Calin, it's been a long day for me here today; I finally get a chance to sit down and jot down my thoughts. First, what you did wasn't really wrong. What you were doing in a sense was mimicking nature. And we all know free scales in a natural setting generate clones. But nature conducts its business on the outside where scales are subjected to all kinds of environmental variables and resulting success/survival rate is low. We do our business (mostly) on the inside and we control the environment and our success/ survival rate is much higher. And, of course, we all like to follow the generally accepted uniform procedures of cloning, taking shortcuts only occasionally here and there because we know from past experience we can in certain Instances, but not without being mindfull of the risks in doing so.
I had thought of your procedure during my travels throughout the day and became more and more intrigued by it, mainly because I had never done it that way. I thought that many interesting things can be learned from it. I thought it would a wonderful idea if you or I or both of us conduct the same procedure as an experiment this Spring so we can observe and determine exactly what does happen both above and below ground when cloning is done that way. We could run these scales and clones all the way till Fall and pot then up as usual for an outdoor cold cycle next winter. For better or worse, whatever the results, I think Rick and others would be very interested in seeing it.
Now a couple other thoughts. You mentioned you sprinkled water on you mix after you finished covering, is that correct. Ok, here's how I do it. First, always premoisten your mix, whether it's perlite and sand, moss and sand, vermiculite and sand or any combination of them. Mix thoroughly and let it stand a few minutes. Then grab a handfull and squeeze tight and release. If you can see moistere in the palm of your hand, you have way, way to much water, add some more dry mix. If you can't see any moisture in the palm of your hand but particals that cling to your hand feel a little moist when you rub them together with your fingers--you still have too much--add just a little more mix. They key here is very, very little moisture is needed and is a very important point. I use distilled water. Always error on too little moisture rather thar than too much. I'll tell you why later when we talk about choices of media.
Now--another thought. You mentioned you had one scale that had generated a clone on both sides so you placed it vertically so both clones would have a chance to grow. Just a pointer here--I've always found that clones don't really care if they're upside down, sideways or above or below the scale. They all develop the same. In fact, I'll occasionally flip my bags to make sure there is continued even distribution of moisture. They don't seem to mind this at all; in fact, I think they kind of like this turning over for some unknown reason. This is another way I use those two pieces of cardboard. By sliding one piece under the bag and placing the other on the top, I can slide one palm under the bag and then palming the top piece with the other hand, I can then hold it like a patty cake between between the palm of both hands and then gently flip it over.
Well, enough for tonight. Check you Tree Mail tab in the top right corner from time to time. I'm going to be sending some tips, pointers and pictures in the next day or two. Tree mail tab will red when a message comes thru.
Edit: Calin I just noticed and I am very, very sorry. I just edited/corrected my last post. My first stop this morning was with a man named Brian and I guess somewhere in my mind I was 20 miles up the road ahead of myself. I am so sorry!
