6/1/09

Spacing to prevent fungus

I am writting this post because I have had a few people write me about fungus and cuttings. If you have a fungalproblem, you may want some space between plants/cuttings. Fungus is your enemy here, the problem is you need a warm moist environment so the plants don’t dehydrate which is also an ideal environment for fungus. If you have had problems with fungus/damping off etc. I think you could try using every other row of the tray. This will allow more airflow between the cuttings/plants. I used every other row for most of the pictures, but if you are NOT having problems, you should have a cutting in every starter plug to get the most from the clone kit.
A warm moist environment is what your cuttings need, and the root warmer will provide the idea temperature for you plants. However, as you know this is also an ideal environment for fungus. The clone kit is sterile when it arrives, but be sure to clean it after each use: use a 25% hydrogen peroxide solution if you had fungal problems last time, otherwise a mild dish soap and water will do to wash beteen cutting cycles. Be as clean as you can and make sure to aerate your chamber each day. In other words, take the dome off for longer periods of time each day. On day two, start taking the lid off for a few minutes. After a week, you should be taking the dome off for an hour or more. You should use your powers of observation to see if the plants look “good” Each grower must decide what “good” is for their plants. In general the plants should not have leaves that wilt. The majority of plants will be ready to pot up (put in growing medium) in a few weeks.
Good Growing,
Dr. E.R. Myers

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