Cloning hormones revealed; a side by side comparison

So, the little lady an I have been at this gardening thing for awhile now, and we have tried many different cloning procedures and rooting hormones. Never having had "bad" results with just about any method, we never really locked down any serious favorites and just went with whatever was around and that was that. Now we are a little older and way more stable we have decided to put together a system and keep things consistent.
This thread is intended to be a comparison of 3 rooting agents.



Not any other methods or techniques are intended to be the topic. We plan on doing a similar thread next with other mediums, then possibly even other methods.

For this thread we will be using 1" OASIS cubes for the medium and Deep Chunk x Strawberry Cough(DCSC) from SR71 as the strain.





So... We have 12 pretty decent sized donor plants, in 3 gallon growbags with coco and hand watered 1x per day with GH flora series + additives.


The donors are under 400 watts of MH and 250 watts CFL right now. Getting a new 1k MH this week, just had to give one back to a friend last night...

Next run we want to do two 4x8 tables of this strain @ 72 uniform plants per table with just enough veg time to get their legs stretched out in their hydroton flowering medium.
We are at day 15 of flower in the other room currently, and we plan on getting ready to flip over as fast as possible, so we started cloning these ladies today.... In order to get 144 nice even clones off these donors, we have decided to start early and take small clones off the small donors and veg the the little suckers under CFL... That enables us to take bigger clones as the donors get older and they will need less veg time and create a uniform crop.. Or at least thats the plan.

Here is a bud from this sexy lady, just to explain why we are growing her. Plus tons of orders for this dried product and concentrates!







So now on to the experiment.........

We use 10"x 20" black plastic trays with inserts for the 1" Oasis cubes and 8ish" plastic domes with adjustable vents at the top.
For this experiment we are cutting 3" clones and dipping them in one of 3 rooting hormones
* Olivias cloning gel
* Clonex cloning gel
*Dip 'n grow liquid
****EDIT**** as per the advice of overmind1632 we are doing a control of no hormone! thanks... good call manz.



We have never used Dip 'n Grow, but it has been recomended by many friends.
Oliva's & Clonex were used extensively in the past, along with rootone.

We like to spray the clones and exchange the air about 2x per day, and the room is 74-76 degrees right now, and 78-84 with the 1k MH in place.

So, this is cutting day (0)
We will keep you updated day by day and we hope that this will help you in your choices of rooting hormone.

Nice idea

You should also have a control that is cloning with no additives

I have my money on Dip n Grow, but I probably like it better because I can clone way faster with it.

Thanks for taking one for the class. I "chose" Olivia's because that's all the store had. I'd certainly consider a change for the right reason.

While this isn't what you're testing, what about shelf life? I've been using the same bottle of Olivia's for 7 years.

I like the powder the best.

overmind1632 said:

Nice idea

You should also have a control that is cloning with no additives

Click to expand...

I agree.

Cut the control just 1 min ago... pics in an edit soon!

daddyhaze said:

Cut the control just 1 min ago... pics in an edit soon!

Click to expand...

Perfect, I've personally used rootone and Olivia's, wondering if its any more effective then just plain water

I like Dip and Grow. Love that one.

Tag and I want to watch!

I like Clone-X gel.

Hello, this is MommaHaze....AKA EvE. I would have organized this better if I knew we would be sharing this experiment! Pleze excuse the mixed tray...

I have been our propagator for many of our gardens and always buy new crap. I figured since I had a collection of products, I'd try them all.

The usability of these products varies widely:
Olivia's gel is very thick and tough to get onto the stem, or else it comes in globs that sit on the media.
Clonex is an easier gel to dip-and-go.
Dip-and-grow is a concentrate, which means I can dilute it according to the strain I'm cloning (eg, more concentrated for woody OGs, or more dilute for soft hindu kush). It's easy to dip and hard to get too much. This is my first time using this product.

As for shelf life, FreezerBoy, plant hormones are not very stable compounds. Most greenhouses would replace hormones annually, but I buy smaller bottles so they stay fresh.

Yeah Olivia's gel is a pain in the ass to get on lol

I may try Clonex if its easier to get on. Does Clonex and Dipngrow contain an antifungal like Olivias gel?

My money is on whichever roots the fastest.

Great idea for a thread.
I've tried all three products and have settled into Clonex mainly due to price. I hope we get see a step by step with lots of pictures. I’m interested in the process that you use. I was watching a friend cloning when to my surprise he was dipping the clone into the original container contaminating the entire bottle. I freaked and tried to set him right but I would love some support that contaminating the entire bottle is the wrong way to go.

Overmind, yes:
"Clonex Gel remains in contact around the stem, sealing the cut tissue and supplying hormones needed to promote root cell development and vitamins to promote new root tissue. Clonex has a full spectrum of primary nutrients and trace elements to nourish the young roots plus anti-microbial agents to protect against fungal contamination. "
They both seem to be about the same ingredients.


Maddlights, I am with u! Keep your plants out of your storage bottles! Contamination happens a lot during the cloning process. I find a shot glass is best depth and width to work with the gels, but the dip'n grow comes with its own easy measure cup.
Also, I clean my cutting tools between mother plants because viruses can be passed without being recognized. It's kinda a pain in the ass, but it saves big problems down the road!
Healthy Well-Fed Mother Plants produce better clones than any hormone!!!

A word about Clone-X and other gel types.

I always dispense a couple drops into a 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon and use that. Then rinse the spoon into my aero cloner water. This avoids potential contamination if the jar.

fwiw

Thanks for doing this thread it is appreciated.....

WoW!
Thanks for the great response so far ya'll!
Imma Prolly let MammaHaze aka EvE aka Micropro hyjak this thread....... as she does most of the work 'round here!
Really I would like to say that if you know me, I talk pretty big shit about my ways and my style.. haha mostly my finished product!But, really I could NOT do this with out my #1 teammate.....
And dont kid yoSelf.. she just wants to be an internet pimp...

micropro said:

As for shelf life, FreezerBoy, plant hormones are not very stable compounds. Most greenhouses would replace hormones annually, but I buy smaller bottles so they stay fresh.

Click to expand...

That's why I brought it up. A product that works 3 days faster vs one that lasts 7 years longer (if in fact it does.) I can see reasons for going either way.

i like dip and grow but recently have ran out and now I am not using anything and i still get great results in oasis

wonder which one the winner will be