Hi,
can anyone tell me is biobizz allmix ok to root cuttings in or is it too rich in neuts?
Murran.

You need to mix it at least half and half with perlite.

Don't mean to disagree with you ot1, but I've found it fine so far. Both my skunk and oasis cuttings were OK going straight into all-mix. I'm less certain some finicky strains (C99, GD) will accept it, but I guess I'll find out.

IMHO - suck it and see.

Nice one,
Thanks for the info guy's
Murran.

Labrat I have no problem with you saying what works for you, its interesting to know.

For rooting all types of cuttings the general rule is low nutrition to encourage fine and quick rooting, it holds true both in compost and hydro. That is what I find works best for me as well, basically I get hardly any failers.

I don’t actually use allmix so I can only go by other peoples reports, some say seeds sown in it have bad leaf burn, others say they are fine, you are the first person I have heard of successfully rooting directly in neat allmix.

What size were the cuttings, soft tip or lignified? multiples in pots or trays or singles in pots?

Anyone else managed to root direct into neat allmix?

hi oldtimer1,

been using all-mix for a year now myself, or nigh on. Apart from the lack of Mg I've found it pretty faultless. That is only based on 2 strains though.

Consecutive grows, skunk from seed (planted directly) then cuttings followed by oasis from seed (again, planted directly) then cuttings. I take soft tip cuttings from lower branches when they're mature, dip them into clonex and plant them straight into individual 7x7x8.5cm square pots, watered until runoff with a fine rose. They then go into a propagator, 100% RH, with 110W cool white fluoros on 18/6 as close as possible. I don't feed them in those pots, just water.

The skunk cuttings (taken in summer) were showing roots at the drainage holes within 2 weeks, the oasis (taken in winter) took a while longer at around 4 weeks. The success rate for cuttings in both cases was around 75%, and the subsequent plants stocky with thumb-thick lignified stems.

I'm pretty certain I'm not the only person who does this. In fact, I think I got the idea from Arnold Layne.

How about doing a pictorial for us next time you do some cuttings. I would like a record of two or three methods to show how to take and root cuttings with compost to make up a faq.

I'll be happy to do so.

I've not tried to root in allmix, but what about used allmix, would this be ok?

Tonight I've potted 50 rooted cuttings (in rockwool cubes) into the allmix I've used on my last grow after riddling it. After potting them into the soil I watered them with 2ml per litre grow, 4 ml per litre of root juice and some epsom salts. The pots are 3inch square pots placed on cappillary matting and I'll be potting them on to their final 4 litre pots when they've rooted through. They're under the 400 son-t now on 18/6 in propogators with all the holes open.

Do you think it will be ok to use the used soil like this? The main reason I did this was to not overfeed them at this stage. Am I wrong or right?

If I reuse any compost I add premix and worm compost and wet it up with agrilan revive, then give it a week to ferment and stabilise.

Growing a plant in soil or compost tends to remove all the things that, that species likes, thats partly why crop rotation was used for thousands of years.

You should be ok with the ferts you are useing. Let us know how they go.

I've been rooting all my cuts in Allmix - some vars like it, some vars don't. Now use 50/50 Allmix/Perlite - they seem to root that bit quicker.

C99 finds it a little hot, but not enough to do any damage with 50/50 perlite, but they are all rooted within 4 weeks. The Blue Widows root really quick for an Indi var, 3 - 4 weeks, but suffer from that lack of (Mg) & (fe) - a few foliar mists with (Fe) & (Mg) & all is ok.

The only vars that didn't like it so far were Bubblegum & Wonderberry.

Definitely got to use 50/50 Allmix/perlite, just in case you lose that special lady

Has anyone had positive results using just water to root them?

Should you also mix allmix 50/50 with perlite for seeds then?

OK thanks Mr Bishie.
Murran.

Just to add to the pool of experience - I have had no probs at all either rooting straight onto all-mix, or planting seeds straight into it. Over the last year, taking an average of 4 cuttings a week, I have had only 1 die {my mistake, overwater, clumsy!}, and about 3 fail to root. Average length of rooting is 12 days. Varieties: Skunk, White Skunk, Double Dutch Haze Skunk, General's Daughter, Pot of Gold and a few others.
Will certainly use perlite in the future - OT1's advice is not to be ignored!

hey has n e 1 tried rooting clones in peat pellets/jiffy pellets??

Yes you can root in jiffy pellets, you need to do the first soak with the lowest level nutrient mix.

cheers ot, are my bio-bizz grow nutes cool 4 this?? wat kinda concentration would u recommend?? thanx.

1ml per litre of grow or better fish.

fish??

Fish-Mix

I followed OT1’s instructions except I didn’t have perlite so used just all mix (fed maxi crop with a rose to bed, 11 cuttings in same pot size, plastic bag, occasional bad-breath injection etc). The pot was close to the fluorescents with the bag in contact. After 11 days I had a sly dig and decided to wait till day 14. From the 11 soft-tip (~5cm) FDM C99 cuttings I discarded one in a vicious cull leaving 6 which had root development just like the OT1 pictures and 4 which were slightly less developed. After the 7 days in the next stage in the planter things the best 6 again looked as they should (though I didn’t quite need to even anything up roots wise) and I was more than happy with the performance of the others.
I think the all-mix may have been too dense as well as perhaps too rich in nutrients and this is what may have hindered my root growth. I have taken cuttings again (Med Man, SuperSH, Chimera stuff) and was still too lazy to buy/ponce some perlite (too lazy to go out) and used some B&Q sowing and cutting compost to mix with the all-mix (50/50), hope it isn’t higher in nutrients than all-mix! This has made the medium lighter. They are 8 days in and looking ok, although the plants I cut were struggling a bit.
I will definitely get perlite for the next time, as I think that is why it took around 25% longer.
I have definitely noticed benefit in the growth rate (when re-planting)after thoroughly aerating the all mix to crush any hard lumps and spread out the constituent parts, it takes a while but I feel is worth it

seedsandsticks

A tip seedsandsticks, keep them under the bags without disturbing them until you get the light green at the centre of the growing tip. That tells you they are rooted and ready to move on. It doesn't matter if that takes a week or three you are not in a race. Its better to have a gap between the bag and tube, you only need enough light to keep the chlorophyll green. In the old days the propagation frames used to be on a north wall. For two reasons low light and cooler conditions ie no sun warming them. This may be slower but gives sturdy root not soft ones.

Thanks, they're moved.