First time cloner, questions in hand!!! :D

[mwz]

Hi!

I have some clones which have not sprouted roots. They are seven days old and are looking healthy (perky/upright). I currently have them under a 20 watt fluro light. I was wondering if I could put them under a 400 watt hps light, with the light about 6 feet above them?

Many thanks and K+ for any input!!!!!!

 

[mwz]

The following are pictures of my clones! I hope they have taken root!

 

[StickyHands]

Hi mwz.

Hope u well m8.
im a newb, so please wait till the experienced peeps check the forum for advice..

Have these been kept in a warm propagator, or warm place with high humidity? Are the cubes kept wet, or on the dry side?

From what ive read, roots can take a while to come out, certain strains taking more time to root. Id leave em in a prop with the heat on(and the lid), under the soft lighting. Once roots appear, then id consider moving em. Currently, with such lil leaf material above ground, im not sure what help a hps would be, apart from drying them out quicker.

Like I said, wait for the pros to come and help ya out, im just thinking out aloud, and learning from every post. Im hoping the roots will start popping in next few days for you m8.
Good luck with it, and happy growing!

 

[soursmoker]

youd be better off with the low light

 

[socialist]

Have these been kept in a warm propagator, or warm place with high humidity? Are the cubes kept wet, or on the dry side?

From what ive read, roots can take a while to come out, certain strains taking more time to root. Id leave em in a prop with the heat on(and the lid), under the soft lighting. Once roots appear, then id consider moving em.

^ Yup. They look terrible. The two on the right are garbage, the one on the left might root. Don't put them under an HID.

 

[BrownThumb]

Yup, low light and though they look haggard, patience is the key to cloning in my limited experience. I have been getting monster clones to root several weeks into flowering, so I am sure you and anyone else can do straight veg clones with patience. Keep them warm, low light and let the RW dry out a bit in between watering, not completely, but enough to where maybe just the bottom half of the cube still has moisture. Then patience...and more patience. My monster clones are taking like 1.5 months. That's 2 or 3 weeks to root and then another 2 or 3 weeks to revert back to veg. Yours will be done way before that, or they will die. BTW, I killed several doing my first clones this past year, so don't let it get you down, some failures are to be expected. Best of luck to ya!

 

[BagAppeal]

Some simple things that keep working for me:
Squeeze the medium you are cloning in two make sure its moist, not soaked after you place the clone in it.
Place clone under dome after a short spray.
Open dome every day for some minutes(5-15) to get out old moisture, and wipe dome clean.
Spray lightly and close dome again.
Repeat this process for as many days as needed.
If you are still having problems..
Treat medium for cloning(rockwool) with ph water, 5,6-5,7 before cloning.
Use clonex.
And if still thing are going bad, check the medium your clones are in everyday to make sure they are not too moist, and if so, give a light squeese.
This should do wonders for all..
Hope this is any help

 

[mwz]

Hi all, thanks for the info!

I think I found one problem! I was using Canna's Rhizotonic without setting the pH. The pH is supposed to be 5.5, but it was around 9.5! /facepalm This was because my pH meter broke and I can't use the strips (being color blind). Now I have a new pH meter, correcting for pH wont be a problem.

I won't use the HPS light. I'm going to the hydro shop to buy a light which has a spectrum perfect for cloning/seedling. Then building a new cab. My current cab isn't big enough to fit my heat mat, which can be dialed in perfectly to 30 degrees (and cuts off if the temp gets hotter).

Open dome every day for some minutes(5-15) to get out old moisture, and wipe dome clean.
Spray lightly and close dome again.

I think that's a great tip! I never thought of refreshing the air!

patience is the key

One positive is that this process is helping me work on my patience lol

Thanks guys! K++

 

[mwz]

So ... take two. This time
- I'm using my good heat mat, which has a thermostat inside. This turns the heat off when the temp rises past 30 degrees celcius.
- I bought a new set of flouros, which have a spectrum specific to encouraging root growth.
- I bought a humidity/temp gauge.

Here's a picture of the setup!



The following pic is of the new set of clones!

The set up is working really well. The dome has 100% humidity too!

Many thanks all, your advice was integral in me buying the proper flouro lights!

 

[LEX-UK]

Awesome.. Even I feel better now your sorted, rooting clones don't need hid light. I just rooted 20+ cuts under a 16w cfl lol

 

[Galactic]

Re: First time cloner, questions in hand!!!

Post pictures of your mother plant, dialing her a bit more will help with your cuts rooting faster too. Your new set is handicapped from getgo.

 

[StickyHands]

lookin tip-top m8, well done.

is that the heating thing under the prop? never seen one like that b4, pretty cool. Sorted, u got some nice new clones aswell. I think ure well and truly sorted...on with the show...im gonna be watching

Never knew that about the rhitzo. Ive been feeding my lil babies with it, which are in soil. Hmm, might look into getting a ph meter myself now, thanks m8. Outta curiousity, what strength were u feeding em the rhitzo at?

lol, i like how the old one is out of the prop, just sitting there. Shes like 'wtf, what did i do wrong?'!lol

Well done mate, all looking good. Im sure within a short time, dreadz will be hanging out the bottom of them cubes..

Happy growing m8.

 

[High Country]

They're stuffed...try again.

This is what you want...these are 40 clones......cloned in dirt.

 

[High Country]

Referring to the first go....whoops!

 

[Javadog]

Referring to the first go....whoops!

LOL, yes, that seemed out of character. Yes, he is doing much better!

Good luck OP,

JD

 

[socialist]

Looking good! Have you thought of trying root plugs instead of rockwool?

 

[mwz]

Nope, I had some spare rockwool lying around, so I put it to good use! What are the benefits to root plugs, i.e. are they more newbie friendly? Can you use them in hydroponics? or only soil.

I would like to use a medium other than rockwool, as the cubes hold a lot of water. My system uses clay balls, which don't hold a lot of water. It can be tricky getting the two medium to work together.

I've used rockwool with seedlings and had a great deal of success, so I thought they would go well with cuttings too.

 

[socialist]

I like the plugs better because you don't have to pH them. I also had real bad luck with rockwool for whatever reason. Do what works for you until it doesn't work anymore!

 

[mwz]

I do have one more question guys!

On the advice of a friend who has successfully cloned before, I made my cuts above the stems inter-node. From everything I've read online, this is incorrect. The correct method is to cut below the inter-node.

This means that you have a node at the very base of your cutting.

Do you think my cuttings will still root? Or will they just take longer? They do seem happy, they look as they did in the first few pictures and it's been four days already.

The only issue I have so far, is this strange goo like substance on one of the cuttings. It was on the area where water sat over night (during the 6 hr dark period). The cutting looks happy so I think I might let it be.

Thanks all

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Doesn't matter where you cut the stem... as long as there's enough that the plant can draw sufficient water from whatever medium the stem is in contact with to stay turgid. (Upright and perky) I've cut the stem in nearly every place you can and still had acceptable results.

All of the 'tips' that people talk about when cutting and prepping clones are really secondary to the health of the mother plant and the environment variables. Just one example? I've cut clone stems under water only a few times... nearly 10 years ago. Never since and no problems.

Keep the root zone warm and the light levels low... you'll be happy.

Stay Safe!