Aeroponic prop issues - pics

I'll begin by saying I love my aero prop for the sheer hassle it saves me BUT.....

I'm only getting around 75% survival rate and even some of the survivors need to be taken out of the prop asap or they will die.

I have no idea why some look immaculate and others shrivel up and die. I do not use a dome over the top because I was getting too many rot on me and die with the dome. However, I still get alot of them get stem rot.

I'll put some pics up so you guys can help me trouble shoot.

ambient temp and water temp both sit at 22 c nearly all the time with slight fluctuations
pumps work fine
res is cleaned fortnightly
air pump works fine

it always take the form of stem rot just below the collars. It's getting really annoying because I'm perpetual harvest and I need to keep stock replenished.

cheers

Oh btw I have my pump operate 15mins every 45 mins.

What's your routine for taking the cuttings from the plants? Given the vast amount of clones you take the 20% failure rate could be do to embolism. Can't say I would let my cloner water go longer than a week, but that is a personal preference.

If it were embolism surely they would wilt immediately? They seem to be fine for several days then start wilting, then die and often this is accompanied by stem rot. Every day I go in there it seems 2 more are dead and another 1 or 2 are wilted.

I would clean my prop water more often but it's such a pain in the ass taking all the cuttings out without harming them. Hmmm, maybe I'm being lazy but even still, I will still get deaths after a water change. Can't figure out what's causing the problem. My bro has the same prop, same light, same cuttings from the same plant (and they are transported submersed in water for up to 12 hours before locating). He doesn't hardly change the water or do anything and they all grow. 99%

Maybe 23 degrees, the water is just a bit too warm but if I turn off the little heater in the cupboard it will get too cold. Dammit

hey forest boy. i would suggest dropping your temps.

i run a bubblecloner i made myself but it works just like an aero cloner. mine are wet 24/7 right up to the rubber plug and i have roots within 7 days with an almost 100% success rate, no stem rot.

are you using R/O water in your cloner? if so stop and start running tap water, the chlorine will help keep everything sterile until they root. clones love tap water

also feed those clones, lots of people just run clean water and it works but if you add 1/4 strength nutes your clones will take off

As a matter of fact the only difference between my bro's setup and mine is I am using tap and he is using rain water. I've got shit tap water too like 0.7 EC. That's got to be the problem!

I have extensive background in bad HPA, so i spot things most won't.

First you need high pressure. The droplet in your pics look like you don't have a proper pump > 50psi. Also you need short feed times more often which means you need a different timer. Maximum 'on' cycle 5 seconds max 'pause' cycle depends on ambient temps and RH, but ~ 3- 5 minutes 24/7

ART DNe http://cheaphydroponics.com/store/timers/cap-art-dne-adjustable-recycle-timer/prod_12.html

forestboy said:

Oh btw I have my pump operate 15mins every 45 mins.

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The location of the wilting plants, does it happen in that spot every time, or random locations?

Thanks guys.

@Petflora I appreciate my timings aren't perfect and pump pressure does make a difference. Money being no object I'd have a "true" aero cloner but like I was saying my bro's setup is the same. In fact his pump is shit, practically fires a jet at them and he gets no problems. I don't need perfection really either, I just need them to root. Once they go into rockwall under my 250w enviro they go ballistic.

@Eastcoast - No the positions are totally random.

I've just refilled it with 10 litres of bottled mineral water and things are looking better already. I'll update the thread when I know.

cheers guys

I was planning on building a cloner this run as I have some hopefully promising strains. I know shit about it but have done some reading and have heard that mineral water (not real high ppm) is a great thing to use as well as chlorinated water. It looks like you may have found the solution though good to know!

I missed that this is for cloning.

A simple bubbler with a powerful air pump + good air stones (Sunleaves) works wonders- no timer needed

When clone stem roots are too wet (unless there's lots of DO), the roots don't grow properly, hindering overall plant growth

Air Pump: http://cheaphydroponics.com/store/pumps-tubing-etc/air-pumps/activeaqua-commericial-air-pump-8-outlet/prod_1040.html

Air Stones http://cheaphydroponics.com/store/pumps-tubing-etc/air-pumps/elemental-air-stone-4-in-/prod_804.html

LOL well that explains it!

hey waterdog. make yourself a simple bubble cloner. a bucket with some airstones and an air pump are all you need. you can make one so cheap and they root just as fast as aero as far as i can tell. i had good success cloning in coco too but the bubble cloner is so much faster and reliable.

i was reading into neoprene collars online and some companies advertise theirs as "reducing stem rot"
I'm not sure about if its the design of the pucks reducing stem rot

I also make sure light is 1 foot away or more , only one cfl works great.
i keep my temps around 68-71, and i also use 14 gallons of water to 14 drops of clorox bleach

it's also important to switch the water 3 days after cuts, and then after the cuts root you thoroughly clean it and store until next use.
i always keep it super clean and i think it's the heart of success with aero cloning

also you may not be hitting all the clones the way you built the system, the nozzles may need to be spread apart and a bigger pump may be needed

i use one of those modified recirc timers and it works good.

my buddy uses a bubble cloner and gets great results too

Lower temps allows for higher oxygen content in the resevoir as cold water is able to hold more oxygen than warm water. The key to aero-cloners is the higher oxygen content of the water getting directly to the cutting. Remove the oxygen and you suffocate the plant.

afterthought... With the higher temps, run the pump 24/7. Those plants are suffocating.

The idea here is to create an oxygen rich environment ABOVE the water line, which signals the plant to make roots.

The more turbulent the surface, the more oxygen in the air above

BenFranklin said:

Lower temps allows for higher oxygen content in the resevoir as cold water is able to hold more oxygen than warm water. The key to aero-cloners is the higher oxygen content of the water getting directly to the cutting. Remove the oxygen and you suffocate the plant.

afterthought... With the higher temps, run the pump 24/7. Those plants are suffocating.

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Trouble is I cant run the pump 24/7 cos it heats the water up even more. I can't use a bubbler either because it make too much noise. Sheeet

The pump I linked is noisy, BUT, I also have a 4 head 35 lpm which is totally quiet. You might need 2-3 of them

forestboy said:

Trouble is I cant run the pump 24/7 cos it heats the water up even more. I can't use a bubbler either because it make too much noise. Sheeet

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You might have to experiment around a bit, but, using an air stone, you can get air pumps pretty darn quiet. You might have to buy a couple different brands to see which air pump is the most quiet.

BenFranklin said:

You might have to experiment around a bit, but, using an air stone, you can get air pumps pretty darn quiet. You might have to buy a couple different brands to see which air pump is the most quiet.

Click to expand...

I've got 12 years experience with air pumps and even the expensive ones that start off quiet don't stay quiet forever. Gets expensive after a while. The annoying thing is my bro has 1 spinner running off a micro jet pump 24/7. Zero issues 99% success in a 12 site system. I've got a 36 with 4 spinners running off a maxi jet and it's giving me all kinds of shit. grrr lol