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West Coast Hydroponics is offering free classes based on 4 week incremental stages. The goal of these classes is to help you become a successful gardener and develop a trustworthy source for all your gardening needs.

Week 1: Clones and Seedlings!

During the 1st week of class we discussed the initial stages of growth, seedlings and making clones. The instruction was meant to be basic and communicated in an easy to understand format to make the class fun and the students successful. We covered the essentials such as choosing the proper seedling mediums such as rock wool, peat moss cubes and clone machines to name a few. The instructors discussed the vital nutrients and atmospheric conditions needed to successfully clone and develop seedlings. The students walked away with a good understanding of how to clone a plant and start a seedling.

Week 2: Vegetative Growth and Mothers!

We again discussed/reviewed the cloning and seedling process to ensure that our students were properly trained and experience a successful start. Our attendees also learned the secrets of how to aggressively vegetate a plant and ensure a healthy grow cycle. We shared little secrets that ensure that you give your plant the best resources to enable it to grow to its highest potential. The class also taught our students about proper root acceleration techniques and NPK ratios. We also discussed various micro nutrient requirements a plant needs and the signs of micro nutrient deficiencies! Our instructors also explained preventative disease control. We also covered the importance of pruning and how to properly take care of your plant and mothers. The students were educated on the importance of this stage and how staying on top of this phase is crucial to a successful bloom.

Week 3: Vegetative Growth and Beginning of Bloom.

During this phase of our students learned how to ensure a good vegetative cycle and how different light spectrums and intensities can effect a plants overall performance. The proper balance of NPK ratios and micro nutrients were also stressed and thoroughly explained. The class also had a core emphasis on good pruning techniques and topping instruction. We also discussed the signs of nutrient deficiencies and good practices to ensure growth stunts don’t occur and other productivity inhibiting factors. The importance of beneficial bacteria and fungi were also demonstrated in the root system and how not addressing these crucial elements can affect the yields.

Week 4: Bloom

All of the instruction up to this point has had bloom in mind all along. We stressed the importance of paying attention to the details in all areas that lead up to a bountiful harvest. Each segment was broken down in order to gain a complete cyclical understanding of how the phases interact with each other. During the class we showed our students various nutrients available in the industry and explained the benefits/cons of each of them. Unique secrets and enhancement techniques were also shared with the attendees as well. The response from everyone was great! Even some of the most experienced growers commented on how informative and beneficial the information was they learned. We love to make people happy and look forward to our next round of classed coming up very soon. The bloom phase is where all the magic occurs and we intent to help you make it as productive as possible!

It is amazing to look at various seeds and see something so beautiful literally come from nothing. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze us with the great strains she produces and we get to enjoy the harvest!

The seed, which is an embryo with two points of growth (one of which forms the stems the other the roots) is enclosed in a seed coat with some food reserves.

You can start your seedling by either using a humi-dome, tray, rock wool or peat moss cubes to get them started. You may need to use a heating pad but be careful and make sure you do not overheat your seedlings.

Also purchase a thermostat for your heating device to eliminate this problem. A warm moist environment is needed for successful plant germination. You will need to do your homework to find out the optimum germination temperatures needed for the seeds/strains you are trying to grow.

It is key to “ALWAYS” use reverse osmosis or filtered water to generate good seedlings or clones. Your tap water may be a little rough on the youngsters! Here is good process to follow when making clones:

What you need to do:
1. Use a dome/tray reservoir/plug tray for rock wool plugs/peat moss cubes
2. Filtered, distilled or reverse osmosis water
3. Fill bottom tray with water ½ way
4. Add either Clonnex cloning solution or Olivia’ cloning solution to water for a base nutrient
5. Insert seeds ½ way into plug tray then put plug tray in reservoir tray and place humi-dome on top. Make sure to have a slow speed fan blowing on the dome. The dome should have 2 air holes providing good circulation.
6. Use a heating pad but do not place the pad flush with the bottom of reservoir unless you are using a thermostat. Make sure to put a space in between the reservoir and the heating mat to ensure the clones do not get over heated. About an inch will suffice; you can use a couple off magazines to place under the reservoir to create a little space between.
7. It is also important to spray filtered water twice a day to create a humid atmosphere which is critical during the first stages of seedlings or clones.
8. You will also need to use a low powered fluorescent light to sustain the plant growth on top. Keep this light 1 foot above the dome. Remember light intensity needs to be kept at a minimum during this phase. Root growth is the key factor here. It is vital to keep an eye on your tray to make sure that burning does not occur.
9. Use a airstone/pump set up to assist in root development
10. Usually in 3-7 days you will see the sprouts arrive!
11. Keep an eye on your water levels! Make sure it is always ½ full
12. Once you have determined what you like you can usually transfer the youngsters to a larger grow medium within a couple of weeks after the plants are strong with a good root system.

***Special Note***
Make sure that your environment is clean with no pests especially if you have pets in the in or around the grow area. We recommend that you bug bomb your area with pyrethrums to avoid any issues from the start. Neem oil also branded as “Einstein oil” with filtered water should also be sprayed in dome the area as well in order to prevent mold and mites. Spider mites are incredibly aggressive and resilient. These little guys will ruin everything very fast! Adding an insecticide pest strip will also help… Prevention is the key all the way through to harvest. You should use neem oil all the way through!

Example:

Another way to start is by placing a seed in a moist paper towel folded over. Then put the folded towel into a bowl covered with plastic. Put this set up in a dark area at room temperature environment. 90% of seeds will germinate within 20 days but usually you will see this process take place in a couple of days. After this has been accomplished place the sprouted seed in a tray with a small hydroponics grow medium such as rock wool or pea moss cubes. You can also transfer this into a soil environment as well.

A B1 or Super Thrive product can assist with transplant shock which you could encounter when you transfer to soil/or a hydroponics mediums.

We also recommend that you use a root stimulator in order to kick off the “rhizosphere” this is the zone that surrounds the roots of plant. A couple of the best products to accomplish this with are “Rhizotonic” by Canna, “Sub-Culture” by General Hydroponics or “Guardian MY” from Botanicare.

These products contain friendly bacteria and friendly fungi to get your plant off to a good start…

One really important component of growing is to build a really good solid root environment that is free from disease.

A few ways that you can accomplish this is by feeding your roots with oxygen by using an air pump, tubing and an air stone, you can do this by simply connecting the air stone and tubing to the air pump and place the stone in the water.

We sell all of this on our site Hydro Liquidators.

This bubbling fizz will add oxygen to your nutrients helping your roots get huge.The simple rule is the LARGER the root mass the LARGER your crop!!! The overall girth and quality of your root system will effect the bloom cycle and ultimately the end harvest. If you want incredible results we highly recommend using a root stimulator with the effects shown below.

You can see this plant was given the nutrients and special care needed for a successful harvest. We suggest using your root stimulator heavily during the 1st few weeks of your vegetative cycle and tapering it off after that throughout the cycle.

(Check out this root mass using RHIZOTONIC)

Take clones from a “mother plant” or a plant that you have in the vegetative cycle that is well grown and at least a few feet in length with plenty of node filled stems to cut from.

Your best cuttings will come from the healthiest and most robust portions of the plant which is usually at the top portion.

Cut at a 45 degree angle lust below the third node…

Here is a great example of the relationship between a “mother” plant which is usually kept in a soil environment and a clone.

One area to be aware of regarding clones is to keep any potential air bubbles forming in the stem after you cut them. An air bubble in the stem will kill your clone! Ouch!!

A great way to control this is to cut your clones under water and then dip your cuttings in a good quality cloning gel such as Root Tech or Clonnex.

The cloning gel will help stimulate root growth, seal from air bubbles, control shock and control disease. If you want more consistency always use gel.

You will also need the same dome, tray and peat moss/rock wool cubes used for the seedling process to make clones.

Here are several rules to follow making clones:

1. Use filtered water
2. Add a base nutrient such as a Clonnex or Olivia’ and mix with water according to directions. Fill bottom reservoir ½ way to ¾ of the way up with mixture.
3. Soak your cubes in filter water.
4. Cut a forty five degree incision just below the 3rd node as a precaution you can cut the stems under water to ensure that a air bubble does not develop and destroy your plant
5. Cut off the foliage of two of the nodes
6. Trim the large leaves off the top and keep the new bright green looking foliage on top. All of the large leaves need to go…
7. Use a Cloning gel and dip the sniped clones
8. Split the rock wool cubes/peat moss cubes in half and wrap the cuttings so the cut off node areas are covered by the cubes…then place the cubes in the plug tray and put the plug tray inside the reservoir tray…
9. Place dome on top and make sure there are ventilation holes so that air can travel freely…
10. Place a small clip on fan next to the tray to create good air flow
11. Spray filtered water inside of the dome twice per day as way of keeping the humidity inside high. This is needed for successful cloning
12. Use neem oil in conjunction with the water you spray inside the dome to help prevent mold and pest invasion…
13. You should start rooting anywhere from 1-2 weeks and some cases longer depending on strain variety
14. Power Clone 45
    

    Use of a clone machine will greatly increase the success rate of cloning. In many case use of these can produce a 100% success rate. We believe the Power Clone 45 by Botanicare is the best available.