EZ-CLONE problems....

[Fast_Pine]

...Hi hydro guys....

I need yer help. My clones arent growing any roots yet...Its been over 10 days. 1-2 have rooted and many are growing crusty boogers....I scraped the skin from the lower inch of the clone, when I took the cuts and they seem to be hurtin from it...

The cuts seem to be melting. They stay green on the top of the cloner but the stem starts to get all weak and flimsy inside the cloner...They seem to either be dying(melting), or just sitting there for days just getting crustier..

Water PH is six, temp is 80degrees. There is a shop light(4foot floro's 2-3 feet above the cloner)

I used rootech gel. I dipped each cut before putting it in the cloner. I also added some hydroguard..

I just cant understand why they are melting and getting all crusty..It seems like im doing everything perfect

Please help guys and gals.

 

[cdc]

yea ..im not sure myself but maybe the temp is a little too high ...or the is too much humity....i have noticed that is the temps are too high they just dont seem to want to take .....

 

[chosen]

Either your humidity is incredibly bad which seems unlikely. Or something funny is going on with the plant or the cloner reservoir.
Do you have a plant that you can take more cuts from? If so, use anti-bacterial dish soap. Clean out your ez-cloner. Make sure that it is clean and now soap free. Do the same with the neoprene. Do your cuts just like before. Except, as for your water in your EZ Cloner. Don't add anything just RO water. Another Added step is that when you are done and setup. Spray all of the cuts with neem oil. Let them go and they should be okay. This is a start from scratch idea. Either your water or ez cloner has something in it or the plant has bacterial issues. RO water should deal with the water/Ez cloner problem. And the neem is a triple hit against bugs, bacteria, and fungus. So, this should whipe out some of the problems.

 

[Fast_Pine]

before this batch I cleaned it really good....Shouldnt the hydro guard be taking care if any nastys that grow in the rez?

I checked the water temp again...Solid 80degrees. The humidity in the room is 45-50%.....I took a coupple of new cutts about 2 days ago, and there starting to melt too!

This is soo frustrating.

Ive had clones melt in there, on previous runs..But those times the temps were the issue. I cant figure out what would cause this especially when my water is 80degrees...

 

[orgogliodiprovi]

hmm

hmm

Hi there FP,

Might I suggest you try something different? Don't use the rootech gel with the cloner. I had WAAAY better results when I just used phd water and no rootech. In fact I didnt use any rooting hormone whatsoever and I had 99% results with my home made aero cloner (it was based on the ezcloner)

Try that first, then maybe cool your res a little, like 10 or 12 degrees Once I got the hang of it I started adding a very small amount of liquid karma and EA-EN and i think I also tried some of the root stimulator from hydrodynamics. (yellow label, black bottle)

I really think you will have ten times better results if you get rid of the gel.

I know you probably think im crazy, just try it and see what happens... couldnt be any worse than whats goin on now right?

 

[Sauron The Blue]

mushy stems that are brown on the inside and looking hollow almost like cellulose, then your temps are too high and pathogens have taken over. Dump your water, clean your system, use ro water and try to get the temps down a bit. If you arent using an external pump you can lower the wattage of your submersible pump (buy a smaller pump with enough pressure to power your system) you can knock a few degrees off quickly.

As for the hydro guard ive had mixed results with it, been a few times i feel it may have saved my crop and a few times it might not have been what they needed.

 

[Guest]

^^^what he/she said^^

Temps are too high, and the pathogens are going crazy. You could get some damp off, which would help, but I also find that hydrogaurd is not as good as SM90 for killing the pathogens.

I have a hell of a time with my bubble cloner. Mushy stems quite often, or the stems turn black. I even tried ro water, but it didn't stop it till I used sm90. I am having better success with rapid rooters anyways, and I think I may shut the bubble cloner down for good.

Cheers,
SH

 

[HumboldtHigh]

Not sure on the difference of RO water, never done it. I did have these similar problems though. After researching every step, I finally stopped the 'zesting' method. This alone seemed to stop all problems. I use plain ol' tap water, let it run for at least a day if not two before ever taking a cut. The water is then PH'd to 6, we add a little B1 start (blue bottle) and a tiny amount of maxicrop. Instead of zesting the clone we make a single slice up the center of the stem. Dip each in Clonex gel and put em in, Roots in 4-8 days depending on the strain. I know the gel seems like a waste, but like I said we went through all the steps and the zest seemed to be the downfall. Hope this works for ya'. HH

 

[Fast_Pine]

when you ssay zesting, do you mean scraping some skin off the lower part of the fresh cut? I feel that this may have been the downfall of my recent batch.


Sooo, is eighty degrees too high....The water feels cool to the touch..

Any body had the crusty stems before? What does that mean? Some of the crusty ones seem to be sloooooooooowly poping out some roots.

So yall think I should change my res water? It will be impossible to thoroughly clean the machine when its packed with cuttings...

...................................

Thanks for the replys all!!!!

 

[cropmanagement]

i swear im having the exact same problem ATM.....Ive tried everything and i cant figure it out......been using the ez cloner problem free for 2 years until now...keep us updated, ill hollar if i figure something out

 

[Fast_Pine]

I just checked em again...The new cuts are starting to turn to mush..I cant loose those cuts!! The stem is still stiff but the skin just falls off. The newest cuts have only been in there 2-3 days, and there already starting to melt...
Im noticing the growth tips starting to wilt and go brown...

This is ridiculously frustrating..

I have to do something now....I may pull em outta the shitty cloner and try to put em in some peat cups with soil and perlite mixed 50/50..

The melting seems like it would be from heat, but I an quite confident that its 80 in there?....This is REALY shitty. Im kinda starting to freak out.

Im prolly gonna put em in soil tonight...If I loose these clones im soooooo fucked....

What would you guys do?. Keep em in the cloner and try to fix the problems...... or stick em in cups with soil

 

[Guest]

I suggest you keep them in the cloner and get the temp down to 70F. Recut any that have gone soft if you can. Don't scrape the stem like an earlier poster suggested. I never thought of that...and I'm gonna stop doing that as well.

Cheers,
SH

 

[Fast_Pine]

Aye!

Im in a madd rush to get these guys outta that cursed machine!...Im putting em in soil cut with 50% perlite....

Suburban Homeboy, I would, but the new cuts that I took werent scraped, and there turning to mush faster than any of the other batches..It would take a coupple of days to get a smalll chiller from e bay, so I gotta get em out now.... Besides, I have had perfect success with the temps at 80 before..Doesent EZ cone recommend 78degrees or something like that...Im thinking the cloner is haunted..JK....Thanks for yer help Homeboy!

Something is waaay wrong and I cant figure it out...Ive had a round of cutts in rapid rooters die on me aswell...Ive got the midas touch in a bad way. Everything I clone dies!!!

 

[Guest]

I have pinched off "mushy" cuts and have them get roots. I had mush out batch after batch month after month this year until I did the following:

1. Clean your pump- I had cleaned the whole system but never the pump. WHen I opened it up , it was full of goo. Sink it into a 5 gallon bucket with water and Hydrogen Peroxide and let 'er rip.

2. I changed to tap water from ro.

3. I also added a diluted ( 2.5-2.5-2.5ml per 3 gallons ) GH 3 part solution to the mix ( kept the leaves from dying).

4. Used a timer for 15 minutes on /15 minutes off.

5. Weekly I clean the pucks , net pots, and whole system with a dilute solution of Hydrogen peroxide and water. End of problem. It may take 3 weeks to get roots on some hard to clone plants, but you will have green leaves and no more or little mushy stems.

It kept me from growing for more than 2 months. Good luck. Now I have the next two grows lined up.

 

[Fast_Pine]

I have pinched off "mushy" cuts and have them get roots. I had mush out batch after batch month after month this year until I did the following:

1. Clean your pump- I had cleaned the whole system but never the pump. WHen I opened it up , it was full of goo. Sink it into a 5 gallon bucket with water and Hydrogen Peroxide and let 'er rip.

2. I changed to tap water from ro.

3. I also added a diluted ( 2.5-2.5-2.5ml per 3 gallons ) GH 3 part solution to the mix ( kept the leaves from dying).

4. Used a timer for 15 minutes on /15 minutes off.

5. Weekly I clean the pucks , net pots, and whole system with a dilute solution of Hydrogen peroxide and water. End of problem. It may take 3 weeks to get roots on some hard to clone plants, but you will have green leaves and no more or little mushy stems.

It kept me from growing for more than 2 months. Good luck. Now I have the next two grows lined up.

Damn...I never cleaned the punp!..In an idiot!....
Why do ya think the on/off helps?..This isnt the first time ive heard that..

 

[James-Bong]

how many site EZ is it..... 30? 60? the 60 site pump runs too hot......

Also try putting the cloner on a cool concrete floor to help lower temps

 

[HumboldtHigh]

1. Clean your pump- I had cleaned the whole system but never the pump. WHen I opened it up , it was full of goo. Sink it into a 5 gallon bucket with water and Hydrogen Peroxide and let 'er rip.

Shit I completly thought you knew this...Sorry for failing to mention this earlier. Number 1 is clean the pump, we use bleach and scrub each sprayer after running the bleach through the entire pump for a few hours. The zesting (scraping) seemed too harsh for the cuts. The single slice up the center of the stem works like crazy.

 

[Stinkymutt]

Same here

Same here

i swear im having the exact same problem ATM.....Ive tried everything and i cant figure it out......been using the ez cloner problem free for 2 years until now...keep us updated, ill hollar if i figure something out

Same here , lol My first 3 or 4 runs went perfect , now I get about 50% . I do know one thing . It is for sure human error. I am rooting some cuts now and are looking great. Water temp 70 f. and bottled water Ph 6.8 and 1/8 strength "jacks plant food" 20/20/20 , Its like miracle grow. Like I said its looking great at day 5.
Are your "scabs" bumps from roots forming? I only started doing anything for clones about a year ago . So am no expert!

Peace out
Mutt

 

[Pipedream]

I haven't stripped or sliced the stems in years. At most, I give them about 5 to 10 very small pin pricks each. I use a 30 guage lancets and keep them sterilized. You can pick them up in any drugstore in the diabetic supply area very cheap. And like others said "always run bleach or H2O2 thru the pump and system and physically clean them out.

Edit: I use distilled water or rain water with nothing added. PH is kept between 5.8 and 6.2.

 

[Fast_Pine]

very good info guys....I cleaned the foam screen, rez, inserts, and top section very well with bleach before this run..but I didnt do anything with the pump..That may be it

Im transplanting em into some plastic dixie cups filled with perlite and soil right now.....

God..I hope this doesent kill em...Ive lost all confidence in my cloning skills..I dont know what the hell happened.

I figure, the cloner is melting them...for whatever reason...Its seems too late to get a chiller, and I cant thoroughly clean the whole setup while it has a full load..I MUST get them out..or melting or crusting over is inevitable....

Could you guys imagine prepping a nice guerilla plot in the hills , only to have nothing to plant.....AAAAAYE!!