Ice-tube cloner from WallyWorld

[Budley Doright]

I use this thing quite a bit for my veggies but dont grow seed much....


If I did ....I would use straight vermiculite.....

and remove them just after sprouting.....


Remember that many good seeds are killed by light and heat...before they sprout.....

A wicking seed sprouter would be insurance against your seeds drying out or being too wet......

 

[jump /injack]

I've been using this system from the first day I tuned in to your thread, no wonder this thread has lasted so long, its got really good information that works. Burnt Rope, my hat is off to you.

 

[Goatstroker]

I just bought a pack of rapid rooters the other day too. I didn't want to, but my haphazard "shove a stick in some dirt" method just wasn't doing it reliably enough, although it does work surprisingly well if done just right.

I took one look at that setup on page 1 and knew that was what I needed to try. My brain had all those pieces, just not together. Good stuff. I'm going to enjoy building my version and I'll post it up when I do.

Everybody chickenwing

 

[Savage Seeds]

Man you all treatin this guy like he invented the wheel or somthin. My Father figured out clonin with vermiculite was far superior to everything else 25 years ago, before all the fancy shit started becoming popular...Maybe he should have put a patent on it haha.

 

[Budley Doright]

Well slick you miss the point entirely....

The biggest contribution of this thread is the proper temps to clone at....

Some years ago... My original cloner was made from a 2 liter bottle....

A guy in great britain used the same set up as me.... vermiculite included but no roots....


I asked him his temps and voila..... that was the problem.....


many cloning tutorials fail to mention the importance of temps in cloning....


I could use 10 materials at the right temp and you could use vermiculite at the wrong temps and I would win every time.....

 

[Savage Seeds]

Well slick you miss the point entirely....

The biggest contribution of this thread is the proper temps to clone at....

Some years ago... My original cloner was made from a 2 liter bottle....

A guy in great britain used the same set up as me.... vermiculite included but no roots....


I asked him his temps and voila..... that was the problem.....


many cloning tutorials fail to mention the importance of temps in cloning....


I could use 10 materials at the right temp and you could use vermiculite at the wrong temps and I would win every time.....

Well at least now everybody knows the hydroponic speed of vermiculite without the hydroponics.

 

[jump /injack]

The temps are important, I use "Burnt Ropes" idea but put it and the clones inside of a 3.5 gallon bucket with one inch of water, set it on a Hydrofarm heat mat and cover the top with Sarin Wrap or clear plastic food covering, snap a rubber band around the circumference of the bucket/Sarin Wrap and put a 40 Watt bulb over it. Leave it alone for 5 days then take a look, its been 100% so far. I'm not a commercial grower and only need enough for myself and a few of sick friends, you can get 12 clones going very easily. [I cut the tray in 1/2 to fit the bucket.] Its a real KISS operation, if you need more clones use two buckets.

 

[Budley Doright]

The temps are important, I use "Burnt Ropes" idea but put it and the clones inside of a 3.5 gallon bucket with one inch of water, set it on a Hydrofarm heat mat and cover the top with Sarin Wrap or clear plastic food covering, snap a rubber band around the circumference of the bucket/Sarin Wrap and put a 40 Watt bulb over it. Leave it alone for 5 days then take a look, its been 100% so far.

Are you saying you have roots in 5 days????

 

[user-name]

A lot of good ideas here.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[ft100]

Hello all. Love this thread. Have used this no hassle method for what it seems like years. Still find the original ice trays at thrift stores. I had a question about what to do after rooting though. I have always easily planted the "plug" right into some organic soil. Well I wanted to try a little ebb and flow table using hydroton as the medium and have had very little success getting the clones to survive. I have pulled them out of this cloner and rinsed off the vermiculite and planted in pre soaked and de-dusted hydroton on a water every 4 hours cycle and around 90% just turn yellow and wilt. I don't want to plant said plug in my hydroton because the vermiculite will clog my pump. So what to do? Can I rinse vermiculite off and plant in some pre soaked Rockwool for the roots to get a stronghold before going in to the hydroton? If rooting in rockwool after this cloner is the answer then how often to keep the rockwool wet or so they don't dry out and die. My only experience with rockwool was not good because a lot of mine dried out and died. Help!?!?!?Any insight, help, or experienced knowledge is very welcome. In fact, it is more than welcome, it is downright needed at this point. I have to make a choice of dancing with the girl I brought or going with the hydro system which has shown better yields but I cannot get clones to take in hydroton whether from a Walmart cloner or an eZ cloner when both are well rooted. Nothing but love, peace, and respect to all of you out there doing your thang. GenuinelyYours. Ft

 

[Budley Doright]

When I originally did this thread I was using promix.....so I was basically in soil.....

Ive since changed to flood and drain......

I use two mediums....turface and hydroton.....

I do a couple things differently than you however......


After my plants have rooted in the cloner I put them under a shop light for 2 or 3 weeks....I still use a flood and drain system(not necessary) but the plants are now in about 2 liters of medium...... I grow them to 8 or 10 inches.....

Then they go into full flood and drain.....


The other main thing I do differently is I flood and drain at least 2 times per hour......


The yellowing and wilting would seem to indicate the roots are not happy flooding that infrequently...... or not high enough in the medium.... I flood to the surface so I have to tie my plants in....... as they would like to float around if I dont.....

 

[Budley Doright]

The place: walmart..... the place where the ice tube cloner gave the inspiration for this thread.....

ANyway..... Im there yesterday.....


And was looking at the new model...... its a one piece design...... no blue end pieces to

mess with....

Anyway after asking myself.....would this work???


I came to the conclusion it would..... so 3 dollars and some change later.....I have it home.....

I drilled a hole in the end of the tubes..... filled it with vermiculite....


ANd it wicks just fine.....

There is one problematical issue.....

Can I get the clones out once they root????



I dont THINK that will be an issue....

Im going to do the clones today....with clonex....

and leave them for 2 weeks.....

IN two weeks.... Im going to give the stems a little tug to assess how well they have rooted....

What Im using..... ice tube maker....walmart

fine vermiculite...... lowes...

clonex...... hydro store.....

 

[cannasaurus sex]

Thank you, Burnt rope and others, sticking with this thread, answering all questions and tweaks. Cloning is my weakness, I'm lazy, this diy is right up my alley. Kudos to your patience and expertise, and mostly willingness to share.

 

[Budley Doright]

Cloning is my weakness

While yes....this is a diy.....

The important thing I keep repeating.....

It isnt so much the method..... as much as it is environment.....


If you keep the cuttings in the 80 to 85 degree window.....

and keep them from wilting....


Everyone is an expert cloner......

 

[atk7]

I have been using this method for over a year now and now I have a new problem ....too many clones!!! LOL . On another note all I could find was the new style trays so I drilled 3/8 in hole in bottom of each tube, then before I put in the vermiculite I put a small piece of sphagnum moss (orchid medium) in the bottom of each tube ,just enough to cover the hole . This keeps the fine vermiculite from coming out the bottom of the tubes when in the liquid basin .and once all the clones are rooted I can push them out from the bottom of the tube through the drilled hole with a 3/8 in wood dowel they pop right out with no damage to the roots an go right into the vegging pot. For the next stage of life.

 

[Budley Doright]

I had some cloning issues this last winter during the coldest months.....

So that caused me to have to come up with a solution.....

After some though..... how to stabilize the temps .....


I came up with the idea of a small aquarium heater.......

I also found the big stores had small aquarium heater.....50 watts and preset temps....

not what I had in mind....


Then I needed a reservoir to keep both my clones and my heater happy......


So a two gallon bucket..... 25watt aquarium heater....and the ice tube maker.....

I think either would work.....the old or new model of the ice tube maker.......

Leaving the upper frame in tact.... i removed a row of the tubes on each end........

so that the ice tube maker sits on the top rim of the 2 gallon bucket......


I have done a bit of testing......easy enough to set the heater for 2 extremes......70

degrees.....too cold.....and 85 degrees too hot.......


My plan is to once again do some work with ideal temperature ranges......


I plan tests at 72 degrees.......76 degrees.....80 degrees and 84 degrees......


I plan to compare..... 72 degrees vs 80 degrees......then 76 degrees and 84 degrees.....


Then compare the winners.....



Let the games begin......


This setup looks like it will work like a charm......


I continue to believe that temps are key to cloning success

 

[G.O. Joe]

Alt WM cloning system: Jiffy Professional Greenhouse Kit. Or - peat pucks, solo cups, ziplocs, water, rooting hormone - 100% success. The secret to Jiffy pucks is water content - saturate them but then let them dry for 24 hours. Add cutting with rooting hormone, seal, wait.

 

[Budley Doright]

My new goto method for cloning includes the ice tube maker....

either the old vesion or the new version at wall mart will work well....

A two gallon bucket..... and thermometer.....

Here is the heater to keep things at the temp you like....

Hagen Elite Radiant Mini Thermostatic Heater 25W A730

My first clones..... worked great... used 80 degrees on the first batch...

Still some experiments to do but Im very pleased.....

To keep your environment at the right temps for cloning


I highly recommend this method.....


I recommend that the heater temp can be set manually.....

In the big stores they mostly have small heaters that are preset temps.....

not as good for this job.....

 

[Budley Doright]

So Im at walmart...... once again....

and Im heading to check out.... and I see these gizmos...

An el-cheapo popsicle mold.....

In my head though Im saying.....


my new cheap wick cloner......

Its really 2 inexpensive items.....

The popsicle mold and an ice cube bin....

a couple bucks each more or less......

The mold was 88 cents.....and the ice bin......1.62


2.50 total.....

 

[Budley Doright]

To make the new wick cloner.....

drill a 1/2" hole in each of the tube bottoms.....

This will allow you to use a sharpie marker as a pusher for clone removal....


1/2 inch hole is pretty big.... so before filling with vermiculite I dropped a quarter in each tube.....


The quarters were more than the cloner....... something else could be used.....

the quarter is just to prevent the vermiculite from leaking out..... and removing the clone...

Make sure when filling the tubes with vermiculite ....you firm it up nicely or it may not wick as well......

I get my vermiculite at lowes.......

I in fact like this version better than the original...... I can use larger clones.....and let them root longer......

Larger clones also mean more transpiration issues...... I put the tray and the mold inside one of those flimsy grocery store bags....

In my case from meijer.......The first couple days I left it mostly closed..... then opened the bag after that.....

Wick cloning....is really a method ..... the exact materials and implementation is up to you....