Here's the dealio:
Rockwool is tricky coz it holds ALOT of moisture.
Because of this, people overwater their clones all the time.
Cuttings/clones have to be stimulated to grow roots......the clone gel has the chemical that hormonally stimulates them to grow roots, the rest is up to light, temperature, and moisture. A cutting that is too wet will not send roots out to look for food....it will stay far less stimulated to grow roots, and after awhile will start to eat itself coz it has not developed roots to absorb food.
You have to keep those rockwool cubes about as dry as they can stand it....
And keep in mind...if you are misting....you are feeding......and root stimulation will stay "lazy" because it's getting the food it needs without having to send out roots to find it.
Conclusion: Misting, watering, feeding clones/cuttings in ANY WAY when it's not necessary is kinda undoing their urge to grow roots.
When the cuttings are first taken, they usually wilt a little bit, but usually bounce back within a day.
When they DO bounce back....leave them alone, and keep the dome closed. open it up 1-3 times a day to let some of the dewdrops evaporate...or they will collect on the bottom of the tray and inadvertently over water the rockwool cubes. Before you take the cuttings, presoak the rockwool cubes in 5.5 pH, then drain them and re-soak them with a 1/4 strength mix of your nutrients you use. I add aggressive root toner at this stage, about 2ml per gallon of "rapid start" is what I use....
If you keep them in a good environment with good light and not too much heat or cold, you should have enough moisture in those presoaked rockwool cubes to last the approx. 5-13 days it will take for them to develop some good roots that you can see poking through.
If you absolutely MUST add moisture....don't mist them if you can hep it.....cuttings don't have alot of surface are on their leaves, and in the dome they are in a sort of restricted breathing environment....don't clog up their lungs (the leaves) with mist all the time!!! they are already getting controlled amount of oxygen, and releasing very little Co2.
At this stage the cutting's metabolisms are very sensitive to too much or too little oxygen/Co2.....you don't want to disrupt what little lungs and intake they have if you can help it....
When they wilt the second time around, it may just be because they are switching their energy over to root production (a good thing!)
So don't panic and water them YET....give 'em a look-see and see if the rockwool is still moist....if it is, your gonna be just fine, but keep a close eye on them. Keep them under that 24 hrs of good light....they LOVE the 24" T5's put right up against the dome, as close as possible to the cuttings....then they don't waste energy stretching out to reach the light they need, they put it towards the ROOTS.
Good luck, and I hope this helps!
