Ice-tube cloner from WallyWorld

[vicious bee]

overmyhead- I use it just like the thread. I put it in a tray with a aquarium heater set at 78F and fill up the tray with water one inch above the blue bottom. I use fine vermiculite and add it to the tubes with a funnel. You have to press the vermiculite in with your finger. I also spray a small amount of 3% H2O2 on top of the vermiculite then spray water to dilute the H2O2. I use 1teaspoon H2O2 per gallon of water in the tray. When the water goes down add water. After the seeds sprout I let the water level lower to the bottom of the tray. Works great.

 

[ft100]

The second time around inthe wal mart cloner I made sure the verm and the bottom of the clone was firmly together. Last time I believe some air pockets caused an initial wilt of about 15 or so clones. I also made sure the verm went to the top of the hole and had it sitting above some fluoros for heat. This cloner is so easy a cave man could do it. Peace and smoke

 

[vicious bee]

I think I'm going to go up in my temps a little bit. Presently at 78F. Anyone have any ideas if say 82F is to high. Will it cook my seeds. I don't think it would hurt the clones. I have some seeds poppin at 78 right now. They jump up in the tube cloner. I really like this thing for seeds. I can't hover over my seeds and they're always too wet or too dry. The tube cloner is just right.

 

[mrred]

anyone use just perlite? im using 50/50 vermiculite/perlite in a 1 dollar tub and love it

 

[Budley Doright]

The second time around inthe wal mart cloner I made sure the verm and the bottom of the clone was firmly together. Last time I believe some air pockets caused an initial wilt of about 15 or so clones. I also made sure the verm went to the top of the hole and had it sitting above some fluoros for heat. This cloner is so easy a cave man could do it. Peace and smoke

Too funny....

I think your situation is much like mine...

To provide a nice warm environment....

I have 1 4 foot flouro over 2 x 4 ft fluoro shoplight....


The cloner is over the 2 shoplights and the temps are perfect....


when the cloner is done.... I transplant and put them under the bank of 2 shoplights just below....


works perfectly.....


The 3 shoplights are my cloner / pre veg area....

I use translucent cups in the transplant to monitor root growth for the next transplant....

 

[overmyhead]

overmyhead- I use it just like the thread. I put it in a tray with a aquarium heater set at 78F and fill up the tray with water one inch above the blue bottom. I use fine vermiculite and add it to the tubes with a funnel. You have to press the vermiculite in with your finger. I also spray a small amount of 3% H2O2 on top of the vermiculite then spray water to dilute the H2O2. I use 1teaspoon H2O2 per gallon of water in the tray. When the water goes down add water. After the seeds sprout I let the water level lower to the bottom of the tray. Works great.

Thanks - sounds too easy, kinda makes one wonder why everyone doesn't do it this way! What kind of ratio do you get on your seeds popping (with new ones from a reputable breeder not that've been sitting in a drawer for 20 years?) so you have one of those tubular heaters just sitting in the plastic bin?

Thanks again!

 

[vicious bee]

I started some blue streaks and got eight up out of nine. I put them in water first till they cracked.

 

[cellardweller]

ok Burnt..I added Promix HP to my vermiculite at a 2:10 ratio and had feet in 5 days..I kept temps at 80 and a dome on for the first 3 days, then let them breathe a few minutes each day after. Dome came off @ 5 days when I saw roots.
I have yet to add any H2O2 to my water though..hope the above info helps someone..

 

[Amon]

I'm really surprised of all the negative comments on this wonderful thread..
I just love when others share their ideas, especially ones that are proven to work such as this.. In fact, they offer this exact setup as a single cloner idea that I thought was pretty kewl. Plus for shipping clones to friends it was really simple.. even rooting while shipping, although they used some type of special gel.
Because they now offer single cloning setups that look like this exact design but for doing single clones individually. If you use Miracle Gro perlite it even has foods added to it for rooting cuttings just like your doing.

Are you experiencing any wilting without using a humidity dome.

Myself I use Rapid Rooter plugs and dip N grow to root. once I got this down I was at 100% success rate. But, I still love a good McGyver setup like what you've developed and sure appreciate you sharing it with us..

Maybe you could show us a shot of your root production just before you plant it into your growing medium and how many days it takes to get there.



One thing I've found out the hard way over the years was that by trying every little kewl technique I read about in threads and magazines I never got ahead in my growing.. so the one piece of advice I could give to everyone... when you find something ez that works for you, stick with it and keep things simple. Cartman/Amon
Cman

 

[Budley Doright]

Cellardweller.... Great you got good results....

When I test using promix it was without a dome.... I posted at the time I thought the dome would help..... glad to see thats the case....

I really dont see a need for me to deal with any medium which needs a dome... so verm is my medium of choice....

Amon.... admittedly when the thread was first put up there were those who were negative.... but by and large folks are quite respectful probably because it does work very well......

WIth the cloner and vermiculite I have no wilting under fluoros.....


I was schmoozing around and ran across the original wick cloner thread from back on overgrow.....


While I think the walmart ice tube cloner is better in almost every way..... its still an option......


and virtually free....



http://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/8795-build-your-own-wick-cloner.html

 

[vicious bee]

One thing I think I need to change using the tube cloner for seeds is to have a medium a little less wet than pure vermiculite. For clones vermiculite works fine. I see no need to change. The idea for seeds is to have a mix dialed in. No muss no fuss just right. Maybe a Hempy mix or 1/2 vermiculite 1/2 perlite.

 

[overmyhead]

One thing I think I need to change using the tube cloner for seeds is to have a medium a little less wet than pure vermiculite. For clones vermiculite works fine. I see no need to change. The idea for seeds is to have a mix dialed in. No muss no fuss just right. Maybe a Hempy mix or 1/2 vermiculite 1/2 perlite.

Thanks again for sharing, I have used this for a few clones (two that were 3 weeks into flower) and all have roots - I love it!

Getting ready to do some seeds and will mix in some perlite too, but how long do you usually keep the seedlings in the container from sprout? Just trying to plan because I want to try and coordinate with the farmers almanac for once and planting indoors is supposed to be best 25-27th this month but I'm going out of town 29- 1st so I don't want them to drown our or anything. Any tips for your process after the sprout would be really helpful.

 

[vicious bee]

I haven't really written it down so here's a wild ass guess. 2 weeks? I'll try to keep track next time. After they sprout I let the water level go down from one inch high to just above the bottom. You could wait until you see roots coming out the bottom. They grow out of the small holes. One more thing when you use seeds you can't pull the plant out from the top. I push it out from the bottom.

 

[overmyhead]

Thanks! Do you use the peroxide in your germinating water too? got some old seeds I want to crack - have had nothing but great success with seedbank seeds but these old unknowns - never anything. What's the longest you'd let them sit in the water before tossing them?

p.s.

sorry for sidetracking this thread wth the seed issue but I think it's good to know about multiple uses for this system.

For anyone starting one of these, wal mart has a little aquarium heater with a no fus thermostat that is automatically set at 78F! It is $20.

 

[justanotherbozo]

I haven't really written it down so here's a wild ass guess. 2 weeks? I'll try to keep track next time. After they sprout I let the water level go down from one inch high to just above the bottom. You could wait until you see roots coming out the bottom. They grow out of the small holes. One more thing when you use seeds you can't pull the plant out from the top. I push it out from the bottom.

drill a hole in a penny and screw it to a piece of dowel, works perfect as a ram.

Thanks! Do you use the peroxide in your germinating water too? got some old seeds I want to crack - have had nothing but great success with seedbank seeds but these old unknowns - never anything. What's the longest you'd let them sit in the water before tossing them?

some strains root harder than others so as long as they don't look all wilted
i'd just leave them in there, eventually they with either root or turn to shit.

p.s.

sorry for sidetracking this thread wth the seed issue but I think it's good to know about multiple uses for this system.

For anyone starting one of these, wal mart has a little aquarium heater with a no fus thermostat that is automatically set at 78F! It is $20.

or you could use a light bulb for free, lol. (note the light under the cloner inside
the milk crate)

 

[overmyhead]

some strains root harder than others so as long as they don't look all wilted
i'd just leave them in there, eventually they with either root or turn to shit.

Thanks, I've been trying some old bag seeds and the water starts getting cloudy and it looks like theres something oozing out of the seeds - is that turning to shit?



or you could use a light bulb for free, lol. (note the light under the cloner inside
the milk crate)[/quote]

That's definitely the simplest way but if you don't have extra fixtures laying around and want to make sure the temp stays even that heater is a good way to go, especially if your ambient temps fluctuate.

 

[justanotherbozo]

some strains root harder than others so as long as they don't look all wilted
i'd just leave them in there, eventually they with either root or turn to shit.

Thanks, I've been trying some old bag seeds and the water starts getting cloudy and it looks like theres something oozing out of the seeds - is that turning to shit?

lol, yeah, i'd have to say oozing doesn't sound good.
(i actually use rockwool starter cubes to pop my beans)

"or you could use a light bulb for free, lol. (note the light under the cloner inside
the milk crate)"

That's definitely the simplest way but if you don't have extra fixtures
laying around and want to make sure the temp stays even that heater
is a good way to go, especially if your ambient temps fluctuate.

i agree that that milk crate is ghetto and should not be used long term, my
point really was that there are ways to utilize what we already have rather
than buying something new.

as it happens i'm working on a new home for the cloning side of my little
micro-op with 2 shelves, an upper one with room for 4 ice-tube-trays under
a single 55watt PL-L (bulbs are 21 inchs long) with the lower shelf, aka floor,
home to rooted clones vegging under 3 more 55watt PL-L's prior to flip.

so the heat from the three lower bulbs will also warm the cloners.

 

[overmyhead]

lol, yeah, i'd have to say oozing doesn't sound good.
(i actually use rockwool starter cubes to pop my beans)





i agree that that milk crate is ghetto and should not be used long term, my
point really was that there are ways to utilize what we already have rather
than buying something new.

as it happens i'm working on a new home for the cloning side of my little
micro-op with 2 shelves, an upper one with room for 4 ice-tube-trays under
a single 55watt PL-L (bulbs are 21 inchs long) with the lower shelf, aka floor,
home to rooted clones vegging under 3 more 55watt PL-L's prior to flip.

so the heat from the three lower bulbs will also warm the cloners.

Yeah, the shelf system is what I plan to use when I get things organized a little better. That's definitely the most efficient way to do it. Then, I'll use the heater to bring my water up a little for watering.

 

[Budley Doright]

I admit it..... Ive been using this cloner for some years now and Ive never been even temped so much as a little bit to use this device to sprout seeds in....


Time will tell I suppose....

 

[overmyhead]

I admit it..... Ive been using this cloner for some years now and Ive never been even temped so much as a little bit to use this device to sprout seeds in....


Time will tell I suppose....

I am trying to crack a bunch of old bag seeds - many may not even pop and figured this method made the best use of space. It seems to make sense, just like some other mediums like those sure to grow cubes that are becoming popular. I'll definitely post the results here and maybe start another thread. Seeds went into the bath today.