as outdoor grower I stitched to root cuttings in soil for many years and now I decided to move on new level without the dirty mess. Rockwool is not good for me as I grow only outdoor and this stuff refuse to decompose and may even cause stem rot when planted outdoors because of weather conditions.Also the purity of artificial enviroment mess with plant sensitivity to pH and bacteria once contamined after planting in soil(adaptation takes much much longer). Jiffy pellets seems as my only easy option so I need advice from someone experienced who uses this method. Any suggestions?
I have experience with both peat and coco pellets (pucks) and I’ve tried their bricks in Sea of green also. While I think it has its advantages (can be use without pots, easy decomposition) I don’t use them anymore. The single reason is the are too wet (especially peat version). It is too wet for “set&forget” germinating for seeds and I think it is too wet for cloning also. When you compare it to rockwool, rockwool dries out much faster (so fast that on the other hand for bigger clones - 20+ cm high - it is needed to use 4cm cubes not 2,5cm ones otherwise you need to water them two times per day).
That jiffy’s too high humidity when inserting clone without roots can’t be easily solved because I still need to have clones enclosed under a dome to decrease need for perspiration.
That is just my personal experience and maybe I’m too used to maintain cuttings in rockwool (and add humidity using spraying every day to dome). I know it is perfectly doable in Jiffy too, because I’ve seen many growers use it exclusively - for example Breeder Steve.
Maybe someone will vouch for Jiffy, but I can’t - I’ve got much better survival and rooting rates in rockwool cubes.
On the other hand bigger rooted clones really thrive in Jiffy, in this case humidity is absolutely in proper level.
I’d try only strong bigger cuttings in jiffy. Controlling the humidity and use partly dried out pellets (or at least letting water drain out as much as possible after expanding puck), adding only enough water to soak only bottom of pellets. Temps 24-25 Celsius works best.
If it is still too humid, I’d experiment with having dome off part of the time. Good luck!
Yes the temperature is most important. I too found something around 25 degrees Celsius optimal in every setup and rooting speeds up rapidly. And this is my solution for temperature:
I already tested that surface temperature is 30 - 40C, so with help of slim miralon sheet I can put it down inside plastic boxes above to desired optimum(or buy termostat). Preparing to test it and measuring it inside boxes this week.
And how about preparing the coco pellets? I already know I must put it in the water with dissolved rooting enhancer to soak up, but sources differ about the timing.It is possible to destroy the pellets letting them in water too long? So soak up, let it expand, then squeeze to get rid of excess water and put cutting in as usual. What rooting enhancer to use? Any pH adjustments recommended for better results with cannabis?
Thinking about humidity and air-flow …sterilized sand would be ideal medium too.Maybe in mix with coconut fiber and perlite, but it´s back to the dirty work(maybe bit less dirty) and sand will damage heating mat over time. Also It could not be well received by “public”
So it seems I have to do some experimenting. Coldest winter temperatures in the cellar drops to 12 degrees Celsius(14-16 most of winter). So I did some measurements. Heat sheet temperature is 30C. In the mini greenhouses reaches 20-22C. And the bottom surface reached 26C. Seems good enough. Later I added some more miralon as insulation and played with timer for the heating pads, because some seedling wilted due to local unequal heating. Now works great so I will be able to clone and plant seeds whole year.
I never cared for jiffy pellets, always had issues with them regarding germ rates with seeds and found they are hard to control.(moisture)
I have been using 100% canna coco, other brands are fine.
My method is to water a pint party cup full of coco then poke a hole for the cut, make cut and double dip , ( clone gel then clone powder) put in cup and toss a cup or bottle on it. 7 days later a new plant.
Using coco alone it holds just the right Amount of water and air.
Have had no clone issues this way.
I will try it after this turns as bad idea. First the pellets were full of water. After two days some of them almost dry. It´s hard to wet it just enough and evenly in the whole greenhouse. Seems Ok for now. I will see later. I should try to make some dropper from pet bottle and tube to distribute water more evenly.
I´ve made some prototypes for wetting the coco pellets. Works like a charm! Can keep same humidity in whole box despite cutting differ in size and difference between middle and side area(where moisture condesates back) while still keeping it plain and simple
Finally I got some roots in every piece. So I can keep to this method as intended for my outdoor specialization. 100% success!
To solve the irregular drying of box I used thin layer of perlite. Also solves drying tips of roots after rooting through pellet into dry environment outside. Works well.
Thanks for sharing your practical ideas and experience. You did a good job. As I have family and older house which both needs lot of time to invest I too like the “lazy man solutions” best.
Keep it simple, time saving and easy to handle. Through laziness to improved technique and better future
Glad to hear your positive experience with it. Did you run into any difficulties regarding moisture? Do you use partly open (ventilated) dome?
Perlit at the bottom works great, really.
Moisture is ok if you deliver it with dropper to every pellet
separately. It´s quick and easy to control every two days. I use closed
dome until all cuttings root properly.After that I open the vents for
cuttings to adapt. Finally I put aside the dome after rooting into the
perlite layer or plant them straight into the pot. In this phase I have to wet
remained cuttings daily because of quicker evaporation. Still easy and not time consuming. Rot or mold
not occured during the whole process.
Only 2 little disadvantages, but for me is major disadvantages I afraid. Space consuming and in Czech Republic we don´t use that shit for home made popsicle at all. But I could try with classic garden shop mold and cleaned coco substrate from local pet-shop. It should be very similar and more space saving.Also cheap. I should try this after second round of coco pelets. Spring came earlier this year so I have lot of work with garden and preparing for sexing of selection. Hope I find some time for more experimenting.
I have used jiffy pellets for years and love them. I use them for seeds. I start the seeds in a paper towel and the seeds are put into the pellets as soon as they crack. I don’t wait until there is a long root but plant them when the root just start to show. That way i don’t have any roots growing into the paper towel. I have not had any problems with being to wet ( not yet that doesn’t mean i won’t at some time). In fact this grow i let my wife talk me into not using the pellets. Bad, bad idea as i lost two plants because the soil was to hot and burned them up. The pellets give the roots time to grow strong enough to handle the fertilizer in the soil. I am new to cloning but will use my jiffy pellets for them too
Yes. The humidity is not a problem. I just squeeze the excess water a little. Now I have 100% success rate after 2 years of using this pellets. I don´t have to make more than 1 cutting from each plant when I want to keep genetics from 30 individuals for example. It´s very time and cost saving.
I mostly use peat pellets for rooting clones and they work as well as Rockwood or Oasis cubes have for me. Squeezing out excess water after soaking definitely gets them in the right zone.
I do have trouble telling if they’re wet or dry in a few days though and think i tend to overwater them. I keep forgetting to weigh one bone dry and fully soaked to use as a reference…
