Taking clones

[dawiggy420]

i have had tons of trouble in this area. my last attempt looked real good after 2 weeks so i pulled the dome off and placed them in the veg room and within an hour they were wilted? this is my 5th or 6th time and i have had horrible success rates. any tips?

 

[whitey78]

Well I am in the same boat but I am on my first try and I havent lost that many yet but how are you doing this. Give us some info as to how you are taking the clones, what are you feeding them once you get them in the veg room, temps humidity, nutes, supplements, cloners, no cloners....

Theres tons of info about cloning out there but sometimes its tough to find what you need so I feel your pain but you need to be a little more specific as to how you are going about it.

 

[Slizzard]

Step us through your cloning process. List the steps you have been taking I mean, then we can figure out where it's going wrong.

 

[medme]

i'm having a hard time with one strain only.... anyone having problems cloning super lemon haze?

 

[dawiggy420]

well i have 4 mothers, super skunk, snow white, haze #1, and new york power diesel all completely organic in soil under a 1000watt metal halide. in an extremely well ventilated room. it stays about 75-80 degrees but humidity stays down to about 25%. my cloning system is in the same room and both stay on 24hrs a day.

i take most of my cuttings 2 node sets down from the set just below the top at a 45 degree angle with a razor or a pair of sharp scissors. i take a razor and remove the nodes from the bottom 2 sets and place in water till im done taking the cuttings from the plant.

i then take the razor and vertically split the bottom half inch. i used to scrape at the bottom also but abandoned that cuz i think i was going to deep. i dip in water and then i dip in my rooting hormone. (i use powdered rootone but only because thats whats available to me) and put the cuttings in small 6oz cups with a 70/30 potting mix soil ratio (my potting mix is comprised of sphagnum peet moss, and composted treebark) about 2.5 inches down, i drench the cups and place clear plastic cups of the same size with the rim cut off over the top. then i put them in an older t5 system that has 4 arched bulbs so in effect 8 positioned around the edges and a 13 watt cfl and reflector hang above. i used to have a problem with rot and mold but after placing a heat mat in the bottom its not as much of a problem.

i leave them in for 2 weeks taking the cups off for about a minute a day the last 3 days or so to let out some of the moisture and allow some air. they all usually root really well except thinner branches which still have a tendency to rot or get moldy.

my problem with the last batch was once i put them in my much dryer veg room compared to theyre humid cup houses perfectly healthy looking clones rooted strong with very little yellowing dry up and wilt almost instantly!? way before i can even think of starting any type of nutes. some will still have only the tiny top leaves alive and they pull thru but dont really grow at all for the 1st month or so which is just not practical..

im wondering now if i should try leaving the cups on for a day or 2 while in the veg room? or take the cups off and leave them in the t5 system for another week? idk? but any feedback is really appreciated

 

[PrairiePoet]

I'm thinking the humidity in the veg room is the problem. Same thing you are thinking, but from another side. You have the problem nailed, it is too dry in the veg room for the new clones. You solution is to find some way to fix the clones, where I think the actual problem is the room.

The RH in veg should be around 50% to 70%. If you bring this up. I am fairly certain you will see bigger and better growth on all plants. And the benefit is the new clones coming in won't dry up and die.

If you flower in the same air space, then raising the RH up brings other problems with the budding plants. A grower needs to balance both of the sets of plants (if the share the same air space).

I run two closets in a washing room in the basement. I circulate the air through three rooms in the basement. The veg closet has a humidifier to raise RH, and it's exhaust has a desiccant filter to lower it back some. the flower closet has a desiccant filter on intake, to lower it some more. I try to keep veg around 60, and the flower around 30 to 40 (if I can).

Hope some of this help....

Prairie

 

[Stilletto]

I have had great cloning success but found a higher percentage of failure when trying to rush things. I have experienced the same problems as you in the begining because in my opinion I overlooked the effect that stress can have on a plant. This is not the one and only reason for cloning failure, it is just one I felt was overlooked.
Let me start with an analogy... Many people survive getting shot.... many people survive overdoses, many people survive a fall down the stairs, and so on... but not many would survive falling down the stairs after getting shot durring an overdose. Plants are the same, changing too many things at once can kill a plant or clone. If I have a clone that has survived the cloning process and has begun forming a new root system, it is still very delicate. If I take that clone and change it's light source, it's nutrient, it's humidity, it's air quality and it's grow medium/eviroment all at the same time, the plant will probably die or suffer. I always try to take it in steps consisting of a few days in between each step. For example, when I feel that the roots are developing I remove the dome, then wait a day or 2 and continue to foliar spray so as to not force the root system to woork 100%. Next I will transplant and allow a few more days for the plant to get used to it's new medium. After this I begin a more complete nutrient program and allow the plant to adjust to it. Lastly I then change the lighting source from floressent to HID if I plan to veg under HID. By spreading the "stresses" out over a week or so I see way more sucess than I did when I was doing all 4 of these steps at once or too close togeather.
There are other factors like genetics, soil, nutes etc, but by overlooking a basic thing like stress you might start blaming other things for the failure but that blame would not be justified.

Just my 2 cents.

Jonny

 

[dawiggy420]

very good info thanks. i put a humidifier and a few open containers of water in the room and have already gotten the rh up to about 40% but i dont think its gonna get any higher ive got a batch goin now so ill let u guys know how it works out in the next couple weeks

 

[gate13]

clones root in 1inc r/wool cube but half come through the 3 in ;rootbound die

 

[Trunk5]

next time cut your branch then cut your clone and the very second you cut that 45 angle dip that end int o rooting gell, the longer you expose that stem to air via transfering from pant to water then cutting then water then gel, yeah thats too many steps.. cut branch peel off nodes cut at 45 then dip and put in cloner...

 

[Box of Rain]

AAHHH!!!!!!!!!-THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!!!!-Thank-You all the way from the windy city- NOW I REMEMBER!!! ANd they say you can't grow back brain cells-
Yup- as soon as that razor is finished with it's swipe @ that 45* Gently, butt quickly put the cutting in the root tone then into your little 2" cups. Then make your domes...

 

[Box of Rain]

AAHHH!!!!!!!!!-THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!!!!-Thank-You all the way from the windy city- NOW I REMEMBER!!! ANd they say you can't grow back brain cells-
Yup- as soon as that razor is finished with it's swipe @ that 45* Gently, butt quickly put the cutting in the root tone then into your little 2" cups. Then make your domes...

Hey TRUNK5-you still on??

 

[torontonewfie]

you have to harden your little babys off.after they take root you have to take the domes off for a while then back on.do this for a couple of days and they are good to go.