Tell me whats wrong with my cloner-thingy!

[thegrower]

Ok so my cloner isnt.. uh... cloning so well... I have a rubbermaid with 4 holes in the top and i filled it with distilled water. I put 2 airstones in it and have 2 100w "cool white" cfl's about 4-5" from the tops of the cuttings.... the cuttings are placed in the holes on the top of the rubbermaid and the base of cuttings sits about 1" or so submerged in the water.... these cuttings have been in the cloner like 10days....no roots yet... whats wrong with this picture

these cuttings were a healthy green when placed in the cloner... they have since palllllleeeedddd dramatically

 

[Guest]

Is the air diffused? If not I'd lift 'em out of the water. Did you add anything to the water? nute? rooting hormone?

J.

 

[thegrower]

nah the water is pure-distilled, i used a little rooting powder on the end of each cutting but the water washed alot of it off... should i add some nutes to the water?

is teh air diffused? Whats that mean? I just have a fish air pump outside the tub that goes into a T in the water basin and then to 2 airstones [one on each side of the basin, at the bottom underwater]

so should i lift them out of the water? and nutes? I have FF Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom should i try adding like a tsp of grow big? thanks again

 

[Guest]

It may be that your light is too close. Your clones look to be feeding on themselves due to too much light. I would raise the light to about 12 nches above or so. If the light is too close the cuttings will try to grow and begin feeding on leftover nutes as opposed to putting their efforts into root production.

Also I would reccomend that you cut larger holes and use something to old the cuttings in place. I had similar holes when I first built my bubbler and when they needed to be taken out, I ripped alot of roots off trying to get them out ofthe small holes.

Best of luck

guerilla

 

[mtnjohn]

turn off one of the lights and move the other 15" inches or so from the cuts

keep water temps about 78-80 or so

mj

 

[thegrower]

thanks alot folks, ill get another rubbermaid outer-container tomorrow and flip it upside-down and hang the lights from it, that should raise them safely off the cuttings...

Ill also make the holes bigger, good idea

Should i keep the cuttings submerged in the water as they are now or should i raise them like a 1/2inch out of the water so they have to "reach" for it so-to-speak?

k+

 

[Guest]

I've had better luck cloning in a medium - rockwool, etc.

Try a rw cube, keep it moist - takes 10 days. The clones I tried rooting in water all had issues, the rw ones came thru beauty.

Good luck

ws

 

[thegrower]

thanks ws, do i just keep the rockwool wet or should i combine the rockwool with the current setup? [rockwool + net pots bout 1/2" above water surface so splashing of the bubbles would keep rockwool wet]

 

[BenitoCereno]

I say, too much light. You can even use a 13w cfl.

Also, listen to MtnJohn about the temps, :wink: .

 

[Guest]

I keep my cuttings submerged about 1/2 inch under the water and have had about 95% success. Howevere some strains have taken up to 3-4 weeks to root,which is why Im switching to an aero cloner. If time is not a factor (i.e. perpetual harvest), then its hard to beat the bubbler for ease and efficiency.

Take care

guerilla

 

[lifetime]

too much light, also get an aquarium heater from walmart (they're less than $10)
and set it on a timer ($5) for one hour on one hour off 24hrs a day

 

[suckerrepellent]

i have always used ezcloners or that style with the aero ponics, and i found the biggist limiting factor for speedy root production was the temperature of the reservior. that was because the pump was in the res, which obviously is not the case here, but make sure you check the temp for sure, and try mixing some hormones into the res.

 

[stihgnobevoli]

too much light. clones dont need a lot of light, just indirect ligting will do the trick. theres no roots so theres no point in putting the light right on em. all the clones need is enough light so they dont die. you can just stick them in your windowsill even. and i dont think you need airstones and all that jazz either. but thats your method so whatever. i myself woulf just stick em in a cup of water and put em in my windowsill same as i would with any other plant i wanted to grow roots, from potato, to onion to rose stem.

 

[jojajico]

Ok so my cloner isnt.. uh... cloning so well... I have a rubbermaid with 4 holes in the top and i filled it with distilled water. I put 2 airstones in it and have 2 100w "cool white" cfl's about 4-5" from the tops of the cuttings.... the cuttings are placed in the holes on the top of the rubbermaid and the base of cuttings sits about 1" or so submerged in the water.... these cuttings have been in the cloner like 10days....no roots yet... whats wrong with this picture

these cuttings were a healthy green when placed in the cloner... they have since palllllleeeedddd dramatically

lol my colner isnt cloning so well lol. clasic

 

[StickyIcky29A]

It looks to me that the one in the fore ground has a lot of leaf to it. Not an expert in cloning, but I was under the impression less was more. This way the plant isn't trying to feed all that mass with no roots to bring in food.

I've always seen the grow tip and maybe on more little side shoot. I've even seen growers that trim off the tips of leaves. I'd say read up on cloning a bit.

 

[Guest]

The most important thing in getting clones to root is a very high relative humidity the first 7-10 days,light is secondary.I notice you have no dome over the cuts,if you were to make a dome and keep it well misted the first week your clones will root.I also use RW cubes and mist my domes maybe 4 or 5 times daily the first week.Misting the plants themselves is an option but not a good one,you donr want wet leaves particularly the cut wont want to root and seek water if its getting it topically.

 

[Creeptic]

The most important thing in getting clones to root is a very high relative humidity the first 7-10 days,light is secondary.I notice you have no dome over the cuts,if you were to make a dome and keep it well misted the first week your clones will root.I also use RW cubes and mist my domes maybe 4 or 5 times daily the first week.Misting the plants themselves is an option but not a good one,you donr want wet leaves particularly the cut wont want to root and seek water if its getting it topically.

im no expert but ill have to disagree with the misting/humidity thing... at least with water/bubble cloning

i have never used a humidity dome and its pretty dry here (rh 25-35%)... and i have never failed to root a clone.... 100% success rate

in my bubble cloner id see roots anywhere from 6-10 days
just putting a cutting in plain water i saw roots anywhere from 6-21 days

no humidity dome... no misting... just put them in the cloner or plain water... put them indirectly under a 23w CFL and leave them be for a week or so... the logic i always thought was to force the plant to search for moisture in the stem by forming roots instead of just taking in moisture through the leaves/air... i must of read it somewhere on OG or here, because it stuck with me... and it seems to be working for me... my clones actually stay green through the entire process

no rooting powders, hormones, nutes, ph adjustment, etc... just plain tap water... and i dont even change the water... just fill it up, plug it in, put the clones in and forget about them... a week or 2 later, roots

id say the problems here are:
#1. way too many leaves... i usually only leave 2-4 fan leaves on my clones
#2. too much light... i only use 1 23w CFL... and its about 10 inches away from the clones

let me re-state that im no expert... ive only taken about 40-50 clones in my growing career... but every single one of them rooted with no problem

 

[Guest]

Boy I tried water cloning and had no luck at all,some I'd let sit there three weeks I dont know how people do it.Its good you have a method that works for you,dont underestimate the importance of RH when rooting clones though,its been the number one thing for me rooting cuts.They have to be "hardened off" too or when the domes removed they'll just wilt up.I've got these new domes with a couple adjustable vents up top,perfect to harden them off.I gotta say your way is so much simpler than mine I'd try yours first,water cloning just wasnt my thing.

 

[mtnjohn]

bubble cloning is very easy...no domes needed at all, really

you just have to have a few things ...just so...for me anyway

water temps about 78-80 or so
healthy fresh cuttings
i usually let my stems hang in the water at least 1/2 -1 inch
i have 1 42 watt cfl about 18-20 inches above my cuts
i mist them a few times the first day or two

here's my little cloner...

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

It looks to me that the one in the fore ground has a lot of leaf to it. Not an expert in cloning, but I was under the impression less was more. This way the plant isn't trying to feed all that mass with no roots to bring in food.

The most important thing in getting clones to root is a very high relative humidity the first 7-10 days,light is secondary.I notice you have no dome over the cuts,if you were to make a dome and keep it well misted the first week your clones will root.

im no expert but ill have to disagree with the misting/humidity thing... at least with water/bubble cloning

i have never used a humidity dome and its pretty dry here (rh 25-35%)... and i have never failed to root a clone.... 100% success rate

in my bubble cloner id see roots anywhere from 6-10 days
just putting a cutting in plain water i saw roots anywhere from 6-21 days

no humidity dome... no misting... just put them in the cloner or plain water...

The reason why leaves are often cut down or removed is because the leaves continue to transpire, so a higher leaf surface threatens to dehydrate the cutting, which has not yet aquired roots to absorb water. It's all about humidity, as ballastman correctly indicated.
The thing is, this is a problem if your cuttings are rooted in a medium, such as soil, but when you clone your cuttings in this type of bubbler, suspended over water, it is very hard for them to dry out, so you can pretty much leave the leaves as they are.
Creeptic says his Rh is 25%-35%, which it probably is in his growroom, but I believe that if he measured the Rh right above the bubbler where the cuttings are, he would get a whole different reading. 25%-35% Rh would wear down a cutting fast.
You can protect your leaves from dehydration by using products such as No Wilt cloning wax, a substance that coats the leaves and shuts the water in. BioBizz LeafCoat works excellent for this as well and also contains nutrients that slow feed the cutting during the rooting process.