Research

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = toc =RESEARCH= You have to cut off a piece of the plant, preferably the leaf or a branch of the plant. The plant cut off will have to be planted, put in soil, and will have to be watered to start the cloning Most farmers know how to use this method so that they don't have to spend a lot of money on buying new plants every season they know to just clone their plants by cutting off a part of the plant and putting it in soil and making sure to water it. This is the asexual method which usually creates an exact duplicate of the plant. For example, all Bartlett pear trees have their ancestors in a tree that was first cloned in 1770. You also want to make sure that you take the cutting or cloning from a healthy plant, this step is vitally important in trying to clone plants!!

Water quality is of prime concern in hydroponic growing. All plants differ in their preference of pH range. Find out the pH range for your particular plant.

This is why the pH range of a plant is important!!

Soils are known as "sweet" if they are alkaline and "sour" if they are acid. Values of pH 7.0 indicate a neutral soil; above pH 7.0 is alkaline and below pH 7.0 is an acid soil. Most soils are within a range of highly acidic pH 4 to alkaline at pH 7.5 to 8. If you wish to grow plants not suited to the pH of your soil, you can change the pH. You can make an acid soil more alkaline by adding lime. Slightly acid soils can be made more acidic by adding peat, iron sulfate or flowers of sulfur. It is, however, more difficult to lower pH in an alkaline, lime-rich soil than it is to raise pH. pH is important in plant growth because it affects the availability of plant foods and prevents the spread of soil borne diseases. Check it regularly, at least twice a year, as nature tends towards the acid side. Working with your soil, not against it, will help you achieve more successful results. Any changes you make in pH should be small in scale, 1/2 to 1 point in either direction at the maximum. Don't try to go straight from a 4.0 soil to a 7.0 soil in one season. Raising and lowering pH is not an exact science and most plants have a reasonably wide tolerance, certainly to within 1 full pH point. Check the lists of plant pH preferences below and you will see that the majority can manage well on a pH around 6.5... and many have a wide tolerance for different pH levels. But there are also many plants that only thrive in a very narrow pH range, so if your plants aren't as healthy as you think they should be, check the pH range below, then test your soil