new to the forum been growing a while now but ran into an issue my cloning is failing I have been using the deep water method with air stones it has worked good in the past with 80% the problem has been I get a muchus build up on my stem down in the water let say I am using well water that is hard water I use PH down because my water is about 7.4 PH , but this time I used distilled water and had same problem any suggestions
Curious, by chance did you give it a good thorough cleaning with bleach before you started your clones? I always do a complete and thorough cleaning using a diluted bleach solution to sterilize my cloner before I put it away and then a quick go through before I actually reuse it.
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thanks for your response every thing was new and I did was and scrup everything the thing is before I never did much in cleaning and everything still grew I am wondering if it is my plant i am cloning I have ben growing this strain for almost two years I read something that continuous cloning after awhile the plant's health degenerates I don't know but any way I am going to clone one more time and start new seeds as well
It's not the plant age. I have kept the same clone going for over a decade. I would use the bleach to clean and then use distilled water in the cloner. Bleach is needed every time in between. I would also replace the air stones as they may hold bacteria and are cheap. When I cut the clones I use a cup of water and make sure to make the cut submerged under the water. This ensures no air bubbles enter the plants vascular system. It also helps wash off any debris on the clone stem.
Justalittle
New Member
I'm assuming you didn't ph the distilled water as it is usually right around 5.5.
I also ran into cloning problems one time and to be honest, never got to the bottom of what caused them but I couldn't clone anything for a while no matter how hard I tried, after years of effortless cloning. It went on for months and I tried everything. My strain was about three years old. I started new plants from seed and the problems disappeared. I still don't know for sure though why the problems disappeared but I do think older plants are harder to clone.
My main suggestion would be to make sure your temps are good -around 70- 75. As for the air bubble problem mentioned I'm pretty sure I have disproved that as a myth in the link below.
Test of the Air Bubble Theory - Cloning experiment
My main suggestion would be to make sure your temps are good -around 70- 75. As for the air bubble problem mentioned I'm pretty sure I have disproved that as a myth in the link below.
Test of the Air Bubble Theory - Cloning experiment
I will test that with the aero cloner next time Weaselcracker. Always open to making things easier on myself. Never hold on to old ideas if new ones make sense. Though I always test for myself to repeat the experiment!
Never had much luck with aero cloners. They seem to finiky for me - everything has to be absolutely perfect. Ph, temp, additives, etc must be spot on. When it works - it works well. When it doesn't - if fails in a spectacular fashion.
I use Oasis cubes, ph to 6.1, add some clonex and .... ROOTS. Easy.
~ Auggie ~
I use Oasis cubes, ph to 6.1, add some clonex and .... ROOTS. Easy.
~ Auggie ~
This last run I got 58 out of 60 clones with aerocloner. I thought I had 100% but didn't see that two had not rooted. No additives just a good bleaching and cleaning. That's when they fail. If you don't clean them. Also if you let them get too warm the dissolved oxygen in the water gets too low, even with airstones (which are necessary). So I leave mine directly on the basement concrete slab and it does just great. Had to throw out 15 clones because I didn't have the space for them.
