WTF is this?!

[TroubleGuy]

These are clones I took 6 days ago. They were perfect when I took them, and were perfect until yesterday.

Is this something I should be worried about? The white on the leaves is dusty to the touch, the tops there are a very dark green. Not crisp, very soft. Only 4-5 are like this, and despite my best efforts I can't find what this could be.

Also, what would cause a leaf's tip to become extremely soft to the touch, then brown overnight? One of my seedlings had that happen.

Click: http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/29/img0002yzo.jpg

 

[Guest 18340]

I'm having a similar problem, i just posted it in this forum. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone...

 

[TroubleGuy]

It's not a HUGE deal, it was only 6 out of 30 clones that had this happen. I've narrowed it down to two things that were done different than any other time I've cloned...

1) Over-exposure to the rooting hormone. I use Vita Grow rooting hormone. I've found it helps them root quicker if I keep them in for 15 seconds longer than the bottle suggests. It causes swelling of the stem and helps it thicken up and become strong, and even helps clones taken from flowering plants root quicker. This is my own experience, I can't speak for anyone else.

2) Embolism. I took 30-40 clones before throwing their mothers into bloom, and put them all in a cup of water until I could plant them. It's possible that a few of them were out of the water for too long, I did have problem with them falling out of the cup of water as I was pulling them out to plant them. I tried to keep them all submerged, but maybe I didn't get them all... Admittedly they weren't cut with the sharpest scissors, maybe this could've caused it too?

My water's pH level is perfect, 6.5, right where it should be, so that definitely isn't the cause.

Do either one of these potential causes make sense for the problem I have?

 

[dagnabit]

that white "?residue?" is interesting.....

hmmmmmm ima thunk on that....

 

[Core]

and i don't think its the hormone or the water ether.....mmmmh i think i know what the problem could be?.....as i cut clones.... i realy cut them small.....maybe you too? no biggie but you should watch out with that....
as you pot the plants in seedlingmix or something light...the nutrientuptake starts to develop...and now troubles can happen....if the cut clones are realy small like 1 or 2 nodes and few leaves on troubles can happen.....not all plants can take the small amount of food in the medium thus it will burn its tips....resulting in nodedamage and tipburn....again resulting in non growing plants (coz of the burned nodes)
now combine that with high humidity in a dome or so and you will get the tips and leaves mold up....

i just suggest cutting your clones a bit bigger with more nodes so other nodes can grow on.... 'if the others are burned'.....and if you see them taking off then start to drop the RH....

 

[DocLeaf]

sounds like anaerobic bacteria aka mold.

take x1 of the infected clones. isolate and spray with a solution of bleach and water (at 1/100 parts water). see how it grows.

all the best

 

[Hash Zeppelin]

make sure you put some hydrogen peroxide in your water to kill any mold in your soil, or buckets, to keep it from coming back. dont go to crazy with it though or you will kill your shit.

 

[TroubleGuy]

Thanks for the tips.

I don't use humidity domes, I don't like the artificially high RH cause it takes them longer to adjust when I take them out of that environment.

I was thinking mold too, but then I thought "on a fresh clone in the veg room and low humidity?" - I just don't know.

what I wound up doing was just tossing them. I'll keep an eye out for this problem on others, but the 6 out of 30 that were afflicted are gone now. I finally have a mother plant big enough to supply 4"-6" clones nayway, so the small ones aren't too important.

 

[MynameStitch]

Ya, that looks more like it got something from un sanitary cutters. Before cutting you should always sanitize before taking cuttings and also your mother you should use h202/water mixture on the area where you cut with a qtip to minimize contamination. Your cuttings/mother have open wounds and the cutters you used did you use them on anything else?

New growth tips are affected by micronutrient issues, which in this case it is not. ALso new growth affected, mold/fungus/damping off. Or something nutrient related falling on plants, but I think your issue is the cuttings got something from cross contamination...... have you checked the bottom stem where the cut is? You got a picture of it?

 

[TroubleGuy]

Nope, I tossed out the few that had the problem. Something like 5 or 6 out of 30 after 4 batches of 100% success...not bad odds imo.

The snips I used were clean, they're always cleaned before cloning. I've got a pretty solid cloning process down and as stated above there were only two real variables... extra time in rooting hormone and some fell out of the water.

In either case this isn't an issue anymore.

 

[Darkstarlive]

sounds like powdery mildew.

Peace...