Is anyone here using an aerponic cloner?

I'm just getting started, have been having trouble getting my first batch of viable clones, and picked up a TurboKlone to help, but I'm not having much luck with it either.

Is anyone here using a TurboKlone or EZClone or similar? If so I'd like to describe my problem and see if you can help.

Thanks.

p.s. Whoops - sorry about the typo in the subject line...

I use a lot of cloners, what solution are you using?I use room tempature RO water for first couple days, then switch to clone feed. whats your spayer timers set at?first 4 days I leave my spayers running 24/7.

UrbanAerO said:

I use a lot of cloners, what solution are you using?I use room tempature RO water for first couple days, then switch to clone feed. whats your spayer timers set at?first 4 days I leave my spayers running 24/7.

Click to expand...

Okay, here's the story: We got a TurboKlone - the 48-site version. Our first attempt with it was sloppy, the cuttings didn't root, and the tank, pump, manifold, and nozzles all got gummed up with algae. So we figured we'd better get rigorous about it.

First we gave everything a good flushing with with tap water to clean the visible algae out, scrubbed out the inside of the unit, and gave the neoprene collars a boiling-water bath. Then we ran a 10% bleach in tapwater (our water's ultra-hard here) solution through for 24 hours to sterilize it. Then we dumped the bleach/tapwater and replaced
it with store-bought RO water (pH 7) to which I added 100ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide, because that's what I had handy. I based the concentration on the recommendation in an article I'd read to use 1ml/gallon (sorry about the mixed units...) of 35% H2O2, and the tank is about 13 litres, so the math works. We ran that for another 24 hours before we made the new cuttings from our fat and happy mothers. We used a sterilized blade to make the cuttings, and immediately immersed them in the clean (bottled) water in order to prevent air embolisms. Each cutting then got a little dip in Wilson Roots IBA rooting gel before insertion into the collar. Then we put the dome on and put the unit directly beneath a pair of 4' 40W Sylvania Gro-Lux tubes. They're T12. Everyone talks about T5. Does it matter?

After a week, we had no new roots whatsoever, so we started to look at the variables. B'cuzz Root Stimulator had been suggested to us, so we added about 12ml as directed. Also, we thought water temperature might be an issue (it's running the basement where the ambient tamp is 60-65F), so we added a heater to the TurboKlone's tank to bring the temp up to 75F. And since everything we've read says that we should be a little on the acidic side, a bit of phosphoric acid was added to bring the pH down into the 6.0-6.5 neighborhood. Finally, we'd been told that the rooting gel is a bad idea when trying to do aeroponic cloning because it clogs the cut stem. We'd actually been concerned that the constant spray would wash it off before it could do its work, but I guess that's not the case. So we added the specified amount of cloner liquid (2ml of a .6% IBA and .1% B1 solution per litre) to the tank and recut the bottoms off of a bunch of the cuttings. Another week's passed, and pretty much everything's dead.

Oh - and I should mention that we're running the lights 18on/6off and the sprayer pump 24x7.

So we could use some guidance. I suspect this last go-round wasn't quite right and that the cuttings were already too compromised by the time we tuned things up and recut them, so we're ready to clean it all out and give it another go. But I don't want to do it until we've gotten opinions from the experienced hands here. The last thing we need is another wasted batch - this is frustrating.

Dont use b'cuzz untill you see roots, just your bottled water for the first week. I use aero and apply clone solution to the top of the neoprene, next to the stem, so as the solution will slowly drain into the neoprene, also stem should be just barely sticking out the bottom of the collar with a 45* angle cut. how are you getting clones? I cut a branch off a mother and stick it in water and 24hrs of darkness before I start cloning off her.

I have an ez-cloner, and don't any of that stuff bro. I have 100% success.

All I do is take my cuttings, each dipped into clonex, and laid out on a plate for a while, while I cut the next batch. Than once the next few are cut, I take the first ones, put them into the collars, and continue until all sites are used. The cuttings don't need to be put into water, or any of that. Just dip them in gel, and they're fine out of water for over an hour.

I then fill my clone machine with HARD water. The directions clearly tell you NOT to use RO, or distilled water. If you have city water, just fill some buckets the day before and let them stand to evaporate the chlorine.

All I put in my water is a drop per gallon superthrive, and a small amount of rooting stimulant. I use House and Garden nutes, so I just put a little of their root stuff in that. It's super expensive, so don't feel like you need that spendy stuff. Root 66 works fine.

I also have an oxygen stone on an airpump in my cloner. It takes me at least 10 days to have good roots. I leave them in for longer to get them good and healthy.

Works every time.

As for cleaning, when done, I fill up a 5 gallon bucket, put 1 cup of bleach in it, and put that in my machine. I run it for 1/2 hr or so with the sprayers in, take them out, run some more. Than I do 3 flushes of clean water, throw away the old collars, and always use new ones for the next run.

UrbanAerO said:

Dont use b'cuzz untill you see roots, just your bottled water for the first week. I use aero and apply clone solution to the top of the neoprene, next to the stem, so as the solution will slowly drain into the neoprene, also stem should be just barely sticking out the bottom of the collar with a 45* angle cut. how are you getting clones? I cut a branch off a mother and stick it in water and 24hrs of darkness before I start cloning off her.

Click to expand...

We didn't add the B'cuzzz until we were about a week into the process, which is when I recut about half of the stem bottoms. The ones we didn't recut didn't do any better. The cuts were at an angle, and when we cut them off the mothers they just went straight into water before making the trip to the cloner. We didn't do the 24 hours in the dark thing, though. Altogether, what we were doing isn't that far from what you describe, but they all died.

Rockwool and Olivas cloning solution works for me. Easy and 100% success rate so far, 43 out of 43.


*Disclaimer* All statements made above are purely fictional and hypethicaly what I may do if I were in that situation

bowlfullofbliss said:

I have an ez-cloner, and don't any of that stuff bro. I have 100% success.

All I do is take my cuttings, each dipped into clonex, and laid out on a plate for a while, while I cut the next batch. Than once the next few are cut, I take the first ones, put them into the collars, and continue until all sites are used. The cuttings don't need to be put into water, or any of that. Just dip them in gel, and they're fine out of water for over an hour.

I then fill my clone machine with HARD water. The directions clearly tell you NOT to use RO, or distilled water. If you have city water, just fill some buckets the day before and let them stand to evaporate the chlorine.

Click to expand...

I don't recall seeing anything like that in the TurboKlone directions, but I'll take another look. But by "hard", I mean hard. This isn't just unsoftened city water, this is well water, and if I run it in the cloner all the spray nozzles are going to clogged with calcium in less time than it takes to run a batch of cuttings through it. Here, when you boil a pot of water, there's a chalk-dusty residue left on the pot. So our tap water isn't an option. It's also alkaline as hell.

All I put in my water is a drop per gallon superthrive, and a small amount of rooting stimulant. I use House and Garden nutes, so I just put a little of their root stuff in that. It's super expensive, so don't feel like you need that spendy stuff. Root 66 works fine.

I also have an oxygen stone on an airpump in my cloner. It takes me at least 10 days to have good roots. I leave them in for longer to get them good and healthy.

Click to expand...

I'm curious how much that affects dissolved oxygen. I'd think that the constant misting would add enough O2 to the water just on its own without a bubbler.

Works every time.

As for cleaning, when done, I fill up a 5 gallon bucket, put 1 cup of bleach in it, and put that in my machine. I run it for 1/2 hr or so with the sprayers in, take them out, run some more. Than I do 3 flushes of clean water, throw away the old collars, and always use new ones for the next run.

Click to expand...

I'd think that ditching the collars would be unnecessary - the sterlization from boiling water, bleach, and H2O2 should really be enough. But maybe this is a time for witchcraft...

I have had hard time, 3x failed. I cleaned my equipment and tried it again. I did everything everyone said to do. Just as before. I believe my problem was dirry equipment. The only thing I really changed was misting,I used to do it 3x daily. Now I would mist with tap water, 1x per day. Sometimes 1x every other day. No ritual. Just kinda forget about them and this time, 100%. Stay in range for what everyone else suggest, temp, PH water, clone gel, superthrive, cut leaves in half. 1 inch of stem under neoprene collors, and mist 1x per day is magic. It truely IS easy. Just set it and forget it. Also, NO humidity dome for aerocloner!!

I have a 60 unit EZclone. I cut my clones with a diagonal slice from the lower part of the mother plant, the woodier the stems, the better, dip them in Clonex and put them in the collars. The soilution is PH'ed to around 5.8 and mixed with Olivias cloning solution (per 12 gallon reservoir for this particular machine) with a tank heater keeping the solution at 72 degrees F. I have had very few failures. OTOH, I love Rapid Rooters. When used properly with a heat mat and Dutch Masters Replicator, it's a dream come true.

NateDizity1420 said:

Rockwool and Olivas cloning solution works for me. Easy and 100% success rate so far, 43 out of 43.

Click to expand...

Really? How do you fit the rockwool cubes in your aeroponic cloner? Which cloner are you using?

I use stinkbuddies aerocloner and get 100% success. I cut the clone and place it in the neoprene. Then I make sure there's regular tap water and the pump is on for 1min off for 5min and in 7 days I have roots about 3-6inches in length. I then replant into soil or hydroton.

venacular said:

I use stinkbuddies aerocloner and get 100% success. I cut the clone and place it in the neoprene. Then I make sure there's regular tap water and the pump is on for 1min off for 5min and in 7 days I have roots about 3-6inches in length. I then replant into soil or hydroton.

Click to expand...

That's it? Nothing in the water, and no rooting hormone dip?

justpassingthrough said:

Really? How do you fit the rockwool cubes in your aeroponic cloner? Which cloner are you using?

Click to expand...

50mm pot..

I use a X-Stream 36 hole and this is my first time cloning, took 25 clones and have 25 with roots as we speak, 9 days in. Just a bit of clonex, a dirty blade and good old London hard water set for 24/7 under a LED panel and 15min on, 15min off.

I did scrape the surface of the stem about 2 inches down and the roots are bursting from those scrapes.

I'm no expert but to me the simpler it is the more effective...and time..

newworldicon said:

I use a X-Stream 36 hole and this is my first time cloning, took 25 clones and have 25 with roots as we speak, 9 days in. Just a bit of clonex, a dirty blade and good old London hard water set for 24/7 under a LED panel and 15min on, 15min off.

Click to expand...

Can you clarify that for me, please? Do you mean 24x7 lighting and 15on/15off pump or 24x7 pump and 15on/15off lights? I'm wondering too whether I might try running the cloner next to my mothers under the 18on/6off 1KW sodium vapour instead of the fluorescents I was using previously.

I did scrape the surface of the stem about 2 inches down and the roots are bursting from those scrapes.

I'm no expert but to me the simpler it is the more effective...and time..

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm a big proponent of Occam's razor too... maybe that's the one I should be using to make my cuttings.

justpassingthrough said:

Can you clarify that for me, please? Do you mean 24x7 lighting and 15on/15off pump or 24x7 pump and 15on/15off lights? I'm wondering too whether I might try running the cloner next to my mothers under the 18on/6off 1KW sodium vapour instead of the fluorescents I was using previously.

Yeah, I'm a big proponent of Occam's razor too... maybe that's the one I should be using to make my cuttings.

Click to expand...

To clarify I have the light on all day all night, 24/7.

I don't get the Occam's razor thing......I only had a rusty stanley knife blade too hand so thought fuck it, and used it and I suppose the proof is in the pudding. They seem fine.

I hope I don't sound like I'm trivialising your cloning woes. Try plain tap water, tiny amount of superthrive and none of those gizmo rizotonic potion thingy miggigy things and wait 10 days. Whats mom like?

newworldicon said:

To clarify I have the light on all day all night, 24/7.

I don't get the Occam's razor thing......I only had a rusty stanley knife blade too hand so thought fuck it, and used it and I suppose the proof is in the pudding. They seem fine.

Click to expand...

That was a joke. Occam's Razor is the rule that says the simplest answer is usually the right one. Of all the people who've weighed in over this, your approach is definitely the simplest, so it fits the rule. That the razor is dirty adds to the joke.

I hope I don't sound like I'm trivialising your cloning woes. Try plain tap water, tiny amount of superthrive and none of those gizmo rizotonic potion thingy miggigy things and wait 10 days. Whats mom like?

Click to expand...

As I said at the top of the set, tap water is not an option. It's so hard here that in less time than it takes to do a batch of clones, I'm sure the spray nozzles will be clogged with calcium. So using the bottled RO water is, I think, a necessity. If I had access to more normal tap water I'd be happy to use it.

The mothers are nice big bushy things, but I have yet to successfully clone from them. They were initially given to me as scrawny little clones themselves.

Maybe you have a bitchy mother? Lol. I have a home made clone bucket but same principal. I would try shaving a little of the cambium, dipping in clonex or other similar hormone, and them running 15/15 on / off. I also put about a tablespoon of flowering ferts ( no nitrogen) in the 2 gallons of water in the bucket.

If that doesn't work than your taking cuttings from the wring part of the plant (too high) or you are destined to never grow weed. Hopefully it's the former and not the latter

justpassingthrough said:

That was a joke. Occam's Razor is the rule that says the simplest answer is usually the right one. Of all the people who've weighed in over this, your approach is definitely the simplest, so it fits the rule. That the razor is dirty adds to the joke.



As I said at the top of the set, tap water is not an option. It's so hard here that in less time than it takes to do a batch of clones, I'm sure the spray nozzles will be clogged with calcium. So using the bottled RO water is, I think, a necessity. If I had access to more normal tap water I'd be happy to use it.

The mothers are nice big bushy things, but I have yet to successfully clone from them. They were initially given to me as scrawny little clones themselves.

Click to expand...

Try the tap water before dismissing it, in my X-Streams instructions it says not to use RO water at all, doesn't say why but it's in there. You only have a few nozzles to sort if it doesn't work. Besides the water I get here in London UK can't be any worse than anywhere else in the world. That stuff is recycled countless times with all kinds of crap in it.

Try it, this might be the breakthrough you seek Kimosabi!