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Old 10-11-2018, 12:13 PM
Stan Stan is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 213
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Glad to hear the hurricane avoided your area. I've watched lot's of news reports from the area I feel bad for the people that lost homes and personal belongings.

Ok I'm not a fan of neoprene collars with seedlings. With the stem not being strong they sometimes with either choke or damage the stem. I have used the collars with large suckers around 5 - 8 inches long. I use hydroton and carefully put them in a little at a time until it reaches the top of the net pot. When I transfer into dutch bucket I put the net pot as is with hydroton and bury it in the perlite.

As for watering schedule it all depends on temperature and humidity also if plants are in sun or shade. This is why I like the Spartan timer I would do 5 seconds on 15 minutes off. The timer of 10 times a day should not be used. With the timer you mentioned can go on/off for 15 minute intervals can you set it at 15 minutes on 30 minutes off? Also soak a rockwool cube put it outside where you have the cloner see how long it takes to get just slightly damp but not completely dry. The set your timer for 15 minutes on 15 minutes before the time it takes to get slightly damp. Since you're using fresh water and adjusting the ph keep eye water temps make sure it doesn't get to high. Use a gallon milk container fill it with water freeze it place in the cloner to cool down the water. Make sure you take off any labels that are on the container otherwise it will peel off inside the cloner and clog the sprayers.

When you eventually move them to the dutch bucket 15 minutes on will be way to long. I had mine in full sun 90 degrees with high 70 to low 80's humidity for 3 minutes on 15 minutes off. When the plants are 4 feet tall which means it has a large root system I had it running for 1 minute on 25 minutes off and just adjust as you see fit. At sundown it ran 1 minute on 45 minutes off.

Last but not least yes use an aerator/bubbler. You can run it at night when it's cooler for 30 minutes then off till the next night.
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