Cloning issues with rockwool

[KaMoeKazee]

Hey everybody, I wanna say thanks for all the help and suggestions. I have done a little experimenting with rockwool, rapid rooters and cuttings in a bubble tub. After learning a bit and gaining more experience. I believe it is key not to have the rockwool too moist. Another important thing I learned is rooting gel needs to be refridgerated or can go bad. So after purchasing some rooting powder from HD and practicing with the moisture in the rockwool I am able to get roots in 10 to 14 days and almost 100% success. I also began pinching the rockwool together where the clone went in to seal any air pockets which seamed to help too. I am not totally sure if that helped but sure seems so. I did have a strain that took longer to root of the 3 strains I tried but was able to root those as well. I am feeling real positive about rockwool now.

I want to mention that I purchased some rapid rooters because I read other users had better results with them than rockwool. The rapid rooters that I cloned at the same time as the last batch of rockwool, did not perform as well for me. The rockwool was much faster to root. I will say however that the rapid rooters provided a good example of how damp the rockwool should be as it is more of a sponge texture and the package stated it holds the perfect moisture. However the rockwool outperformed the rapid rooters for me. The percentage on succes for the rapid rooters is about 50% but I am still waiting to see if they will root even though I do not need them now.

I also tried bubbleponics I guess you might call it. I placed a mat of ez cloner collars floating in a storage tub of water with air pumps and stones. Changing it every 2 to 3 days which had success but is much slower than rockwool or rapid rooters. The cuts placed in the collars had no rooting hormone applied to them so that could be the reason that it did not work so well.

Thanks again for all the help and support and take a look at my success

 

[subrob]

Sup man..glad you seem to have figured things out..I'm long time rock wool grower..here's my tip:
Root riots(or rapid rooters..whichever)
I only get them real damp once..when I set them..I keep em enclosed in dome for 48 hrs..open once a day to drop about 8 drops of water per riot..on the sides..put dome back on..roots in 6-9 days..rootech gel..tho I think they mostly same...keep gel in cool dark place..doesn't need fridge..
Good luck on your new endeavor!

 

[subrob]

Also..I use a mat but I put towel on top of it..doubled up in summer

 

[KONY]

We have been using rockwool for the last 4 years or so very successfully.

The key is getting the right moisture content from the start, and maintaining near 100% rh in the dome for the first week. Also having the right amount of light to keep the clones more in stasis than growing.

 

[KaMoeKazee]

@ subrob and KONY, thanks for the tips guys.
I have more clones than I know what to do with now. It seems like everything is rooting. It seems if you dont worry so much about them rooting they just root LOL vs worrying then they dont root. Hope that makes sense.

I think the next step for me is to move on to lighting and how to feed these babies. I am just loving this hobby!!!

Thanks to everyone for their continued help and support thru my learning experience.

 

[KCnMOJO]

This post was a great help to me too. I can grow just fine but cloning is kicking my ass. I saw a video about manicuring the yellow and dead parts during the process to prevent any spread of potential disease. Thanks again.

 

[Fly by Night]

Mat, tray and pebbles!

Mat, tray and pebbles!

Pebbles buffer heat from the mat, and lift cubes outta the wet and into the fog! Peace up to Chaco my homie!

 

[KaMoeKazee]

Hi KCnMOJO, glad this thread has been able to help you. I know it has done wonders for me, I have turned into a successful rockwool cloner thanks to all the great input I have received here. My success rate is near 100% now and I am achieving roots in 6 to 10 days. I couldnt be happier.

Hi Fly by Night, That is a great idea to keep the cubes out of the water. I too have got a mat but found I dont need it, I think because of the high temps we are having lately. I am not sure about that but was curious what temp do you keep your mat at? Also I see that your cloning a cut that has been flowering. I tried that on some clones that were maybe 14 to 21 days into flower and found them to have the strangest growth and do not look normal. Do you have the same results with a flowering clone. Hope that makes sense and is not a dumb question.

Thanks guys and thanks for helping me be successful!

 

[fertilome]

Does it really matter where u take the cuttings from

 

[KaMoeKazee]

Hi fertilome, I am no expert but I did try to take cuttings from the top, bottom and middle. Some cuts were bigger than others, but all seemed to root just fine. I even took cuts from some flowering plants that rooted well too except the new growth looks strange and apparently takes time to get back to its normal self.

Be sure to take your cuts with enough nodes to allow one node to be inserted in the rockwool. At least thats what I do, I read it helps water intake.

Hope that helps you, maybe someone with more experience will chime in and help out.

Good luck

 

[Andyo]

all out within 10 days or go home

all out within 10 days or go home

I had a policy only the best will do
origionally only those with roots through rock wool in 14 days where good enough
Then i realised mother plants that had got so dry they wilted were give cuttings that rooted faster so i concentrated on letting the wilt in ebb/flow in hydroton
New rule only those rooted in 10 days good enough ,id give away anything later
considerring i was needing 300 cuttings off for 6 kw rooms every 4 weeks
Then i bought dew point cabinets ,feeding fresh air through warm water that the cuttings tray floats on and gets bottom heat to the cubes, that condences on the cool aluminium sides , so you get leaf temps below root temps 7 deg c diff is ideal
thats when i got a supprise roots through rockwool in 6 days 7 days ect.
so get those mothers right and the atmosphere for the cuttings
and youll hit it good.A

 

[heizenburg]

3 to 4 weeks wtf you should be getting roots in 10 to 15 days no longer
in rookwool also wash your grodan rockwool coair,etc as there is salts in them they use from the factory

 

[wrinkles88]

I was having problems with rockwool before as well. I found that misting them a few times a day was the key for me.