whitebb2727
Well-Known Member
You can be as simple or complex as you want. Remember when your grandma would take plant cuttings and put them in a glass of water? It works. Not as high as success rate but it works.
I want to get started cloning...need recommendations
- Thread starter Revilgaz
- Start date
Revilgaz
Active Member
I like the idea of this. But how do you achieve humidity? Do I still need a heating pad? I assume I still use a t5 light ?
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
I use all sorts of methods to clone and almost anything works. The only time I used a heat mat all 38 cuts got stem rot and died. I mainly use these flimsy 9-hole seed starter pots with a tall dome over it. I fill the holes with screened, moistened promix, (1mm mesh screen like mosquito screen), then dip my cuts in gel then #1 powder. Stick them in the holes I made with a plastic chopstick and squirt water around the stem to make sure the stems have good contact with the wet promix.
I melted a lot of extra holes in that one to make a half-assed air-pot kind of thing but found it dried out real fast. Now I just put a few extra holes in the bottom so they can better suck up the water I pour in the bottom of the tray to water them. Low light is best until they root or they will try to veg and often die.
Last year a grow tip broke off and fell in a bucket of water I had in the grow room to raise humidity and when I noticed it a week later and picked it up, TA-DA! It had rooted so I planted it and it grew fine.
Made my own aero cloner with a small RubberMaid tub and a 12" airstone. Had to saw off a couple inches of the stone so it would fit and seal the end with 2-part epoxy glue. Just drilled some 3/16" holes in the lid and cut slits between every few holes so the cuts could be taken out without damaging the roots and it worked fine. Just RO water with some very dilute nutes and a bit of peroxide. No clone gel and just slit and scraped the stem end like with the promix ones. Just like a mini DWC tub. I plan to use it again soon.
Lots of ways to do it and they all work. Practice with any spare grow tips that you would otherwise toss out and don't fuss over them as that kills more than anything. Open the dome twice a day for the first week or so and spray the dome, not the cuts. Keeping them too wet washes out minerals from the leaves and with too much heat can cause stem rot or mildew. Mine root fine at around 65F in the bedroom closet. Bit slower but then I'm not on a production schedule so don't much care about a few extra days.
I melted a lot of extra holes in that one to make a half-assed air-pot kind of thing but found it dried out real fast. Now I just put a few extra holes in the bottom so they can better suck up the water I pour in the bottom of the tray to water them. Low light is best until they root or they will try to veg and often die.
Last year a grow tip broke off and fell in a bucket of water I had in the grow room to raise humidity and when I noticed it a week later and picked it up, TA-DA! It had rooted so I planted it and it grew fine.
Made my own aero cloner with a small RubberMaid tub and a 12" airstone. Had to saw off a couple inches of the stone so it would fit and seal the end with 2-part epoxy glue. Just drilled some 3/16" holes in the lid and cut slits between every few holes so the cuts could be taken out without damaging the roots and it worked fine. Just RO water with some very dilute nutes and a bit of peroxide. No clone gel and just slit and scraped the stem end like with the promix ones. Just like a mini DWC tub. I plan to use it again soon.
Lots of ways to do it and they all work. Practice with any spare grow tips that you would otherwise toss out and don't fuss over them as that kills more than anything. Open the dome twice a day for the first week or so and spray the dome, not the cuts. Keeping them too wet washes out minerals from the leaves and with too much heat can cause stem rot or mildew. Mine root fine at around 65F in the bedroom closet. Bit slower but then I'm not on a production schedule so don't much care about a few extra days.
Revilgaz
Active Member
Growing in a basement in Massachusetts in January, so I would definitely need a heater.
GrandfatherRat
Active Member
You definitely need a light, but I think my t5 is more than I need for this small bucket and little clones. I have reasonable humidity levels with my setup, around 35%, so I don't use a dome and I don't use a heat pad. Ambient temp in my clone room is about 75F. If I felt I needed more humidity, I'd drop a dome over the bucket, but it hasn't been a factor yet.
BobBitchen
Well-Known Member
clone king
tap water
t5's
bout 14 dayz
tap water
t5's
bout 14 dayz
Odin*
Well-Known Member
I like the aero cloners the best (made about a dozen 72 site totes) for getting a head start, but hoods are more "secure" in that a power outage/strip failure isn't a death sentence.
You can still try the "plug" method on the cheap, just get some rock wool cubes and cut a large water bottle/clear 2ltr to place the cut in. I did the water bottle thing once when I ran out of hoods, the tires were full, but still had a bunch more I needed to cut (late night, stores closed, wasn't "waiting"). They did just fine. Anyhow, it's good to be proficient in several methods in the event that you need to pull a "MacGyver".
Your T5 is fine at about a ft to 16" above the tops of the cuts. Be careful at 12", they will start to grow in the cloner as soon as they root. I'm guessing it's a 2'x2 bulb. (?)
I find the rooting gels, in general, to be unnecessary. You need the liquid.
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
I've got a fancy clone machine but don't do big batches due to plant count limits. Most of the time I just break out the heat pad, tray, and dome.
Old school method is convenient and works fine. I seem to have the best luck with rockwool, although "root riot" plugs work well too.
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
They're ready for soil. You could wait longer but it isn't necessary. Be sure to inoculate the roots with beneficial fungi when you plant.
mo841
Well-Known Member
As soon as you see any kind of root your good to go. Even if its just a lil nub
Richard Drysift
Well-Known Member
This is same aerocloner I use and it's even cheaper than building one DIY...works great with just tap water only; no root hormone is needed but rapid start is good to add in if you need to leave them in there rooted and vegging for a time
Alex Johnson
Member
It took me about half an hour to make an aerocloner. I did as described here http://good-cannabis-seeds.com/blogs/diy-aeroponic-cannabis-cloner
driel
Well-Known Member
I use clone gel into warm peat pellets in a home made dome under a single cfl to do up to about 10 clones at a time. Light mist twice a day and vent after 4-5 days. I've tried heat mats and they end up overdoing and cooking the plants if you don't have one of those controllers for the mat.
Those aeroponic ones look cool but I've never seen a moderately priced one here in Canada. I don't get 100% rate on my clones but I cut more than I need from my mother plant usually anyways so it's not a big deal personally.
Those aeroponic ones look cool but I've never seen a moderately priced one here in Canada. I don't get 100% rate on my clones but I cut more than I need from my mother plant usually anyways so it's not a big deal personally.