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Super Cheap Mass Cloner

G

Guest

Hey Guys, just thought I'd post up my mass cloning method, and equipment. I have been cloning this way for a couple of years now, and due to the ease, low maintanance, effectiveness, and cost effective material, have decided to upgrade myself to my new deluxe version. I have used a pair of smaller units, which will hold about 30 cuttings each, for a long time, and will take this upgrade as an opportunity to share with you guys. The new cloner should do 50 - 60 depending on cutting size.



My wife found these containers at the dollar store. The black ones are lightproof, and they nest with about 3/4" between container bottoms. They are 12qt dishpans, and are about 12" x 16" x 7" roughly. They were $1.00 each.


I bought 2 packages of tiki torch wicks for about $1.50 each. I cut each of the four wicks in half, drilled 7 equally spaced 1/2" holes in the bottom of one black container and inserted the wicks. Also, to increase the depth of the resivoir, I cut the top ring from the white dishpan to use as a lift, giving an 1 1/2" deep res.


This is how it nests together. I adjusted the wicks to touch the bottom of the unit.


Next I filled the bottom res 2"deep with water, re-nested the unit and filled with pearlite to the tops of the wicks. I waited for the water to all wick into the pearlite ( an hour or two) and refill the res to 1 1/2". I am now ready to poke holes with a small dowell and insert cuttings. I use plain tapwater, the chlorine keeps bacteria down. Top off the res to 1 1/2" every 5 - 7 days, change or clean pearlite between batches, and she will be fairly 'hands free'. I gently tug the cuttings every couple of days after the first 5 and if they have rooted, I work it out gently using the point of a shis-ka-bob skewer. Then I have cuttings ready for soil or hydro.


The white tub can be inverted and inserted snugly as a humidity dome and light diffuser.

This has long worked well for me, with about 98% of the hundreds of cuttings I have made rooting within 14 days.
The tubs were $3.00
The wicks $3.00
The pearlite $3.00

The 50 site wick cloner for under $10.00
 

daltron

Member
Interesting

Interesting


Hello Grat3fulH3ad ,
This is a refreshing idea.....thanks for the info....my success rate is bad...very bad.....I really want/need cloneing to work for me...

I think I will give this a go....will you please follow this up with pic's of one crop?

what type of light are they under??....do you use the dome at all for clones??...What is the average temp in the clone area??.....average RH??.....do you run the lights 24/7 or 18/6........do you have better success with the cuttings that sit closer to the wicks?....

I really want cloneing to work for me.....any other info/ideas ??

thanks for this posting....

daltron
 

Harry Gypsna

Dirty hippy Bastard
Veteran
Hey, no fair...I was gonne do that with my carppy one that I posted.....I had to commit 28 murdetrs last night(although it was euthanasia really as they were sufferring from damp off) and bin allthe clones from it. ~This was the next p[lant, to use a 2nd tray filled with perl/verm mix asnd using as a wick cloner, with the airstones bubbling away below too.
nice going Greatful m8..... Im gonna try this out with those plugs I bought too in a smaller version, the plugs r like those rapid rooters.
 
G

Guest

daltron-- When I started growing from cuttings, My success rooting was hit or miss, more misses than hits...
since cloning this way, 99% of my cuttings end up making it...
Almost all of my pics are 'follow ups' for this type of cloning, as most of my buds come from clones, and I have been using wick method for a couple of years...
they are under a 27wCF... The dome happened to be a by-product of the construction, I usually don't use one... The humidity close to the pearlite stays pretty high... 70 - 85 deg. F ... 24hours of light...
Try it this way and you should be able to root some cuttings... Good Luck

Harry and HOG, thanks for stopping by...
 
This is a cool little setup. I think I'll try it out so that I can start some clones once I harvest what's in flower. My golden skush are about ready to go into flower so I want to take some cuttings from them so that I have some other plants to bloom this summer.
:smile:
 
G

Guest

WoW... Very nice, Grat3fulH3ad!

Seems very simple and sweet... can't argue with 98% success rate.

I wish I could nominate this thread for "Cool Stuff of the Month" or something.

I'm curious... this is such an ingenious rig... how do you handle your moms? What sort of setup do you use and how many do you keep?

Sorry if this is off topic... but the two sorta go hand-in-hand.
 

Sleepy

Active member
Veteran
:friends: Damn, i was just at the dollar store... :biglaugh: :biglaugh:

going back, now!!

thanks for a great setup!!!! cheap & easy, just the way it should be.

wonderful info.

thank you, head. :friends:
 
G

Guest

moms, eh? well, I don't really keep any moms, as such...
I run a perpetual harvest, with a constant turnaround... I harvest a couple of plants every week, and move a couple from veg to flower, cloning to veg, and once a month I start a dozen or so new seeds (always searching for that grail)...
So the way it plays out, every time a plant goes from veg to flower, the lower branches come off, and into the cloner...
In essence, I am cloning clones of clones; however, as I am starting around 100-150 new seeds each year, there is a 'turnover'. There are a few I am sure to keep a long time, but generally when I find something I like better, something gets replaced...
Sort of a complicated answer for a simple question, but hey, I'm kinda high...
 
Thats what i want to do, the perpetual harvest, but i just got one of my 1000 watt hps's a day or so ago so i'll be setting it up maybe this weekend, i have a few nice strains i'm working with, SWT #3, sour bubble, humboldtberry, Am. 99 and jlp's phoenix. i'm going to clone a few and put outside in 20 gallon tubs this summer. Thanks............Herb
 

nycnoob

Member
Very great succes rate..Nice setup you go there..Im a newbie and tried cloning once and failed..but yeah I wanted to know what do the wicks actually do..they get wet and retain water...but how does the plant get the water/moisture it needs? Sorry..
 
G

Guest

The wicks transport water to the pearlite from the reservoir...
The pearlite naturally wicks itself and once the nylon wicks move the water up, the pearlite maintains an even moisture level until the res empties. The cutting is surrounded by damp pearlite and air...


nycnoob said:
Very great succes rate..Nice setup you go there..Im a newbie and tried cloning once and failed..but yeah I wanted to know what do the wicks actually do..they get wet and retain water...but how does the plant get the water/moisture it needs? Sorry..
 

nycnoob

Member
Yeah no doubt..Thanks alot..kind of what I thought...sounds good to me..i thought perlite was just a additive to aerate the medium..o well thanks learn something new..
 

wikidcalibudgrl

Active member
Grat3fulH3ad said:
moms, eh? well, I don't really keep any moms, as such...
I run a perpetual harvest, with a constant turnaround... I harvest a couple of plants every week, and move a couple from veg to flower, cloning to veg, and once a month I start a dozen or so new seeds (always searching for that grail)...
So the way it plays out, every time a plant goes from veg to flower, the lower branches come off, and into the cloner...
In essence, I am cloning clones of clones; however, as I am starting around 100-150 new seeds each year, there is a 'turnover'. There are a few I am sure to keep a long time, but generally when I find something I like better, something gets replaced...
Sort of a complicated answer for a simple question, but hey, I'm kinda high...

Thats AWESOME Grat3fulH3ad!
The cloner is just as simple as they come! Anybody could do it 'eh,,, awesome. I myself have never had a problem cloning plants,, with all the clones I've takin', I've only had like two die. It
its just never been an issue :chin:
The perpetual harvest is what i want to do eventually. I need to get my veb table built,, probabley gunna end up cuttin the ol 30 gl tub i had for my 1st rez and use it as the table :chin: and the small 20gl "shop-bought" rez that I've been using as a holding tank, as the rez for it. Soon,, I'll be there soon,,, very nice to here of a p-h. going, and the schedule you're using. Great work!! :friends:
 

BigToke

Bio-Bucket Specialist *********
Veteran
I like this method very much I thank that I’m going to try this, I believe that I would work great for my type of cloning……………….thanks for sharing G3H3
 
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