Droopy Clones

Hello!

Im trying my hand at taking clones, but recently I noticed that about half of them are drooping to one side. Im using Rapid Rooter plugs, Clonex gel, a tray and dome meant for clone propagation, and a heating mat underneath.

I've noticed that the drooping ones are the smaller cuttings I took. The larger ones are still standing strong, still reaching for the light. The first day I noticed the rapid rooter plugs dried out a bit, so that could be the case. Im just curious if anyone else has any insight seeing how about half of them are right as rain now.

Thanks

How many plants did they come from? If the plant has stress like getting to dry in the last 5 days the clones from her don't do so well.

one plant, decent sized. probably two months old or so. The mother is fine, and was fine when the cuttings were taken. Just the clones dried out a bit early on

Probably like you were thinking it might be humidity.
Also I gotta add ive always had 90-95% survival rate but after running onto some plant the took over 10 days to root I switched to a homemade areo cloner total cost depends on what you have but I made one for a buddy for around I think 50 to 80 bucks? Was a while back.
any ways now my rate is at 99_100% tough cuttings are no problem. Absolutely NO droop, no humidity dome to get all sweaty. And you can just leavem no checking if plugs are dry and all that. . PLUS clonex is expensive with the aero you use just water you can ph and add 1/4 nutes but its unneeded.
Hope this helps?

Thanks a ton for that Cold$smoke. I've been thinking about an aero cloner, but since im so new to it I figured id start out simple may very well move up to that soon though, since it seems to speed up the process.

Sad but educational day. Broke a clone in half when I put the dome back on, so I took it out of the rapid rooter. Discovered roots this gives me hope, as the rest of my clones have yet to show any through the plugs. Im thinking about a week or so and I should see some roots.

Rentaldog said:

Thanks a ton for that Cold$smoke. I've been thinking about an aero cloner, but since im so new to it I figured id start out simple may very well move up to that soon though, since it seems to speed up the process.

Sad but educational day. Broke a clone in half when I put the dome back on, so I took it out of the rapid rooter. Discovered roots this gives me hope, as the rest of my clones have yet to show any through the plugs. Im thinking about a week or so and I should see some roots.

Click to expand...

Hey man check out the thread
can I clone with no gels.or powders you will like it I did a quick build sheet for a guy hope this helps bro

@Rentaldog btw
cloners are more simple than traditional techniques I can alsmost (lets face it some people are dumb and its not their fault) guarantee youll never have probs again unless you got real bad luck lol

Like you saw with the broken plant, even the droopy plants were growing roots.
Sounds like you have a perfect atmosphere.
Are you keeping everything moist, not dripping wet but moist.
The plant needs light and moisture on the leaves so the plant can grow roots.
Keep your light farther away when plants are wet from foliar feeding.
lower light when they are dry again.

I mist 4 x a day and I also mist the inside of the dome.
Two weeks is when I cull my weak clones.
The droop is probably because the plant is sending the energy to root creation.
That's why you have to let the plant get water by foliar feeding.
I use Olivias Cloning solution to make my spray food.
Use 2 teaspoons or 8ml per half gallon, PH it to 5.85-5.95.

Your plants will love it, I spray my month old clones every couple of days.

Aero Cloners look really cool and are supposed to work well.
But then you have to control that resevoir, aerate it etc. more parts, I like Low Tech.
Bless,
DZ

Simple take sterile razor slice clone at angle pop in net cup with water @5.8_6.0 ph
and walk away for a week
come back and put in whatever you veg in

True its a lil bit "higher tech" but I have listed why I dont do plugs any more
also when I did do plugs I never had any droop so i dont think the environment was perfect

that tell me 2 things the plug got dry or possibly the op did not snip the tips of the leaves off to promote root growth. And like dogenzengi said they need to be sprayed or theyll sag
and no breaking clones with those C@CKSUCKING domes (can you tell ive had a buch of those cheap basterds lol)
none of which is needed with a cloner just my 2 pesos

If the smaller cuttings are the problem you have identified your solution. Cuttings large enough to have a hole in the middle of the stem root faster and more consistently than those too small to have the hole. Besides being a sign of size/age, the hole allows the cutting to siphon up water faster to the plant. The hole acts as a straw to draw the water to where it is needed. Bigger is better!

Good luck, BigSteve.

PS - I keep a spray bottle in my dome room and mist the clones' leaves 2-3 times a day. That should take care of most of the drooping.

Thanks everyone for the advice

I did let them dry out at the start, so that was part of the drooping. Also, I cut half the clones leaf tips off and left half whole to see if there was a difference. So far none have been found, but im sure as time goes on yellowing may be a problem.

Im misting two to three times a day as my work allows, and keeping the dome misted as well. Also, while it may not be the best, I am leaving a bit of water in the tray they sit in as a failsafe in case I am gone for a full day or two with work. Insurance I guess.

Ill update here once I see roots on a side note, my mother plant is *loving* my T5HO Sunblaze light. Bushiest ive seen a plant get yet lol!

DONT let the water get stagnant. As long as your dome is sweaty (lmfao) you have enogh RH inside any more will just lead to slime.
big steve had good tips if you want to do it this way.

also dont.cut.your.leavse in half thats a noob mistake just take the tips off like mabey 1/4 to 3/4 of an inc beacuse they still need what they have inside to produce energy for roots
hope dis helps

like I said go to the no clone gels or powders

once you go cloner I guarantee youll never go back

Hey everyone, sorry to bump an old post but I said id update when all the clones rooted

They started showing roots about four days ago, but I let the last two sit in the dome until earlier today just to be safe. In total five of six rooted. I killed the sixth on accident when I put the dome back on, I caught a leaf and dragged the girl down so much she snapped in half. I pulled the plug she was in apart and discovered roots growing, so all in all it wasnt too bad of a situation. It gave me hope to see those little nubs and shoots growing out!

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Happy growing, and goodluck to you all!

There seems to be mixed feelings about wether to cut down the leaf size of clones. I do it only for 2 reasons - first: if the untrimmed leaves are so large they shadow other clones, or second: for balance. Often a cutting will sit well in my jiffy cube but the largest leaves are long enough to droop over. Then I trim back the bigger leaves. Note -- the cutting has no roots, yet, so water intake through the leaves is important. Means you can't hack the cutting too much. When trimming back the larger leaves I make sure to leave at least 2/3 of the leaf intact. I cut back just enough to make her fit better in the dome and not be too droopy.

Good luck, BigSteve.

Like I said the main reason to cut the leaf is to send a message to the plant to stop growing the leaf and start grownig roots. I wana say this is proven .

also like big steve said makes them easier to work with but I dont recomend trimming more than you have to just taking the tips about a 1/2 inch is enough to make the clone do its thing