Clone Roots; to caress or not to caress...that is the question

[Mr. Good]

For an Aeroflo, what do you recommend?

Hydroton or just blowing in the wind?

I have a second batch of clones getting ready and I wanted to find out if it is better one way or the other.

Has anyone noticed a diff in establishing roots or anything else significant?

Also I wanted to point out to any noobs out there wanting to use neoprene collars....make sure you cut some foam out of the center for larger stems...they will choke the shit out of a clone! I did this the first time and it is funny how much like people these plants are...as soon as I released the pressure within 5 minutes they all went from a 90 degree bend to back straight up...imagine that...they need to breathe too!

 

[Mr. Good]

bump please

 

[Mr. Good]

Its a solid question folks.

Come on...

 

[Mr. Good]

bump again

 

[erkelsgoo420]

Both... Go dwc. The veg part is proven faster then any systems. When the roots hit the water there is a growth explosion that puts it 1-7 days ahead of most systems. Sure it drops off to normal afterward but u still keep that lead.

 

[erkelsgoo420]

Sorry that prolly sounded arrogant I just saw u are using aero sorry I thought u were tryin to decide which system would be best. I would say let them hang. It exposes more root surface to be sprayed with nutes and pull in air. Meaning faster grwoth. Just my 02

 

[Mr. Good]

Ok I see. But I was asking if they needed the medium because when I hung my first batch of clones in my Aeroflo with just neoprene collars and thats it...the clones all turned mad yellow. I know they perked back up when I started a foilar fertilization but I just wanted to make sure the clones would not have turned yellow like that just by sitting bare assed?

 

[BizarroOH!]

hey mr. good, my name is john and I am an aeroflo user..I use hydroton as my medium with a sun-leaf cover on top of the net basket. I was wondering the same thing about using neoprene and letting the roots hang loose, it probably would make the roots grow faster because the are exposed to more oxygen, but the downside is if your pump fails they are vunerable to drying out faster. It would seem hydroton would hold in moisture a lot longer than nothing at all. Since you have an aeroflo (which means lots of plant sites) mabey try both methods and see what happens. I am going to try the neoprene in my aeroflo 20 veg unit, for my next clone that roots, and I will let you know how it turns out!

 

[Philo2]

I just let them hang and the roots take off like crazy. Do you have your pump on a timer or 24 hours a day? I find using a 15on/15off cycle works great.

I cut 20 clones last Tuesday and I have root growth on 90% of them.

 

[murtymaker]

Can u clone in the aeroflo? Can I take a cutting > add some root hormone and stick it in a neoprene collar and it will start to root using the aeroflo system?

 

[Mr. Good]

Can u clone in the aeroflo? Can I take a cutting > add some root hormone and stick it in a neoprene collar and it will start to root using the aeroflo system?

I did that and it worked for me. I thought I was the only one to think of that! But yeah, bare stemmed to a basket full of white hairs in a week and I never had to move them

 

[murtymaker]

I did that and it worked for me. I thought I was the only one to think of that! But yeah, bare stemmed to a basket full of white hairs in a week and I never had to move them

Can you give me some exact details on how you did it? You said basket full of white hairs so did you have the cutting in the net basket? Where did you keep the water level while cloning?

 

[hwy420]

I did that and it worked for me. I thought I was the only one to think of that! But yeah, bare stemmed to a basket full of white hairs in a week and I never had to move them

Awesome bro; i'm about to do the same thing in about 7 days. +ReP

 

[hwy420]

If you could clarify some details on how to root clones in the growing chamber that would be great. I have the 3" net cups, and the coca coir cups, but the unit didn't come with any neoprene sleeves. What water level did you have your drain tubes set, and what cloning medium did you use? My resovoir is filling up right now and I guess I'm going to take my grodan rockwool cubes and put them in the bottom of the net cups and get the water level to the net cup bottom for the next 2 weeks while they root. Would hydroton stones or rapid rooters or a combination of both work better as a rooting medium? I have plenty of all 3. Any suggestions?

 

[murtymaker]

I'd like to know as well... what if you just lowered the pvc levels all the way down, and stuck the cutting through the netcup and put hydroton all around it? it seems like it would be the same as the neo collars.

 

[hwy420]

I'd like to know as well... what if you just lowered the pvc levels all the way down, and stuck the cutting through the netcup and put hydroton all around it? it seems like it would be the same as the neo collars.

Great minds think alike; I'm about to start my clones right now I'll upload a pic shortly.

 

[murtymaker]

Cool, goodluck I hope it works, it'll save serious $ not buying an ez cloner.

 

[hwy420]

Cool, goodluck I hope it works, it'll save serious $ not buying an ez cloner.

Yup; I am having success. It makes sense that rapid rooters would root faster than rockwool. I put the rapid rooter cube in the net cup in 1/4" of water, and it immediately saturated the rapid rooter all the way to the top. I threw in some hydroton stone in the bottom and set the rapid rooter to where it just barely touched the bubbly water, and inserted my fresh cut clones directly in. I bet rapid rooters would get too saturated with water if submerged any more than the bottom tip. They were wilting for a couple of hours, but perked back up once I got humidity on them.

High Quality Clone image
https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/images/99011/1_DSC01321.JPG

 

[murtymaker]

Yup; I am having success. It makes sense that rapid rooters would root faster than rockwool. I put the rapid rooter cube in the net cup in 1/4" of water, and it immediately saturated the rapid rooter all the way to the top. I threw in some hydroton stone in the bottom and set the rapid rooter to where it just barely touched the bubbly water, and inserted my fresh cut clones directly in. I bet rapid rooters would get too saturated with water if submerged any more than the bottom tip. They were wilting for a couple of hours, but perked back up once I got humidity on them.

Nice, how did you get the humidity up for each one? I was thinkin of putting clear cups or baggies over them... So you have one layer of hydroton and then the rapid rooter right on top of the hydroton and then your water level is high so that the layer of hydroton is in the water and the bubbles are hitting the bottom of the rapid rooter. P.S we have almost the same set up I'll be following you new buddy!

 

[hwy420]

Nice, how did you get the humidity up for each one? I was thinkin of putting clear cups or baggies over them... So you have one layer of hydroton and then the rapid rooter right on top of the hydroton and then your water level is high so that the layer of hydroton is in the water and the bubbles are hitting the bottom of the rapid rooter. P.S we have almost the same set up I'll be following you new buddy!

Awesome!!! Bro, i'm so glad i've run into someone with the same equipment/setup as me. We can learn from each other! I'm sending you a friend request, and i'm going to open up my journal tonight; you caught me at a good time, b/c my lifelong dream is coming true, and i'm really excited to be here.
I set up my humidifier on top of the Aero Resovoir and pointed it towards my clones. I was highly highly considering using sandwich bags or plastic cups like you said, but I decided to set up my humidifier. The humidifier has been working the portable air Conditioning too much, so much that it started to stop cooling the room. So it's lookin like I may resort to clear plastic cups or similar to obtain 100% humidity.
Yes, I've now learned that Rapid Rooters are highly absorbent; just submerging the bottom 10% of the rapid rooter cube into water saturates the rest of the cube. Set the water level so that each netpot has about a half inch water flow in the bottom of it. Then, throw a small layer of 15-20 hydroton stones (depending on size) in the bottom of the net cup and set the rapid rooters on top of the hydroton stones so that the bottom tip of the rapid rooter is just touching the water. Then fill up the remainder of the net pot around the cube with hydroton stone; but don't cover the top of the rapid rooter (It should be exposed to your light(s) as to evaporate any excess moisture that has reached the top of the RR cube. Bubbles are good, but are not necessary because the rapid rooter medium has the correct ratio of water/oxygen to produce good roots.... Just don't get the rapid rooters too wet.