you shoud have done a 45degree angle just before you dipped the in clonex, dont let the air get into the stem were you have cut.
try to avoid the heat mat and put them somewere warm with a small ight over them in a propagator, make sure the humidty is high
From ez clone website,
Taking Cuttings and Unit Insertion
Next, I start taking cuttings from my Mother or Donor plant. I prefer to take them directly from the Mom
right before I’m ready to insert them into the unit. On the average, I take a 4 or 5 inch cutting and leave
2 to 4 leaves on the top. If the leaves are small, I don’t trim them. If they are medium to large, I will trim
half of each leaf off. The reason for this is because the cutting only requires a small leaf area to absorb
a sufficient amount of light to keep it alive. Also, because the cutting does not have a root structure yet,
the leaves are sustained by the amount of moisture that is held in the stem. If the leaves are smaller,
the cutting does not have to work as hard to supply moisture to the leaves, which allows the cutting to
focus its energy on “producing roots”. It also has the added benefit of reducing the overall amount of
leaf area on the top of the Cloner. This prevents some leaves from getting covered by others and
makes for an overall friendlier environment.
As I take each cutting, I will cut it from the Mom with either a sharp razor blade or a quality pair of
trimming shears. Make sure the cutting utensil is clean. It can be sterilized with isopropyl alcohol, a
lighter, or both. I prefer both.
I have heard multiple times that it’s necessary for the cutting to be taken
at a 45 degree angle. This is completely false. It does not matter. Just make sure the cut is clean and
the bottom of the cutting is not mangled. Roots will form along the wall of the stem.
Also, I use EZ-CLONE Rooting Gel. After taking each cutting, I place the cutting inside the jar of gel and
let it sit there until I have taken approximately 8 cuttings. This means I have 8 cuttings soaking up the
gel. I pull them out one at a time, insert each cutting into a New Neoprene Collar and place the collar
into the unit. In a 120 unit, there are 15 rows of 8. This is why I take 8 cuttings at a time. I prefer to fill
up a row, take 8 more cuttings, fill up another row, and continue that pattern until the lid is full.
Although the neoprene collars can be reused, I highly recommend using new collars every time you
clone instead of trying to clean the previously used ones. When the collars are used, they can get slime
in the pores, cracks, and creases from various types of additives and I think it’s a bit difficult to
guarantee they get totally clean. I would rather spend the few bucks for new collars and not have to
worry about potentially getting any bad bacteria due the old collars not being cleaned properly.
It is also important to let you know that I do not turn the water pump on until I have the entire unit full of
cuttings and have ph balanced the water. It usually takes about an hour to take 120 cuttings and insert
them into the lid. During this time, the cuttings are still absorbing the gel and an hour is not too long to
wait before turning on the water pump. The clones usually will not wilt within this hour time period, but
if you do get some minor wilting, after you plug the pump in, the clones will perk right back up