Journal of my attempt at the "Mr Green" hydro setup (with influence from Al B Fuct)

[UTurn]

well hopefully everything ends up good with those clones and you can get some roots going. I'm taking my very first clones as well and I'm on about day 4 in a humidome and heat mat so im anxious to see what happens within the next couple days. Do you add any catalyst when watering you clones?

 

[Ahzweepay]

well hopefully everything ends up good with those clones and you can get some roots going. I'm taking my very first clones as well and I'm on about day 4 in a humidome and heat mat so im anxious to see what happens within the next couple days. Do you add any catalyst when watering you clones?

The only thing I use is tap water w/H2O2 and pH set to 5.8.
What do you mean by a catalyst (I understand what a catalyst is, but have not heard of one used in the cloning process)?
Are you referring to the cloning gel I dip the clones in before putting them in the cubes

 

[Richard Pryor]

Very nice, man.

Regarding the clones: I wouldn't use anything other than water to feed them. They don't have roots, so they can't use the nutrients just yet. I wouldn't even use H2O2.

I would also trim those leaves in half so they don't carry that much weight and don't spend energy on anything other than developing roots.

Some of those clones look pretty big! I personally take smaller cuttings (like half your size), and they root easier... but if you want to flower as soon as they root, well I guess you would want bigger clones.

Good luck. I'll be following along.

 

[Ahzweepay]

Very nice, man.

Regarding the clones: I wouldn't use anything other than water to feed them. They don't have roots, so they can't use the nutrients just yet. I wouldn't even use H2O2.

I would also trim those leaves in half so they don't carry that much weight and don't spend energy on anything other than developing roots.

Some of those clones look pretty big! I personally take smaller cuttings (like half your size), and they root easier... but if you want to flower as soon as they root, well I guess you would want bigger clones.

Good luck. I'll be following along.

Thanks for the advice!

I've read of people cutting the leaves before, tho had never heard of a good reason why, but this makes sense. On my next watering I'll have to do an experiment and cut about half of the plants leaves.

Being that these are my first (technically second) set of clones I've tried to vary some aspects a bit. I'm planning to put these right into flowering once they have rooted, so have tried to cut generally taller clones. Since I haven't grown anything in my flower room yet I wanted to get a variety of clone heights so I can try to determine the best size to cut going forward.

So much experimentation & tweaking in the beginning - it's pretty fun overall (tho a bit of frustration due to that first batch of clones).

 

[UTurn]

No I got some earth Juice catalyst and i mix a small amount into the water to hopefully help develop the roots faster.

 

[Ahzweepay]

No I got some earth Juice catalyst and i mix a small amount into the water to hopefully help develop the roots faster.

Haven't tried anything like that yet - something else to keep in mind for next time

I let my clones go a bit too long without watering on one of the first few days and lost the 6 smallest ones. I inspected them on the way to the circular file and was able to see some small roots forming on a couple - a good sign.
I've settled on dip watering the clones twice a day (approx 12hrs apart). So far the remaining 13 seem to be doing well. I've attached an updated pic of the clone tray.

 

[knucklehead]

Haven't tried anything like that yet - something else to keep in mind for next time

I let my clones go a bit too long without watering on one of the first few days and lost the 6 smallest ones. I inspected them on the way to the circular file and was able to see some small roots forming on a couple - a good sign.
I've settled on dip watering the clones twice a day (approx 12hrs apart). So far the remaining 13 seem to be doing well. I've attached an updated pic of the clone tray.

they look a hell of a lot better than mine!!!!

 

[Ahzweepay]

Not much news, but I took a couple of new pictures of the clones so figured I'd post 'em up.
I've decided to leave the last 2 that went gimp on me and see what happens with them. 1 of them seems to be coming back while I'm pretty sure the other is a goner.
These little ladies are now 8 days old, and still no signs of roots...

 

[UTurn]

well i'll be keeping my fingers crossed for those clones, I got lazy and decided to say hell with the clones for now but I still have faith in you ahz!

 

[eightsecrun]

Wow very nice thread. The clones are doing really good. Subscribed

 

[Ahzweepay]

Well, had a few more clones crap out on me, so decided since it was a day off today, to take some more clones.

This time around I'm only using distilled water for my "dipping solution". I also varied the cuts I did by doing 1/2 of them with a 45deg cut (Mr Green) and the other 1/2 with the 45deg cut and then split the tip (Al B Fuct-ish).

All of the clones with large leaves got their leaves cut in half (some didn't have much for large leaves so I just left them be).

I watered each cube w/25ml distilled water before pluggin in the clones. I also trimmed my clones almost completely while still on the mother, then removed the clone from the mother and put it directly into the rooting gel. (previously I may have dilly-dallied between removing the clone from the mother and getting it in the gel).

Once the clone was safe and secure in its cube I gave it a light spritz with some tap water and set it aside.

This time around none of the clones went limp in the tray before getting them in the dark, and they all came out of the dark looking good and strong too
I put them in the dark flower room for a bit over 6hrs, took 'em out, added the leftover clones from the last batch, gave them a light tap water spritz, covered the tray with a humidome and placed it on its heat mat in the veg room.
I have the lights set about 6" above the tray.

 

[jcdws602]

I use Liquid Karma and purified water to spray my clones(2x's a day) and i put a layer of perlite so the rockwool cubes sit on top, put some ph balanced water in the tray every two the three days this keeps humidity levels up.I also cut the big fan leaves in half.Heatmat at 78-80 degrees farenheight.Pick up your clones make sure cubes are pretty wet(not dripping).After the first or so the dome can start comming off little by little until its completely off .Rootballs should be well developed before you set up for fast growth

 

[UTurn]

Well, had a few more clones crap out on me, so decided since it was a day off today, to take some more clones.

This time around I'm only using distilled water for my "dipping solution". I also varied the cuts I did by doing 1/2 of them with a 45deg cut (Mr Green) and the other 1/2 with the 45deg cut and then split the tip (Al B Fuct-ish).

All of the clones with large leaves got their leaves cut in half (some didn't have much for large leaves so I just left them be).

I watered each cube w/25ml distilled water before pluggin in the clones. I also trimmed my clones almost completely while still on the mother, then removed the clone from the mother and put it directly into the rooting gel. (previously I may have dilly-dallied between removing the clone from the mother and getting it in the gel).


Once the clone was safe and secure in its cube I gave it a light spritz with some tap water and set it aside.

This time around none of the clones went limp in the tray before getting them in the dark, and they all came out of the dark looking good and strong too
I put them in the dark flower room for a bit over 6hrs, took 'em out, added the leftover clones from the last batch, gave them a light tap water spritz, covered the tray with a humidome and placed it on its heat mat in the veg room.
I have the lights set about 6" above the tray.

haha atta boy ahz, shit sounds like its goin good now....almost enough to make me wanna start cloning again...almost.

 

[prnkstr]

thats sad news about your clones, im using a heat mat, and some additives in my clones water as well as the dome. Not sure as to why yours didnt make it. But otherwise its still looking good in your Grow room.

 

[prnkstr]

any updates on your grow? Im curious to see how your coming along. I will post my update in the next day or so

 

[Ahzweepay]

As you can see, I have been away for a while. I've been having a bitch of a time getting my clones to work. Having issues w/mold on the top of the cube where it meets the stem (from rooting gel/humidity) and had the last batch the stems bleach out and get hard/die.

Stopped at my local hydro shop to pick up some clone powder only to find out that they don't stock it due to import laws or some shit... Lame...
I ended up getting some Clonex gel - it's a bit thinner than the previous gel I had, dunno if that's good/bad.

I was describing how I've gotten mold on my cubes/stems over my last couple of attempts to the guy at the hydro shop. He suggested that I don't mist the clones (thx Al) and that I make sure to not use much of the clone gel on the cuttings. They barely need anything on them, and mostly at the bottom.

I did another batch of 20 clones on Friday night (I know - no life) This time around the cubes got 15ml distilled water w/H2O2 (rather than the 20ml I did last round). If I don't have any luck with this batch I'm gonna look into some of the catalyst solutions others are using. I just know that this is essentially how Al does it and it SHOULD work.

I have 1 clone (from one of my January batches) that has worked out and is actually starting to grow now I manually watered it using half strength nutes for the first week after I had good roots out the small cube - I also put the small cube into a big one since I plan on this being a mother (not sure the bigger cube is totally necessary, but...). I moved this new mother to the main tray on Friday night, and hooked up one of the 1/2gal/hr drippers to it. Once it's roots have emerged from the bigger rockwool cube, I will put it in a pot w/hydroton (burying the cube this time) and upgrade it to the normal 2gal/hr dripper.

Partially to make room for the new mother, and partially due to over crowding, I decided to remove one of the mothers that was getting gimped out. I'm now at 4 mothers, which I think is perfect for my tray/needs.

 

[morrisgreenberg]

may i chime in? in those pix they look nice and green and i dont know what they looked like before they died out, i noticed i took a ton of foliage off and left basically only the top pair of leaves, what i am getting at is in my expierience some times especially in rockwool the lower leaves turn yellow, my logic and understanding of the cloning process is since the stem has been cut it is no longing recieving nutes from the mother plant, it then has to (1) dedicate energy to producing roots (2) sustain itself through nutrient storage in the leaves..for example when we usually get simple problems on a mature plant the issues start at the bottom set of leaves, serving as a barrier on the bottom of the tottem pole if you will, by stripping your clones and leaving it like an umbrella your not affording your clone the "barrier" at the bottom to feed on, i have since moved onto aero cloning and dont get these issues, but it takes a good 10-14days to root in RW and thats an eterinity when the clone only has what little water in the RW...well thats my whole approach to cloning and serves me well, i hope you can take something from this, in my honest opinion i think you would have better results leaving them a couple nodes to work with, good luck bro...PS those are AL B FUCT style clones, likes them like tree trunks

 

[knucklehead]

i had problems with my clones too. so i decided to go back to the basics. here's what i do.
soak peat pellets in PH adjusted water until fully expanded.
once they have expanded i gently fling the excess water out by hand.
i then form the peat pellet by hand to be nice and even on top.
poke hole in peat pellet with nail only half way down the pellet.
go to my mother select the cutting.
trim the extra leaves off while still on the plant.
cut at 45.
dip in gel.
place in pellet.
form seal around stem.
place them in my humidity dome sitting on the heat mat - i put cardboard spacers under the dome/tray and on top of the heat mat so the peat pellets don't get too hot.
then i cover the top of the dome with two layers of paper towels to block the light (CFL).
i've only done this once but not one single clone wilted out of ten.
once the roots are busting out of the pellets I transfer them into 3x3x3 rockwool cubes then into pots for ebb/flow.

 

[Ahzweepay]

Thanks to those who have offered cloning advice - every tidbit I can get my hands on is greatly appreciated

My last batch of clones slowly started dying off after about 2 weeks. My best guess is that I'm generally overwatering them with the occasional underwatering.
Headed to the hydro shop the other day to get another block of rockwool cubes when I saw they had a 25 site aerocloner for $150. Turns out that's the perfect size for my needs, and will hopefully cure my cloning woes.

While at the hydro shop I came to find out that they can no longer carry H2O2 (could be used in making bombs therefore, banned by The Man) nor HydroGuard (I'm told Botanicare didn't file the necessary fungicide paperwork therefore, banned by The Man). Every day The Man finds another way to keep me down

The Clone Machine was supposed to come with HydroGuard, but it was oddly missing from the box. I gave the shop a call and found out the news about Hydroguard's demise, also that their replacement product would be in on tomorrows truck (they'll set me up with some for free - it's called Aqua-something-or-other)...

On the light side, my mothers are all doing really well! I have been able to get 1 clone to successfully root (that's 1 for 90+), and that one is well on its way to becoming a replacement mother.

Attached are a couple pictures of the fully loaded cloner.

 

[Ahzweepay]

Headed back to the grow shop today to pick up the AquaShield for my clone tank. Seems to be the replacement for Hydroguard, but kinda oddly labeled.

The label said to add 5-15ml per gallon. I have a 2 gallon res on my cloner and decided to go on the low side so just added 10ml total. Mixed it good and checked the pH - it was up to 6.2, so I lowered it back to 5.7.

So far the clones look every bit as good as they did when I took them.
Now I just need to hope that the clone tank temps stay down (it's always something)...