Are clone machines worth it?

I may go with the cloner for now. Gonna try the diy method. Thanks for the input everybody! Again, idk why I suck so bad at clones, but freaking A.... if there’s a will there’s a way! Lol
 
On a first attempt i found rapid rooter cubes with hormones and high humidity had them rooting in 2 weeks using a humidity dome in the shade outdoors
 
TreeFiddy350 said:
I may go with the cloner for now. Gonna try the diy method. Thanks for the input everybody! Again, idk why I suck so bad at clones, but freaking A.... if there’s a will there’s a way! Lol
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You haven't said what you're doing when you take clones. Just that you're using rockwool. How big are they when you take them? Are you using a rooting compound? How are you preparing the rockwool? Do the leaves just slowly die and shrivel away or does the stem start to rot? Somewhere something is going wrong and switching methods may or may not fix the issue. I'd look for the root cause of the problem. If you provided a quick step by step of the process you're following someone might be able to tell you why you're not successful cloning in rockwool.

Oh, and if you make a DIY cloner I would use plastic tubing like they do here. When I made mine I screwed around with PVC but if I had to do it again I'd just make a loop with plastic tubing.

For example using rubber tubing instead of PVC.

https://www.instructables.com/id/EZ-Cloner/
 
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xtsho said:
You haven't said what you're doing when you take clones. Just that you're using rockwool. How big are they when you take them? Are you using a rooting compound? How are you preparing the rockwool? Do the leaves just slowly die and shrivel away or does the stem start to rot? Somewhere something is going wrong and switching methods may or may not fix the issue. I'd look for the root cause of the problem. If you provided a quick step by step of the process you're following someone might be able to tell you why you're not successful cloning in rockwool.

Oh, and if you make a DIY cloner I would use plastic tubing like they do here. When I made mine I screwed around with PVC but if I had to do it again I'd just make a loop with plastic tubing.

For example using rubber tubing instead of PVC.

https://www.instructables.com/id/EZ-Cloner/
Click to expand...

I will have a cup of water to put my cuttings into.
I find a clone that has at least 4 nodes and about 6 inches? Give or take.
I’ll cut it at a 45 deg angle and gently scrape the button 1/2-1inch (read it helps promote rooting).
I’ll dip it in clonex and make sure it’s on there. I’ll insert it into the starter rockwool cube.
The rockwool cubes have been rinsed with tap water and then sat in tap water with a ph of 5.5-5.8.
SOMETIMES I’ll add about 5ml of clonex solution (liquid stuff in the water and let it sit in there and presoak. Been trying different stuff because I can’t figure out what’s wrong).
I put the clones in the tray and close the holes in the dome lid for the first 4ish days. After that I’ll open the top openings slightly when I see roots.
I currently have about half my clones rooted and half that are barely starting.
When I put them in the starter cube, I shake the excess water out and try not to squeeze it because I heard it can close some paths for roots. Umm.... shit I think that’s all? I wait about 4 days or something and then will dip the tray inside some clonex solution water at 5-10ml per gal. I’ll let them soak in that for a few minutes. After that I’ll shake the tray to get rid of the excess water then I’ll put them back under the dome lid and light
 
The plants do not seem sad or anything. They are alive and look healthy. Just aren’t rooted. I’ve broken a cube or 2 open to check for roots and I see that they get to the point to where it gets bumpy and tries to root, but just takes forever
 
Herb & Suds said:
That is because you keep fooling with them
" A watched pot never boils"
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I meant that I’ve broken them open in the past and that’s what I’ve saw. I haven’t done that this go around. Just seems to get same results. Idk man. It has me feeling like happy Gilmore when he’s telling the ball to get in the hole! lol
 
I have a DIY 5 gal. bucket aero cloner with different colored pucks for strains as my main cloner. $15 invested in it. Clones anything I put into it...usually. Tap water only.I'll feed bennies and nutes if they have to stay in it longer than I need them.

Sometimes my cloner is full. I use Tap water,a cup and a window with the blinds closed.Always works.
9/20
20190920_125609.jpg 20190920_125602.jpg Yesterday. I forgot about these.The cup was empty,they are drinking fast now...lol.
20190928_153707.jpg 20190928_153718.jpg The second cup was started a week -10 days after the first one.
Yesterday
20190928_153730.jpg20190928_153746.jpg Takes longer than my aerocloner.But it's simple and works.
 
TreeFiddy350 said:
I’ll cut it at a 45 deg angle and gently scrape the button 1/2-1inch (read it helps promote rooting).
Click to expand...

That could be you're problem. You don't really need to scrape and if you do you don't want to go all the way around and just barely skuff the outer layer. These are not hardwood cuttings so they'll root without scraping. Having said that I do make a couple of small scrapes but just a few millimeters here and there. Definitely not the bottom 1/2 to 1 inch.
 
CoB_nUt said:
I have a DIY 5 gal. bucket aero cloner with different colored pucks for strains as my main cloner. $15 invested in it. Clones anything I put into it...usually. Tap water only.I'll feed bennies and nutes if they have to stay in it longer than I need them.

Sometimes my cloner is full. I use Tap water,a cup and a window with the blinds closed.Always works.
9/20
View attachment 4401189 View attachment 4401190 Yesterday. I forgot about these.The cup was empty,they are drinking fast now...lol.
View attachment 4401191 View attachment 4401192 The second cup was started a week -10 days after the first one.
Yesterday
View attachment 4401193View attachment 4401194 Takes longer than my aerocloner.But it's simple and works.
Click to expand...


That is interesting coming from you.

I admit I don’t clone very often being mostly outdoors but I got the Clone King with a T5 on a stand because I am lazy & it is self contained unit, just lives in a corner of the garage with a heat mat if needed. Out of the way.

Often I only want a couple tho. Been using a small humidity dome for that but your method looks great for lazy guys.

No rooting hormones? City water here is terrible, I have to go RO.

A window with the blinds closed….no light supplementation at all? I been running on a regular 18/6 timer with the T5.
 
Baja.Beaches said:
That is interesting coming from you.

I admit I don’t clone very often being mostly outdoors but I got the Clone King with a T5 on a stand because I am lazy & it is self contained unit, just lives in a corner of the garage with a heat mat if needed. Out of the way.

Often I only want a couple tho. Been using a small humidity dome for that but your method looks great for lazy guys.

No rooting hormones? City water here is terrible, I have to go RO.

A window with the blinds closed….no light supplementation at all? I been running on a regular 18/6 timer with the T5.
Click to expand...

No rooting hormones. My tap mainly cal and mag is 200-220ish ppm weather dependent. The table the cups are on sit near a window,sunlight leaks thru the blinds slits,sometimes they get kitchen light...way overhead.

I use screw in 9 watt LEDs over my cloner.Actually the one over it now is a 15 watt led floodlight. It's about 30" away.

I use peat pellets and a dome every now and then also the dome is mainly for seeds tho. I get better results in tap water and a cup than the jiffy peat. I've used Rapid rooters with good strike rates also. I'd like to think my environment it just good enough for cloning without domes. My humidty in the clone/veg area hovers between 58-65%Rh temps 78/85 lights off/on

How bad is bad on your city water? Experiment. Take a cup,some tap water and give it a go! Put it under the T-5 next to the clone king. Or near a window.
They don't need very strong light. We don't want them trying to "eat" photosynthesis,we want them to concentrate on rooting. These cups if they were in my veg area,would be put under a larger plant for shade before they had roots.
 
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Oh yeah, my aerocloner timer is 2/5 on/off. I modded a timer so it does 50s-1min intervals per tab. Small harbor freight fountain pump or the Active Aqua 158gph pump. No concerns over water heating up.
 
TreeFiddy350 said:
so I suck major ass at cloning. It’s been 3 weeks since cutting clones and still not a freakin root. They’re in rockwool.
I was thinking about saying screw it and making a aerocloner.
Anybody have experience with these and thing it might be a good idea since I can’t seem to get the 7-10 day roots :(
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I've had good results with root riot cubes maybe try that.
 
I have a homemade bubble cloner made out of snapware stuff. The thing worked flawless until fall/winter. Then nothing would root or it would take forever. Put it on my seed heating mat. Bam...worked like a charm again. Make sure your water temp isn’t too cool, a few degrees can make all the difference
 
CoB_nUt said:
No rooting hormones. My tap mainly cal and mag is 200-220ish ppm weather dependent. The table the cups are on sit near a window,sunlight leaks thru the blinds slits,sometimes they get kitchen light...way overhead.

I use screw in 9 watt LEDs over my cloner.Actually the one over it now is a 15 watt led floodlight. It's about 30" away.

I use peat pellets and a dome every now and then also the dome is mainly for seeds tho. I get better results in tap water and a cup than the jiffy peat. I've used Rapid rooters with good strike rates also. I'd like to think my environment it just good enough for cloning without domes. My humidty in the clone/veg area hovers between 58-65%Rh temps 78/85 lights off/on

How bad is bad on your city water? Experiment. Take a cup,some tap water and give it a go! Put it under the T-5 next to the clone king. Or near a window.
They don't need very strong light. We don't want them trying to "eat" photosynthesis,we want them to concentrate on rooting. These cups if they were in my veg area,would be put under a larger plant for shade before they had roots.
Click to expand...

I do OK with my clones, I seldom get the roots like BobBitchen’s but they are good enough.

It was the idea of throwing a cutting in a cup that caught my eye. A shame to fire up the cloner or even the dome with rapid rooters if I all I want is a couple. Never tried just sticking a cut in a cup like my wife does with house plants, but now I will.

Water wise my city water has been all over the place the last couple years but always alkaline. Worse now, they are replacing ancient pipe. Had 9.1 PH out of the tap a couple months back. RO for now.

Be a few months before I get a chance to try it tho, harvest time here. Sick of trimming.
 
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