Soggy Stems In My Cloner... Clone Stems Turning To Mush

[igeorge]

Hey all, Why are my clone stems turning to mush? Whats the problem? Too much water and or pressure, temp? I run it non-stop. Temp average around 80. Couple drops of super thrive. Ph @ 6 +/- 1.

Most of the time I have great success. It's just when I see the soggy ones, I'm like WTF?

Thanks in advance,
G

 

[Buddy Flowers]

bacteria infection due to high water temps. i bet they're brown too, right?

bring your temps down to 72 range and no higher than 75. clean it out and start over. use new inserts and follow the cleaning instructions that came with it. either move it to a cooler location or cycle frozen water bottles in everytime the temp gets to 74. keep a thermometer or whatever in there so you can monitor the temps.

hope this helps

 

[weedfarm]

bacteria infection due to high water temps. i bet they're brown too, right?

bring your temps down to 72 range and no higher than 75. clean it out and start over. use new inserts and follow the cleaning instructions that came with it. either move it to a cooler location or cycle frozen water bottles in everytime the temp gets to 74. keep a thermometer or whatever in there so you can monitor the temps.

hope this helps

I agree, water temp too high


If its an aero cloner, you may want to set it up on a recycling timer so its on for 15 minutes, off for 15. I have done that and so have others. helps keep the pump from heating up the water and gives the stem a little air time.

 

[gudkarma]

i was getting this problem.

i had to do water changes every 3-4 days, clean the equipment frequently, and buy fresh rooting solution to beat it back.

if the stems are long enough, you can re-cut & re-dip them.

 

[theguapo]

yeah man too hot. my aero-cloner temps are around 60-68 and I have had 100% success. tap water, no PH adjustments, with power-clone.

 

[igeorge]

Well there ya go.. Thanks for all the quick reply's!

All great answers too!

Thanks again!

 

[ibTheMan]

you can put ice cubes in the water if needed.

 

[Buddy Flowers]

^ ice cubes will change pH and PPM . Use frozen water bottles. good luck man

 

[ibTheMan]

Good idea, or freeze some ph adjusted water to make ice cubes,lol(they wont change ph enough to make ah difference w/o adjustn ph unless your add n every day. i use a Turbo kloner and the water stays cool.
the frozen bottles is the best idea.

 

[rollinthc]

You def want to clean that rez out with either bleach, or better IMO, H2O2, cycle the hell out of it and wash down all of the components well with the solution and some gloves.

Stuff grows at higher temps and you want any potential questions about your cloner to be answered.

 

[Seamaiden]

I agree, water temp too high


If its an aero cloner, you may want to set it up on a recycling timer so its on for 15 minutes, off for 15. I have done that and so have others. helps keep the pump from heating up the water and gives the stem a little air time.

I go even further than that, I do 15-ON/30-OFF, and I feel that doing it that way helps them transition to transplantation.. no, transplanting, even better.

I also pH much lower and let it drift up, no Superthrive, just a very mild vegging nute formula (PBPGrow lets me do that really easily since it drives pH down so hard).

The frozen water bottle trick is one reefkeepers use in an emergency.

 

[Original Grower]

dont let the water temps bother you, just add 35% h202 @1.6ml/L every 2 days and youll be fine. the irony is root zone temps for clones are perfect at 80, but also breed bacteria. hyox will resolve the issue and increase production imvho, peace, og

 

[mango420]

Dont know if u said or not but I assume your using an aerocloner..if so ive had tons of experience with these things, in fact i built my own years ago before they were even available. I deff had the same problems you had out of the blue..now one thing I know from experience is different stains will get soggy "melt" at different temps..most solid stains I use 80f exactly and never have a problem, then you might put a more unstable stain in and it melts in 4 days at 80f. Besides that, the number one thing I can recommend is to clean and run your cloner between every clone run, use a water and bleach solution..dont need much bleach just a cup maybe. Run for about 15-30 minutes with the bleach solution circulating in the cloner. Then dump it out, refill with clean water, run for a few mins then dump..refill with warm water and take your clones! Dont worry if theres still bubbles in the cloner from the bleach, this doesnt affect your rooting at all, ive actually left a bit of bleach water in the cloner and roots never looked better! You MUST do this religiously after every cycle or you will get the "melt".

 

[gudkarma]

i'd agree with the above minus the h2o2.

for some reason, hydrogen peroxide + my cloner = death

don't ask me why.

im keen on regular cleaning & water change every week.

 

[xX Kid Twist Xx]

keep ur temps lower and you will be fine. cuz if u have a strain that gets all fucked up, your temps are to high. clean it between clones don't keep it continuous just cutting and adding none stop u need to clean it every few weeks no mater what. i used the gh 3 part and had good results never phing my water, now im using power clone and some are popping faster.

 

[gudkarma]

everybody is raving about how awesome power clone (botanicare) works.

i find keeping a grow nute solution in the cloner - 400 to 500ppm range - helps me.

 

[Seamaiden]

Kid... who told you what I did? <chuckle> You obviously know how difficult it is to NOT keep that thing filled with new cuttings.

Dont know if u said or not but I assume your using an aerocloner..if so ive had tons of experience with these things, in fact i built my own years ago before they were even available. I deff had the same problems you had out of the blue..now one thing I know from experience is different stains will get soggy "melt" at different temps..most solid stains I use 80f exactly and never have a problem, then you might put a more unstable stain in and it melts in 4 days at 80f.

Great points and tips.

Besides that, the number one thing I can recommend is to clean and run your cloner between every clone run, use a water and bleach solution..dont need much bleach just a cup maybe.

That's actually a lot of bleach, but if it does the job then it does the job. Have you tried other methods of disinfection, or other products intended for disinfection?

Run for about 15-30 minutes with the bleach solution circulating in the cloner. Then dump it out, refill with clean water, run for a few mins then dump..refill with warm water and take your clones! Dont worry if theres still bubbles in the cloner from the bleach, this doesnt affect your rooting at all, ive actually left a bit of bleach water in the cloner and roots never looked better! You MUST do this religiously after every cycle or you will get the "melt".

Very low levels of bleach seem to help some difficult seeds and cuts get going. Gotta titrate by drops, though.

 

[gudkarma]

bleach works.

since h2o2 is my nemesis in the cloner, i use 5 drops of bleach per gallon.

i've seen reference to 6 to 8 drops per gallon on other sites... a la "fatman".



how much h202 are people running w/ cuts in their cloners?

 

[igeorge]

Hey guys

Great comments! Its funny, In this thread alone It says to do and dont do everything I know about cloning.

I like the low PPM's of food. I hate when they start to turn yellow from straight water. I like the extra atom of oxygen in the H2o2.

Like I said, I have had good success.. It is a diy cloner and a good one! What if a little light is getting in the res from somewhere I dont see? Could that be a reason to see Mush Stem too?

Thanks to all!

 

[Seamaiden]

I could see it contributing to algae growth, and that could compete with the cuts for the available nutrients. But I'm not sure how it would cause a problem unless the algae were growing on the stems of the cuttings you're trying to get to take.