I suck at cloning. That's not a question but this is

[PaulieWaulie]

GB BX2 Clones

Taken June 10

3 Phenos

Cuttings from lower part of plant. Cut with a clean new blade, dipped in rooting powder put in Rockwool. Rockwool was soaked and shook out excess water without squishing and compacting it.

4 Cuttings per Rockwool Cube small cuttings so increasing my numbers as I know not all will make it, and I'm ok with ripping the Rockwool apart when they have rooted and shocking them slightly. Savings on Rockwool are too enticing to not do this and I have been successful with this quite a bit in the past. So don't make a big deal on this point!

Remove Cover and Air it out 2-3X per day for 3-5 minutes.

18/6 Light cycle - they are on the edge of the wall in my veg room

65F during lights off / 70-75F during lights on.

Humidity is 95%RH

 

[AgentPothead]

Good luck Paulie! Man such an even canopy on those.

 

[AgentPothead]

So it's been a week. I lifted the lid twice to check on root progress. 1 of has had nubs since last thursday, but still no roots as of today, tons of nubs though, covered. Another 1 of them had nubs today when I checked, but didn't last thursday. The other cuttings are not showing much of anything. 2 is an infinite improvement over 0 so this is getting better.

 

[Granger2]

If they have nubs, plant them. They're viable and will continue to root. Good luck. -granger

 

[AgentPothead]

I thought I should wait for roots? I don't want to rush anything. The mother plant is still healthy even though I did neglect her 3 days so she was hella thirsty, but perked up immediately after watering.

 

[Zeez]

After a couple years of easy successful cloning. I ran into trouble and nothing would root. Totally screwed up my program. Here's the update for the next round of fixes.

New 4' T5 bulbs 4x.
Cloner soaked in bleach solution with pump & manifold running submerged.
Foam collars cleaned in bleach solution.
New bottle of Clonex.
Adding an air pump with bubble stone for increased O2.
Heating mat with temp controller to maintain 80' in the cloner.
3 gallons of bottled water.

This has to fix whatever it was.

 

[MrBungle]

is the pump inside the cloner? cause if so the pump generates enough heat to warm the water.. maybe it is too warm?

 

[AgentPothead]

That's what I noticed for sure MrBungle! I disabled my heat mat because the pump was keeping it in the 82-86 degree range according to the thermostat for the heat mat. I'm not sure it's really that warm in there though, it didn't feel that warm when I looked.

 

[Zeez]

is the pump inside the cloner? cause if so the pump generates enough heat to warm the water.. maybe it is too warm?

Good thought MrB. The air pump and stone should help with that, but keeping an eye on it would be smart. I'm at a point where I'll stop at nothing to get cloning again. O2 from the air stone should be a plus.

 

[PaulieWaulie]

10 Day Update. No Roots yet, Im ok with it taking 2-3 weeks. As long as it happens in the end. See some yellowing which I think means that its using those nutrients to build roots. I have added some fresh cuttings to the dome, and when I remove the dome to air it out for 5 minutes, the fresh cuttings wilt right away and the older ones are ok. So thats a good sign of progress. Next week I am buying several more domes so will be able to keep batches separate. Temps have been getting to 85F in the dome. This is past the 75-80F optimum window from what Ive read, so Im moving them out of the veg room to a window were it is 80F and it gets low levels of indirect sunlight. Buying a 2 foot by 2 foot T5 fixture next week so will have proper lighting for clones.

 

[Granger2]

Planting them when they get nubs is not rushing them. They're ready to be planted. Good luck. -granger

 

[ColoSpringBudZ]

As soon as i see nubs its firmly rooted. If ya gotta be sure you can take a solo cup and razor knife some slits along the bottom and wait for roots out of that, but the extra transplant can lead to other issues.

Nubs are roots ya know.

 

[cone]

That's what I noticed for sure MrBungle! I disabled my heat mat because the pump was keeping it in the 82-86 degree range according to the thermostat for the heat mat. I'm not sure it's really that warm in there though, it didn't feel that warm when I looked.

AP

I lost so many bloody cuttings all due to the heat mat toasting under the propagator!

I should have taken pictures of the whole process It was a week yesterday & got a single root showing its head.

The best advice I can give is to choose what system in your case DWC & only listen to the folks who use the same kind of system otherwise you just have a head full of ideas other people have mentioned & go into meltdown mode.

It's strain dependent obviously Burmese Kush is the quickest & easiest strain to root whereas Disco disco Biscuit is the biggest ballache ever the reason I believe it is such a pain is due to it being more Sativa I can't say it's 100% concrete due to it being a strain with mostly Sative characteristic's I have grown to date.

I'll take some pics for you the next time I take some cuttings.

Keep trying you will get there eventually AP.

Good luck bud

 

[AgentPothead]

Thanks for the luck cone. I'ma need it Going in today to clean up anything that isn't at least nubbing and cut more clones, momma plant is getting big for her tent

 

[slownickel]

Often cloning a plant is difficult for a couple of reasons.

1. The biggest reason is that there is no calcium reserves in the plant and at the same time, much too much potassium vs phosphorus. Basically a weak plant.

2. The moon helps a bit. Read up on the waxing moon. It is the correct time to take cuttings.

3. I find a good light soil potting mix augmented with a bit of gypsum helps a lot to root up quickly and give the plant a head start. That rock wool stuff holds way too much water.

If you want to make your clones a success. Load up your plant with foliar Ca a couple of times to get the cutting healthy. Then water in the same chelated Ca, Albion, Baicor or JHBiotech are all good ones, into the rooting medium before putting in the cut. Then foliar on the chelate every time you open the hood. After day 3 or 4, leave open an edge of the dome to let in some fresh air. Not much. Keep water in the bottom of the tray to maintain humidity, but don't have the plant nor the medium sitting in it!!!

If you have a healthy cut, it will root up quick.

Don't cut off leaves they are the plants reserve tank. Don't cut the leaves, the energy of the plant goes to healing the leaves instead of making a callus and closing up.

 

[PaulieWaulie]

At 2 weeks I have seen roots at bottom of rockwool cubes, on 4 cubes. Not bad for the corner of the room, with 80-85F for the most part. And humdity dome was on the whole time with sealed vents, as I was putting new clones in.

I think I will also get the clone machine, as a 24 Unit can be gotten for $200 CAD, and then I see a tonne of nice fuzzy roots in 7 days. Another Perk is no medium, so it costs nothing to clone. And they don't need humidity dome, so thats good too, since Im battling PM and don't want cuttings to sporulate.


I think i get it now, that the lower you can have humidity without wilting the more and faster roots will form, searching for water. Thats the secret to the machines, is that because water is constantly sprayed on cuttings, and easily taken up, they don't need the domes.

ofcourse even the machines take awhile to get the hang of and learn to dial in im sure.

 

[Bobby Boucher]

I've tried the foggers and misters.. with 0 success. Keeping the root zone within ideal parameters is not enough to root a plant.

If your central heater or a/c runs a lot, or you live in an arid environment, you are going to have dry air, and you are going to want to use some medium and a dome as a buffer to hold some moisture. If you are lucky enough to live in an area with average temps in the 70s and average rh above 45, you could probably stick a clone in a pile of dog shit and watch it root. This is where I believe a lot of the confusion sets in.

Ever since I set my bedroom ac/heater/evap humidifer up on controllers (70f 55rh) to accommodate my acoustic guitars, I've been able to keep fatty cuttings in viles in stasis as houseplants for weeks at a time without any wilt or yellowing. Remove the environmental controls and it all falls to shit within 24 hrs.

Either way, I'll take some medium over a collar any day of the week. Not as "cool", but nbd.

 

[MrBungle]

I don't pay attention to temps and humidity any more with my aerocloner.. when I used pucks it was much more critical...

With the aerocloner it is set it and forget it, but I guess my basement is somewhat steady temps.. I do watch the humidity go up and down tho... still everything roots pretty steadily.... and I live in a climate that sees all 4 seasons...
If things aren't rooting in the aerocloner than I think it either the cutting method or just not giving the cutting a chance, and tossing before they root...


Some times the plant will look like hell before the roots pop... and once it hits dirt it takes off with no restraint

 

[cone]

Thanks for the luck cone. I'ma need it Going in today to clean up anything that isn't at least nubbing and cut more clones, momma plant is getting big for her tent

Have you tried plonking them in soil? Probably have just an afterthought.

Just keep at it you'll get there eventually, Have you tried cloning other strains?

If your mother is getting big it's the perfect excuse to give another set of clones a crack.

WIshing you all the luck in the world my friend.

 

[Bobby Boucher]

With the aerocloner it is set it and forget it, but I guess my basement is somewhat steady temps.. I do watch the humidity go up and down tho... still everything roots pretty steadily.... and I live in a climate that sees all 4 seasons...

I would guess that if my house was newer and better insulated.. and wasn't constantly being blasted with sunlight, the 4 seasons wouldn't make such a huge impact on my grow, and I might be able to get along with a domeless cloner in my basement as well.

All I'm sayin, is that if your house has huge temp and rh swings.. and/or you aren't having good success with media in domes.. going domeless in collars seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse. ime.

Also, since I reduced my light levels to next to nothin.. my clones show no signs of stress.. whatsoever. Same with the houseplant cutting I keep in a small 40ml vial by my tv. My plants stay 100% spotless and pristine for months.. every time.. until i start flowering.. which I suck at.