Some recently rooted clones are wilting?

[RandyL]

I cut 9 Bubba OG cloes and 8 of them got roots in about 10 days. I planted them in FF soil, and they started off ok for the first couple days. But then first 1, then 2, then 3 of them started wilting, seemingly inexplicably.

The worst one was placed back in my humidity dome for clones and it recovered in about half a day, but after another half a day out in the open it starts wilting again.

I was told to spray the leaves with water, I'm thinking this is stopping the roots from being forced to work and get water from the dirt. They've been watered and even got a bit of molasses thrown in, but I haven't seen much improvement.

Any ideas?

 

[RandyL]

Any guesses? I've read that if the dirt is too dry it'll pull moisture from the rockwool, but that should not be the case here. When I water the plants I pour water directly on the rockwool cubes so it can spread out from there.

 

[SnowBender]

'harden them off' by removing the dome a few hours at a time, leaving it off longer each time.

you can mist any wilted ones before replacing dome.

 

[RandyL]

I've got 3 of the clones in the humidity dome. 1 is kind of recovered, or at least it'll be that way until I take it out of the dome. The other 2 have been wilted for 2 days, and even spraying them with water hasn't helped.

I haven't had this happen before. Usually once a clone grows roots it's good.

 

[LighTer]

You could try foliage feeding...i would use like 1/6th nutes tho.

Maybe your overwatering them? Keep them in ~90%RH and stay easy on the watering???

Only ideas I have RandyL

 

[2Tango4mango]

yeah it could be too much water/moisture on top of nute rich soil, all that plus the strain of the clones can have a major part in whats going on. Hope u can get sorted out in time, good luck.

 

[mmclient]

There seems to be an optimal ratio of the amount of green leaves on the clone vs. the diameter of the clone stalk. If the clone itself is smallish then the amount of total green (the flowerette plus perhaps the first 'reddish' stem future fan leaf) is, at most, all the green the given diameter can support. A sign there is still too much green is exactly what you've described. The clones haven't been able to draw enough water and nutrients through their given diameter to support the needs of of the green. You've probably noticed clones that start out with the one fan leaf clipped in half. There are two reasons for this. First, it's a way to regulate, more exactly, the amount of green mini-solar panels. It's helpful to think of the green as the energy supply and the roots as the nutrient and water supply. Second, clipping the leaf causes the seedling to grow more slowly for awhile, allowing better root development. If turn-around time isn't an issue then allowing the mother plant to grow larger stalked clones will, all else being equal, allow a little more green to be left on. Finally, the reason you've seen some recovery when they're put back in the clone dome is that the high humidity allows the wilting seedlings to absorb water through their leaves (transpiration?) even though the roots haven't developed. If this is the case, sometimes removing extra leaf material in time allows the roots to develop.
Whew, strong coffee this morning. Good luck.