Looking for help with my cloning

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dubble Js

Member
Hey RIU, looking for some tips. Haven't had the best luck getting clones going.

I've got a few in the dome now, heat mat, pop the dome off at least once a day to let em breath and mist them.

5 of these ones in the pics (big ones) are only 4 days in. No sign of roots. The smaller 3 are 9 days in, no sign of roots. I know it can take a week or two but...
The last 2 pictures are of clones I had in the dome for weeks and they only formed those tiny roots about 1/8" off the swollen white stem.

I cut em at 45, dip em in rooted for a couple mins.

Where am I falling short?

Thx for any input!! 20171016_204118.jpg 20171009_225206.jpg 20171009_224954.jpg
 
GreenLogician

GreenLogician

Well-Known Member
Are these headed for hydro? I see a soil or coco plant in the back, and I have great success cloning straight into soil. It might be your rockwool cubes sitting in a puddle method :)

I either use a dome for 4 days, never having to water for weeks until they are ready,
or I don't use a dome and give them a little squirt of water on their stems every day (for the start) :)

You could also consider that maybe they are getting too much light
 
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dubble Js

Member
Yes I've got sun 4 and coco going. Do you just put your cuts directly into coco?

Yea the water puddle... I was trying that from a suggestion by a guy that grows a bunch.

I've got a T5 about 18" above them.

Thanks :smile:
 
S

Sam1510

Well-Known Member
Let the rockwools get almost dry before you water again it will force the roots to grow in search of water. Also when I water I pick up the cube and dip the bottom half in a bucket of phd water for a few seconds then put it back in the tray. That puddle method your doing is gonna give you algae or mold eventually. Make sure your humidity in your dome is high too.
 
nurrgle

nurrgle

Well-Known Member
I'd guess from the pics that to much water is the problem.

I also wrote a sweet bit about light then read your other post saying u are using a t5 and deleted it. I use a t5 and it works well for me.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
Solo cup with soil. Put cuttings in the cup and water. Put under a small t5 or cfl.

Easy peasy. No domes, no mats, no bull crap. Works like a charm.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
Smaller cuts. 4-8 inches long. Cut off everything but one or two nodes. New soft growth not old woody growth.
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
GreenLogician said:
Are these headed for hydro? I see a soil or coco plant in the back, and I have great success cloning straight into soil. It might be your rockwool cubes sitting in a puddle method :)

I either use a dome for 4 days, never having to water for weeks until they are ready,
or I don't use a dome and give them a little squirt of water on their stems every day (for the start) :)

You could also consider that maybe they are getting too much light
Click to expand...
The thing that jumps out at me is that your Rockwell cubes are way too wet. If you have any standing water with rockwool they'll soak up more than you want for rooting clones.

You said you cut at 45° and dip in gel. Do you expose the cambion layer? A lot of people scrape the skin back a bit. I make my cut about a half inch past the node I want to root (nodes root better than bare stem) and instead of scraping i just pinch the leaf and top at the node and peal it off down towards the cut.
 
growin-Jables

growin-Jables

Well-Known Member
I think the issue here is the rock wool. I made the same errors when I first started cloning. Someone said to always leave a small layer of moisture in my dome so my cubes didnt dry out. But i had horrible success rates. I make my 45 degree cut. Quickly dip the tip in straight water for 10 seconds then dip in clone x. Then I put it in my pre soaked cube and into my DRY humidity dome. I will mist the clones every other day or so. But try not to mist the cubes. I let them get semi dry to the point where i can gently punch the cube and water does not squeeze out. I add a small amount of water and repeat this process . As soon as i see new growth starting I transplant into soil. I say screw waiting to visually see roots poking out. If there's fresh growth there has to be roots. The soil does a better job at regulating moisture. I think the problem with rock wool is that when its soaking wet. The material becomes much denser. And I feel like the roots have a more difficult time piercing through the cube then when its partially dried out and has pocket of air inbetween the moisture for it to easily puncture and continue growing through most of my failed clones I had tipped the cubes open just to educate myself and see what it all looks like . I saw ton of root growth beginning like the O.P. but roots never got far from the stalk which made me realize it wasn't my cutting technique or rooting hormone or growing skill perdy. It was not understanding my growing medium
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
growin-Jables said:
I think the issue here is the rock wool. I made the same errors when I first started cloning. Someone said to always leave a small layer of moisture in my dome so my cubes didnt dry out. But i had horrible success rates. I make my 45 degree cut. Quickly dip the tip in straight water for 10 seconds then dip in clone x. Then I put it in my pre soaked cube and into my DRY humidity dome. I will mist the clones every other day or so. But try not to mist the cubes. I let them get semi dry to the point where i can gently punch the cube and water does not squeeze out. I add a small amount of water and repeat this process . As soon as i see new growth starting I transplant into soil. I say screw waiting to visually see roots poking out. If there's fresh growth there has to be roots. The soil does a better job at regulating moisture. I think the problem with rock wool is that when its soaking wet. The material becomes much denser. And I feel like the roots have a more difficult time piercing through the cube then when its partially dried out and has pocket of air inbetween the moisture for it to easily puncture and continue growing through most of my failed clones I had tipped the cubes open just to educate myself and see what it all looks like . I saw ton of root growth beginning like the O.P. but roots never got far from the stalk which made me realize it wasn't my cutting technique or rooting hormone or growing skill perdy. It was not understanding my growing medium
Click to expand...
The rockwool is tricky to keep just the right amount of water in to also maintain the right amount of air.Too dense jist like you said. I've literally used every single rooting plug and a number of different store bought and diy aerocloners and the single best thing I've seen is Down To Earth plugs. There's really no competition. It's almost impossible to water log them and you can leave that little bit of a later of water under them to make sure they don't ever get too dry.
 
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dubble Js

Member
SchmoeJoe said:
The thing that jumps out at me is that your Rockwell cubes are way too wet. If you have any standing water with rockwool they'll soak up more than you want for rooting clones.

You said you cut at 45° and dip in gel. Do you expose the cambion layer? A lot of people scrape the skin back a bit. I make my cut about a half inch past the node I want to root (nodes root better than bare stem) and instead of scraping i just pinch the leaf and top at the node and peal it off down towards the cut.
Click to expand...
I've tried exposing the cambium on some, but will do it consistently now. I also recently started making sure I have a node in the medium and not just stem. So if I understand correctly you pull down the fan leaf stem at the node in order to split the main stem open a bit?
 
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dubble Js

Member
Thanks growing jables and shmoejoe!

I seem to have bad luck with rock wool and kinda want to stop using it. I also don't like that it doesn't biodegrade.

Maybe I'll try to find those down to earth cubes, rapid rooters were next on my list to try.
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
dubble Js said:
I've tried exposing the cambium on some, but will do it consistently now. I also recently started making sure I have a node in the medium and not just stem. So if I understand correctly you pull down the fan leaf stem at the node in order to split the main stem open a bit?
Click to expand...
Cambium, that's right. I knew I was spelling it wrong. I do it by pinching both the leaf and top at the node at the same time and peeling it down towards the cut. It should leave a bit of a small crevice right at the node in most and then shallow up leaving a kind of a v shaped furrow and then nothing but skin deep towards the bottom at the cut.

I know a lot of people swear by dipping the clone I see water to make the cut to prevent embolism in the stem but I've never had any issues. Just have everything laid out so you can cut, peel, and then dip in the gel and it's just that quick. Using this method in a room that's temp controlled with propagation heat mats that are controlled with a thermostat I get 95%-100% with most strains and usually about 85% with the really stubborn ones that take longer.

With most I see the first roots outside of the plugs on the third or fourth day and I'm usually transplanting as they're ready on days 5, 6, and 7 for those easier strains. Some of the difficult ones go to day 14.
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
SoOLED said:
they need soft light too, if you got them in the tent with the main light it might be too much.
Click to expand...
I didn't even think about that. By soft light she means both not too strong and not too red. Red light doesn't root cuttings very well and if it's too bright they'll be trying to do more than they're able to without roots stressing them out. On the periphery of mh or under t5's or even plain t8 or even t12 shop lights is perfect.
 
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