Help w my fugly clones?

[InhaleShanti]

hey fourtwentiers...
props & deepest respeck to y'alls devotion to mamma ganga
the sickest community of all the herb inspired communites lives online right here at this URL...
R E S P E C K !!!

so this is my first crew of clonies ever...using a kinda expensive aerocloner that overheats the water i'm prettysure...i don't have a dip thermometer. just keep tossing freezer cooler ice packs to cool the water down...seems insane and i prolly plug my jets with sediment...kinda like i al5ways l3arn the hardtard way : P
ummmm...so it's i think 11 days in the cloner today...yeah. with some cloner solution and a "cuttings" mix of GO's sample box of all their ferts. i brita'd the water in my cloner before i did the cloning and ummm whatelse...ohyah the pH & ppm readings were wacky at first & didn't make much sense and i think i had calibrated my meters all out to lunch and shit...maybe they were wacky hence why my clones look like they've been to 'nam. anyway i checked again today against bottle water and tapwater and brita water and meters seemed to be working non-stupidly...so pH was 6.6 and ppm was about 800...so i added 1/2 (HALF MOFO!) a cap off the jug of my vinegar bottel & the pH dropped to 5.6...i figured optimum is 5.8-6.? so maybe i'll dillute it tmrw w a tiny bit of pH 7.0ish water to bring it up nearer 6.0? is 5.6 fine??? will the pH rise as the (ugly duckling) clones (hopefully) metabolize or do...weeedplant...sh1t??? what else...the light is a 260w LED contraption with only the blue & whitey lamps going. temp stays high 70s and humidity about 50ish in the (cheapo, makeshift, wallymary pressparticleboard "Pantry") cabinet. it was the perfect size. It's got cardboard on the back...i gotta like...get some plywood to cover the back of dat sh1t up and cut in some proper ventilation and stuff...there's no ventilation right now. other than the fans on the LED lights that move some air around and make heLLa racketnd my hard to read pre/post-amble an has some f33dback i'd be evergrateful. i'm so poorly funded and brokeass (not like the mountain...but not that there's anything wrong with that) but only for a couple weeks...so i plan on tinkering and ventilating the thing. tips on venting for clones? can i mix clones in the same cab as mom plants? should i have the (stolen plastic bin from a wallymart roller-wheely dresser) humidity dome on them little suckers? it's a 12"x12" cloner and i duno what i can reasonably expect to fit on it as a humidity dome. are these kinda colors normalish? out of bounds? i see some peeps clones on the forums here & they are a thing of beauty...damn goodness...props!

ok...PEACE y'all & big ups =D
thanks for the many, many reads & sources of inspiration on these drippin resin krystally goodness pages! you grow masters out there your bud shots make me want to cry out at the DANKNESS!!!
DEEPEST RESPECKS!!!

some 'roots'??

some fugly buggers

more roots

sowry...blurry...but...big knobby bugger

temps & humidity

a coupla lookinn like hey maybe they wanna become big plants

oooooooooooOOOhhh notso good...

kinda a fugly mess

aforementioned "Pantry" of pan-asian descent...

 

[willoby]

The PPM seem a little high for clone cuttings but I'm not sure the problem...I had some do that too before and I think it was from the mist jets were releasing too much water and just flooding the root tip rather than just spraying a mist of water to them...Not too sure though, just a thought....Good luck!!

 

[Twelve12]

Re: Ielp w my fugly clones?

Hi welcome to 420!

so pH was 6.6 and ppm was about 800...so i added 1/2 (HALF MOFO!) a cap off the jug of my vinegar bottel & the pH dropped to 5.6...i figured optimum is 5.8-6.?

800 PPM is a bit high, especially for clones without roots. Try and cut it down to 150-200 PPM if you must, however using straight tap water with ph 5.8 should work too.

so maybe i'll dillute it tmrw w a tiny bit of pH 7.0ish water to bring it up nearer 6.0? is 5.6 fine???

For hydro a ph of 5.8 is optimal.

tips on venting for clones?

For fresh cut clones they don't need fans it will blow away the moisture they need to grow. Room air circulation will do. For rooted clones, a small fan will work.

can i mix clones in the same cab as mom plants?

Yes you can. Keep yourself aware of the different strains by labeling each clones.

should i have the (stolen plastic bin from a wallymart roller-wheely dresser) humidity dome on them little suckers? it's a 12"x12" cloner and i duno what i can reasonably expect to fit on it as a humidity dome. are these kinda colors normalish?

If your room temp is high and room humidity is too low then a humidity dome is needed. Usually it is not required. The stem will take in water so they will stay hydrated, and the leafs need fresh air to produce root growth. Since you have the dome, don't forget to open it a few times a day to allow fresh air to exchange. Clear/transparent dome is good allowing light to penetrate for photosynthesis to happen.

Looking good. Keep the ph at 5.8 check it daily and you don't need to run your pump 24/7, have it 1 min on and 5 min off should work too. This will cool your pump down a bit since they run less. Looks like they are about to shoot some roots! Trim off some dead leafs to prevent mold from growing.

 

[InhaleShanti]

heyyyyyyyyyyyyy thanks for the tips
I got wise on a few points and made adjustments and have been lucky since...
I figured a cycle timer was in order so $100 later I have one running 90 seconds on, 5 minutes off. Nice guy @ the hydro shop calibrated my pH & ppm pens for me too...super helpful dude...totally lucked out on that one =D
he also recommended airstones...which i have a couple of in the closet lying around...just hadn't put it to use yet cuz I was certain I'd have to cut my cloner box to run the air lines in ... but i ran them through a couple of the neoprene inserts in the cloner (ok...room for 23 clones...not 25 lol). Buddy set me up with a couple rubber inserts for grommeting the airlines when i eventually do cut the box, some solutions for calibrating my meters, a killer cycle timer...
and to what end???
Well...
in two days since implementing...the clones have sprouted out roots at a pace not seen in the previous 14 days when stalks were starting to get mushy and other yucky stuff. I am aware that there's a lot of unseen hormonal changes and whatnot happening in the first 7 - ??? days of cloning during which you don't see a lotta stuff happen...but wow...
what a difference two airstones and cycle timing make...
oh wait...yeah i forgot...the other difference. CALIBRATION! hahahaha...so I guess I lucked out on my pH meter and it was bang on the money despite me monkeying with it...but my ppm meter was waaaay out and led me to overfeed my clones in a bad way. which surely cause some pH swing madness...
so now water is cleaned up tap water ran through a brita...was about 70 ppm after that...with a tiny little blurp of Olivia's cloning solution my ppm is now about 200 and pH is 5.8...and like i was saying and now repeating like a tool...
what a difference.

Thanks for the help guys ~!!

Couple pics of sprouting roots...

 

[Twelve12]

Nice! They were waiting for the right adjustments and sprout roots! Keep your digital pens calibrated once every two weeks or monthly. The calibration solution are very inexpensive can be purchase at your local hydro store. Sounds like you got an awesome timer. Things are looking good now, congrats!

 

[Maer]

You also need to avoid any light getting to the root section, it looked like some of your inserts are stuck open.