Keep Failing At Cloning

Buggins

Buggins

Active Member
I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this, so mods please move this thread if need be.

I've been growing quite successfully now for a while, but one aspect that I continue to fail at repeatedly is cloning. I've never been able to break about 10-20% success, most of the time losing entire batches of clones. Obviously something about my technique is seriously flawed.

I need someone to assist me in upping my cloning success, with the materials I have available. I would like to stick to a simple method of rockwool or peat pucks under a humidity dome, no bubble cloners or anything complicated until I can master the basics.

My method thus far has been to take my cuttings from healthy branches with three or more nodes. I place them in a cup of non-chlorinated tap water until I have all of my cuttings ready.

I trim away excess folliage, and then recut at the second node on a diagonal 45 degree. I then them dip them in rooting gel, and place them into the medium. I have tried both rockwool cubes soaked in ph down and superthrive with a very light dose of bloom nutes (1/8th strength), as well as peat pucks soaked in same solution with the exception of the ph down). I have also tried rockwool soaked in just ph adjusted water, and the peat pucks in water (so minus the superthrive and bloom nutes) and results were just as bad or worse.

I then place them in a standard 10x20 tray under a humidity dome with air vents, and place the tray on a heating mat. I mist the clones daily and keep the humidity high for about a week, after that, I mist less frequently, and only if they look wilty.

In two weeks, not a single clone roots. I will get to the 'barnacle' stage where bumps form on the stem, or it starts swelling up, but usually the clones die before roots actually emerge.

The problems I have been experiencing tend to occur around the 10th day or so. By this point the stem has started to rot, or the clones are wilting, or they have gone completely yellow.

I stopped scraping the bottom of the stem, and that seemed to lessen the stem rot problem somewhat, but they still end up dying anyway.

I really don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong, so hopefully someone with good cloning success can steer me straight.

Thanks in advance.
 
J

joe9000

Well-Known Member
stop misting,mist inside of dome on the first day and leave them be for 2 weeks and then check on them.make sure rockwool is damp not soaking before you plant the cutting,thats it.
 
Harrekin

Harrekin

Well-Known Member
Even misting is pointless, just keep your vents closed. If your cubes get a little dry just dip the corner of them into a glass of water so it soaks up a little.

Once you get bumps you wanna try make the roots stretch for water...but in my experience when you have bumps you're almost done so it shouldn't be hard from there. I didn't even use rooting gel last time, just water :)
 
Cannabisworks

Cannabisworks

Active Member
you could also have contaminated gel. and agreed with everyone else no need to mist. dont dip in the bottle of clone gel. take a bit out and toss it after. can get disease or contaminated and wont do anything. we dont even need it to be honest so unless its perfectly clean it will only hinder your cloning
ive tried all medium to root in and find for me anyways the grodan cubes work best and fastest for me. on average 5 days for 99% rooting everytime. slight veg feed with some naa in it and ph to 5.5 and leave them. dont water dont spray nothing. in a dome and walk away. i do run a heatmatt under the tray to help. having 2 nodes under the cube or medium to root in will help as well. i als9o scrape the outer pulp gently to allow the gels to penetrate better and more roots to pop. my food i mix in the cubes is about 150 tds
 
T

tellno1

Well-Known Member
Buggins said:
I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this, so mods please move this thread if need be.

I've been growing quite successfully now for a while, but one aspect that I continue to fail at repeatedly is cloning. I've never been able to break about 10-20% success, most of the time losing entire batches of clones. Obviously something about my technique is seriously flawed.

I need someone to assist me in upping my cloning success, with the materials I have available. I would like to stick to a simple method of rockwool or peat pucks under a humidity dome, no bubble cloners or anything complicated until I can master the basics.

My method thus far has been to take my cuttings from healthy branches with three or more nodes. I place them in a cup of non-chlorinated tap water until I have all of my cuttings ready.

I trim away excess folliage, and then recut at the second node on a diagonal 45 degree. I then them dip them in rooting gel, and place them into the medium. I have tried both rockwool cubes soaked in ph down and superthrive with a very light dose of bloom nutes (1/8th strength), as well as peat pucks soaked in same solution with the exception of the ph down). I have also tried rockwool soaked in just ph adjusted water, and the peat pucks in water (so minus the superthrive and bloom nutes) and results were just as bad or worse.

I then place them in a standard 10x20 tray under a humidity dome with air vents, and place the tray on a heating mat. I mist the clones daily and keep the humidity high for about a week, after that, I mist less frequently, and only if they look wilty.

In two weeks, not a single clone roots. I will get to the 'barnacle' stage where bumps form on the stem, or it starts swelling up, but usually the clones die before roots actually emerge.

The problems I have been experiencing tend to occur around the 10th day or so. By this point the stem has started to rot, or the clones are wilting, or they have gone completely yellow.

I stopped scraping the bottom of the stem, and that seemed to lessen the stem rot problem somewhat, but they still end up dying anyway.

I really don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong, so hopefully someone with good cloning success can steer me straight.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
when you used peat pucks .. how long were your clones? i found that using them i needed to have the stem i put in to be at least 3/4 of the way into the puck.. and still have 2 or 3 leafsets on top i use superthrive at 1ml /2litres of ph'd water to 6.3 ... soak the pucks for 24 hours .. squeeze out the water gently or let sit for at least 2 hrs to drain .. i mist them like you do , but very lightly, as well as a light mist on the puck .. have them on heating mat like you do with a dome , keep the lights as close to the dome as i can , i like to see beads of moisture clinging to the dome .... hope this helps

happy growin
 
Cannabisworks

Cannabisworks

Active Member
wow 24 hour for pucks. dont they all fall apprt soon after.another good tip for the pucks is use elastic band to hold medium tight to stem. that is biggest reason for no rooting. needs to be tight fit. i turn those over even to make my own hole. and peat pucks already have plenty of food to root with. not going to hurt it but isnt needed. cutting lower on plant will root easier as well due to hormones in the lower areas of the plants versus upper
 
T

tellno1

Well-Known Member
never had a problem with them fallin apart .. but i soak them right in the tray so probably that keeps them from doing it. and right on about the tight fit .. ill have to try elastics, i usually just squish them tight around the stem for the first few days .. thanks bro for the hint

happy growin
 
Cannabisworks

Cannabisworks

Active Member
m biggest pet peave with them is they dont stay tight. especialy if they dry out a bit. i didnt mean completly fall apart either, just messy crap floating in my water dish.
 
T

tellno1

Well-Known Member
Cannabisworks said:
m biggest pet peave with them is they dont stay tight. especialy if they dry out a bit. i didnt mean completly fall apart either, just messy crap floating in my water dish.
Click to expand...
i kinda got lucky years ago and got a tray thay holds them when they swell , you add water to the tray and as the puck sucks up the water the tray holds them in shape .. i used to do them in a pail before .. know exactly what you mean about that messy crap

happy growin
 
Cannabisworks

Cannabisworks

Active Member
i need to work on my cloning in the clone machine. slow and tons of failed. i havent tried my straight up NAA alone so thats next. most have been with a gell or an organic rooting agent i have. i find it just washes the stuff off as soon as i turn it on so it does nothing for them.
what are guys suing for stimulant in their cloners?
 
Cannabisworks

Cannabisworks

Active Member
tellno1 said:
i kinda got lucky years ago and got a tray thay holds them when they swell , you add water to the tray and as the puck sucks up the water the tray holds them in shape .. i used to do them in a pail before .. know exactly what you mean about that messy crap

happy growin
Click to expand...

ok i know what you have them. ya i can see that working well actualy. those are for jiffy pucks if its what i think big round hole in bottom of each individual spot. the sponge ones. i have one here also.
 
T

tellno1

Well-Known Member
lol ya but the pucks work better for me then the jiffy things lol and they fit lol never tried a cloneing machine .. seen them work wonders with other guys that use them .. i like the pucks , just dip the clone in honey and put in puck ..

happy growin
 
Cannabisworks

Cannabisworks

Active Member
exactly. 1 is good for me but may not be for the other. to be honest i used to be opposite. loved the pucks. now they dont seem to work for me...as fast an easy as the cubes. also a 12 or less light stimulates the rooting hormones as well so we do get faster roots with less light
 
R

Rj41

Well-Known Member
Cloning is really simple. Unfortunately too many people over-complicate it with all kinds of nonsense.

This is my method and it works 99% of the time:

First, I prepare the growing medium which is nothing more than filling a bunch of 3x3 containers with fresh El Cheapo potting soil with no pearlite.

Then I take 6 containers at a time and place them on a tray with fairly high sides. I use 6 because that's how many fit my trays.
Now I wet everything down with simple tap water that I've taken straight from the tap. No RO, no PH-ing, or any of that other stuff. I saturate the soil and pour in enough extra to fill about a half inch in the bottom of the tray.

Next I take my cuttings, dip em in Clonex, place them in the containers making sure to pack the soil around the stems, and viola, they're done. Place them on a heating pad and 5 or 6 days later roots appear. No domes, no misting, no nutes, no nothing.
I usually wait till day 12 or 13 before transplanting just to be safe.


Here's some tips:
You must take your cutting(s) from a healthy plant.
Second, use Clonex. Yes it's expensive but it's worth every penny.
Lastly, keep the medium very warm.
 
Cannabisworks

Cannabisworks

Active Member
deffinalty an over thought process.
all clone solutions are is a bottle of NAA. dont mater brands. other is fillers as they arent eating yet with no roots anyways
 
knourgro

knourgro

Active Member
on top of cutting the stem at a 45 degree angle, try also splitting it down the middle about a half inch or putting notches on one side with a razor. these spots where you have cut deep into the stem (not to far though) make it easier for roots to develope and push out of the stem. this alone will bring you to at least a 60-70% success rate based on what your already doing, i gurrantee it. also sterilize all trimmers and razors in isoprophenyal before use, clones are real sensetive to bacterial infections which will kill em
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top