Fianlly!Clone Success

I consider myself an advanced grower with over a dozen grows with 30+ strains raised seed to pipe. But I too have had a dark secret I have been to ashamed to come out of lurkhood to admit. I couldn't clone to save my life. I tried everything I read or saw and had nothing but a trash can full of soggy jiffy pellets. So I am going to pass on maybe one or 2 little things that made the difference for me. Today I found my first 2 no-doubt-about-it rooting clones in the dome!

Mistake #1 was when I realized that the pellets could not be left sitting in unabsorbed water. Even if sitting on a heating pad under a dome the water under the pellets turn ice cold at night. So the trick with the pellets is to fill them so they won't absorb any more, then turn that sucker upside down and drain out the clear water until the runoff turns dirty. Now the pellet is moist, not soggy. 90% of my earlier efforts failed due to cold and soggy media.

Mistake #2 was slathering the rooting gel all over the main stem. When I did biopsies on earlier failures I noted that if the clone is not standing exactly straight in the pellet, if the stem is leaning noticably and the stem is gelled where it goes into the pellet you have a problem. The gel will soak into the stem, the stem turns black if under stress (like being leaned on) and turn to jelly. Plant unable to support it's own weight and falls over.

Impressions -- My books say use a dome for 2 days than lower the humidity to 80%. BS. Use the dome continuously until clones are rooted. Make sure pellet is moist. After it goes into the dome you don't add water to the pellets or to the dome. Every day, twice is better, take the dome off and knock off any condensation. Mist warmish water on each clones' leaves. Two or 3 sprays per plant is plenty. Replace the dome and keep 100% humidity and keep the heating mat under the dome.

Final note -- I had most of my clone attempts in jiffy pellets placed in clear plastic cups so I could see any "progress". I never saw any of the new roots until I took each pellet out of its' plastic cup and could look directly at the pellet. Even though the cups are clear I was not able to see as well as I thought.

I finally got it right by going through threads just like you are now. Stick with it and you will have the satisfaction of knowing a skill that will enrich your life. Also, don't expect roots in a few days or even a week. Pick it up every 3 or 4 days after a week and expect to find good things.

Good luck again, BigSteve.

Congrats

It takes some trial and error but it does work! Like you said, moist but not too moist (you actually want the pellets/rockwool to nearly dry out by the end of 2 weeks), warm but not too warm (and cold definitely destroys clones), keep the dome on until you think they're rooting. They usually start yellowing and thats a good sign. If you think they have roots, take off the dome for 2 hours and if they wilt, you still need more time (and if they wilt just give a good misting and put dome on, they come back).. Once they dont wilt plant to soil and watch em explode! (this is info you probably already know now, just reiterating for fellow readers)

Cloning took me a few tries, but I've got it down. Kinda like riding a bike.

It took me a good year and a half before I got it down pat. Being able to read the plant and knowing how to adjust the humidity is key. This takes a while to learn. I also agree about using a dome the entire time. I use small RW cubes and water with a digi scale and a spray bottle. I always water my cubes to 20g wet and keep my heat mat at 84 degrees. I always spray the mother plants before cutting.

Something i would consider too, those Jiffy pellets hold too much water, i use Rapid Rooters exclusively and can keep a 1/4 inch of water in the tray without issue. I do have a nice warm room for them too, don't have to worry about the water getting cold, but have always had great success with them regardless.

It took me about a year to get cloning down. What finally worked for me is to put my cuttings in sand and use an alcohol based rooting liquid that I got from my hydro shop, its their own product, but similar products can be found in regular stores. I dome with tinted see through party cups from the dollar tree. I did some cuttings 8 days ago, and they're rooted, going into dirt tomorrow. Heat and humidity are definitely key, I dome the whole time and they are kept nice and warm, some might say too warm but it's working well for me so I'm not gonna change it So far I've had 100% success with this method, but I'll admit I've only done 13 cuttings with this method so far