why is my cloning so hit or miss?

[mtbazz]

So I use a bucket type cloning system that someone built for me....

Overall it has worked well, however I have come to find that my cloning attempts are hit or miss, sometimes I get 80-100% rooted, othertimes I get zero. The last two times Ive tried to get rooted clones Ive gotten zero.. I've detailed here what I do and what my conditions are, maybe someone can make suggestions.

I won't talk about my cuttings technique , since my last failed attempt had cuttings from seed plants and mothers and all got slimy and died.

Water in bucket: 1 gallon tap (well water) to 1 gallon distilled water (no access to RO water). To this I add 4 capfuls of KLN, pH to ~5.8-6.0, set the water temp to ~68 dg F. I try not to go higher than this as I have found that higher temps cause the cuttings to get slimy.

Once a week, I change the water and adjust it to the conditions above.

Also, after each cloning run I sanitize the bucket by running a bleach solution through it.

So, does anyone have any suggestions to improve things??

not interested in hearing about other methods...Ive tried them all with varying degrees of success, this is what I am using and for now am sticking with it.

 

[guest3871]

Just take cuttings and sit them in a glass of water until they grow roots.
It might take a little bit longer, 2/ 3 weeks, but if your not ih a rush it's ok.

 

[TGT]

In one week your water has no oxygen, probably a bubbler type system and no access to light in the rooting area. You wont have slimey water either and can raise temp, hense raising hmidity.

TGT

 

[greenpinky]

I would stop using kln, and wash ur unit in less bleach.. remember to take ur pump apart cuz it gunks up inside there and y change ur water every week? My water in my cloner stays in my cloner for about three weeks (3runs) then I change it... what cloning gel do u use? Old gel or unproper storage can be a big reason

 

[Blue Socks]

Personally I think it's the strain itself. Some strains really like to be cloned and some don't like it so much.

 

[Iron_Lion]

I use an aero cloner too and my results are sometimes inconsistent. I change the water every few days, and clean it real good at water changes.

I sometimes put 2 cuts of the same strain in the same puck, weird thing is sometimes one cut will root and the other one wont. It really makes no sense.

I think part of it might be with the strain, also with the quality of the cutting and where a long the stem you make the 45* cut.

 

[Smelly_Cheese]

i quit using a aero cloner( botaincare 25 site power cloner) and switched to using rockwool. The power cloner was great for one run but it just didnt seem made to run week in and week out. Very temp sensitive .Also if i ever got a clog and didnt catch it fast enough all wilted. Power failure too. Rockwool has been easier and almost as fast.

however, i would raise temps and make sure your cutting just below a node. I was not and that was a problem. I would switch to ro water never distilled. You can buy at grocer

 

[Shcrews]

i used to suck at cloning

now i have 100% survival rate

i use rockwool, clone trays and humidity domes, and t5 fluorescents. takes 1-3 weeks to root depending on strain. Oasis cubes are nice too.

 

[Hammerhead]

I use a glass of water but I change he water every 3 days...

 

[Smelly_Cheese]

i used to suck at cloning

now i have 100% survival rate

i use rockwool, clone trays and humidity domes, and t5 fluorescents. takes 1-3 weeks to root depending on strain. Oasis cubes are nice too.

same here, my aero cloner is in a closet

 

[krunchbubble]

once you get rot in one of those aero cloners, its impossible to get rid of it without using all new equipment inside of it, cleaning it does not get everything...

i HAD 4 120 sites and 2 smaller ones, given them away to friends....

i now have 100% success with rockwool, and using a pgr for rooting....

 

[dagnabit]

Try recutting your clone underwater after you remove it from the plant. You may be getting embolisms.
Use only water. No nutes of any sort.
Get some oxygen in your bucket.
Clean with peroxide in stead of bleach.
Trim your leaves to cut down on transpiration.
Get your temps and humidity up.

 

[Hammerhead]

what I use to do with my ez120. Bleach/H2O2 to clean it after ea use....

 

[White Devil]

I use a glass of water but I change he water every 3 days...

hey hammer how long does it take to root clones in a glass of water?
sounds very easy

 

[Hammerhead]

The fastest I got was 7 days. The longest took 2 weeks...Most are in that range

 

[gloryoskie]

2 weeks for these, those are salt shakers. Plants rooted on a seed mat mounted under a drip tray filled with DE scrap, moistened.

 

[heatherlonglee]

You should try exposing more of the root material to the rooting solution. I pull back some of the outer layers of bark, green, stem layer, whatever you call it. Like when you pull back the plastic on a electrical wire to just expose the wire. You want to do the same with the rooting stem, pull back some of the stem and expose a small 1-2" of stem marrow to the hormone instead of just the very bottom of cutting. I believe this may help with crushed cells if you use scissors to do your cuttings.

 

[foomar]

Dont think embolisms are such an issue in canna , the structures to allow cappillary action do not exist and there are no contiguous tubes.

If the stem is hollow , it was empty space in the live plant and becomes a stale oxygen depleted dead end in a bubbler , have a much better strike rate on these with a 90 deg cut through the solid tissue at a stem node.

An aero/spray system was faster by a day or two , did not trust a pump or local power supply , could be a day before i found the problem and i dont think they would survive , a bubbler sans bubbles keeps them alive.

If they are given perfect conditions , clones often just sit there for ages before rooting , a certain degree of stress or physical damage seems to promote rooting faster best.
Local had problems till he cracked the humidity dome and binned it , perfect clones since and not replaced.

Running at 78 they take a week but lose a few to mould , possibly the whole lot.
Running at 68 they take 10 - 14 and nearly all make it , some yellow and are culled but never lost everything.


Have just run a test batch of excess cuts in half strength reef saline with some of the best roots seen , i fully expected them to wilt and die , an easy one to test and will run it again in a proper side by side.


Would never trust important genetics to any single option , i always chuck some extras in a glass of water on a window cill , and have revegging dialed in.

Even chop day bud clones usually make it and have saved me heartache a few times , just try it before you absolutely need it.

Had a budlet take three months to finish a few viable seed , reveg and put out a cloneable shoot before it finally showed roots , was smokeing the F2 before the F1 was rooted.


That lot sounded better inside my head , i blame the haze.

 

[supermanlives]

i gave away my aero cloner. dont miss it at all. clone directly into soil.