Rooting in plain water.

[Snook]

Haha I’ve seen people brag on cloning discussions that they can even root flowering cuttings but I think you would need very aggressive growth genetics or take the cutting earlier to pull this off. My plants are usually hard to clone. If they do root it’s 2 weeks or more not 7-10 days as some people say. Also I have revegged some plants but maybe 50% success. Some strains definitely seem more grower friendly in clone and reveg which I just assume is better “vigor” until I can understand the mechanism better. Im working with some crappy seeds and each good feature like clone-ability, fast growth etc have to be selected for over several generations to be locked in - I no longer take it for granted that a plant will be easy to work with or make good bud. It is frustrating when you get a plant that’s weak or grows slow but then has a cool flavor and doesn’t want to be cloned and it’s too late to save it.

I'm finding sativa strains (right now Kali Mist) take longer to clone. There are a couple that are at 21 days in the cloner that look healthy as hell and have just started to see crusty white spots that will turn into roots in a few days. I know that I am one that regularly get cuts to root in 10 days but mostly indica dom strains.

 

[paper thorn]

Also I have revegged some plants but maybe 50% success. Some strains definitely seem more grower friendly in clone and reveg which I just assume is better “vigor” until I can understand the mechanism better.

i accidentally set a bloom light to veg hours and the whole fucking flower revegged like a champ! . sucks because it takes a month or two for them to fully reveg.
not my favorite thing to do especially my whole crop.

 

[PolyChucker]

The flowering cutting has been in a cup of water for like 5 weeks. It flowered like the mom and now it’s stagnant. It’s not dead and looks like it has a few bumps on the stem, but they’re brown not white - so not clear if it’s actually going to make roots or just dying.
Meanwhile the mom seems to have revegged after 2.5 weeks because it’s starting to get the weird round leaves.
I always want rooting in water to work but it never seems to happen for me
I think I’ll stick to reveg for plants I didn’t clone at preflower. Not sure what would be the place for water rooting. Besides normal cloning, it seems like it would only be useful for flowering cuttings - to give a longer time to reveg and make roots - if it worked. I know it works for some people but it seems like if a plant can root in water then it likely could be rooted as a regular clone.

In my case I sprouted a group of seeds from one mom that was potent and had a nice smell.
They grew very slow in veg, wouldn’t show preflowers. After 3 months they were still small so I decided to force gender and flower. I didn’t take clones because I was annoyed with the growth rate and preflower thing. After 2 weeks of flower I discarded the males.
The remaining 4 females flowered pretty normally, and even 3/4 had nice fruity aromas. Testing them later they are definitely potent!
New method for plants I didn’t clone that seem to do well later - I cut off the tops at 10wks or when the pistils on top were almost all brown and the bottom of the plant was closer to half brown pistils, meaning the bottom was going to take another week or two (so the plant still has life left in it). Once I cut off the tops I put all four plants under a small grow bulb on 24hr light, while the tops dry for 4-5 days. All 4 look like they’re going to reveg and I can sample the buds from the top to pick my favorites. Although the harvest of the top was not perfectly timed, it’s close enough to give a good idea of the smoke.

 

[Greenheart]

keep chlorine content high enough to stop slimy mold.

Chlorine is key if using plain water imo

I forgot that step and was having a rough go this round until I found an old thread to remind me. Mush no more

 

[Dropped Cat]

I use the plain water method , but my water is filtered to EC 0.1

No pH adjustment or additives.

Changed every other day, roots in 7 - 10 days. 95% strike rate for ten years +.

Cooler temps, I use a seedling mat, natch. Summer high temps are hit or miss.

 

[Swamp Thang]

I'm trying out over twenty clones from Ace seeds Golden Tiger, Zamaldelica, and Malawi, all in pure water from a rural borehole that contains zero chlorine or additives. No roots yet after one week, BUT there is also no sign of the dreaded mushy stem syndrome that plagued all my attempts to root clones in bubblers, and there is also no brown sludge at all despite my not having changed the water even once.

The dixie cups are covered with black plastic through which I poked holes for inserting the cutting stems to ensure that no light leaks in at all. The absence of brown sludge and mushy stems is a huge improvement over my numerous failed attempts at bubble cloning, despite the fact that no roots are evident yet after the first week.

The leaves of all the cuttings are still dark green and very healthy looking, so I'll be reporting back on this topic with results over the next couple of weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed and knocking on my wooden noggin for good luck in the meantime.

 

[Creeperpark]

Using dixie cups covered with black plastic is a good idea. Are you cloning in soil or water? I found using pH up or pH down in the water can interfere with rooting.

 

[Swamp Thang]

For this experiment, CP, I'm trying plain water with no nutrients or rooting hormones. I'm hoping that the total darkness inside the cops that I get by covering them with black plastic will prevent the growth of slime. Checked a couple of them today.
They have no roots yet, but there is also no sign of the brown sludge I was seeing in my bubble cloner, and no sign of mushy stems thus far. The leaves all look really healthy too, so I'm holding out cautious hope that I may start to see roots at the 2-3-week mark or thereabouts.

 

[Chi13]

I do this now and so far 100%. Like others have said the key is changing water frequently. I would assume the chlorine helps as well, as greenheart says.

 

[Gry]

Generally found it reliable, think that Creeperpark is accurate in describing it as a slower route to rooting.
Generally heard chlorine spoken of well as a sterilising agent. Never had any problems with it, and
only went with the RO as a result of going with LED for lighting as opposed to HPS.
Use rapid rooting plugs with clone powder and RO water,strikes normally it takes me 15- 21 days.
Have the heat mat, with the digital temp device as an add on, what a scam, but only use it in the winter. I find things seem to go most quickly when it stays an even 80 degrees for the time needed.
I keep my clone tray on top of a veg cabinet, which stays right at 80 degrees most of the time.
Would like to have more substantial clone gear. Use the traditional cloning trays with the thin plastic etc.
Hard to scrub it out, rips and tear like paper, as the plastic ages it gets worse.

 

[goingrey]

The rapid rooter plugs have all kinds of nutrients and rooting agents though, and also hold oxygen better than water, so I wouldn't really consider using them rooting in plain water.

Plain water does work though. Even just a glass of water on the windowsill. Not 100% in my experience so it's a good idea to take more cuttings than you'll need. Some plants do better than others.

Oh and those thin plastic cloning propagation trays should be banned. At least make them strong enough to handle the sanitize cycle of the dishwasher.

 

[laszlokovacs]

I've always sucked at cloning for some reason but the most success i've had has been plain water with various combinations of whats already been mentioned. Most important things imo are changing water regularly and maintaining good hygiene w all the cuts and avoid touching the cut with anything other than gloves. I also make the final cut 45 degrees and cut it while submerged in water as well as making sure the leaves/shoots that have been trimmed have been cut off with the node completely so there is no sort of knuckle by any part of the stem that will be underwater. Other than that the vigor of the mother seems to help things too

Like I said I'm not great at it but getting better. I recently just rooted a cutting around an inch long from medium health mom in about a week in water which was easier and quicker than expected. I am trying a new method going forward breaking but not severing the area I want to clone and leaving it for a few days to recover and then take the cutting and trim to 45 deg just above the knot/wound. It seemed to work really well this time and i think i read something about stress promoting production of auxins which regulate root growth so I think it might help cuttings root more easily.

 

[Swamp Thang]

Its alive !! Its aaaaaaliiiiiive, Igor heh heh heh, pass me the electrodes again and crank up the power this time heh heh.

Just got back from The Batcave where about twenty plain-water-immersed cuttings of Golden Tiger, Malawi, and Zamaldelica are set up with 18/6 lighting. I finally decided to take a peek after resisting the urge for a week since I placed the cuttings in plain countryside borehole water with no municipal additives or nutrients present.

After multiple attempts to use a DIY bubble cloner had been thwarted by the dreaded brown slime and mushy stem syndromes, I didn't hold out much hope of success by simply placing an untreated cutting in plain water, so it was a surprise to see little spaghetti tentacle roots bristling along healthy green stems in 5 out of 5 cuttings I checked just.

The complete absence of slimy stem-rot in this simple method is even more astounding to me than the 100% success rate I am seeing with my own disbelieving eyes under identical lighting to that used for my previous failed bubble cloner blunders over the past couple of months.

"Less is more" goes the old saying which means so much more as I consider that my elaborate bubble cloner featuring dual aquarium air pumps running off timers programmed to alternate the pumps in one-hour relays around the clock still only resulted in about 10% of the clones surviving the ordeal to develop roots. To further complicate matters, I foolishly applied cloning gel to the stems of cuttings that wound up being sacrificed in my bubble cloner, because I didn't realize yet that cloning gel can actually cause mushy stems and slime. Less is more indeed.

All things considered, and from my personal experience, cloning in pure water is the most reliable method suited to my tropical location close to The Equator where humidity and temperatures are high year-round.

 

[Creeperpark]

Its alive !! Its aaaaaaliiiiiive, Igor heh heh heh, pass me the electrodes again and crank up the power this time heh heh.

Just got back from The Batcave where about twenty plain-water-immersed cuttings of Golden Tiger, Malawi, and Zamaldelica are set up with 18/6 lighting. I finally decided to take a peek after resisting the urge for a week since I placed the cuttings in plain countryside borehole water with no municipal additives or nutrients present.

After multiple attempts to use a DIY bubble cloner had been thwarted by the dreaded brown slime and mushy stem syndromes, I didn't hold out much hope of success by simply placing an untreated cutting in plain water, so it was a surprise to see little spaghetti tentacle roots bristling along healthy green stems in 5 out of 5 cuttings I checked just.

The complete absence of slimy stem-rot in this simple method is even more astounding to me than the 100% success rate I am seeing with my own disbelieving eyes under identical lighting to that used for my previous failed bubble cloner blunders over the past couple of months.

"Less is more" goes the old saying which means so much more as I consider that my elaborate bubble cloner featuring dual aquarium air pumps running off timers programmed to alternate the pumps in one-hour relays around the clock still only resulted in about 10% of the clones surviving the ordeal to develop roots. To further complicate matters, I foolishly applied cloning gel to the stems of cuttings that wound up being sacrificed in my bubble cloner, because I didn't realize yet that cloning gel can actually cause mushy stems and slime. Less is more indeed.

All things considered, and from my personal experience, cloning in pure water is the most reliable method suited to my tropical location close to The Equator where humidity and temperatures are high year-round.

I bet you grow some strong ass weed, Swamp Thang!

 

[laszlokovacs]

Its alive !! Its aaaaaaliiiiiive, Igor heh heh heh, pass me the electrodes again and crank up the power this time heh heh.

Just got back from The Batcave where about twenty plain-water-immersed cuttings of Golden Tiger, Malawi, and Zamaldelica are set up with 18/6 lighting. I finally decided to take a peek after resisting the urge for a week since I placed the cuttings in plain countryside borehole water with no municipal additives or nutrients present.

After multiple attempts to use a DIY bubble cloner had been thwarted by the dreaded brown slime and mushy stem syndromes, I didn't hold out much hope of success by simply placing an untreated cutting in plain water, so it was a surprise to see little spaghetti tentacle roots bristling along healthy green stems in 5 out of 5 cuttings I checked just.

The complete absence of slimy stem-rot in this simple method is even more astounding to me than the 100% success rate I am seeing with my own disbelieving eyes under identical lighting to that used for my previous failed bubble cloner blunders over the past couple of months.

"Less is more" goes the old saying which means so much more as I consider that my elaborate bubble cloner featuring dual aquarium air pumps running off timers programmed to alternate the pumps in one-hour relays around the clock still only resulted in about 10% of the clones surviving the ordeal to develop roots. To further complicate matters, I foolishly applied cloning gel to the stems of cuttings that wound up being sacrificed in my bubble cloner, because I didn't realize yet that cloning gel can actually cause mushy stems and slime. Less is more indeed.

All things considered, and from my personal experience, cloning in pure water is the most reliable method suited to my tropical location close to The Equator where humidity and temperatures are high year-round.

Lol same here. Built a mini bubble cloner and the stems got mushy faster than anything ive tried. Apparently they shouldnt be submerged totally in a bubble cloner? Whatever just gonna stick w plain water and good hygiene for now, glad to see im not the only one who prefers the simple method like this. Then again I cant grow for shit so the less for me to mess up the better!

 

[Creeperpark]

Using the same water the Moms use without nutrients is key. One thing I have learned with cloning is that the clones should use the same growing media and water as the moms but without nutrients. The plant adapts and carries the adaption within a clone when rooted in the same mix. If you put a clone in a different soil mix or different water the clone can have problems.

 

[Randy Lahey]

ROOTING IN PLAIN WATER.....

Has anyone done this and found it to be a reliable technique?

Simply put, It works best.

IMHO....Everyone should switch to this method for the sake of overall plant health for cannabis.

some of ya'll mahfks be out here typin water "recipes"

 

[weedobix]

I was just contemplating an experiment with sparkling water in a cup, you could shake it every few hours or so. Probably better results than plain.

 

[armedoldhippy]

i've had some really quick success (6-7 days) at times with plain water & aeration, and then had complete failures doing the exact same thing. no consistency at all, results all over the place.

 

[audiohi]

I put bunches of cuts in cups all the time. As long long as they don't develop the slime, I get probably 75%-100%

Just change the water