Clone serial killer needs expert help. PLEASE! (11 questions)

[Concert Photos]

Hi all. Newbie to the board. Look forward to becoming part of the community. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

For 11 years I've gotten rooted clones from a friend and had great success with my grows. He just moved and left me two beautiful mothers to take clones from. I've now murdered 3 trays of 20 clones each over a 6 week period. I'm totally discouraged and bummed out. Had a few questions and wondered if I might get an answer to some or all of them. I've tried rockwool and failed. Tried rapid rooters and failed. Moving on to Jiffy Pellets.

Been shooting for 75-78 degrees in the dome and trying to spray the dome, not the clones, once a day to help with humidity. I use a heat mat under my tray set at 77 degrees.



1. Is the best water to use for pre soaking the Jiffy Pellets/ Rockwool or Rapid Rooters bottled water, filtered water or tap water that’s been aerating/bubbling for 48 hours? (we have no chloramine in our tap water but do have Chlorine)

2. What should the ppm and PH of the water be that I soak the Jiffy pots in?

3. Is it common to have to REhydrate the pellets/cubes/rooters after a week or 10 days? If so when do you do it? When they’re completely dried out? or just when theyre noticeably getting way drier than they were on day 1?

4. I answer to #2 is yes, HOW do you rehydrate? Using a baster or eye dropper and water from the top of cube/pellet? Or The bottom of the cube?

5. If you have to rehydrate the medium, should it be “soaked” again or just lightly watered?

6. Should I have water in the grooves at the bottom of the tray NOT touching the pellets/cubes/rooters so as to get more humidity in the dome as the heat mat warms the water? Or should there never be any water in the tray bottom whatsoever?

7. Is it possible to have too much water in the rooters, rockwool or jiffy pellets after removing them from the pre soak? Should they be lightly shaken out to remove excess water or just let them be totally soaked as possible before inserting the clone into them?

8.What humidity level does the room the clone dome is in have to be once you start opening the vents? The same as the room they will be vegging in once rooted?

9. If you open the vent at any point and the clones start to wilt or look sad after several hours or the next day do you close the dome fully again until they get better then open the dome again? Or just close it back to where the last point you had it open was? ie. open dome from 1/4 turn to 1/2 turn and clones look sad. Go back to fully closed or back to 1/4 turn?

10. Some say u have to mist the clones, others say NEVER mist the clones. What's the deal here? Mist them or not and why?

11. Once the clones are in the dome on day 1. How much light do they get? I have a little 2 foot long T-5 with 3 out of 4 bulbs working. Should the dome go directly under that light and stay there? OR should I place the dome 10 feet away from the light first few days then move it closer to the light each day?


Thanks all!

 

[Legalcdn]

There many ways to achieve success.

https://www.icmag.com/forum/marijua...-and-breeding/cuttings-propagation-techniques

checkout clones in 7 days thread. I tried bubbler (air pump making bubbles in water), plain water in solo cup, mini hempy solo cups, and jiffy pellets. They all work but keep temps nice.

jiffy pellets: I added water and after a good soak, go outside and do a couple arm windmill action. Gravity and force removes excess water.

rooting gel is a good friend. Just remember simple cuttings sitting in water works too. Make sure the cup is light proof.

 

[Creeperpark]

1. RO water is the best for rooting.
2. 17 to 30 ppm
3. Keep them lightly wet until you see roots. Don't let them dry out before getting roots.
4. To rehydrate simply put your jiffy pot in a small amount of RO and soak up from the bottom. It just takes a little.
5. After a few to 7 days you should allow the jiffy pot to start to dry to encourage roots growth.
6. Yes keep the water in the grooves at all times to keep the humidity in the 70s .
7. Never let them stand in water after being soaked. They will absorb enough water from the first soaking.
8. Stay high in humidity for the first part of the cloning period and then slowly allow the dome to dry. Start High and drop to normal room RH by 15 days.
9. I mist the top of the dome most of the time, however, if the RH gets super low fast, I will spray the clones and top together in the beginning. (never let them drop below 50%)
10. Keep the light as close as you can without producing high temps. I use 4 ft. T8s and put them as close as I can to maintain good cloning temps in the 70s.

 

[stoney917]

Hi all. Newbie to the board. Look forward to becoming part of the community. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

For 11 years I've gotten rooted clones from a friend and had great success with my grows. He just moved and left me two beautiful mothers to take clones from. I've now murdered 3 trays of 20 clones each over a 6 week period. I'm totally discouraged and bummed out. Had a few questions and wondered if I might get an answer to some or all of them. I've tried rockwool and failed. Tried rapid rooters and failed. Moving on to Jiffy Pellets.

Been shooting for 75-78 degrees in the dome and trying to spray the dome, not the clones, once a day to help with humidity. I use a heat mat under my tray set at 77 degrees.



1. Is the best water to use for pre soaking the Jiffy Pellets/ Rockwool or Rapid Rooters bottled water, filtered water or tap water that’s been aerating/bubbling for 48 hours? (we have no chloramine in our tap water but do have Chlorine)

2. What should the ppm and PH of the water be that I soak the Jiffy pots in?

3. Is it common to have to REhydrate the pellets/cubes/rooters after a week or 10 days? If so when do you do it? When they’re completely dried out? or just when theyre noticeably getting way drier than they were on day 1?

4. I answer to #2 is yes, HOW do you rehydrate? Using a baster or eye dropper and water from the top of cube/pellet? Or The bottom of the cube?

5. If you have to rehydrate the medium, should it be “soaked” again or just lightly watered?

6. Should I have water in the grooves at the bottom of the tray NOT touching the pellets/cubes/rooters so as to get more humidity in the dome as the heat mat warms the water? Or should there never be any water in the tray bottom whatsoever?

7. Is it possible to have too much water in the rooters, rockwool or jiffy pellets after removing them from the pre soak? Should they be lightly shaken out to remove excess water or just let them be totally soaked as possible before inserting the clone into them?

8.What humidity level does the room the clone dome is in have to be once you start opening the vents? The same as the room they will be vegging in once rooted?

9. If you open the vent at any point and the clones start to wilt or look sad after several hours or the next day do you close the dome fully again until they get better then open the dome again? Or just close it back to where the last point you had it open was? ie. open dome from 1/4 turn to 1/2 turn and clones look sad. Go back to fully closed or back to 1/4 turn?

10. Some say u have to mist the clones, others say NEVER mist the clones. What's the deal here? Mist them or not and why?

11. Once the clones are in the dome on day 1. How much light do they get? I have a little 2 foot long T-5 with 3 out of 4 bulbs working. Should the dome go directly under that light and stay there? OR should I place the dome 10 feet away from the light first few days then move it closer to the light each day?


Thanks all!

First let me say it may not be you.. root riot had issues a while back with there glue to peat ratios and rooting in them bad batches was impossible… the fixed it and sent me a bunch of good plugs but they could be Fukin up again….

cloning is simple whether rockwool root riot peat plugs aero… just make sure your room ain’t to cold or hot .. not intense light and you should be fine… I soak my plugs in my general base nutevmix I feed everything 1.2 ec … or plain water …. when it comes to successfully rooting clone there are really only 3 things to really be concerned with… 1 healthy moms 2.cleanliness 3.temperature… I bet if the moms were in good shape even with a dirty razor they would root you probably had a bad batch of root riot plugs….I was the guy who figured out they were off last summer I take thousands of clones and went from 98% to around 20% or less strike rate… it was the cubes… check out i Hort rockwool or even the peat pucks you are using work …. Good luck

 

[Lester Beans]

Some tips on cloning that I feel make a difference.

First it starts with the plant. Water the plant well! Wait 20 minutes before taking your cutting. Use a fresh or sterilized razor blade and cut the shoot you pick to clone. Then put the cutting in a glass of rooting powder/gel mixed with TAP WATER, the chlorine helps keep things as sterile as possible, but any water works.

Best hands down option for 100% success rate rooting clones IMO is Aeroponic cloner, EZ Clone, just stick them in, 500ppm bloom nutrients pH 5.8, keep water under 72 (65 being optimal) nice but not strong LED light, and boom roots. Doesn't get easier than that.

The point of this is if you do not have an EZ Cloner. Rockwool cubes and Rapid Rooters work the best. Peat pucks suck. They work but so many variables and they can hold too much water, the list goes on.

I like rockwool over rapid rooter because on the shape. They stand up straight. Brilliant. Soak the cubes the night before in pH 5.8 water. Shake them dry, do not squeeze. I use an exacto knife to deepen the hole in the cubes and arrange them in the flat or tray.

Run a razor blade LIGHTLY down the side of the stem towards the cut end just exposing the light green underneath. Make a fresh 45° cut on the stem. Dip in rooting gel/powder. Put them in the rockwool, rapid rooters, peat pucks etc.

The BIGGEST FACTOR imo is root temps. Not ambient air and RH, which are important but root temp makes the difference.

Heating mats are preset to 88 degrees for a reason. Get one if you want the clones you take to root in 7-10 days and rarely lose a single one. Single best thing you can do for cloning is buy a heat mat.

Put some water in the groves of the flat or bottom of the tray, put the dome on and set the flat on the heat mat under light. Anything from a 1k hps to a 4' fluorescent shop light will work.

Normal room temps are best, the heat mat does the work keeping the medium 88 degrees, think Back to the Future. Great Scott!

Make sure the dome is very slightly cracked. Do not spray clones or dome. The water at the bottom will create the humidity with the heat from the mat. Make sure the water doesn't run out and take the dome off for 30 sec twice a day. In 7-10 days roots will be popping out of the cubes.

Cannabis is incredibly strong, you can take a branch from a plant in week 6 of flower, stick it in a glass of water on a window sill, change the water daily and it will root. So any way you choose to clone pay attention to the details and you will have good results!

This was rooted in a glass of pure water on a window sill, taken at week 6 flower..

 

[SeaDog_BC]

Start by determining what killed your last tray. Figure what hurt them and then remove whatever that was from the situation. Did they rot? Did they dry out? Did they burn?

I just throw the trays in a reasonably warm but not hot room, no heat mat, and put them under some fluros. I water once usually around 9. Just plain water. Vents open. And that's it. Works fine for me.

You might be "killing them with kindness" with the all heat and humidity and everything you're trying to give them.

 

[El Timbo]

I feel your pain... I've been struggling all winter (after struggling in the summer) - I've found that using some sort of grill between the heated base of the box and the peat pucks has helped stop them drying out so quick.