Cloning with fog - Fool-proof way to clone with a 100% success rate

[TheRoach]

Thank you for posting this. Made a smaller unit with a 3.5gal bucket and amazon mister under $25 total investment, 4 spot - 100% success after 5 days.

Thank you for commenting Apyros, post pictures please!
I am glad this was of help for you!
Reps+

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Foggers arrives Monday. I use a manifold sprayer type right now but tinkering is fun and this seems much easier to run/clean.

 

[TheRoach]

Wow, thanks for the reps Shiggity! You will like this cloning method!
Please post pictures of your final make, reps+

 

[Faic]

I'd come to the point of needing clones, and my first attempt at cut to dirt was 20% successful. Read this and figured it's worth a go.

Brilliant~

I used a plastic cup with some blue foam as a collar to make a float. So this really only cost me the 9$ for the mister. To be fair I had the 2gal bucket and lid already but that's like 4$ from a plastics site.

Cut the clones, gave a thought about the posts I'd read about turning sideways, facing north, making sure the whatevers are however. I put them in the little makeshift collars and stuck em in the holes. I used tap water (well, it's actually whole house filtered non clorine water- consider it basically RO, but it's not). Nothing else. No hormones, vitamins, though I did jokingly consider tossing a b-complex into the bucket. Might do that just as a whim since this is so brilliantly simple.

Sorry it's so blurry but autofocus and a different camera etc etc, but it's clear to see.

Awsome thread Roach, you've made my day.

 

[TheRoach]

Awesome, Im glad it has been of help for you. Reps+ for sharing your pictures!

 

[TokeMcLeod]

Many thanks Roach (and to JohnyBtreed). You've both done a mighty fine thing.

Got all the stuff together- black plastic tub, ultrasonic fogger with float, inserts improvised from a lovely peach-colored "pool noodle"...and fired 'er up with 3 test cuttings 15 days ago.

I swiftly learned that I needed a humidity dome, since my unit is kept in (and shifted between) ordinary rooms. After a bit of fiddling and improvising, I think I have this sorted out. Over their 15-day life in the McLeod Mistic Experimental Fogger MkI thus far, the clones have wilted 3 times- twice due to low moisture in the dome and once due to a power outage overnight which meant no fogging for about 6 hours.

No doubt this set the clones back. However, all are alive and well. Two have started making roots and the third (which took a big knock during one of the wilting sessions) is just starting to swell out at the bottom and forming the beginnings of roots. Slower results than reported here by others in this thread, but set-backs as mentioned so I'll reserve judgement until I can put a batch through without having them suffer similar "droughts".

So, all's well and I think I have found my weapon of choice for cloning with some refinement to come asap. (Got space for 18 cuttings in the fogger and my mothers are impatient to donate said cuttings). I particularly like the relatively large clones that can be propagated, as well as (hopefully) getting it to the state of "plug-n-play" where I can leave the unit unattended for a number of days at a time.

I need help with a couple of issues, please, one of them urgent!

1) Just now, I noticed some black spots on my a.m. beautiful peach-colored pool noodle inserts, inside the tub- i.e. the root-side. This looks suspiciously like a fungus- VERY ALARMING, I tell ya! (Glad I got that funky, bright color pool noodle...with dark neoprene I probably would have missed it).
Can I add something to the water (household bleach/hydrogen peroxide/other) to kill off these bastards without further harming my already battle-hardened girlies?

2) I struggle to keep the humidity in the dome high enough.
A.m. pool noodle inserts each have a hole of about 20mm diameter in them, which I plugged with plastic pipe end caps, except for the ones carrying actual clones which are supported between bits of foam in these holes. I left off one of these plastic caps to vent the fogging chamber into the dome, but that doesn't quite seem to cut it.
More vents into the dome, maybe? (holes drilled in the plastic tub top?)
I have considered using a 17mm case fan (0.9cfm) which I'd set on a cycle of say 2 minutes on (1.8cfm pumped) and an hour (?) off....?

No doubt I'll figure it out by trial and error, however if anyone here has experience/advice on this issue, I'd be most grateful for your input.

Best wishes

Toke

 

[TheRoach]

Thank you for posting toke, I am glad it has come handy to you.
I live in a humid area so the cuttings do not get to wilt. My advice would be spraying the clones once or twice a day, until you see they stay perky without spraying (that should happen in a couple days)
Remove contaminated plugs along with the contaminated cutting. Wash the insert with water and bleach, and wash the stem of the cutting. If the stem is rotting, discard the cutting and the insert if possible. I havent had problems with cannabis clones rotting, but once I used my propagator to try to clone Salvia divinorum and it did rot after a few days. I had to discard the inserts and disinfect the unit.

Reps+ for building the propagator!

 

[electro gypsy]

yep. salvia melts lol. just a glass of water for those.

as for the rh dome. maybe some clear plastic cups and a small hole in the foam. works well for me. my biggest problem is keeping a consistent temp throughout the tub. i think more foggers would help.. i'll try it next time i fire it up.

 

[TokeMcLeod]

My advice would be spraying the clones once or twice a day, until you see they stay perky without spraying (that should happen in a couple days)

Are you saying that I should discard the humidity dome altogether? (I'd be very pleased to ditch that!)

Remove contaminated plugs along with the contaminated cutting. Wash the insert with water and bleach, and wash the stem of the cutting. If the stem is rotting, discard the cutting and the insert if possible. I havent had problems with cannabis clones rotting, but once I used my propagator to try to clone Salvia divinorum and it did rot after a few days. I had to discard the inserts and disinfect the unit.

Reps+ for building the propagator!

Thanks for the advice.
No rot on the cuttings yet and the black spots seem to have grown very little overnight. As is, there are only two tiny spots on inserts far away from the inserts with my cuttings.
I am going to first attempt spraying the entire inside of the propagator, inserts and cuttings in place, with dilute hydrogen peroxide. It is a powerful disinfectant and decomposes to oxygen and water. I have used it externally on plants with success and with luck it'll work on roots/rooting cuttings. And while I'm at it, spray EVERYTHING and add a bit to the reservoir water. Yeahh...nuke the bastards.

Oooooohhhhh, the wondrous Salvia...I last tasted some extract almost 7 years ago!!!! It was a goooood extract - ONE hit and it was like throwing a switch. Instant on. Amazing experience.

In the vein of woody cuttings- I have tried rooting woody(i.e. not tip growth) cannabis cuttings, but with no success to date. Anybody here have success with older growth cuttings? Is this possible, and what kind of plant does it produce as compared to a tip-growth cutting?

Thanks for the reps.
(It was/is fun to build and run. I really like this concept).

 

[TokeMcLeod]

yep. salvia melts lol. just a glass of water for those.

as for the rh dome. maybe some clear plastic cups and a small hole in the foam. works well for me. my biggest problem is keeping a consistent temp throughout the tub. i think more foggers would help.. i'll try it next time i fire it up.

I did use clear plastic cups and a spray bottle when my cuttings first wilted- this certainly rescued and resuscitated them. Problem with individual cups are that they're too small and squashes the leaves of the cutting together (I took large cuttings of about 180mm with large fan leaves). As a short-term fix/rescue it certainly worked. When do you place your cups and when do you remove them?

Water temp...hmmm, now there's a thing I never took notice of until you posted and stuck a hand in my reservoir. I think I need to warm it up also and am going to try a heating pad under the reservoir.
For reference, my one small fogger unit does not seem to be adding any heat to the water- I filled up the tub to just over half, so as to decrease the volume of air that has to be kept fogged. This is a relatively large volume of water for such a small unit to have effect on, so dunno if a second unit will have any more warming effect...try a heating pad? I'll post here (and hopefully with some temp. readings) about the heating pad.

 

[electro gypsy]

in my situation i had to leave the cups on until they went to dirt. a few very light mistings in between. i couldn't get an accurate temp reading from anywhere lol, but the clones that made it were the ones just above the fogger which was maybe 75f. the water level was about 5-6" from the stems, but raising it seems to cook them.

 

[TokeMcLeod]

in my situation i had to leave the cups on until they went to dirt. a few very light mistings in between. i couldn't get an accurate temp reading from anywhere lol, but the clones that made it were the ones just above the fogger which was maybe 75f. the water level was about 5-6" from the stems, but raising it seems to cook them.

Thanks for sharing your experience- good info.
Yeah, my fogger unit continually shoots up a small "geyser" of water to about 2-3", so that could perhaps be how the damage is done if this hits the stems.
Stuck a heating pad under my reservoir just now and hopefully that will eventually heat the water and air in the tub...I suppose about 30C (86F) would be good so I'll be happy if that can be achieved.
Looks like I may have to stick with my humidity dome as well...breaks my heart a bit since one of the features of this design that appealed to me was not needing a dome.

 

[electro gypsy]

Thanks for sharing your experience- good info.
Yeah, my fogger unit continually shoots up a small "geyser" of water to about 2-3", so that could perhaps be how the damage is done if this hits the stems.
Stuck a heating pad under my reservoir just now and hopefully that will eventually heat the water and air in the tub...I suppose about 30C (86F) would be good so I'll be happy if that can be achieved.
Looks like I may have to stick with my humidity dome as well...breaks my heart a bit since one of the features of this design that appealed to me was not needing a dome.

i think once dialed in these things are great for troublesome strains. i have a white widow pheno that takes 3 weeks plus in peat pellets, but only 2 in the cloner.. and they look a lot better when ready

good vibes to ya and please keep us posted!

 

[TheRoach]

yep. salvia melts lol. just a glass of water for those.

as for the rh dome. maybe some clear plastic cups and a small hole in the foam. works well for me. my biggest problem is keeping a consistent temp throughout the tub. i think more foggers would help.. i'll try it next time i fire it up.

Yes, the Salvia cuttings turn into a mushy nightmare if you put them in the propagator. I was perplexed, was expected them to thrive in the propagator. i was so sure about their survival that I almost killed the mother plant taking cuttings. Im glad it did survive! Now I have 3 plants and planning on expanding the salvia garden.

Are you saying that I should discard the humidity dome altogether? (I'd be very pleased to ditch that!)



Thanks for the advice.
No rot on the cuttings yet and the black spots seem to have grown very little overnight. As is, there are only two tiny spots on inserts far away from the inserts with my cuttings.
I am going to first attempt spraying the entire inside of the propagator, inserts and cuttings in place, with dilute hydrogen peroxide. It is a powerful disinfectant and decomposes to oxygen and water. I have used it externally on plants with success and with luck it'll work on roots/rooting cuttings. And while I'm at it, spray EVERYTHING and add a bit to the reservoir water. Yeahh...nuke the bastards.

Oooooohhhhh, the wondrous Salvia...I last tasted some extract almost 7 years ago!!!! It was a goooood extract - ONE hit and it was like throwing a switch. Instant on. Amazing experience.

In the vein of woody cuttings- I have tried rooting woody(i.e. not tip growth) cannabis cuttings, but with no success to date. Anybody here have success with older growth cuttings? Is this possible, and what kind of plant does it produce as compared to a tip-growth cutting?

Thanks for the reps.
(It was/is fun to build and run. I really like this concept).

Woody cuttings will root, but they can take 3-5 weeks to do so! Plants arent really different from those you get with soft cuttings.
Its weird that your cuttings wilt. Make sure the portion of the stem that protrudes from the bottom of the insert is "submerged" in the fog. If the stem is not touching the fog the clones may die.

in my situation i had to leave the cups on until they went to dirt. a few very light mistings in between. i couldn't get an accurate temp reading from anywhere lol, but the clones that made it were the ones just above the fogger which was maybe 75f. the water level was about 5-6" from the stems, but raising it seems to cook them.

The fogger raises the temp in the reservoir a little bit. If you live in a cold area it may not be enough to promote rooting. I live in the tropics so thats not a problem. I guess a heating mat should work if you live in a temperate area.

Thanks for sharing your experience- good info.
Yeah, my fogger unit continually shoots up a small "geyser" of water to about 2-3", so that could perhaps be how the damage is done if this hits the stems.
Stuck a heating pad under my reservoir just now and hopefully that will eventually heat the water and air in the tub...I suppose about 30C (86F) would be good so I'll be happy if that can be achieved.
Looks like I may have to stick with my humidity dome as well...breaks my heart a bit since one of the features of this design that appealed to me was not needing a dome.

Do you live in a very dry/hot area? I have never seen the cuttings wilting (as long as they are in contact with the fog), what you mention about the water jet killing the cuttings is true. I always make sure the jet is not splashing directly into the stems. Try touching that little "volcano" the fogger makes; you will feel a burning sensation, that will recede ass soon as you stop touching the water jet. I think the vibration may rupture the cell walls and cause tissue damage if extended exposure happens. Adding another fogger will help with the temps also.

i think once dialed in these things are great for troublesome strains. i have a white widow pheno that takes 3 weeks plus in peat pellets, but only 2 in the cloner.. and they look a lot better when ready

good vibes to ya and please keep us posted!

That is right electro, it really simplifies the propagation process. I had this Aurora Indica pheno I couldnt clone no matter how much I tried, now it roots in 2-3 weeks. What I like about cloning with this propagator is that you dont need to cut the leaves in half, as the cuttings wont dehydrate that quickly.

Thank all of you guys for commenting! I hope all of those clones will turn into tasty cannabis for you guys!

 

[arieon69]

this is pretty dope. I'll be all in for this soon. Then me and a bud can swap some clones.

 

[TheRoach]

this is pretty dope. I'll be all in for this soon. Then me and a bud can swap some clones.

Awesome, please share your build once finished!

 

[Weaselcracker]

I'm pretty happy with my current cloning method. But I sometimes consider ordering the parts to try this. Especially if it's the only way I can find a place to chat with you, Roachy...

 

[TheRoach]

I'm pretty happy with my current cloning method. But I sometimes consider ordering the parts to try this. Especially if it's the only way I can find a place to chat with you, Roachy...

Hello WC, I am sorry for being away for so long. I have been working on some non 420 projects so only check the site once in a while.

 

[arieon69]

Does this have to be in the tent or can it just be sitting in a room misting away with light on it?

 

[TheRoach]

Does this have to be in the tent or can it just be sitting in a room misting away with light on it?

I have it under a couple fluorescent tubes, you can use cfls as well, it doesnt need to be in the tent