Cloning - Roots not growing

[drow]

My first shot at rockwool since my aero cloner crapped out on me, brown algae... I bleached twice and ran again, same problem keeps coming back... so im going ol fashioned

I have good roots showing on some Purple kush, been about almost 2 weeks. (Good rooter).

So far only 1 headband has shown roots. I opened the rockwool up and find most of them DO have root nubs on them...that was 5 days ago...
But the thing is I checked them again and it looks like the same thing... just root nubs (I presume)... so No real roots or root hairs are showing, just white nubs... Why are they stuck in root nub mode? Should I shoot some light nutes? or wait til they get dried out so they have to be forced to grow..

 

[mexilandrace]

if they dry they will die

if you nute them they will die

cloning is like voodoo, there is a perfect air/moisture/medium mix and you just need to get it dialed in, will likely take a bit of trial and error.

 

[EthnobotanicA]

I always start my cuts with 1/8 of full strength nutes. Helps 'em kick off when they hit "root nub mode". Otherwise, I always get "little leaf" as we call it round here, when the first new leaves are small.

It could be a ton of things, including the strain. Make a checklist of environmental conditions, and check everything. Were your mothers prime for cuts? Too much N in the mums delays rooting. I feed them bloom nutes occasionally, especially before taking cuts, to offset the N/P ration, which influences rooting. That's usually the biggest thing after your clone environment...maybe even equal...and highly overlooked.

I've seen cuts off really healthy mums root in a compost pile outside...when I was just pruning the mothers. On the other hand, I've tried my ass off trying to save a strain and get one clone to root from a huge batch of clones when that I only had one wrecked mother to work with (specifically, hit with laquer spray)

 

[Koskesh]

i have better luck with peat pellets. i soak them in tap water with about 0.5ml/L of B1, the ph is about 6.3 so i leave it, but i suppose you could ph it.

less luck with rockwool cubes, about 80-90% of the tray (72) makes it. for those i presoak the cubes in ph 5.5 tap water with 1ml/L B1 for 12-24 hrs. be sure to squeeze the cubes a bit to remove some water, you don't want them TOO wet, or they will take forever to root. don't let them dry out, ever. if you need to water them just use plain water at 5.5-6.5 doesn't matter much. mine are ready in 14 days.

peat pellets are ready in 7-10 days max, and i transplant them into 4" rockwool cubes, or 6" square pots with hydroton (grorox, clay pellets, whatever) or into 1.5 gallon round pots of promix. all with no problems whatsoever.

i use tall clear domes, and prop them open a bit when the first roots show. if they start rooting and it stays too humid they will rot not root

 

[Squ1rrely]

what rooting hormone are you using? and what process are u going through wen they are cut and in the cubes? are you soaking the rockwool? r u using any propogation solution? light cycle? humidity? temp? check all of these things. i kno that i've had some strains that jus dont like to clone. no matter wut the conditions. also cloning with aero and cloning with rockwool are two pretty different propogation methods. but i'm assuming u hav some idea as to wut ur doing

 

[drow]

what rooting hormone are you using? and what process are u going through wen they are cut and in the cubes? are you soaking the rockwool? r u using any propogation solution? light cycle? humidity? temp? check all of these things. i kno that i've had some strains that jus dont like to clone. no matter wut the conditions. also cloning with aero and cloning with rockwool are two pretty different propogation methods. but i'm assuming u hav some idea as to wut ur doing

Im using ez cloner rooting gel. (was using for aerocloner, but stopped after I noticed algae) Since I have a almost full jar, Im using it here, same ingredients as olivias.

Heres my process (identical to OG faq)
5.2-5.5 pH Water with one drop of superthrive p/gal, soaked in RW cubes for a few hrs to overnight. Drained, shake off any excess water.
Poke holes.
Cut clones, 3 nodes min. I then grab the lowest branch (node), and I pull the leaf down so the top skin slides down (making it scarified) 45 angle then dip in gel asap. If the top skin doesnt remove, I use a razorblade and do the scarification. (Ive done with and without this method and this method on aero cloning seems to root a day or two faster).
Then place them into RW.

I mist the dome, breathe into it and cover, opening and breathing into it and closing it twice a day for 3 days. I then slightly uncover the dome, angling the plastic dome over the trays so abit of air can get in, to get the clones used to lower humidity after 3 days. (If wilting shows I put dome back on, if not I do not).

After 7 days I take the dome off, by then I will see some root bumps / nubs. But so far Ive seen only root bumps and no real roots growing, maybe its stalled (Headband only), Purple kush has roots growing out now, but they root in like 6-10 days in the aero cloner and root in 12 in RW so far.

Temps w dome on are around 75-80F
Humidity w dome on are 95-100%

Dome off - Temp 75-80F, Hum 45-55%
Light cycle is 24/0
No nutes, superthrive is 1drop/gal only at soaking. When I mist or mist the cubes when they dry out, the pH is 5.9, R/O 10ppm water.


Roots look like this for like 5 days, no real growth.







Aero cloner w/ mild case of brown algae (No growth, no roots or bumps, just stale death after 20 days. Crap tricks you too, at first theres no signs of algae, the warm pump cord is not "slippery". But clones look like theyre going to do fine.
10 days later, a slight slippery feeling on the cord is when I know algae is starting to develop, I check the stems and it looks like theres going to be slime on it, the clear type. I throw in h202 and it doesnt help at all. Im done with aero cloners.
Never had a prob with this, then one day a heat wave came in, and temps were at 86F in the res, I quickly cooled it down, but no use, all unrooted clones were doomed. Some looked like it was going to make it, but thats just was just wishful thinking... wasted an extra 20 days and no roots, threw them all out, disinfected with 1:3 bleach, ran it for 2 hrs, bleached again. Then cleaned it out, tried again, same prob...

 

[VerdantGreen]

how much light are you giving them? too much, from my experience, is bad.
i have my cuttings at least a foot from 2 x 21watt t5's, i had some trouble when they were closer to the light.

 

[BENJI]

Change your rooting gel i like to use powder with rockwool it drys the cutting out and less chance for infection also i dont touch the clones or dome for at least 2 days checking on them twice a day and misting the dome is not necessary make sure u let the rockwool not completely dry out but u should be able to feel the weight difference from the water being used i water my clones every 2-3 days when i pick up the rockwool cube its very light so i water it otherwise let it go also are you using a heat pad if not then id say thats another problem aswell they need warmth especialy on the bottom of the rockwool cubes the medium needs to warm anyways hope this helps...100% success rate using this method and i use 2 18w fluros for lighting..

 

[Squ1rrely]

benji is right. a heatpad may help a lot. and i'd change your rooting hormone. i used ez cloner forever. i switched to rockwool and was told to check out the rootech gel. it's amazing. i've had strains root in a matter of 5-6 days before. but on the other hand i've had clones that will take up to 2.5 weeks to root. it depends largely on the strain. but the only recommendations i would make are the heat pad and change the rooting hormone.

hope this helped =]

 

[157]

i use rokwool plugs i also scrap the stem about 3/4 inch andapply rootgel to 1/8 and i also use a spry bootle mixed with epsomsalt to spray and this works for me