DarkFox

This little number is using 100% Vermiculite, which for my first experience felt like a sort of cross between mushrooms and wood chippings... Nice and neat though, with only a little dust given off when moving the stuff.





As per the owners original, I bought some Ice-lolly/popsicle moulds and drilled 4 x 3.2mm holes around the base and added 2 a little further up once I saw how it was draining. I then filled them to about 1 inch from the top with the Vermiculite.



I wetted them with plain water and will only wet them again if needed. The architect doesn't use Rooting hormone but I will be, to keep the cuts uniform with the other systems. Unless you really don't want me to NDS?

I'm going to lie an 18w cool flouro either side of the girls, resting on the grey plastic container.

Lights I had already
100 litres of Vermiculite £15
Ice Lolly moulds £7.50
Time: About 20 mins.

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Profound

If I can get past the dang seeds sprouting .....
After getting off the ground I'll try to step away from growing from seed for awhile.

I'll use a method from here possibly....

Good idea for a thread....
I use Cranky's method as of the last time....Clones for Dummies

You guys ever add a tiny touch of K to your water before taking the clones ?

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DarkFox

This is a fully bought and packaged product, which a few different companies buy and re-brand.





It even has it's own little prop lid, which definitely ear-marks it for the cutest of all the systems I'm trying. Gawd Bless you Mr Fothergill!

The gel comes in these yoghurt like containers that are linked. It says to not separate the containers, I guess though, just because they then won't fit in the ickle-bitty prop...



Different from the pourable gel product that Burnsy is trying, this is more like a stiff jelly (I think you trans-atlantic folk call it Jello?? ). From the instructions printed on the inside of the packaging, you just pop a hole in the foil top of the container, push the cutting in, put the "My first propagator" lid on and put it somewhere bright. It also says that this stuff is re-usable, just pull out the rooted cutting and you're ready to go again..

Same lights as above
6 pack £4.99

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DarkFox

Dal's own fine thread is still high up the list so I won't go into loads of details. In summary it's a 100% Perlite system using torch wicks, which draw water up from a bottom res and keep the Perlite just slightly damp. I can see by the way now, that the key really is to keep things just at the right wetness level... SEE!! I do learn!!

Original boxes...



Just the lips of two more to act as spacers...



Put together there's about a 3 and a half inch gap for the water res. In Daltron's normal use 1 and a half inches lasted 2 or 3 days roughly, so I'm hoping 3+ inches will last 4 or 5 days.



This is how the wicks sit in and about half way filled with the Perlite..



And finally added some light to see how it looked. I'm lighting this up with 2 x 25w CFL's.



Wicks £7
Plastic Boxes £9.50
100litres Perlite £15
Time: About an hour

I'll be back to show the next two....

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deviant

Yeah that was something else I needed to mention:


Wear a dust mask with Vermiculite and Perlite as it's seriously nasty stuff.You can also damp it down;I'd recommend both.

(Incidentally,you'd also need to use the same lighting over each to make it a fair comparison,but I appreciate it is,what it is.)

All the best,
dev

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"And all Gods'angels beware-And all you judges beware-Sons of chance,take good care-For all the people not there-I'm not afraid anymore." J.D

n_d_shadows

Hey DF, with all the £ you and Burns are dropping here to do this little experiment should we set up a donations fund??

spot on with that deviant!!! its a force of habit to do, but I rarely think to mention the hazards.


Its really up to you on the hormones DF. I've yet to see where they sped up the actual formation of adventagous roots from the plant stem, but I will say it does create a larger root ball in the same time as without, if that make sense.

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Delta9420’s DIY Raw Salt Fertilizers for Dummies
Deserves a good read

DarkFox

That one was too late Dev... I'm glad you reminded me, the reason I mentioned, "with only a little dust given off when moving the stuff" regarding the Vermiculite.... was because I was gonna say FOCK ME!! regarding the Perlite!! I can't remember ever having coughed so much as with the dust from that stuff, and when I woke up next morning (after only a few hours sleep from all the chaffing coughing!!) it felt like I'd swallowed sand paper!! Mask next time, or I'll do it outside.. Thanks mate..
Well if you're offering NDS??!! Most of this stuff is pennies really buddy, although I gratefully appreciate the sentiment. The EZ Cloner was something I fancied anyway and that was the only real biggie..

I will dip them in the Clonex then mate, then they'll all start off the same..

DarkFox

Back to the details of my last two...

This is the one I've tried before and failed with when I took 150. Basically standard Rockwool starter plugs in a propagator. This is the more common (to me anyway ) version using slightly damp plugs. Burnsy will be doing Rockclimbers Water Babies where the Rockwool is sitting in water all the time.

I know a few points where I went wrong last time, the main one's being I kept them too wet and didn't harden them off, just kept misting and waiting for them to root... This time I have a schedule to follow from Dev:
I've got a heat mat so I can keep the plugs warm if needs be, but I think the room will be there abouts 21 degs anyway.

I feel a bit silly posting a pic of a prop and plugs , but hey, for completeness...



I've soaked the Rockwool plugs overnight in EC1.4 (base water of 0.8) water and Formulex, at pH5.5. Flicked them out twice, so they're damp-to-wet but not dripping.

This will be lit by either 2 x 18w flouros or a 200w Envirolite, not too sure yet..

I had this stuff already so it didn't cost me anything. a few quid I guess, less than a tenner.

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DarkFox

Lastly, it's the Bad Boy If the Gel2root is the cute guinea-pig this is the lion with bad-attitude..

I've heard lot's of very good things about this thing, it certainly seems to be built well, although as I've mentioned earlier to Dev I've experience with the water pump and air pump and I couldn't have picked a noisier pair. I will be replacing them.

I've heard the same down-side off 3 people, the pump makes the water too hot in the summer. Although a freezer block (the type you put in your cool-box) seems to tame it.

Here's how it comes, kind of compact...



Here's the innerds with the two noisy arse pumps...





The mister rig itself and the plastic body is essentially what you're... well... I'm paying for. This is my first experience with aeroponics and it's a bizarrely fine mist that comes out, which makes an instant rainbow, much to the pleasure of the people in my lounge when I first turned it on..



As well as a thermometer on the inside-side of the res, there's this handy little thing... a tap on the side of the res at the bottom. I presume it's for emptying it out but I'm kinda thinking that it could be a start towards a circulating water feed that could maybe be cooled somehow... We'll see...



This is how the neoprene discs sit in. If you haven't seen it, neoprene is like that stuff wet-suits are made of. You can see how dusty it was from the hydro-shop... I'll obviously clean it first..



The instructions seem very simple, cut your cuts, dip 'em in Clonex, put them in the neoprene with about 2 cm poking through down to the res.

Fill the res up to the underside of the mister with plain but pH adjusted to 6.3 water, put the top on that holds the cuts and turn it on... That seems to be pretty much it... Apart from lighting it up of course... There's no lid like a prop has. If the people who have used these before (just Dev and KingKong I think...) have any pointers then please let me know...

As I've mentioned a couple of times, I've bought a light for this, a 4 bulb starlite, 220w of flouro in total.

60 site EZ Cloner £195

That's it for the breakdown Gang, I'll take the cuts in the morning and post the pics after a hearty lunch..

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Spirit of Bear

The Propagator;

First off I have to apologize,,, I forgot that I had given away my 12 clone propagator,,, and only have my 6 clone propagator left,,,, so that will be what I’ll be using….

To make one of these you will need;

1ea. 12 qt Rubbermaid container w/lid for the unit….

1ea. 19 qt Rubbermaid container w/lid (they come with a lid) for the humidity dome…

2ea. 30 gallon dual outlet air pumps…………

1 foot of 3/8” ID hose (cut 6 sections about ½” - ¾” long) for inserts….

A box of .24” (6mm) straws…….

A couple of feet of aluminum wire (to be bent them into a Z shape)……..

A ½” drill bit (I use one that is for making flat bottomed holes in wood)…..

A 15/64” drill bit (for air hose access, and straw support)

4ea. 4” air stones…….

5ft. of air hose……….

A roll of aluminum tape………..

A hot glue gun………

Here are the bits I used;


Here are the air stones, and ¼” air hose installed;


Here are the six inserts cut from the 3/8 ID tubing;


Here the straws have been cut in half (the whole straw is just too long);


Here you can see the Z pattern the wire has to be bent into,,,, this allows easy clamping, and unclamping of the cuttings;


The top,,, with the holes drilled for the inserts, straw supports, and light proofed with aluminum tape;


This is what you are after,,,, the inserts keep the water from escaping the propagator,,,, the straws adjust the height of the cuttings,,,, and the wire supports keep the cuttings in place when squeezed together………..


One last pic of the whole thing;


Bear

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