Tough Cloning Luck...wtf folks...throw me a bone here

Ok got an aerocloner because I made 11 cuts and put in tuperware dish w hole and planned to drill more for vents as I went....well I opened then up and then they all looked like they almost melted (they wilted so fast) after looking healthy as I opened it....before that I had 5 successes (my current grow)...back to the aero cloner....25 site..supposed to have a high rate of success...ran my water at recommended 5.7...temps are a little warm in water mid 70s to low 80s (supposedly ideal)..humidome is in place (came w aero).... so..I posted a pic of what my grow looks like to show yall that I know how they act and wtf..
But this is the second round of 25 cuts that have all nearly damped off die to molding and then show no signs of rooting..tried spraying top tray w hydrogen peroxidea to fight mold but it just comes back twice as bad...I sterilized everything on my second run w bleach and hydrogen peroxide and made sure all my cloning principles were followed (I take pride In chopping and arm off and growing another girl)....some one tell me what I am not doing...I'm sure it's a dumbass thing on my part but I am just not seeing it and I'm a dang handyman professionally....this grow is made of 5 blue dreams cloned from a mother that I seeded, picked from 9...fyi...genetic degradation better not tare off that fast lol im no geneticist

For the record...aerocloner recommended 5.7...but looking at a ph to spectral range...5.7 looks like a horrible catalyst for molding, considering SOME light wI'll get through the neoprene slips..

Try it with the dome off.

If you keep using the dome. Stick a remote temperature/humidity sensor under it. See what the temps and humidity are doing. You might need to tweak a vent hole.

Thanks bro. Thought about putting a computer fan or something but ddnt know how that would affect perspration....any one else w the aero cloner have these problems?

Seriously you are using the old woody main stem for cloning? Ive never seen that before.
Dont spray them with H2O2 it wont help. Too wet and poor quality cuttings.
Go back to flood and drain or you will lose too many cuttings.
What a fucking dogs breakfast .

Sounds like your water is getting too hot. Anything over 75deg and you risk slime. I keep mine at 70deg using a chiller. My best results have come using just plain filtered water with no rooting hormone. I find the rooting hormone will slime my cloners within a day or two. Recently I have been wanting/needing faster cloning time so I started using rooting hormone but adding EWC tea to my res. My first run experimenting with it and so far no slime! Do a little reading into it if you haven't already. It may save you from having to spend on a chiller...... Also get rid of the dome and stop using clones with such a thick stem, they sometimes take longer to root and if you are having issues it's just giving them more time to get screwed up.

Oh and I ph to 6.0. Though I am not sure if this is best it's just what I run the water at.

Your humidity is too high causing mold and preventing rooting. Keep the top off [ no humidity dome] fight the urge to mist them as they dont need it. This is the first time ever cloning with a clone king cloner. The pump runs 1/2 hour on 1/2 hour off no vent holes fans or b.s. It sits in my 4×4×6 plywood mother box under 400 watt h.p.s here are my clones after 14 days. These strains are incredibly fussy and refuse to root with other methods

BUDS go f~`> yourself haha jk dude but I know I have yalls attention now if you don't want to kick my ass. I appreciate the honest answers and old school approach to teaching.

I was under the impression that using a woody stem would lead to a heartier clone (lost so many that I aimed to cut loss w heartier stems and waiting the extra moments to root if it would take off out of the Neoprene and reduce shock to a 10 inch basket of hydroton) and this is out of 4 attempts now w different factors, the woodies grew out and survived (giving you my logic)

If this is ass backwards PLEASE advise and yall please don't troll the suggestions cuz I know this is controversial topic but yall are all either doing the same thing and it's working or yall are each really good at one aspect for the process that is obviously giving tremendous success. Give me some science or links that maybe I missed reading on.

Growing pains - I got a little chart for you, which is why I will ph to either 6 to 6.5 frpm now on....your onto something for a good live culture, I believe....I added aerator stone to my clone res to maybe help and added in some of the slime fighter for my dwc...couldn't remember if you said how old the clones were from cut but they look healthy AF so far

Jimmy sparkLe - prolly TMI but I like the build and would literally cream myself if I could pop the top, look under the tray and see that...built everything but my tent and light from scratch so i know you got more than plant skills


congrats to all of yall really. Yall keep the forum going for jackasses like me learning, while trying not to torture our babies to grow something that everyone can enjoy (unless your weird and have panic attacks smokin lol-give em snicklefitts)

you should not need a humidity dome with an aerocloner. you have a problem with powdery mildew. its in your house somewhere, maybe in the ventilation system. clean the whole area with bleach water, soak your neoprene pucks in bleach water, rinse it all off good with ro water, and add 13 ml of h2o2 to your cloner water daily.
i use a product called physan 20 to clean with. its nasty shit, will burn you, blind you, give you cancer and talk shit about you behind your back....but it kills pm NOW. if you put half a teaspoon in a quart of ro water and dunk your cutting in it good before you put them in the cloner, it'll stop the pm. just be careful with the shit. that being said, physan HAS to be used before flowering, do NOT spray it on a plant already in flower. its recommended for ornamental plants, NOT edible ones. i've used it on cuttings for years and never had any problem, but i would never use it on a plant that already had buds on it

Texas_Red67 said:

For the record...aerocloner recommended 5.7...but looking at a ph to spectral range...5.7 looks like a horrible catalyst for molding, considering SOME light wI'll get through the neoprene slips..

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Water temp is too high.

I have a bunch of aero cloners and have a high success rate, here's what I do. 36 site clone king but I only put in 18 clones so they have a little room to breathe. No dome. Gentle air circulation with fan. I built a shelf on the end of one of my veg rooms with a 1000w MH, and positioned it high enough so that my cloners were not in direct late but not out of the light entirely either, rather they are position low enough so that light from one wall of the reflector shines on them . This "filtered" light seems to be the proper intensity for clones.

I don't pH my water as I don't want to add any extra nutes which might discourage root development, but I do lightly score the bottom half inch of my cuttings and dip in clonex. SOMEtimes Ill add a little liquid karma once roots have sprouted, and a day before I take them out of the cloner I like to top off the reservoir with some water that has some sensizyme mixed in--that gets those roots clean and white and removes any slime if you have any.

But anyway, yeah, water temp is too high looks like. Maybe even the foliage too, personally I like it a little cooler than your 84.

Those clones are about 1 week from cut, no roots yet. I do get some twisting in the upper leaves once roots really start popping which is why I'm not so sure about my 6.0ph. I'd like to see this chart you found cause I'm thinking about lower it next time around.

This is the one that I found when I was researching the topic of "baterial/fungal culture vs ph of water...I read it showing that 6 to 6.5 would be right in between rooting issue (because I understand the lower the ph the faster the rooting lol till you straight nuke them or something) and fungal/molding issues....your having slow rooting because of the ph but protecting them from future infections (production times arent a factor for me of course) i just hate the wasted efforts and would rather play it safer than sorry

I have installed an aerator, raised ph to 6 and have been adding a few ice cube here and there.. I know yall going to think I'm weird but I've heard of many having success without a chiller. I just literally leave that mini tent open now and vent it all day w fan on res on....the 30 min on 30 min off with your pumps...is that a money/equipment saver? If not, what is happening that makes them root better? Lol we need science for these answers and I have smoke a huge one so I'm going to end it with those questions..

Thanks for the info and chart.... I think most of the guys having luck with no chiller are running their cloners on cold basement floors but for my next run I'm gonna setup my 60 site with no chiller just EWC tea and see what happens. If your interested look for my journal I'll be starting first week of May.

Texas_Red67 said:

This is the one that I found when I was researching the topic of "baterial/fungal culture vs ph of water...I read it showing that 6 to 6.5 would be right in between rooting issue (because I understand the lower the ph the faster the rooting lol till you straight nuke them or something) and fungal/molding issues....your having slow rooting because of the ph but protecting them from future infections (production times arent a factor for me of course) i just hate the wasted efforts and would rather play it safer than sorry

I have installed an aerator, raised ph to 6 and have been adding a few ice cube here and there.. I know yall going to think I'm weird but I've heard of many having success without a chiller. I just literally leave that mini tent open now and vent it all day w fan on res on....the 30 min on 30 min off with your pumps...is that a money/equipment saver? If not, what is happening that makes them root better? Lol we need science for these answers and I have smoke a huge one so I'm going to end it with those questions..

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From what I understand ( never had an issue)the pump continuously running can cause heat build up and water temp increase from the motor. My mother room where I keep my cloner is at a constant 75 degrees round the clock so I have my set up on a timer 30 on 30 off keeps water temps tepid and no need for chilling, fans, ice ect. My thick ass woody stems root in there also but it takes about 21 days for mine to root.

i've done the same thing using an aerocloner, except i was going 15/15, 30/30 may be a little long, let em dry out too much. and i found if i put the cloner up on blocks so air can flow under it, it helps keep it a lot cooler, the pump sits in the bottom, so thats where most of the heat is

Samsonator said:

Water temp is too high.

I have a bunch of aero cloners and have a high success rate, here's what I do. 36 site clone king but I only put in 18 clones so they have a little room to breathe. No dome. Gentle air circulation with fan. I built a shelf on the end of one of my veg rooms with a 1000w MH, and positioned it high enough so that my cloners were not in direct late but not out of the light entirely either, rather they are position low enough so that light from one wall of the reflector shines on them . This "filtered" light seems to be the proper intensity for clones.

I don't pH my water as I don't want to add any extra nutes which might discourage root development, but I do lightly score the bottom half inch of my cuttings and dip in clonex. SOMEtimes Ill add a little liquid karma once roots have sprouted, and a day before I take them out of the cloner I like to top off the reservoir with some water that has some sensizyme mixed in--that gets those roots clean and white and removes any slime if you have any.

But anyway, yeah, water temp is too high looks like. Maybe even the foliage too, personally I like it a little cooler than your 84.

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My temps are hovering around 80 degrees in my diy aerocloner. 15 on 15 off. Should I use air stones or not. I know the air pump heats up the rez some. I have hygrozyme, pool shock, and 35% h2o2. I normally ph to 5.8 an add my shock solution. Checked rez temp today and it was freaking 85. I cut off my air pump and temps dropped to 80-81. Should I keep the clones that are currently in there. Like put them in a glass off water while I run bleach or 35% h2o2 through my cloner. Or just scrap clones and start over with a clean rez and fresh clones. Bleach or peroxide for cleaning? Clear rez, hygrozyme, or 35% in the rez while cloning to keep it sterile. Plain tap water or kln and protekt while cloning. Ph'd water or not. Should i let tap water sit in 5 gallon buckets for several days before pouring it into my rez, to let it gas off some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process. So many variables. My clones are taking too long to root and theyre kinda mediocre when they do. In search of 80's hairband type roots!!

Vonkins said:

My temps are hovering around 80 degrees in my diy aerocloner. 15 on 15 off. Should I use air stones or not. I know the air pump heats up the rez some. I have hygrozyme, pool shock, and 35% h2o2. I normally ph to 5.8 an add my shock solution. Checked rez temp today and it was freaking 85. I cut off my air pump and temps dropped to 80-81. Should I keep the clones that are currently in there. Like put them in a glass off water while I run bleach or 35% h2o2 through my cloner. Or just scrap clones and start over with a clean rez and fresh clones. Bleach or peroxide for cleaning? Clear rez, hygrozyme, or 35% in the rez while cloning to keep it sterile. Plain tap water or kln and protekt while cloning. Ph'd water or not. Should i let tap water sit in 5 gallon buckets for several days before pouring it into my rez, to let it gas off some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process. So many variables. My clones are taking too long to root and theyre kinda mediocre when they do. In search of 80's hairband type roots!!

Click to expand...

It might be that your do-it-yourself aeroponics cloner has too large of a pump which is giving off too much heat for your reservoir , because if the environment that the aerocloner is located isn't too hot, then normally you won't have too much trouble with water temp.

Here's how I clean my cloners between each batch: I microwave a sponge for a minute and use soap and water to clean the individual pieces. I put the cloner back together and fill with warm water and about 1/2 a cup of bleach. I let it run for about 15 minutes , then I dump out the reservoir and lightly rinse, and then fill it back up with warm water. I let it run for another 15 minutes, then I dump it out and rinse it lightly, then fill back up with mostly cold with a little hot water mixed in , and this is what my clones will be in. No pH adjustment, no nutrients.

Vonkins said:

My temps are hovering around 80 degrees in my diy aerocloner. 15 on 15 off. Should I use air stones or not. I know the air pump heats up the rez some. I have hygrozyme, pool shock, and 35% h2o2. I normally ph to 5.8 an add my shock solution. Checked rez temp today and it was freaking 85. I cut off my air pump and temps dropped to 80-81. Should I keep the clones that are currently in there. Like put them in a glass off water while I run bleach or 35% h2o2 through my cloner. Or just scrap clones and start over with a clean rez and fresh clones. Bleach or peroxide for cleaning? Clear rez, hygrozyme, or 35% in the rez while cloning to keep it sterile. Plain tap water or kln and protekt while cloning. Ph'd water or not. Should i let tap water sit in 5 gallon buckets for several days before pouring it into my rez, to let it gas off some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process. So many variables. My clones are taking too long to root and theyre kinda mediocre when they do. In search of 80's hairband type roots!!

Click to expand...

Greetings, I got best results with 15 on 45 off. Kept res cool. 80° in cloner my % fell to 20ish. 70° was 90%.

But I can't talk to much, my cube clones are 0% right now, it's depressing. If it ain't broke don't fix it in my case.. probably need to break out both aero's again and get back to sheet that works.

Good luck.