shoot gets light. The fan helps keep them gently swaying, reducing shadow spots while increasing transpiration.
What’s the obsession with days and the calandar? -p
The art of crafting plants requires both accuracy and precision. Not only do we have to hit the target, but be able to do it repeatedly. A deeper understanding of the timing in each stage of the process is critical to success. They built Stonehenge for the same reason.
Sorry that sounded pretty high n mighty, but I am passionate about the subject!
In this experiment, the biggest trick beyond rooting, is getting all these different strains to perform together. Timing, pruning and other methods will be required to manage the bucking bronco that is aeroponics.
Here’s a sneak peak at 12 days of growth, where the plants doubled in size:
Thank you for your interest.
-al
4 Likes
1 Week in the Cloner
We got a couple roots, but more significantly, everyone is still with us. No slime or snot balls on the stems. The res is still foamy and I have only added fresh tea so far.
Here’s a shot of our cuttings:
Here’s our moms in waiting:
They will continue to sip tea while the cuttings become clones. This next week is when the action should speed up, as rooting begins in earnest.
As always, your questions and comments are welcome.
-al
6 Likes