Bart's GroClone Review

[bartender187]

It works! : ) Bit pricey for how simple it is... First what the manufacture has to say... www.groclone.com

GroClone was designed to provide these 4 basic requirements:
1)
RELIABILITY - GroClone can be used in temperature ranges that can be problematic for other cloning techniques. GroClone is designed to minimize the absorption of surface temperatures and the unit’s small water pump adds virtually no additional heat to the reservoir so the units maintain a temperature that is only 3-5 degrees over ambient temperature. It has been tested in temperature ranges of up to 85 degrees constant room temperature and in varying temperatures of 75 to 93 degrees with 100% success in 3-8 days.

2)
ENERGY EFFICIENCY – The GroClone reservoir holds only two gallons of water and under most conditions water does not need to be replenished or changed during the rooting cycle. The small .09 amp pump provides minimal electricity needs and is adapted to serve double duty as an oxygen infuser, which eliminates the need for any additional air pumps or bubble stones.

3)


SIMPLICITY – GroClone is specifically designed to create an ideal rooting environment by providing an abundance of continuously diffused fresh oxygen throughout the water reservoir. This unique method needs no monitoring and allows the plant cuttings to thrive. It results in a high continuous success rate of healthy root formation without all the headaches associated with other techniques. GroClone does not require the use of a dome and all indicated results have been without the use of supplemental additives.

4)
COMPACTIBILITY – GroClone provides 53 cutting sites in a small 12x24x4”unit and fits under any standard 2’ lighting fixture which makes it a perfect tabletop unit. To maximize sites 2 units fit side by side under a single 4’ fixture providing a capacity for 106 cuttings. The unit requires only two gallons of water and weighs only 13 lbs. while in operation and can be easily moved when full.

Now my take on it... for 150$ I felt like all i was really was getting out of it was a tray to hold water and a nice plastic molded lid with insets for the neopreone holders... It functions on a simple idea, a small pump draws air through a line, and pumps it into the water via very fine air bubbles. After cloning in the unit twice, with 95-99% success (also was battling nasty temps at the time, 80+), I decided to add a air stone. I figured it couldnt hurt, and it seems to just speed things up. I get nice roots in 5-14 days, its very simple, water stays cool, completely silent, low profile, and doenst leak.

Ive tried various cloning techniques, from a homemade aero-cloner, to various soil-less mixes, and the clones just plane old seem to stay healthier in the gro clone. A local grower, tooks cuts off his plants just as he flipped em, he kept the clones in his groclone all throughout flowerin (he had 2 added airstones, and supplemented the water with PBP). He just last week transplanted them from the gro clone to his buckets, had been in the groclone for just about 2 months, still perfectly healthy.

Ill post pics of the current batch in the cloner later today

 

[8bitNES]

nice review bartender. just about what i expected.

seen this thing at a store. ridiculously simple and convenient design. there's no reason why it wouldn't work... growers have been cloning like this with homemade cloners.

even though i don't own one myself, IMO the best thing is the tray and top themselves. tinted enough to where you can observe root growth without having to lift the lid and neoprene holders are pretty ingenius. the worste part is the pricetag. $150-180 for something you can make at home. if it were under $100 i'd probably get one myself.

8bit

 

[bartender187]

8bitNES- i think were on the same page, too simple for the price tag, but meh it works, so i cant complain.

WWxSSH top gettin ready to be prepped and stuck in the cloner.


Groclone with various cuts


random rooted cut, tansplanted and takin off w/o shock.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Hiya Bart!!!!!

Hey, thanks so much for posting your experience with this. I'm still having 50/50 survival problems cloning, so have been looking into alternatives, this looks very good.

 

[NPK]

Yeah, I appreciate the review, too. I've only achieved 50 percent success with various cloning methods, and I need to do better than that...95 percent success right out of the gate will work for me. Thanks Bart.

 

[Guest]

Hi guys,

I too picked up a groClone late last year but have had terrible results trying to clones some Flo. Water temps in the 77 degree range resulted in slimy root rot. I contacted the manufacturer and tried their suggestions running three sets of cuttings and never got more than a 10% success rate. Of the one that produced roots, over half of them died after transplanting (took a week or two). The unit is now in storage.



I have since gone back to using peat pellets and my near 100% success rate has returned.

I have also tried just putting cuttings in water and changing out the water every 2-4 days with 100% success as well. I recently built a small (9 cuts) Rubbermaid holder for the neoprene collars and hopefully that will replicate the 100% success rate.

Peace.

 

[bartender187]

^^
Good to hear the other side of it. Thanks for the review. Let us know how the rubbermaid holder works out

 

[RuralRoute420]

am getting ready to build a new cloner about that size

question: how many bubble wands/stones are in the bottom of that thing? seems pretty spread out. i run 2 in a smaller rubbermaid, thinking of running at least 4 with something that size....

 

[bartender187]

Useless peace of crap. It worked twice for me and since has just been causing nothing but headaches. 100$ plastic tray

 

[aeric]

bartender: have u tried cleaning it? cloners tend to work well if environmental conditions are met for the first run or two, then tend to suddenly not work this is usually due to simply needing to be cleaned more thoroughly, might not be ur problem but it's an idea.
hash assasin: slimy roots = root rot/pathogens from either a bad watersource, bad temps (most likely cause for u), or lack of cleanliness.

clean with bleach, rinse in hot water, clean with dishsoap, rinse in hot water...pray your water source is good or just use R.O./storebought. For added security use H202 or bio-fungicide once the unit is filled.

 

[clowntown]

Wait, what's so special about this system again? Could any of you take photos of the inside of the unit? From what I understand so far it sounds like a simple bubble cloner... but then again:

Ive tried various cloning techniques, from a homemade aero-cloner, to...

I'm confused.

 

[Sauce]

Wait, what's so special about this system again? Could any of you take photos of the inside of the unit? From what I understand so far it sounds like a simple bubble cloner

That's basically all it is. The local shop has them, seems like a huge waste of $ imo. At least with an EZ clone you get a bunch of well made parts like the pump and manifold that do not come cheap. With the gro-clone you really don't get anything that you couldn't buy for a small fraction of the price.

 

[bartender187]

Clowntown. nah its not a bubble cloner... its a peace of shit. It has a small pump that draws air from a small tube and spits it intop the water in a fine stream. Does the same thing... but not an bubble cloner.. The pump in my case was heatin up the water too much.

aeric- thanks for teh advice, yah i tried an H202 bleach solution between each ran. it was definately clean... I couldnt get the temps to hold steady for me. tried R/O and tap water... tap water seemed work better for me.

 

[Guest]

The container holds promise without the pump heating up the water.

Would adding air stones be all that is required?

 

[bartender187]

^^
Maybe... but then your still paying 100$ for a tray. All i had laying around was an airpump that was way overkill... It only made the matter worse. Heated up the water even more... However this was all durring the peak of the Texas heat.

 

[aeric]

with all conditions being met i had the most success in bubblecloners with pH down added to 5.8-6 and a cloning gel....just like with regular cloning in rockwool, faster of course.

That sucks bartender that u didn't have better success sounds like it was the heat?

100 for a tray is ridiculous but it's something u can't buy at wally world....would rather go with american agritech or ez-clone if splurgin for somethin at 3x the price it should be!

 

[Guest]

I was thinking more of those of us who took one for the team being able to put the tray to good use.