[Throwgar]

I put some cuttings into my eZ Cloner clone (DIY) about a month and a half ago, and some of the cuttings are now just starting to show root nubs.

I was wondering if any of you have experimented with water of different pH's, and which pH is the best for rooting. I only thought of this afterwards, but my tap water is at about 5.2, and I was curious if this might be the reason the cuttings took so long. I almost gave up on them. 45 days is a looong time, and some of them haven't rooted yet!

[Observer Tom]

What temp is your cloner water?

Did you use a cloning solution when you took the clones and which one?

Is there anything in your cloner besides tap water?

What light are they under?

What's your on/off schedule or it always on?

Got a pic of the cloner or better yet, tops and bottoms of your 45 day clones?

Something's clearly off, but these boards are great for figuring out what it is. =)

[wickedpete66]

Ph isnt an issue with cloners because there isnt any roots, what does make a big difference is water temp. 72-78 is ideal. below 70 roots take forever, above 80 and the stems go mush

[ItsAllOver]

You really don't think pH has any effect on cloning? I would imagine that once root bumps start forming, pH matters a good bit, and although your, "no roots, no pH worries," reasoning sounds good, I'm still not sure. hmm

[richirich_99]

i know i have read some place on here that 5.5-6.0 is ideal for cuttings in bubble cloners. Im just setting mine back up and hopingto avoid the slimy stems again by using h202 in the water. good luck, hope you get it figured out.

[wickedpete66]

Originally Posted by ItsAllOver

You really don't think pH has any effect on cloning? I would imagine that once root bumps start forming, pH matters a good bit, and although your, "no roots, no pH worries," reasoning sounds good, I'm still not sure. hmm

My tap water comes in at a ph of 6.5 and about 100ppms. I have never had an issue with ph in my bubble cloner. if your water is hard ph above 8.0 it might be an issue, but once the roots start they are probably only going to be in the cloner another 7-10 days anyway

[Throwgar]

Okay, here's some more info, and some pictures: the temp is at about 65f, which maybe a little low? Straight tap water, at 50 ppm. 5.2 pH, no cloning solution, 45 days in , give or take a few days. I actually tried putting some rooting hormone into the solution, but I don't think it did anything. The water's pretty clear. I severely doubted the rooting most of them, I lost some hollow stemmed cuttings to plythium, but most are finally starting to nub up.

I use about 100 ml H202 per (about?) 20 gal tote-tank

Why is it that everyone always sees roots in a week and a half?

Anyway, here's some pictures:

[Observer Tom]

Hm, doesn't look terrible. At 45 days I expected something really bad.

Here's my solutions:
1) Try using some cloning gel or a dip when you take the cuttings.
2) Put an airstone in the res, the sprayers help but there's still stagnant water in there.
3) I personally don't put more than an inch or two into the spray area because any more than that usually gets mushy and roots appear near the top.
4) Put your pump on a timer, I do 1 minute on every hour.

Did you change your res during those 45 days?
Does the res get colder than 65f, at night for instance?

In those pics I see slime on the bottoms of those roots, I suspect they are getting overly wet and the res is getting icky. A timer, an airstone and some cloning gel when you take the cuttings will probably go a LONG way.

[Observer Tom]

It's hard to tell in the picture, are you cutting these diagonally above a branch node?

It may just be snot/slime but some of those cuttings look like they have a thicker stem coming off at the very bottom as if the cutting was taken BELOW a branch node and included part of the thicker stem.

I can't describe it very well but I'm looking at the cutting just to the left of the center and that lump looks weird to me. Maybe I'm just reading the picture incorrectly, it's hard to see with the root nubs and slime buildup.

[Throwgar]

That photo was out of focus, they look much better in person. I'll take some more photos soon.

[Observer Tom]

That is the root mass I'm talking about, it sort of looks like the clone was taken including part of the parent stem. If that's the case, the parent stem looks like it's rotting and leaking filth.

The root on the left is slimy so maybe the one I'm talking about is just REALLY slimy, either way it's bad juju but I'm still curious if you left the parent stem on here.

[GroDoc]

In my experience with the cloning misters, quarter-strenght soln, fluorescent lights, cloning gel, optimal temp gives robust root balls in 7 - 10 days. A month and a half seems extremely long to me. Scraping stem before applying rooting gel seems to help too. good luck. peace.