Clone tent design

[Drop That Sound]

I am building a small full climate controlled propagation center cabinet, and decided the best plan is to integrate mostly everything into the dome, instead of controlling the actual room. Seems better for a single cloner setup like mine... normally I don't even use a dome anymore but here go's:

On the top shelf sits a digital temp controlled heating mat, for starting seedlings. Everything for seeds and seedlings will be up there, where the heat rises too.

Hanging underneath on fancy adjustable plant hangers, is my prototype DIY clone dome, complete with gravity fed fogger that is hooked too a cycle timer to mist the roots. It pumps down through a clear tube inside the dome and slips into another light proof slot on the res. It has fan and speed controller to adjust the fog speed. Also is a usb 5 volt humidifier that will be plumbed into the dome, so I can mist the plants back up if they droop or set on a timer. The dome itself will have an exhaust port and intake with small pc fan plugged into a willhi digital humitidy controller, so no worrying about opening vents or anything.

Now for the hybrid container, with the addition of the fog from the dome on top, it also does DWC, Aero, and of course traditional style with lid cover, to set trays of pucks and cubes or coco solo cups on top. Has fish tank heater with willhi digital temperature controller in the res. The lid itself contains slots for homemade clone pucks made from foam knee pads, that sit in 2 inch pvc knocout caps drilled out. Also has a soil moisture meter alarm sticking down in that will start blinking if the water level drops from where i want it.

The cabinet\closet itself also will have an intake, which can be switched to bring in cooler air in summer or hooked to a motorized damper and thermostat coming from the veg room for warmer air in the winter if needed. For lighting I have a CFL and a supplemental LED screw in bulb for after they start to root.

I have all the pieces rounded up and its like 80% done, can't wait to start using it. Seems I might have to change alot of things around but I think having a fully adjustable climate controlled clone station is awesome and worth the effort it will take to get it right! I will put some updated pics up soon here's some older ones..

 

[Intimea]

I will probably use much more light than that, I hope to have around 30W per 100 clones. This will allow faster hardening for flowering.
At higher temperatures I know faster rooting is possible, I know people root in 4-7 days - how?

Mmmh...maybe there's a misunderstanding...within 6/7 day, using RootRiot+Clonex gel, I have rooted clone like this

But Imho it's not ready for transplant...usually I wait for a bigger and improved root system before transplanting.

of course having cuts to choose from increase the homogeneity, but I want to take the least extras possible...


I will check that IG up, thanks

Well, IME the only way to reduce the wastes, is to cut similar clones...and to be able to do this, you must have a big mum full of selectable branches...it's just a balancing question, and only you can know what is best for you.

For example:
If you need 5 clones, and you have 2 mums like these

From the one on the left, you know you can cut clones with 3/4 internodes
From the one on the right, you'll probably will be able to cut just clones with at least 2 internodes.

 

[Shmavis]

Mmmh...maybe there's a misunderstanding...within 6/7 day, using RootRiot+Clonex gel, I have rooted clone like this

View Image

But Imho it's not ready for transplant...usually I wait for a bigger and improved root system before transplanting.

Agreed!

But; I have transplanted at that interval with success.

Great contribution!

 

[giroldo]

This would be simple to build using a DIY arduino controlled humidity and temp controller which can control a relay to the humidifier and to an exhaust fan to control heat exchange and humidity simultaneously. Shit, if you used a wifi shield and an iot client connected through the wifi you could check cameras, temps and trending data from a mashup on your phone. Implement this tech into a small amazon tent using a $20 humidifier and shelving from the ocean state job lot.

 

[fonzee]

Hey fonzee,

I've never used an aero cloner. I don’t measure temp or humidity. Sometimes I use a heating mat under the dome’s tray. But more often than not I don’t. The cuttings in the dome are placed under T5s or CFL. Once sufficiently rooted they go into SOLO cups - and out of the dome. The way I do it definitely isn’t ‘set it and forget it’ since I’m regularly removing the dome to add water, check them, etc. It seems that the really nice thing about achieving what you’re after would be that it’s largely hands-off once dialed in.

I have also found speed of rooting to be strain specific, as noted by Intimea. For example, recently I took cuttings from six different girls. All except Pre-98 were busting roots by day seven. Was starting to wonder if Pre-98 was going to be a failure. Day eleven she proved otherwise. No big surprise I guess since she’s known to be a slow grower...

Guess I feel similarly as TreehouseJ here, I’d lose sleep trying to control an environment for clones outside of a propagating dome. (But see no reason why that should be the case if the setup is done proper, as you intend to do.)

However, Paddi, who clearly knows what he’s doing, uses just water and what appears to be minimal enviro controls. He shows it here:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=7610810&postcount=8



Share with us the brand of this cheaper stuff at Home Depot, please.

The main thing about going hands-off is cleanliness - the less you need to touch your plants the less pests and diseases they are going to get. At least that's my current philosophy.

The funny thing about environmental controll is that it entirely depends on your ambient stats. The tent I'm contemplanting will be made in Israel, and temperatures there can easily go over 40° C in the summer.
I don't want to depend on the weather, location or season, I want a dialed, robust clone machine, that can pretty much take care of its own.

humidity is around 90%, 24/0 lightin with 20 watt cfl till they're in the dome, optimal temperature around 20 °C I prefer the lower temps in the cloning area and I see they prefer it too, but every setup is different. the cfl is 4200 K type kinda coolwhite, not the 2700 Kelvin colour warm shit.

Dropping the humidity from 90 to 70% sounded like a good idea to me as it would harden the clones for the next room's conditions.

I won't be using CFL lights, but I believe the cold white (6800K?) would work better than the daylight (4200K)?

I am building a small full climate controlled propagation center cabinet, and decided the best plan is to integrate mostly everything into the dome, instead of controlling the actual room. Seems better for a single cloner setup like mine... normally I don't even use a dome anymore but here go's:

On the top shelf sits a digital temp controlled heating mat, for starting seedlings. Everything for seeds and seedlings will be up there, where the heat rises too.

Hanging underneath on fancy adjustable plant hangers, is my prototype DIY clone dome, complete with gravity fed fogger that is hooked too a cycle timer to mist the roots. It pumps down through a clear tube inside the dome and slips into another light proof slot on the res. It has fan and speed controller to adjust the fog speed. Also is a usb 5 volt humidifier that will be plumbed into the dome, so I can mist the plants back up if they droop or set on a timer. The dome itself will have an exhaust port and intake with small pc fan plugged into a willhi digital humitidy controller, so no worrying about opening vents or anything.

Now for the hybrid container, with the addition of the fog from the dome on top, it also does DWC, Aero, and of course traditional style with lid cover, to set trays of pucks and cubes or coco solo cups on top. Has fish tank heater with willhi digital temperature controller in the res. The lid itself contains slots for homemade clone pucks made from foam knee pads, that sit in 2 inch pvc knocout caps drilled out. Also has a soil moisture meter alarm sticking down in that will start blinking if the water level drops from where i want it.

The cabinet\closet itself also will have an intake, which can be switched to bring in cooler air in summer or hooked to a motorized damper and thermostat coming from the veg room for warmer air in the winter if needed. For lighting I have a CFL and a supplemental LED screw in bulb for after they start to root.

I have all the pieces rounded up and its like 80% done, can't wait to start using it. Seems I might have to change alot of things around but I think having a fully adjustable climate controlled clone station is awesome and worth the effort it will take to get it right! I will put some updated pics up soon here's some older ones..

Hi Drop That Sound and thanks a lot for chiming in!

You system looks awesome and it seems you got most of it under control.
Using a dome on the one hand can hold a lot of humidity (is misting really needed when you can get 90+% RH?) and on the other hand a dome creates hot / humid spots just because it is small and packed.
I decided against a dome to aid in homogenity.
For a dome setup I would probably go lower tech and simply attach a small fan to a hygrostat to control the humidity and a thermometer to control a heating mat.
I haven't used fogophonics yet, so maybe I'm getting it wrong.
In any way, I'm super hyped to see your results - please let us know how it goes!

Mmmh...maybe there's a misunderstanding...within 6/7 day, using RootRiot+Clonex gel, I have rooted clone like this

View Image

But Imho it's not ready for transplant...usually I wait for a bigger and improved root system before transplanting.



Well, IME the only way to reduce the wastes, is to cut similar clones...and to be able to do this, you must have a big mum full of selectable branches...it's just a balancing question, and only you can know what is best for you.

For example:
If you need 5 clones, and you have 2 mums like these

View Image

From the one on the left, you know you can cut clones with 3/4 internodes
From the one on the right, you'll probably will be able to cut just clones with at least 2 internodes.

I am using a bit larger cuts - keeping 3 internodes. With 5 roots poking out of the stem I can set them straight to 12-12 and get a proper yield.
Most likely I will have a spot for stalling rooted clones if needed, but it should also work without it.
Growing fairly tall sativa dominant hybrids they don't need that much rooting or veg time, and if kept small when flowered they usually assume a taller shape rather than a bushy shape which is good for a low number SOG style grow.

Getting a mom ready is not an issue, I'm currently using only one cut and I got access to at least 8 moms of it right now. I'll quickly have a few of my own and ample materials should always be available.
I don't cut 2 internode clones, I just wait for more growth. 2 internode clones are not enough to flower in my setup and getting the 3rd internode in much faster on the mother plant.

Agreed!

But; I have transplanted at that interval with success.

Great contribution!

Transplanting these clones is OK, but I wouldn't flower it at that size.

This would be simple to build using a DIY arduino controlled humidity and temp controller which can control a relay to the humidifier and to an exhaust fan to control heat exchange and humidity simultaneously. Shit, if you used a wifi shield and an iot client connected through the wifi you could check cameras, temps and trending data from a mashup on your phone. Implement this tech into a small amazon tent using a $20 humidifier and shelving from the ocean state job lot.

Hey giroldo,
I totally dig that, but that's simply too much hi-tech for me. I don't know how to program an arduino, I don't know what a wifi shield or iot client is, I don't want my phone connected to my grow in any way.

I've seen the digital world in work, and no doubt about it being awesome as fuck, however, analog equipment always lasted longer for me without malfunctions than digital equipment.

But talking about sensors - anyone got a recommendation for a good hygrostat?


Thank you all so much for your contribution!

 

[Shmavis]

The main thing about going hands-off is cleanliness - the less you need to touch your plants the less pests and diseases they are going to get. At least that's my current philosophy.

The funny thing about environmental controll is that it entirely depends on your ambient stats. The tent I'm contemplanting will be made in Israel, and temperatures there can easily go over 40° C in the summer.
I don't want to depend on the weather, location or season, I want a dialed, robust clone machine, that can pretty much take care of its own.

Makes sense to me. Ambient temps are what dictate whether I use a heating mat or not - sometimes I’m rooting clones in the winter in the basement. This spring I plan on redoing a veg area to set it up to run high RH. Maybe I’ll be able to root cuttings in there as well, without a dome.

Transplanting these clones is OK, but I wouldn't flower it at that size.

Me either.

Really looking forward to following along to see what you come up with.