just a little nervous about making clones (90-100% humidity?)

[Califlower]

Suppose I'll jump in also with some thoughts / personal experience.

I believe the main reason that "classic cutting methods" recommend high RH is to reduce transpiration and thus moisture uptake during a time which a plant cannot uptake efficiently on its' own. As well, low light augments this by reducing photosynthesis, which will slow usage of stored nutrients within the plant. An interesting thing to consider with stored nutrients is mobile vs. immobile elements. One could theorize that immobile elements cannot be used in any great degree during this stage; as they cannot be relocated nor can new be absorbed without roots.

Now as to whether a cutting requires special high RH and low light; is more dependent on the method used for rooting. I've done most all methods over the years, I suppose and only certain cases would require a humidity controlled enclosure. If you are doing "old school" type cuttings where you put a cut into moist potting soil alone; then you will probably need to keep the environment around the plant high RH by an enclosure or dome. In situations like this; I've used sealable acrylic cases along with a moistened pea gravel floor in cases like this with 100% survival. However, this old school system is probably the most prone to issues and requires the longest time for rooting (2 weeks +/-). An easy way to tell if you have 100% humidity in any enclosure or dome is by having condensation apparent on walls / lid.

More modern types of cuts used in this industry are typically variations of some form of hydro (continual supply of moisture). In many of these scenarios, it is possible to not require any enclosure or lid and still maintain a "localized high RH area". The net result of any auto-watering method in root stage results in a higher moisture content in the medium (as opposed to a hand watered once cup). This moisture is continually evaporating into the air right around the cut foliage itself; thus augmenting RH in that zone. As well, certain auto-watering methods like DWC will further exacerbate this high RH area as a result of constant air exchange out of the water holding chamber. In cases like this, no dome or any enclosure can be utilized.

I guess a last note on light. Ultimately, light level is going to be related to how long your cuts take to root. The longer you typically wait for roots; the less light you should have. However, you can judge by watching your cut as it roots (more color loss by rooting point could use a bit less light). I don't imagine you need HID lighting during this stage, but outside of this; I've never had issues with various lighting methods. Typically I run around 1000 lumens per square foot for cuts.

Hope this helps.

I just wanted to say I've read this several times since I started trying to clone. It sinks in more after having tried cloning a bit. Some good tips in there, thanks. I do want to do the aero thing. Thanks for the tip on the 1000 lumens/sq. ft. I've seen the aerocloners with and without net pots, If not going into an aero setup, I guess the net pots aren't needed.

 

[Funkadelic]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread if its considered gauche, but Im searching on cloning to see if theres faster, easier ways. Im lazy.
That said, sorry to hear your struggles Califlower, and I want to help.

Every time I did the heat mat, rockwool, dome way my clones all got pythium and died. Hate that method. Got maybe 2 clones, ever.

Now I use a DIY cheap homemade cloner, bleach between rounds, use GH cloning liquid in cloner, keep cloner on cold stone floor but run pump 24/7 to keep temp at least 65. Small t5 light, small fan, no dome.
Change water at 1 week, keep eye on pH throughout.

100% success by the end of week 2. Considering running one of these through flower since the plants love it and take off.

Keep the good bacteria happy with low temps, no dome ever. You can't fail.

Also, most people dont know their municpality uses chloramine in water, not chlorine. You cant offgas it, its too stable. Thats why they use it in city water, right?

You break the chlorine and amine bond easily by dropping a vitamin c tablet in your water, then aerate it a day. I always do this.

Let me know if you need any help, brother. Cloning is maybe the hardest part, but a cheap DIY ez cloner solves everything and clones have santa claus beard roots by 2.5 weeks and grow toward the light.

Pythium sucks, and thrives in warm anaerobic environments. Low rez temps are infinitely higher in dissolved oxygen, which makes your good bacteria happy and also your precious baby girls.

Im even thinking of converting my home depot tote with the grid lid into a cloner after I saw a guy here do that. Clever.

Also, run your drill in reverse when you cut holes and be careful not to bore them out or the neoprene circle inserts like to fall in.

How are your clones now?
Great thread, and fantastic info from Seamaiden (as always) and brilliant post by Protaide. Glad I found this thread.

 

[ByrneBurnham]

Jiffy squares, 50% perlite-50% vermiculite, distilled water-soak the jiffy squares thoroughly (I do this by spraying jiffy square til saturated and prewatering the mix), set small utility knife in 70% alcohol for 5 minutes and let blade air dry, scuff up stem area - make cut and roll in rooting hormone and while rolling cut in hormone cut off bottom 1/4" of cutting's stem and stick in hole made in mix....
Place cuttings under clear dome and place dome beneath t12 light....in 7-8 days you have this....

And once you have that you end up with these......

One huge tip - singing Paul Simon's Diamonds on The Soles of Her Shoes throughout the above process guarantees no stress to Mama plant.

This is Byrne Burnham and I approve of this message. ....

Admittedly some steps were omitted due to space and time constraints. ....

 

[ByrneBurnham]

Oh yeah - one last thing...... Ive read to snip the tips of the leaves and I actually did that on a few and didnt on others and found zero difference between the two. Magnifying this pic and youll see most were NOT snipped.....

 

[Califlower]

Right now I'm still doing it the classic way. 4 or 5 weeks ago I took 10 cuts, used Clonex, and put them in seedling mix in a tray insert. I used a dome, then took it off. The cells in the insert are rather small, maybe the volume of a Jiffy cube. 3 survived and I transplanted them into 4" pots. Then a couple weeks ago I put them in gallon pots. My goal is mainly to keep a couple strains going and put say 18" clones out this fall (The only potential frost times around here are late December and January). Two are about 10" tall and the OG Kush likes to stretch. It was like 18" and I already had to chop it down a little. I'm starting to see a couple roots in the gallon pot drainage holes.

Oh, and I put one cut in a glass of water and eventually it made root primordia. Then I put it into some damp soil... we'll see...

I just took some more cuts the other day from some stuff flowering outside. I used the same method, but I bought a sterile scalpel that comes in a wrapper, and I put the cuts in 100% perlite. I'm doing 18 hours of light right now. So I will report back about how the perlite does. My closet stays around 75-85 degrees and I don't have a heat mat. Oh, and I make small cuts and only leave 2 leaves so they don't have to support as much foliage while rooting.

I still haven't sprung for or built an aerocloner. However, the Klone King items online seem like a good deal. Anyone using that brand?

 

[dwood]

How I clone been very succesful. 1. Soak rockwool for 24 hours. 2. Remove extra from rock wool after soaking and place in a tray with perlite. 3. Take cuttings, try and get cuttings with at least to nodes. Scrap slightly breaking Cambium layer. 4. Dip in clone and place into rock wool cubes. Place tray on top of heating pad and pour some warm water in the tray. 5 put a clear lid on the tray making sure the vents are closed. Also I might spay lid with water.
The evaporation of water keep humidity very high. I Take The Lid Off at least Once or twice a day for fresh air. And for get about them. If can get some liquid clone mix that and pour it in the tray

Second way I clone being lazy. Get some ff warrior. Put in solo cups with drainage holes at the bottom. Take cutting like before dip and place in cups water put lid on tray and forget about them let them have fresh air and let them grow

 

[showmegreen]

All I do is grab some of those jiffy peat pellets (walmarts), some water that I ran through a Zero Water filter pitcher I also got at the walmarts, 1/2 tsp/gal (always member "less is more") of Super Thrive (Walmarts again) then let them pellets soak till they fat n can take no more water. Put them in a seed tray w/ dome (yep you got it Walmarts). Let the tray sit in the sunlight to warm the pellets up enough to un-waterlogg'em (aroun a day or so). Then I start playin Edward Scissor Hands and start a wack'in. I cut at a good angle but not too much. Stick the stem of your cuttin inta a pellet. The tenderer' the better when it comes to the stems. I dont use hor'moans or rooti'n chems. Gettem out da window an lettem see dark fer about halfaday so they calm down an get their mind right on wat they need to be doin. Then I throw a 2' cfl made fer plant growin ( I got at you'll never guess where? fer $10) right on top of the dome. Every other day or more I'll spray'em (light but nicely) with more of that Zero/Super Thrive (allways way dilluted) concoction on their leaves. And after about eight to ten days ill givem the "gentle pull" test. If they pass they go inta 3x3" starter pots and more lights. If not I'll checkem again ina few mo days. I seem to almost never and I mean NEVER lose any (knock on wood). I swear by them peat pellets! Always havem or a block o the stuff on hand. When them rabbits got loose in the house and tore up my grow, that peat saved a couple of the lil ladies lives. They got a new set of roots where they had a stem before mind you, but they lived. Jus some peat wrapped around the wound with a wad of medical tape aroun it till roots pop out. Then you cut the new plant free. Air rooting is wat I was told it's called. Anyways you'll figure out wat werks for ya an I jus suggest stickin to it. Be BLESSED and have fun playin GOD. I know I sure do!

 

[motz]

You guys make this seem like it's rocket science,the extremes that some go thru! Just mind boggling,wtf. It's not that hard for petes sake. Some of you are your own worst enemies. Do it old school heat,wool, and rooting hormone along with STERILIZATION!!!!!! Use that bleach solution and keep it tight people. 100% success/100%of the time The easiest and cheapest way to do it. Oh and 24 hours of light.. Even spray the clones to be with water directly 3 x's a day some spray the dome. Humidity is key for the first week.

 

[dwood]

motz i agree,
I spray the dome. also leave them alone (stop picking them up looking for roots you just did it yesterday...smile) Take the hood off for fresh air once maybe twice a day. Once in the morning, wait 8 hours or so and then again. After that leave them alone.. When the roots pop, they will begin to grow. At that point add some microbiology and a little calmag.

 

[motz]

There ya go @dwood, some spray the dome,I spray the cutting and don't have a lick of problems. Everything you do is solid and you probably have no problems either,good work!

 

[dwood]

Motz, I do everything you said. Here is a little something extra. there is a product called No wilt or something like that. I bought along time ago(home depot), it does work. But all you really have to do is what we said. I use to be like that, until one week I had alot to do. All I would do is take the dome off in the morning before work. Make sure everything was moist. go to work come home 10 hours later take the dome off while i made coffee and rolled a blunt. Put the dome on and went about my bussiness. Next thing I knew they was growing, added a little calmag, microbes. and been doin it that way ever since. it is truely that easy.

 

[motz]

No wilt,does that put a waxy sheen on to hold moisture in? Think tried something like that before. Had one of the first aero cloners too ,ah phooey! Went back to old school.

 

[dwood]

yeah it does. I made a ez cloner. went back to old school....lol
Motz, what do you know about bottom feeding

 

[motz]

I have 2" pvc tubing in 5gallon buckets. (air and watering) The tubing is glued to the bottom and the tubing is full of holes. I fill it twice when watering ( one with nutes, other straight water) also use drippers set up on a menards timer,you can get these back in plumbing. These run off of 2 AA batteries. Other than that go to wally world they have containers with a lip'hole that allows you to directly water into the bottom.

 

[Seamaiden]

yeah it does. I made a ez cloner. went back to old school....lol
Motz, what do you know about bottom feeding

It's how I do my clones. Perlite in a cup, set in a tray (no fucking dome, I hate the domes), put feed/water in the tray, et voila.

You can do it with rooted plants, too.

 

[Califlower]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread if its considered gauche, but Im searching on cloning to see if theres faster, easier ways. Im lazy.
That said, sorry to hear your struggles Califlower, and I want to help.

Every time I did the heat mat, rockwool, dome way my clones all got pythium and died. Hate that method. Got maybe 2 clones, ever.

Now I use a DIY cheap homemade cloner, bleach between rounds, use GH cloning liquid in cloner, keep cloner on cold stone floor but run pump 24/7 to keep temp at least 65. Small t5 light, small fan, no dome.
Change water at 1 week, keep eye on pH throughout.

100% success by the end of week 2. Considering running one of these through flower since the plants love it and take off.

Keep the good bacteria happy with low temps, no dome ever. You can't fail.

Also, most people dont know their municpality uses chloramine in water, not chlorine. You cant offgas it, its too stable. Thats why they use it in city water, right?

You break the chlorine and amine bond easily by dropping a vitamin c tablet in your water, then aerate it a day. I always do this.

Let me know if you need any help, brother. Cloning is maybe the hardest part, but a cheap DIY ez cloner solves everything and clones have santa claus beard roots by 2.5 weeks and grow toward the light.

Pythium sucks, and thrives in warm anaerobic environments. Low rez temps are infinitely higher in dissolved oxygen, which makes your good bacteria happy and also your precious baby girls.

Im even thinking of converting my home depot tote with the grid lid into a cloner after I saw a guy here do that. Clever.

Also, run your drill in reverse when you cut holes and be careful not to bore them out or the neoprene circle inserts like to fall in.

How are your clones now?
Great thread, and fantastic info from Seamaiden (as always) and brilliant post by Protaide. Glad I found this thread.

So I got a misting style clone machine for a good deal, but I have some questions. So, for real a vitamin C breaks the chloramine bond? What kind of vitamin C do you use? How do you aerate the water, an aquarium pump and tubing? It was suggested to me to use an air pump and tubing during the use of the cloner to get more oxygen in the water, but to not use an air stone because the bad bacteria can live in it. What temps are acceptable? I started using Clear Rez because your temps can be higher. It says it is hypocholorus acid 0.028%, inert ingredients 99.792%. It is supposed to help prevent scaling if used every 5 days. I use a recycle timer at approximately 6 minutes on, then 6 minutes off to help keep the water temperature down. Generally it is 75-78 degrees F. I'm a week in and only one died compared to my first try with no timer, and no hypocholorus acid. There are probably less expensive ways to obtain the weak acid solution.

What pH do you run? Is the pH for rooting going to be the same as the pH for growing hydroponically/aeroponically? Like 5.8, but allowed and encouraged to swing up to 6.5? I'm trying a non-organic rooting stimulator - Dynagro K-L-N. I'm worried however, because I have never pH controlled my water. My water is very hard (250+ ppm hardness) and is city water, probably with chloramine. Maybe I should get RO water from one of those filter machines, then add back in 20% tap water treated with vitamin C, then aerated, the use pH down to get it to say 6.0, then after it is stable add K-L-N, and Clear Rez, then run it with clones. I checked my tap water pH, it is higher than 7.6, but I don't know exactly how high... I think 8.0-8.2 though. That's what I've been using, extremely hard alkaline tap water with chloramine. But the Amazon seller claims any water that doesn't kill me should work as long as I keep my water temperature under 80, better yet 70-75, and air temps 70-75.

What fan do you use? I would think a 12" computer fan would be enough. Lighting? I got a 13W cool LED floodlight in a desk lamp clipped to a pole above the cloner and directly above the center. It is about 6-8 inches above it. It is not a lot of light in total, but pretty bright. I did see the hydro supply vendors online selling "grow" multi-colored LED floodlights, but I'm not sure if that is needed.

Do you clean the neoprene collars with a 10% bleach or peroxide solution?

Thanks Funkadelic! and all who posted!

 

[Califlower]

You guys make this seem like it's rocket science,the extremes that some go thru! Just mind boggling,wtf. It's not that hard for petes sake. Some of you are your own worst enemies. Do it old school heat,wool, and rooting hormone along with STERILIZATION!!!!!! Use that bleach solution and keep it tight people. 100% success/100%of the time The easiest and cheapest way to do it. Oh and 24 hours of light.. Even spray the clones to be with water directly 3 x's a day some spray the dome. Humidity is key for the first week.

So rockwool and sterilization is your thing? Cool. I think with any method sterilization is key. I've been using rubbing alcohol to clean the X-Acto knife I use. Gloves, etc. I will have to use bleach solution too. Thanks!

 

[Califlower]

Jiffy squares, 50% perlite-50% vermiculite, distilled water-soak the jiffy squares thoroughly (I do this by spraying jiffy square til saturated and prewatering the mix), set small utility knife in 70% alcohol for 5 minutes and let blade air dry, scuff up stem area - make cut and roll in rooting hormone and while rolling cut in hormone cut off bottom 1/4" of cutting's stem and stick in hole made in mix....
Place cuttings under clear dome and place dome beneath t12 light....in 7-8 days you have this....
View attachment 435308

And once you have that you end up with these......View attachment 435309
One huge tip - singing Paul Simon's Diamonds on The Soles of Her Shoes throughout the above process guarantees no stress to Mama plant.

This is Byrne Burnham and I approve of this message. ....

Admittedly some steps were omitted due to space and time constraints. ....

I might try this way also. I might try all the ways until I find the right one for me. Thanks!

 

[Canalchemist]

If you been around the forums for a few years you have seen your share of cloning threads, one thing I have to say I love these cloning threads, it's like a lumber jack convention when they all tell you how to cut down a tree a slightly different way. Everyone who has success seems to have dialed in their specific technique with the tools and things they work with. I have seen Jiffy Plugs, Aero Cloners, but my fav is a 8 popsicle tray with holes in the sides on the bottom filled with perlite set in an inch of water with a bubbler, couldn't believe the speed, (likely the strain) but it made nice popsicle shaped root popsicles that could be put in DWC, or in Soil etc...

Hey there... Do ya like popsicles...? I got some Popsicles in the Basement... Whoever eats the most Tylenol PM's wins. Hey there Muscly arms... (Herbert the Pervert from Family Guy)

 

[trippinballz]

(swings axe) Chop, chop....

It's dry here in CO. Plugs by themselves with ANY heat below the tray often toast up/dry out, especially if you use that plastic cell tray. To combat this, use:

Rooting plugs....a sharp blade....use rooting hormone if u want but it isn't needed.... a tray full of damp perlite....and a dome.

Root out holes in the perlite with your finger large enough for the plug. Go all the way to the bottom of the tray. If you can't make a hole the perlite isn't wet enough. Cut.dip/stick....then put the plug(s) in the hole and gently snug the plug into the perlite.... then dome.

I keep em off to the side in indirect light for 5 days....then I sit them directly on top of my tek light t-5 (or heat mat/etc).... within 2-5 days I always see roots.....except for that damn Chemdog D cut I had there for awhile that would take 2+ weeks. Check the perlite moisture every few days. Humidity will stay well in range and plugs will stay damp with this method. 100% successes all over the place. Works well with larger cuts/meristem cuts.