Ice-tube cloner from WallyWorld

[BigDaddyTrax]

Super BIG THANKS to everyone who contributed to this thread. I learned a TON!! Grabbing all the supplies later today. Will repost with results. It's getting cold out, will probably have to invest in a heating pad and thermometer as well.

 

[fugly]

high man and thanks for the link although you should know
that the price at Amazon is somewhat fluid and is currently
$5.75 per tray, that $12.00 price included another type
of tray as well that would be useless for anything except
making ice, lol.

peace, and stay safe, SOG

No you don't want that other tray, I wasn't referring to that link you spotted, Just the tube tray at $5.75 plus $5.75 for shipping.

 

[stndlghtnng]

Haven't gone through the whole thread, nothing groundbreaking here just sharing my experience.
I used one of these a couple of months ago, actually I cut it in half, took 3 cuttings each of 3 different strains and all rooted nicely. I wrapped the tubes in foil tape for lightproofing; used rooting hormone and plain water, I don't recall exactly how long it took but I had two weeks before I needed them and they all had long lovely roots by then

tried using the other half to make ice, it's TERRIBLE for that, ha

 

[Herborizer]

in a word, absolutely! lol

that is such a common problem as most people don't
realize how important the res temps are, 80 - 84,
almost guaranteed success, mid to low 70's, almost
guaranteed failure.

kick back and relax, this time you should do better
than 80%, maybe even 100% although i almost
always have a few weak ones that i toss from every
run.

good luck and have fun, SOG

Well, today is day 8. I am 100% sure that I have kept temperatures between 82-84F. I am using a digital thermometer in the reservoir.

I have made sure to add water back every other day or so (goes down fast). I used no hormone. Just plain water.

I checked under the caps today and I see no roots. I put the caps back on.

Should I be concerned?

 

[Herborizer]

On a completely different note, I saw another thread talking about cloning in plastic cups with Coco. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=187029&highlight=roots+days

I did everything in that thread, except I used no nutes, no hormone, and I used tap water. I used Canno Coco. The loose kind in the bag. Anyway, I think the principal is very close to the ice tubes and I wanted to see if I could get roots with it. If I do, I can run a side by side next round (vermiculite vs Canna Coco), using the Ice Tubes. Would be cool if the Canna coco works well in the Ice Tubes.

 

[someotherguy]

Well, today is day 8. I am 100% sure that I have kept temperatures between 82-84F. I am using a digital thermometer in the reservoir.

my res temps fluctuate between 78 and 84 so you should be fine.

I have made sure to add water back every other day or so (goes down fast). I used no hormone. Just plain water.

i use rooting powder on all the cuts before inserting
into the cloner but i've done runs without it and it
still works, might take a couple days longer.

I checked under the caps today and I see no roots. I put the caps back on.

Should I be concerned?

lol, one of the hardest things to learn is when to just
leave well enough alone, in the future don't be taking
the bottome off, i don't KNOW it'll cause any problems
but clones are best left alone until rooted.

just be patient and make yourself wait the full 14 days
and you will surely have good results.

as far as using other media goes, i'd strongly recommend
you master this tried and true method before experimenting.

peace, and stay safe, SOG

 

[Herborizer]

my res temps fluctuate between 78 and 84 so you should be fine.


i use rooting powder on all the cuts before inserting
into the cloner but i've done runs without it and it
still works, might take a couple days longer.


lol, one of the hardest things to learn is when to just
leave well enough alone, in the future don't be taking
the bottome off, i don't KNOW it'll cause any problems
but clones are best left alone until rooted.

just be patient and make yourself wait the full 14 days
and you will surely have good results.

as far as using other media goes, i'd strongly recommend
you master this tried and true method before experimenting.

peace, and stay safe, SOG

So I only took part of it off, only three caps (the end). Just to take a peek. So how do I check for roots without removing the caps?

 

[SuperSizeMe]

So I only took part of it off, only three caps (the end). Just to take a peek. So how do I check for roots without removing the caps?

Hey Herb

I use the semi-translucent tupperware containers to sit my 'ice tube' trays in, I usually see tell-tale signs of the roots coming out of the bottom.

You'll be fine

On a side note, I've never had to use a heat mat, I just keep my clones in an out of the way place in my veg area, avg. temps of 72-75 with no issue.

 

[Herborizer]

Hey Herb

I use the semi-translucent tupperware containers to sit my 'ice tube' trays in, I usually see tell-tale signs of the roots coming out of the bottom.

You'll be fine

On a side note, I've never had to use a heat mat, I just keep my clones in an out of the way place in my veg area, avg. temps of 72-75 with no issue.

Ow I see. I should be seeing roots come out the blue caps, where I drilled the wholes through them?

 

[someotherguy]

Ow I see. I should be seeing roots come out the blue caps, where I drilled the wholes through them?

sometimes you may see roots coming out the bottom
but mostly no.

just relax, if your cuts aren't doing well you'll see it
in the limpness and discoloration of the leaves, if
they look happy and healthy, they're rooting, just
wait the 14 days and then poke them out from the
bottom.

and SuperSizeMe, i'm surprised you're doing so
well at those temps, if you take a look at the link
in my sig you'll see a little cab i built around 4
of these cloners where i passively recapture the
heat from my bulbs. (i'm currently only using the
lower bulbs as the upper bulb isn't needed for
root formation and rather was burning my tips)

fortunately, my design worked out well as my res
temps run always between 78 - 84 so very stable
and in the perfect range for this type of cloning.

peace, and stay safe, SOG

 

[flyer]

yay!! i finally found and brought one of this for $5.75

cant wait to try this tomorrow and see.

question... when they rooted and ready for transplant,
in hydro.. do you wash off all the vermiculite then put in rockwell?
and for soil.. just add it in with soil?

 

[Budley Doright]

Hey Herb

I use the semi-translucent tupperware containers to sit my 'ice tube' trays in, I usually see tell-tale signs of the roots coming out of the bottom.

You'll be fine

On a side note, I've never had to use a heat mat, I just keep my clones in an out of the way place in my veg area, avg. temps of 72-75 with no issue.

Ive a question for you....


Have you in fact put a thermometer where your cloner sits???

My thinking on this cloner has always been....


The device itself is very easy to use....

Keep the res with some water and you are generally fine....

No misting ....no wilting....

You can use any medium where the plants wont wilt I expect....

However what makes this cloner work better than other cloners is simple....

We clone at higher temps than other folks....

THe key.... is that 3 dollar thermometer.....

 

[SuperSizeMe]

Ive a question for you....


Have you in fact put a thermometer where your cloner sits???

Good question.

In fact, no I haven't in quite some time.

Haven't have the need to, so I just let it ride.My veg area is in a dungeon ( of sorts) with roughly the same RH/Temp year round.

I run the equivalent of 4x2ftx2ft T5 floros in there, so maybe the temp rises somewhat, but not by much.

Tell ya what, so we can make sure folks are gettin' off on the right foot, I'll throw one in there for shits&giggles to see what we see

Now you guys have made me curious...hope it doesn't fekk up me mojo

Peace,

SSM

 

[Budley Doright]

Thanks just what I was hoping you might say.....

 

[SuperSizeMe]

Thanks just what I was hoping you might say.....

LOL...everybody is 'new' once, sometimes we take things for granted as we move on and skip the details

Lo and behold

That's about the split temp between the water temp & the ambient...those t-5's must get a lil warmer that I suspected

Been a busy weekend at Casa De SSM

Couple randoms

Makin' room

Momma

Flower

So the lesson here is:

Work the plan cause it works if you work it

Peace,

SSM

 

[Herborizer]

So today is day 13. I have been checking the temp of the water with my digital thermometer twice a day. I have been between 82-84F consistently.

I know it's a day early and I am supposed to check tomorrow (day 14). Since I am cloning a lot of plants (two ice-tube trays), I decided to pull out two of the cuttings from the tubes to check them.

Zero roots, zero bumps on the stems. As a matter of fact, they look and feel like the day I cut them. The stems are still stiff and everything. Not soft, no mush. Just nice stiff cutting.

I believe this ice-tube cloning method is 100% awesome and should work just as simple as the instructions. I blame myself & my setup completely. Though, I am a very capable grower. I have 6 nice and healthy mothers that I have tended to from when I got them as clones. I have repaired very very sick plants before and brought back to wonderful health. etc etc. I have just had the worst time with cloning.

The only successful way for me so far is rockwool cubes using beneficial bacteria (great white). Though, even with the rockwool, it took forever and the clones look like crap by the time they root. I have a 96 site aerocloner (turbo clone). I had some success with this, but even with the aerocloner it took almost 4 weeks to root. Again, the plants were really crappy looking by then.

My goal is to have a pretty consistent cloning method I can depend on. I would prefer faster rooting methods, because I feel that reducing stress points improves yield in the final result.

I am starting to question my water. I really don't know what else it could be at this point. I have tried cloning in my RO water, but I questioned that as well. I have been cloning from my tap water lately (well water. It's about 210ppm and ph7.4).

If I don't see roots from this thing soon, I think I might have to buy some bottled water just to rule that out.

P.S. After checking roots today, I just put more vermiculite in the two tubes I took the cuttings from. Once they were wet, I re-planted the cuttings I took out. I kept them in water during the process to prevent air getting in the stems.

 

[Budley Doright]

Im sorry to hear that....

I will give you credit for trying...

I generally think that the tube cloner to keep the clones doing well while they root...

I ve only had onle plant that consistantly needed more than 14 days....

My experiments have shown that using a hormone like clonex purple can help the plants root faster.....


good luck...

 

[Herborizer]

Im sorry to hear that....

I will give you credit for trying...

I generally think that the tube cloner to keep the clones doing well while they root...

I ve only had onle plant that consistantly needed more than 14 days....

My experiments have shown that using a hormone like clonex purple can help the plants root faster.....


good luck...

Thanks burnt rope. The clones have looked healthy all along. Maybe only the last day or two, the leaves have begun to get darker. Not sure what that means or if they will start to degrade.

By the way, I have 5 different strains in the cloners. When I checked roots this morning I checked two different strains.

 

[Rasta311]

IMO anyone having any issues with this method is having to low of temps. How are you measuring your temps? How are you heating the water? IMO I find this the best way to get great temps at the medium: I put my small container holding the cloner in a larger rubbermaid filled with a couple of inches of water. I then place a heater in the larger container water and set that high enough to warm the water in the cloner container to 85f. Normally the heater need to be set a 90f in my case. YMMV. I find this also much safer as you have way more water so evaporation happens much slower. I just found that if the heat source (aquarium heater) was in the small cloner container, that it evaporated way to fast.

Herb bump the temps up a few degrees and get back at us in 5 days.

 

[Herborizer]

IMO anyone having any issues with this method is having to low of temps. How are you measuring your temps? How are you heating the water? IMO I find this the best way to get great temps at the medium: I put my small container holding the cloner in a larger rubbermaid filled with a couple of inches of water. I then place a heater in the larger container water and set that high enough to warm the water in the cloner container to 85f. Normally the heater need to be set a 90f in my case. YMMV. I find this also much safer as you have way more water so evaporation happens much slower. I just found that if the heat source (aquarium heater) was in the small cloner container, that it evaporated way to fast.

Herb bump the temps up a few degrees and get back at us in 5 days.

Measuring directly in the reservoir that the ICE-Tubes trays are in. 82F consistently.

Day 16 and no roots still. Well, I haven't taken any of the cuttings out yet, but I don't see roots coming out the bottom. If it means anything, I am doing a side-by-side and trying another cloning method as well in Coco: ICMAG LINK . People get roots in that setup in 6-7 days. I am on day 9 with that method and no roots either. I am thinking bad water. I did buy some arrowhead spring water and I am running another side-by-side using coco. Hopefully I will know soon.

Frustrating to say the least.