Clone Problem

[BBoarderGirl]

Hi all,

I have been having a reoccuring problem with my clones. They root great but when I take them out of the cloner (which is under a 13 w cfl) and put them in soil or in my DWC they droop really bad and the leaves curl up and they just burn up...no nutes really (ec at 200ppm and ph at 6.1 for the DWC, Clones in soil are given root excelerator 1ml/gallon and nothing else).

Initially I thought it was a not enough water problem or they weren't used to being out from under the humidy dome, but even leaving them under the dome for a few extra days (when in soil) has not helped.

Now I'm starting to think it is a to much light problem? Right now in my DWC I have put in two clones under one 40 watt CFL about 2 feet away from the clones. One is fine so far (Trainwreck) one is already starting to twist and curl (White Siberian). UPDATE: The White Sib is pretty much dead at this point, 20 minutes later then the pic shows)

I can root clones no problem but taking them out of the cloner is causing a 50% loss????

Have any of you experienced this and can help me figure out what I am missing???

I have attached a pic of my cloner, what the roots look like coming out of the cloner, a pic of what is happening in my DWC and what is happening with soil.

Thanks
Boo'

 

[BBoarderGirl]

Soil is Foxfarm Ocean

 

[joe fresh]

well the wilting at the top of the clone looks like fusarium wilt....but i cant be sure.....but you could always spray them with a fungucide to be sure....

my initial thaught looking at your soil is that its too wet and you are drowning the roots before they get a chance to grow.

as for the hydro im no pro, never did it but i do read alot, my guess would be low humidity and too much water in the root zone, again drowning the roots



another thing...if your EC is .2....that would mean your ppm is 100......fresh clones can be started on 400-600 ppm (0.8-1.2 EC) as soon as they are planted

 

[joe fresh]

BTW....what kind of root plugs are those? rapid rooters?


those do seem like nice roots.....im jealous...i wish i could make clones that look that nice.....i sux at cloning....but am practicing getting better...lol

 

[BBoarderGirl]

My EC is at .5 around 300ppm, I didn't want to over do it so I went a little light since this is my first hydro grow. Come to think of it...The roots are touching the water in the DWC...maybe I should move it up a little and give it time to grow down into the water??? Since this is a DWC the roots will be in the water full time during the grow. I knew hydro would be tricky, but it seems I'm not starting out on a good foot! LOL

Thanks for the response and I will go and research fusarium wilt. And yes I do tend to overwater on the clones...I've had many dry up on me...or maybe it was the wilt?

No sure on the plugs they came with the cloner...

Yeah, it took me forever to get the cloning down, but now I've got it...low light, right temps, humidy and don't drown them (my biggest problem!)

 

[the gnome]

Hi BG,
for soil,
I use FF OF and its too heavy to use alone ime,
I cut it 50/50 w/perlite for seedlings 3:1 OR 4:1 after seedling stage.

also FF OF is pretty hot so no need to use any fetz, its only happened to me once putting seedlings into straight OF with no perlite and they burned up,
its a strain dependant thing.
some peeps cut OF with light warrior.
personally cutting OF 50/50 w/perlite has never given me any probs and theres enough nutes in OF for the plants to use for about 3 weeks.
its a light and airy mix and the roots rip through it

 

[stonedar]

sounds like you have the hard part down, you are getting roots. now to fix your problem I am pretty sure there is an easy solution.
typically when using a humidity dome to clone people will only leave the dome on for anywhere as short as 4 days to as long as a week. Ideally you will start "weening" your clones off the high humidity in the dome as soon as you think they are rooted. Most times even before you can see the roots.
what I would suggest is next time take the dome off after 5 or 6 days and leave it off for 45 minutes or an hour, as soon as they start to wilt put the dome back on and maybe spray the dome. they clones will perk back up after a couple hours. the next day see of you can leave it off longer. I bet after 3 or 4 days of hardening them off like this they will be good to go in the DWC next time.
From your description your light intensity is fine.
some clones may take longer to harden up, you may have to seperate the ones that are ready from the ones that aren't.

I hope this solves your problem. Good luck.

 

[BBoarderGirl]

AHHHH...thanks...that could be my problem with the soil clones...hummm will mix some perlite in before I plant any more in soil!

Yes...I've heard of hardening off before but never really understood how to do it! Thanks for the pointers I'm sure things will pick up for me now! I went and put a dome back on the poor WS, lets see if she perks up! Also, I've started to harden off the clones still in the cloner. Since they all have nice roots I took the dome off and will leave it off for an hour then back on tommorrow I will double the time and go from there! I really think you have spotted what I was missing!

Thanks guys!

 

[BBoarderGirl]

I put a humidy dome over the two plants in my DWC and they already look soooo much better!

Thanks, I think we got this problem licked yee haw!

 

[High Country]

That last pic of the clone in soil looks interesting. Have a very close look and make sure you haven't got these.

SPIDER MITES, AKA THE BORG

My mother plants were recently attacked while I was away and the results can be devastating.

 

[stoney917]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ thats one scarey pic. i was hopin to never see nething like that again. well atleast it was only a picture.

 

[HydroJen]

Your getting great humidity in that dome!
Nice furry roots!

 

[BBoarderGirl]

Yeah High Country I have battled those beasts before, please never again! Did your mommas live?

I really believe my problem is two fold. First, I am not hardening off the clones before placing them in soil. Second I am planting the clone in dirt that has a high level of nutes, so I should mix with perlite. Poor things, I'm stressing the hell out of em!

The little White Siberian clone in the DWC looks great again, now that is under a dome.

Thanks HydroJen we'll see how my first foray into hydro goes for me, this is just the start...

 

[SexInTheCity]

High Country in every thread with that pic..please stop I`m going to have nightmares.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

I think stonedar hit the nail on the head, you have done the "hard part"... your problems are due to hardening off being done too dramatically. As soon as you have roots, get rid of the dome, but as stonedar says, do it slowly, just to be sure.

For Soil transplanting, you could also try mixing some coco in the soil, in the area around the transplanted root riot, that way it is far harder to overwater the baby, it is very easy to waterlog soil and F-up your nice new roots, coco makes it super easy, it is great for transplants, even if they end up in pure soil.

 

[B. Friendly]

thinkin from such a humid enviro to out in the open is to much to soon

in soil was it organic, cuz a hot pot will burn roots

lastly, they need a middle ground, your soil looks to wet, don't over do it when transplanting,

use a transplant solution like Vit B1, or a seaweed foliar is great for transplant. or a simple http://www.cilproducts.ca/products/product_e.php?prodID=23&category=2 will make transplanting much more successful, you can buy this or a similare product at home depot and garden centres.