DIY cloner question

[PicApartPixls]

I plan on crafting a DIY cloner based off of this tutorial here: https://forum.---------.com/do-yourself/444974-lets-build-clone-machine-*step-step*.html

Seems like 420magazine doesn't like competition and removed the name of the website from above. If you search google for "how to make a cloner" it will show up as the first link that says "Lets Build a Clone Machine *Step by Step*".....

The tutorial looks pretty complete and looks like it would produce quite a quality cloner for the fraction of the cost. The only question I have is that there is no air pump or air stone. My buddy stated that you need an air pump and an air stone to oxygenate the water or else after the water sits for a few days it will gradually lose it's oxygen. Does anyone have a DIY cloner and you can give me any advice as far as adding an air pump / air stone to this setup or if I even need one.

Thank you!

 

[Bill C]

I plan on crafting a DIY cloner based off of this tutorial here: https://forum.---------.com/do-yourself/444974-lets-build-clone-machine-*step-step*.html

Seems like 420magazine doesn't like competition and removed the name of the website from above. If you search google for "how to make a cloner" it will show up as the first link that says "Lets Build a Clone Machine *Step by Step*".....

The tutorial looks pretty complete and looks like it would produce quite a quality cloner for the fraction of the cost. The only question I have is that there is no air pump or air stone. My buddy stated that you need an air pump and an air stone to oxygenate the water or else after the water sits for a few days it will gradually lose it's oxygen. Does anyone have a DIY cloner and you can give me any advice as far as adding an air pump / air stone to this setup or if I even need one.

Thank you!

The spraying action provides plenty of oxygenation to the water. If I'm not mistaken, the reason an air pump is used in the cloners you buy is to make sure a fresh air supply is always inside the cloner itself.

The biggest problems I had with a DIY cloner was the leaks. I was using a tote bought at the local Megalow Mart, and had a very difficult time making it leak proof. Water would work its way between the lid and the tote and start that annoying drip, drip, drip. I tried weather stripping, caulk, weights, etc. They would work for a while, but inevitably the leak would come back. I may have had better luck with a different style tote, but eventually scrapped the whole project and simply bought an EZ Cloner out of frustration. I've had no problems since. A 5-gallon bucket might have a tighter, more waterproof lid, but I couldn't produce enough clones for my needs with a bucket.

Good luck!

 

[WillyBudz]

Aerocloners do not need airstones in the res but you can use one if you wish.
The roots do not sit in solution and are exposed to air, staying wet from the sprayers. I sent you a pm with the DIY name of the cloner I use.

WillyB

 

[kdogsgirls]

A good pump and good nozzles are key

 

[SteveHman]

kdogs is right, estimate the size pump you need and then go up 2 sizes. I would use something in the 500 gph range. I know it sounds like a lot for a cloner, but those little spray heads can clog easily. More flow, less chance of clogging. And place the pump in a filter bag too.

 

[kdogsgirls]

Diy cloners are super easy to build...its one of those things that can be way overthought...a bucket, a pump, spray nozzles.....clonex orr any of the rooting hormones...the mist constanly being sprayed against the stems will make roots in three days...the one problem everone has is leaking..get a plastic rubbery strip.so it doesnt leak out the sides..get it done and youll have more.clones rooted in a week than you have room for...a tupperware container with fifty holes in the top can bang out a hundred rooted clones in two weeks no problem.....if I can find a way to getmy pics off my fone ill show ya mine

 

[kdogsgirls]

In my cloner the roots are a foot long within seven days..or close to it..

 

[PicApartPixls]

The spraying action provides plenty of oxygenation to the water. If I'm not mistaken, the reason an air pump is used in the cloners you buy is to make sure a fresh air supply is always inside the cloner itself.

The biggest problems I had with a DIY cloner was the leaks. I was using a tote bought at the local Megalow Mart, and had a very difficult time making it leak proof. Water would work its way between the lid and the tote and start that annoying drip, drip, drip. I tried weather stripping, caulk, weights, etc. They would work for a while, but inevitably the leak would come back. I may have had better luck with a different style tote, but eventually scrapped the whole project and simply bought an EZ Cloner out of frustration. I've had no problems since. A 5-gallon bucket might have a tighter, more waterproof lid, but I couldn't produce enough clones for my needs with a bucket.

Good luck!

Thank you for the good luck. One of my other buddies stated the same thing about DIY cloners. He had the same perpetual leak no matter what he did then what he did was instead of using one bucket he used two, cut a few inches off one and flipped it upside down so that it sat inside the other one. Cut the holes in the bottom of the container that sat inside the other and it dripped into the other kinda like how the EZ cloner has a top and a bottom, but more ghetto and not as professionally snug. I'm hoping that the 5 gallon bucket won't have any leak issues but we'll see. I only need to clone at max 5 at a time so I feel that a bucket is best for my situation currently.

Aerocloners do not need airstones in the res but you can use one if you wish.
The roots do not sit in solution and are exposed to air, staying wet from the sprayers. I sent you a pm with the DIY name of the cloner I use.

WillyB

Thanks for the name of the DIY you use. It makes sense that the roots are getting air from the space in between and the moisture from the water.

A good pump and good nozzles are key

I was gonna use replacement 360 EZ cloner nozzles. Do you have any other reccomendations for good nozzles. The pump that the tutorial I looked at is discontinued so I'm trying to find a good replacement pump that has a female 1/2" input for the PVC "S" I made.

kdogs is right, estimate the size pump you need and then go up 2 sizes. I would use something in the 500 gph range. I know it sounds like a lot for a cloner, but those little spray heads can clog easily. More flow, less chance of clogging. And place the pump in a filter bag too.

500gph does sound like a lot for a cloner but I see where your coming from here. The extra pressure will help push tiny bits through because of the increase in pressure. I haven't seen a filter bag for pumps. Do you have a link to something that could get me started? Is it just a bag that keeps the water coming in from having particles in it?

Diy cloners are super easy to build...its one of those things that can be way overthought...a bucket, a pump, spray nozzles.....clonex orr any of the rooting hormones...the mist constanly being sprayed against the stems will make roots in three days...the one problem everone has is leaking..get a plastic rubbery strip.so it doesnt leak out the sides..get it done and youll have more.clones rooted in a week than you have room for...a tupperware container with fifty holes in the top can bang out a hundred rooted clones in two weeks no problem.....if I can find a way to getmy pics off my fone ill show ya mine

In my cloner the roots are a foot long within seven days..or close to it..

I hope to get my DIY cloner up and running and producing about the same. I know that various strains do take different amounts of time to sprout roots so I'm gonna keep a journal and compute the average rooting time for my strains I'm gonna use so I know when to throw them in my cloner to keep my perpetual on track.

 

[SteveHman]

I'll find you a link to the filter bag for the pump. I know 500gph sounds like a lot, but just remember, you can always turn the pressure down on a pump, but you can't increase it. Go a size or two bigger than you think you need. I based it off of the replacement pumps for ezcloners, they are in that range. And the cost of a 500 vs a 260 is just a few bucks.

 

[PicApartPixls]

I'll find you a link to the filter bag for the pump. I know 500gph sounds like a lot, but just remember, you can always turn the pressure down on a pump, but you can't increase it. Go a size or two bigger than you think you need. I based it off of the replacement pumps for ezcloners, they are in that range. And the cost of a 500 vs a 260 is just a few bucks.

Indeed. I was looking at the Via Aqua Pump with about 526gph runs $31.05 at my local store and Via Aqua Pump 315 gph runs about $28.50. I see what you mean there!

Thanks for the insight I probably would have skimped to be honest... Lol

 

[Bill C]

I only need to clone at max 5 at a time so I feel that a bucket is best for my situation currently.

Have you tried rockwool cubes? When I was cloning a handful at a time, I'd just take my cuttings, scrape the stem, dip them in rooting hormone, stick them in a cube of rockwool, and put them in a clear container with a dome. It's not as "hands off" as a cloner as you have to water/mist your cuttings occassionally until they root. The cloners are faster and have a success rate close to 100%, but I didn't mind the extra week and was hitting around 75% success. It's not as fancy as a cloning machine, but it worked. I hope you won't have any leaks, but this would be a good "fall back" method to keep in reserve just in case!

 

[PicApartPixls]

Have you tried rockwool cubes? When I was cloning a handful at a time, I'd just take my cuttings, scrape the stem, dip them in rooting hormone, stick them in a cube of rockwool, and put them in a clear container with a dome. It's not as "hands off" as a cloner as you have to water/mist your cuttings occassionally until they root. The cloners are faster and have a success rate close to 100%, but I didn't mind the extra week and was hitting around 75% success. It's not as fancy as a cloning machine, but it worked. I hope you won't have any leaks, but this would be a good "fall back" method to keep in reserve just in case!

To be honest I haven't even grown anything yet. A friend is moving and is giving me cuttings of all of his strains before he parts. I planed on keeping some bonsai moms of his strains and then cloning from them as I need. I will keep the rockwool cubes in mind for sure if I run into leaking issues. I mostly wanted the increased success rate that aerocloners provide. I have bought the bucket and the pvc which ran me about $13 so if I choose to put it off for a while its no problem.

 

[kdogsgirls]

I tried cloning the reg way And my sucess rate was dismal..like two out of ten, and it would take like three weeks..building the cloner gave me 100% sucsess rate..like jesus himself pissed on the cuttings. . I named it the jesus christ cloner ...when you pull a ccutting out five days later and the roots are like six inches long youll be like, "jesus christ look at these roots"

 

[Goldengoose7]

I may have had better luck with a different style tote, but eventually scrapped the whole project and simply bought an EZ Cloner out of frustration. I've had no problems since.

Good luck!

I went the same route as Bill, but I opted for a Turbo Klone 48 site cloner over the EZ Clone 30 because I preferred the design and the additional cloning sites for a much more reasonable price up front. Prior to this purchase, I had tried cloning Cannabis four separate times using Rockwool and cloning gel and had very disappointing results, and a ton of wasted time to boot! All the baby sitting with the humidity domes and spray bottle was just too darned tedious for me to deal with, and with no guarantee that I would have anything to show for it when all was said and done. In my case, I rarely did!

I needed a cloning solution that could give me as close to a 100% success rate in 12-16 days tops and a quality cloning machine looked like the answer. I naturally chose the one I felt gave you the most bang for the buck.

The T48 has an exhaust fan mounted on the front of the tub that pulls warm air out of the cloning chamber and allows fresh air to enter through the top of the box. This not only helps maintain a stable water temp which is crucial for optimal root development, it adds to the O2 concentration in the cloning chamber.

My unit is housed in a less than ideal bedroom closet where temps can get rather high at times, and although the T48 runs much cooler than an EZ clone on a 24/7 schedule, my installation still required a cycle timer on the pump to help prevent water temps from getting above the optimum range of between 69 and 75 degrees F. I always shot for 72 during my last session. I generally ran the pump for about 3 minutes on and 4 minutes off 24/7. Sometimes I would run the pump for up to 40 minutes with 4 minutes off if I had just adjusted the PH or added something to the cloning water solution in the unit and wanted it all to get thoroughly mixed in the cloner.

Giving the clones some time in the air without the constant water bath seemed to motivate them to make better roots when the time came to do so.

After an initial problem with a defective pump, (the company sent me TWO replacement pumps and a free extra set of foam collars for my trouble) My results with the T48 were nothing short of miraculous! I had a 100% success rate with several dozen 1-2 inch root spikes on every single cutting by day 15. I transplanted the entire brood into soil on Day 16 and gave them a good watering of B1 and Fish Emulsion. The next day, they all went outdoors in direct sunshine and 80+ degree heat with no shock, wilt or anything. They are behaving more like 3 week old seedlings than recently emerged clones!

In my opinion, the T48 was worth every single penny I paid for it. While I could have probably built something similar for half the price in materials, my personal time is more valuable to me than the the savings over a commercial product that has already been thoroughly tested to provide the optimum results with the least amount of hassle for the end user.

That was the whole point I bought a cloner in the first place. My Rockwool cloning success was hit or miss at best. Now I have a guaranteed cloning solution that I can count on to produce as many viable clones in 15 days as I care to put into the machine.

The only other materials a cloning machine needs is a quality cycle timer, H&R Roots Excelurator to add the second root buds begin forming, and Clonex cloning solution to add to the water during the first week.

While these added ingredients are not a requirement for success, they increase root spike quantity and quality by a factor of 10!

Good luck with your project, but if you start running into too many roadblocks, I would Google Turbo Klone and start doing some research!

You can also review the last few pages of my grow journal linked in my sig. I have several detailed sections on my very first cloning run using the machine.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I always like to provide as much info as I have available on a subject and let the reader choose to either read it or pass it by.

Cheers.

 

[kdogsgirls]

Cloning for some is mad easy...not for me..the cloners do make it pretty much flawless..they put out a hell of alot more than I can even use rt now..

 

[Goldengoose7]

Cloning for some is mad easy...not for me..the cloners do make it pretty much flawless..they put out a hell of alot more than I can even use rt now..

You can get much smaller models from other companies. I will probably NEVER use all 48 sites on mine, but it is there if I need it.

My last run I did 20 cuttings and all of them rooted. Next time, I am cloning some GDP and Blue Cheese, but with a 100% success rate, I can now just do what I need which will be four of each strain for a total of 8 clones.

 

[kdogsgirls]

Oh yeah I.could just use the guts from the hundred site and make a ten site with a five gal...thx broski

 

[Goldengoose7]

Oh yeah I.could just use the guts from the hundred site and make a ten site with a five gal...thx broski

Exactly!

I also heard some rumors recently that Turbo Klone is coming out with a 20 site model for a real reasonable price! I think for most personal growers, a 20 site would be more than enough and you would need less water, cloning stuff etc.!

 

[PicApartPixls]

I went the same route as Bill, but I opted for a Turbo Klone 48 site cloner over the EZ Clone 30 because I preferred the design and the additional cloning sites for a much more reasonable price up front. Prior to this purchase, I had tried cloning Cannabis four separate times using Rockwool and cloning gel and had very disappointing results, and a ton of wasted time to boot! All the baby sitting with the humidity domes and spray bottle was just too darned tedious for me to deal with, and with no guarantee that I would have anything to show for it when all was said and done. In my case, I rarely did!

I needed a cloning solution that could give me as close to a 100% success rate in 12-16 days tops and a quality cloning machine looked like the answer. I naturally chose the one I felt gave you the most bang for the buck.

The T48 has an exhaust fan mounted on the front of the tub that pulls warm air out of the cloning chamber and allows fresh air to enter through the top of the box. This not only helps maintain a stable water temp which is crucial for optimal root development, it adds to the O2 concentration in the cloning chamber.

My unit is housed in a less than ideal bedroom closet where temps can get rather high at times, and although the T48 runs much cooler than an EZ clone on a 24/7 schedule, my installation still required a cycle timer on the pump to help prevent water temps from getting above the optimum range of between 69 and 75 degrees F. I always shot for 72 during my last session. I generally ran the pump for about 3 minutes on and 4 minutes off 24/7. Sometimes I would run the pump for up to 40 minutes with 4 minutes off if I had just adjusted the PH or added something to the cloning water solution in the unit and wanted it all to get thoroughly mixed in the cloner.

Giving the clones some time in the air without the constant water bath seemed to motivate them to make better roots when the time came to do so.

After an initial problem with a defective pump, (the company sent me TWO replacement pumps and a free extra set of foam collars for my trouble) My results with the T48 were nothing short of miraculous! I had a 100% success rate with several dozen 1-2 inch root spikes on every single cutting by day 15. I transplanted the entire brood into soil on Day 16 and gave them a good watering of B1 and Fish Emulsion. The next day, they all went outdoors in direct sunshine and 80+ degree heat with no shock, wilt or anything. They are behaving more like 3 week old seedlings than recently emerged clones!

In my opinion, the T48 was worth every single penny I paid for it. While I could have probably built something similar for half the price in materials, my personal time is more valuable to me than the the savings over a commercial product that has already been thoroughly tested to provide the optimum results with the least amount of hassle for the end user.

That was the whole point I bought a cloner in the first place. My Rockwool cloning success was hit or miss at best. Now I have a guaranteed cloning solution that I can count on to produce as many viable clones in 15 days as I care to put into the machine.

The only other materials a cloning machine needs is a quality cycle timer, H&R Roots Excelurator to add the second root buds begin forming, and Clonex cloning solution to add to the water during the first week.

While these added ingredients are not a requirement for success, they increase root spike quantity and quality by a factor of 10!

Good luck with your project, but if you start running into too many roadblocks, I would Google Turbo Klone and start doing some research!

You can also review the last few pages of my grow journal linked in my sig. I have several detailed sections on my very first cloning run using the machine.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I always like to provide as much info as I have available on a subject and let the reader choose to either read it or pass it by.

Cheers.

Thank you for the great information Goldengoose!

At the point I am now I am thoroughly enjoying doing the hands on creation aspect of starting my grow. I've had to create a wooden box with carpentry skills that I didn't even know I had with borrowed tools and free wood. It came out great! I will probably create a journal when time comes and I get plants. As far as I am currently I just have various supplies that I have been acquiring for my planned grow in a few months.

Since I have this amount of time to play with before even obtaining my plants I've been spending it getting the environment the way I need it and creating various aspects for my setup that I can fashion myself. I also don't have too much money to throw away at a cloning machine at this point in time after investing the majority of my money on top quality bulbs, reflectors, soil, and nutrients, which I would rather invest at this stage on those than a cloner. The parts overall for the one I have about 75% done right now will total run me $65 dollars. I just fixed a friends computer for $50 and so overall I spend about $15 on the cloner. If it ends up not being as good as a bought cloner then I'm fine with it right now.

Here are some photos of the cloner so far. I have not purchased the pump or neopreme inserts as of yet. I plan on making a trip to my local store either tomorrow during the day or Saturday. From there I'm going to cement the pvc together and start threading the sprayers into the PVC.

Once I get some experience with the cloner and the various pros and cons of it I'll potentially create a step by step tutorial for 420mag since the one I followed was located on a different website. Let me know if there is an interest for a creation of one here on this website.

 

[kdogsgirls]

I dont get it..fifteen days to get one to two inch roots? In the jesus christ cloner a friend and I built by day fifteen the roots would be well over a foot long..maybe jesus did piss in it...within five days ive got one to four inch roots..if I can figure out how to upload friggin fone pics I could show you my set up..i think I might have to get a reg camera and a reg pc.