Problems with Cloning

[tribble94]

Ok, I need some insight. I have followed the basis of what 420fied has done, I believe, for cloning. The strain is Northern Lights from the Dutch Seed Company. I take cuttings at about 5 inches. I put them in water and trim them. I then cut off the bottom at a 45 degree angle and scrape the side and place them into rooting gel. Once I have all of my cuttings, I then place them into my DIY aerocloner. I use regular tap water and bring the PH down to 5.8. I have a water heater in the tank to ensure that the temp of the water stays at 71 degrees F. My pump is rated at 400 GPH with 10 360 degree spray sites. At first I ran the pump 24/7. With no plausible results I then switched to 15min on/15min off. I am about to purchase a timer that will allow me to run 1min on/ 4min off to see if this helps.

There is the set up and proceedure that I have. Now I want to state that I am getting root growth. Only at a low success rate and it is taking like 2-3 weeks just for the root buds to truly show. From what I have researched and read I should be getting these in about 5-6 days.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Muttt]

You probably have chlorine in your tap water. Try using RO water from the store. Also, i've heard that clone gel retards the bubble cloning by sealing the stem. Try sprinkling a little bit of hormone powder in the water ..... or not using rooting agents at all.


I've had much better luck cloning with rapid rooters.

 

[tribble94]

Mutt,

Thanks for the info. I will get RO water when I change my water tomorrow. Also, I will try a batch with no cloning gel. Have you tried the Super Thrive in the water? As for the rapid rooters, they were my actual first atemp before building the aerocloner. Maybe it was too wet but I would have over half of the clones die and become mushy. As I stated, after seeing 420fied's results, I switched to an aerocloner. Thanks for the advice.

 

[420fied]

You don't need to go through the hassle of switching to RO water. Your tap water will work fine. The fact that it's taking 2 weeks for you to see roots might be strain related. Some strains take longer to root than others. With my strain, roots show in 7 days. They'll root just fine without the use of gel but the root systems won't be nearly as vigorous. I'd go with straight tap if I could get the same results but I can't. Straight tap water is the safest play. Post pictures of your setup as that will better enable me to asses the problem.

When aero cloning is dialed in, nothing can touch it.

 

[tribble94]

Okay, I have the pics. This is the top view:

Close up of some clones:

This is the view inside:

And some roots:

I opened it up change the water to some RO water that I picked up last night. Upon doing so I noticed this white slimy stuff on things inside and did a detail cleaning. It was even on some of the clones:

After cleaning everything up I put in the RO water, made sure PH was at 5.8 and temps at 70*F. I then put in some superthrive at about 1/4 tsp per gallon of water. Now the question is, can I put in some H2O2 in order to combat what I assume is some kind of fungus on the plants? Also, is it necessary to split the clone cuttings or should I just scrape them and then put them in the machine after a quick soak in cloning gel?

I would prefer to use straight tap water like I was, however, with the issues I was having, I wanted to go this week with RO just to be able to rule out the water issue. 420fied any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[420fied]

This is what I have noticed from experience. If I scrape my clones and then add superthrive, I'll get slime on the stems just like you are, every time. I bet you'll see slime.

I don't recommend adding H202. I recommend dumping your res and going with straight tap. The superthrive + scraping = slime every time. I'd get rid of superthrive and get some cloning gel. I have found that I can lightly scrape my stems and then dip them in gel without any slime issues. RO water is fine but you can use regular tap water with good results. I use tap and I don't split my clones. Also, I'd recommend leaving much less stem below your neoprene puck. I used to leave a lot of stem below the puck like you and I'd see cases of stem rot. Now I only leave about 1-1.5" below the puck and that has eliminated the instances of stem rot.

These are 16 days old.

 

[tribble94]

Yours look great as usual. I did get the slime. It freaked me out and I broke down the aerocleaner and scrubbed it with H2O2. Then tossed the clones with slime. I will go with your procedure and will try to post new pics in about a week. Thanks.

 

[Cultivator]

straight water in res without ph'ing. u have alot of stem though, id half that amount. what are u feeding ur mothers, that has quite a big effect on the time it takes to show roots. i find if u starve the mothers before taking cuts they will root faster. so no nutes for 5 days in coco. i see roots sometimes in 4 days. ofcourse its strain dependant too but it used to take like 3 weeks for roots to show before i used this technque.