Cheap Homade Dome Cloner

[rule35sub1]

I built this little dome to save on room in my veg closet.
I bought some Glad storage containers.
I cut out the centers of the lids and glued the together.
I then snapped it together and and put in some clones.
This unit works great, and it was built for under 5 bucks.

 

[clowntown]

Cool... same as using a 10x20 tray and a dome lid but smaller, no?

 

[Haps]

Very cool design, I like a stoner with a working brain, bong salute.
H

 

[rule35sub1]

I just set the top dome on, I don't seal it tight.

 

[killabrown420]

thats smart thinking, nice job

one concern that came to mind is the rockwool sitting in water, i found that when I used rockwool it needed to be wet but not soaked to get best results, not saying they won't root for you, but stem rot may or may not be a problem that you could encounter. keep us posted on how they do

 

[rule35sub1]

I never use rockwool, those are Oasis cubes. I only use Oasis cubes.
I have never had any problems with them sitting in the water as you will see.
Oasis cubes have a small amount of nutes built into the cubes, so rooted clones get some nutes from the cubes too.

 

[rule35sub1]

After 10 days in the new dome...

 

[Sauce]

I do the same thing I just buy 2 large food containers and stack them.

 

[SpacedCWBY]

And they say that stoners are dumb people with fried brains and no motivation....

Great idea. I've been starting to look into this whole cloning thing more...

 

[Guest]

People may say its not necessary,but I've found when cloning under a dome the most important thing for the first 7 days is to mist the inside of the dome frequently.Sometimes,especially if its cold and I'm using a heating pad,the inside of the dome dries out quickly in just a couple hours and needs to be remisted.Keeping it well misted the first 7 days will probably knock a few days off as opposed to very little misting,RH is more important than light when rooting cuttings

 

[clowntown]

How important is it to have lighting in the correct color spectrum/temperature? Will using a "daylight" (6500K) or "cool white" (4000K-ish) be that much better than a "warm white" (2700k) CFL?

 

[Guest]

I doubt it makes a lick of difference,I just use regular cool whites but any flo would do I'm sure,keeping a constant high relative humidity is a lot more important than the light used.Hell you could probably root cuttings with an incandescent although I'd stick with flo's lol

 

[rule35sub1]

There is no need for misting after the first misting. There is about 1/2 inch of water across the bottom of the dome. The dome is basically sealed until I see roots, then I open it a crack and mist daily until transplanting. They must go a few days with the dome cracked before transplanting to get used to the different conditions. If I take them out without doing this, they always die off.

This is under a 125cfl blue spectrum. The key is the temps, I am pushing 80F in my cabinet.

 

[sugabear_II]

nice - I do something similar with the same ziplock disposables but I use wicks and perlite. see the link in my signature.

-suga

 

[Esskie]

Nice simple DIY cloner there rule35sub1, thanx for sharing that with us buddy

I have to admit to thinking the same as killabrown420 mentioned regarding the 'cubes' actually sitting in the water. Using mainly rockwool cubes myself I can appreciate what he means about them either taking ages to root or worse : damping off!

However, you are using Oasis cubes , read about & seen plenty of them being used by fellow I.C.ers etc but haven't ever tried them myself . Do you find they're better than rockwool cubes?, how do you find them for aeration to the roots, by that I mean as I imagine them being denser than r/wool I find myself wondering if the oxygen available to the roots is as good as with r/wool?.
They must be good enough as there's a lotta people use Oasis cubes, lots of growers in my area use Soilless-Mix, Coco or r/wool etc as well as the dirt/soil growers.

Can I please ask did you change the water at anytime and/or did it have any root stimulators added to it other than any root gel or powder you may have used when taking the cutting?.

As far as light goes for clones EnviroLites or fluoros that give off light in the blue part of the spectrum (6500K) are ideal. However rooting clones apparently don't like it too bright.

In my experience and from the people & books I have/am still learning from, cuttings root best in moderate light, not in intense light (directly under HID's) or direct sunlight, fluorescent set on constant light (24 hour photoperiod) seems to be the way to go. You could say I'm cheating as I have a PT-20 aerocloner but it's situated in the same cupboard as I veg in, it catches just enough light from 250w (2 x 125w EVs)

There is the argument that well-illuminated, strong clones grow fast and have less chance of being affected by pests and diseases though. While this is certainly true I'm more inclined to let the plant/clone tell me if it wants more light or appears to be getting too much because they do if you pay attention to them

As mentioned already too,

the key is temps

, how true this is!, possibly more important than lighting at this stage?.

Not sure if this could be taken as any kind of indication of enviroment or not but I've been successfully popping & rearing seedlings in my cloner so....?




If a prop is full or even half full of cuttings, they're all in cubes that been soaked and have been given a light-misting themselves. If the ambient temp of the location of the prop is just right misting/light-spraying of the underside of the dome shouldn't be needed as there should be enough humidity to cause moisture to collect anyway.
If the inside of the lid has humidity levels so high that moisture is running down the inside of the lid then I'd open a vent or get some fresh air in there by cocking the lid open a bit for a while.

As you folks know, it's about getting it warm & moist enough without damping off or root rot etc, but encouraging the cut to go seek out nutrients by itself by growing roots means keeping it moist enough to keep the cut alive but dry enough so it goes lookin for more moisture - it's really quite a fine line with some strains come to think of it

At the end of the day though, if it works for you then there's no need to change, huh?

...PT20...

...Tanzanian Magic left in cloner with plain water for 10days due to lack of space...


Best Regards & Happy New Year, Esskie

 

[rule35sub1]

I only use oasis cubes, would never use rockwool again after I switched.
I took the cuttings, dipped in cloning gel and through them in cloner with a misting then shut the lid. I keep the lid shut for at least a week, never even open to look inside or change water. This is the most consistant way for my clones to root. i have a huge dome that holds about 30 clones, it is just way too big for my needs and space. This little dome does the trick just perfect. The only thing I may change on it, is to shield the lower half with dark paint or tape.

 

[Esskie]

Sounds you got it down just right for yourself there man and that's what counts.

Can I ask you please, are the Oasis cubes similiar to the Fleximix Organic Starter cubes at all?, they are totally bio-degradable so perhaps that's why I've never used them in the hydro system due to pump/line blockage etc?.

Anyway I'm doing much more soilless-mix grown plants than usual for me so maybe nows the time to give them a try?.

Best Regards, Esskie.

 

[rule35sub1]

Never used Fleximix Organic Starter cubes at all.
I grow both ways, soil and hydro, always use oasis cubes cuz they work for me.

 

[rafe]

clones

clones

I have some clones in a bubble cloner that have about the same root system that esskie shows in his picture. I have never grown in a bubbler and will try a few but can you take those plants and put them in soil and carry on that way?? Thanks

 

[FreezerBoy]

If the water is properly aerated, you cant get rockwool too wet in cloning. Stagnant water? That's something else.