Cloning with RapidRooters!

[cheaplastic]

So after 2 attempts at cloning with rapid rooters and achieving sub par results, i decided to re-evulate my process and see if there were ways to improve my cloning techniques. I found this very informative tutorial after seeking help from GrowMaster.. Id like to give credit to Bronson for compiling this extremely helpful report!

 

[cheaplastic]

Here are the supplies I use: Rapid Rooters, rubbing alcohol wipes, scissors, single edge razor blades, hand sanitizer, 16oz cups, latex non-powdered gloves, 250ml squeeze bottle, 50 count tray, 8" dome.

Here are the nutrients I use: Jumpstart, Clonex liquid solution, Clonex rooting gel, Wet Betty, pH up and water mix, Fulvic Acid.

First thing I do is wipe everything down with the rubbing alcohol wipes. My cutting surface, scissors, razor blade (very important to get preservative oil off), inside of all containers and cups, clone trays top and bottom, and the inside of the dome. Even though shit looks clean it definitely is not, think operating table clean, lol.

Next mix your solution and foliar spray.

Cloning solution mix: I use 8ml/L of Clonex solution and 1ml/L of Wet Betty. I use AN pH up and if necessary Fulvic Acid for pH down. My solution comes out to around 1000ppm +/- 50ppm. I adjust the pH to 5.7-5.8.

Foliar Spray: I mix Jumpstart 30 l/L, Wet Betty 1ml/L, and Fulvic Acid as pH down. The PPM is negligible. I adjust the pH to 5.7-6.0.

Prepare your Rapid Rooters. Insert the scissors into the RR and cut the side open. Set aside enough solution and fill your cups about 1.5" for soaking your clones. Take some solution and put a little in the container for you to do your final cuts under. Drop the RR into the remaining solution in the bucket and slosh them around a bit. Squeeze and release them a few times to get the solution thoroughly into the RR. I have not found it important to soak them for any certain amount of time. I just leave them soak while I get my cuts. When I remove them from the solution I squeeze about 1/2 of the water out. Sanitize your tools and hands.

Next I take all my cuts from the plants and put them in cups filled about 1.5" with plain water. I try and have about 4 nodes on a cut. Make sure the bottom of the stem is below the waterline. If not they will tend to start going limp pretty fast. Sanitize your tools and hands.

 

[cheaplastic]

When you are ready to begin your final cutting make sure everything is as sterile as possible. Poor your cloning gel into another container to dip your clones in. Only poor how much you plan on using, once it is used it is no longer good to keep. Do not just dip them in the bottle or you run the risk of contaminating the remaining gel. Take your razor and cut off all nodes except the top one or two, cut them flush with the main stem, do not leave stubs sticking out, they will invite infection. Take your scissors and cut the fan leaves in half. I perform my final cut under water. Hold the bottom tip of the clone and cut it at a 45 degree angle directly beneath a node. I have drawn a line in the pic to show where the cut should be made and the angle. If your node spacing is too far apart to allow this then take your razor and gently scrape the outer layer of skin off of the bottom 3/4" of the stem then make your final cut under water. Once the final cut is made immediately place prepared clone into cloning solution in cups and let them soak for 10-20 minutes.

Next gently take the prepared clone and dip the bottom 3/4" or so in the Clonex gel. Pull it out and and let the excess gel drip off, more is not better with cloning gel. While holding open the cut in the Rapid Rooter very gently place the clone in and gently close it. Place the Rapid Rooter in a tray insert and do another.

When I have about 1/2 of the tray filled I spray with the foliar solution and spray it again when it is full. When the tray is full place the dome on and set under relatively weak light. Intense light is not something you want shining on your clones. I use a standard shop light with one cool blue bulb and one warm bulb. I maintain the temperature of the Rapid Rooters to around 77f. The ambient air temperature of the room is around 74-75f and the shop light above the dome adds a couple degrees to their environment. I keep them under 24 hours of light. I do not use a heating mat, however if you are going to have a shorter light cycle you may want one in the dark period to maintain the proper temps.

I spray the clones with the foliar solution about every 12 hours everyday until they start showing roots. Normally within 3-4 days I see rooting and within 8 days normally the clones are ready for transplant.

Usually by about day 4 the rooters are starting to dry a bit. When they do I mix another batch of cloning solution and pH it to around 6.1. I fill the 250ml squeeze bottle and it works perfect for reapplying the solution to the Rapid Rooters. I give them enough to be moist but not soaked. In another 2 days or so they should need another application. I again mix the same solution except I mix it at 6ml/L of Clonex and supplement that with 1.25ml/L of B-52 and adjust the pH to 6.3. I do this to help with the shock of transplant that will normally happen within a couple days.

When I transplant into my soilless mix I feed with .6g Pirhana, .6g Tarantula, .1g/L Bud Blood, .5ml/L B-52, .5ml/L Jumpstart, 7.5ml/L Voodoo Juice, and .5ml/L Wet Betty pH adjusted to 6.3. I give each cup 50ml of nutrient solution. Usually I will see nice roots moving down the sides of the cups in about 3 days. I usually transplant into 1 gallon pots at about a week or so.

This pic is three days after transplant into the beer cup. The glare kinda messes it up but you can somewhat see the roots down the side. That was from my last set of clones that are vegging now. They took I think 8 days to root out the cups.

 

[Venom818]

I hope your not feeding your babies with 1000 ppm.I dont think you need all those nutes bro thats seriously over doing it maybe just the clonex solution and the gel and some ph down.My boy just gave me 9 clones un rooted we were chilling and smoking and he started to pull out some goodies he poured some clonex gel on top of a empty mc donalds box LOL dipped the clones put them in a ziplock back and gave them to me brought them home Put them in there humidity dome with a heating pad and feed them clonex solution at about 150 ppm a couple days later there all rooted.

 

[DoubleDub]

Awesome tutorial. Very Informative. Great post plastic. Did you say roots in three to four days?! That's just about as good as you can get. Nice job.

Couple questions, how deep do the stems go into rapid rooters?

Also whats your water level like in the bottom of that tray?

 

[altitudefarmer]

very detailed, and very clean. A little overkill, imo, but then again, my success rate could be improved (80% ish). I always take a few extra...

 

[t.o.med]

that seems like a complicated and expensive process for something that should be easy and cheap. but if it works for you and your happy with it thats all that matters.

 

[cemchris]

The Main problem I've seen with people using rapid rooters is keeping them too wet or letting them dry out. After about 4 to 5 days in some situations you will have to redunk the rooters to keep them moist not wet. Spray once a day and keep a little water in the very bottom of the tray to keep the humidity up and blamo roots in 7 to 14 days. Other then That I have been using Olivias Cloning Gel (1 bottle a year) and rapid rooters for quite some years and get a 95% or more success rate. I don't clean my scissors or my hands. Don't PH the water I soak in (bout 6.0). Add a drop of superthrive and that's it. I do Put the dome, tray and insert in the dishwasher between runs. Simple and easy. Temp and humidity are the key. Low 80's with as much humidity as you can get.

 

[Gnarfbuckle]

Rapid rooters havent let me down. I dont do anyhting special, just get em wet, use come sort of clone solution, and use a hood. 80%+ success rate.

I also love em for starting seeds.

 

[cheaplastic]

Awesome tutorial. Very Informative. Great post plastic. Did you say roots in three to four days?! That's just about as good as you can get. Nice job.

Couple questions, how deep do the stems go into rapid rooters?

Also whats your water level like in the bottom of that tray?

I have not personally tried this method, but i plan on using most, if not all the techniques on my next batch of clones.

I would place the clone an 1"-1.5" deep..

i just use half of a red plastic cup to fill the bottom tray.. the goal in mind is to make sure the plugs are moist, but not drenched..

 

[HNIC]

what is the purpose of cutting the RR down the side? i am new to the RR's so i don't know what protocol is, but i just widen the hole at the top a tiny bit and stick it in just like i would rockwool.

 

[xxtntxx]

hi

hi. tryin to find some good seeds.

 

[cheaplastic]

what is the purpose of cutting the RR down the side? i am new to the RR's so i don't know what protocol is, but i just widen the hole at the top a tiny bit and stick it in just like i would rockwool.

Its a method aimed at smooth insertion of the cut. some times the hole provided is uneven and the cut could become stressed if you shove it down there.. the slit just makes things go a little smoother imo..

 

[HNIC]

hmm, that's interesting

 

[Surfr]

Great tutorial but as someone else said, a little overkill. All I do is dip em in some cloning gel, slide them into some rockwool cubes, put them in a dome and wait for some roots. I have at least a 95% success rate.

 

[captainkip]

i just use plain old tap water works wonders for me 100% cloning rate cloned 10 or so plants got more rooting right now in a homemade cloner just a 1 gal icecream bucket sterilized and cut holes in the top fitted the holes with cheap foam the soft stuff and 3 days later 4 of the clones had started to root just my opinion but anything but plain water is overboard my results with no nutrients/cloning gels is great just have to keep humidity atleast 50% (its higher inside of the cloner) and keep temps about 75-80 worked wonders for me

 

[TopShelf]

Wow,, thats a lot of science??? I just cut that sucker dip in clonex stick in a 1.5" cube, humidity dome on a heat mat.....5 days later.....its good!

 

[cheaplastic]

obviously many of you think this is overkill, The point of this tutorial was to show everyone some easy and helpful techniques that they could use to improve their own methods.. Many people who are new to cloning often have many questions regarding specific details for each step, and i believe that this tutorial provides that..


I personally have had poor results using the "just dip it in clonex, and stick it in method" for many reasons..

contamination (which resulted in pathogens that infected my cuts), and excess and unnecessary stress and trauma are just a few issues i have had.

My goal is smooth, stress free 100% rooting rates... not 90, 80, or even 70... 100 percent..

they are many different methods to cloning and each one may work differently for each person's situation.

Only share something unless you have something constructive to share or have beneficial information regarding cloning with rapid rooters..

 

[Motherhugger]

obviously many of you think this is overkill, The point of this tutorial was to show everyone some easy and helpful techniques that they could use to improve their own methods.. Many people who are new to cloning often have many questions regarding specific details for each step, and i believe that this tutorial provides that..


I personally have had poor results using the "just dip it in clonex, and stick it in method" for many reasons..

contamination (which resulted in pathogens that infected my cuts), and excess and unnecessary stress and trauma are just a few issues i have had.

My goal is smooth, stress free 100% rooting rates... not 90, 80, or even 70... 100 percent..

they are many different methods to cloning and each one may work differently for each person's situation.

Only share something unless you have something constructive to share or have beneficial information regarding cloning with rapid rooters..

I think this is a great thread here - great advice overall.

If you want to become a really big time grower and have some awesome harvests, you need to know how to clone. Especially if you've had some great strains going.

:weed-sign:

Love it!

 

[greenthumbbumb]

I agree that its overkill on a normal bases seeing as how i use just coco and tap, but there are often times that strain that doesnt want to root or take forever, this seems like a good method to make sure all your clones root, even the stubborn ones.