Clone Wars

I'm losing this war. This will be the 3rd session of taking clones since the origin. I've not had a single mother, I have been taking clones from clones. Is this a problem? My success rate in previous attempts have been around 60-70%. But now 0%. They are losing their colour. Here's what they look like;
Sickly Clones.jpg
I'm using a gel type root stimulator, peat pellets, and a humidity dome with two holes poked in the top for some air flow. I had a heat mat under them but removed it right after I took this picture last night. The temp was ranging from 25 to 28C (77 to 82.4F).

Help me! help me! please good cultivators! I am quite enjoying this strain and will be sad if its lineage ends here. :-(
 
Outside the domes the humidity is 30%. I'm using tap water. I suspect the tap water is hard. I've seen calcium deposits on kitchenware. Those temps are taken beside the heat mat which is why I moved it. Now it's on the floor and the clones are about 12" above it. The temperature in the chamber is still the same.
 
Sickly Clones setup.jpg
Another area of potential error is that when I took the clones I didn't use sharp enough scissors. I have a sterile scalpel now for my next attempt. Maybe I should be using distilled water too...?
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Your tap water may be too high in PPM's cause the plants look pretty burned up.. You want the temps under the dome to be anywhere from 78-82f and the Humidity under the dome at 70% - 85%. The heat mat is fine, just dont let it get too hot, or you will cook them.
 

bseeds

Well-Known Member
rusty right the only thing would do different is to trim fan leaves when cloning there not trimed in pics this helps with cloning
 

amsterdam2015

Well-Known Member
ive taken about 40 clones so far, and ONE rooted, only for it to die a grisly death in some god awful soil i put together.

so, I just wanted you to know you're not the worst cloner out there
 

tusseltussel

Well-Known Member
They look kinda Wet.. How have you been treating them? Are you spraying them? Might be rotting from being too Wet in those plugs. They don't like wet feet.... Moist not wet
 

DoomsDay

Member
it could be many things... try a few different things out if oyu have the time and the funds. i had a bit of experimenting going with my clones and here is what i found... if it helps, awesome:

rock wool vs. rapid rooters, i always saw roots faster and healthier out of the rapid rooters
powder vs gel cloning solution - ive done this test for 6 consecutive months in all forms of media and have still found the cheap powder to work the best.
rooting hormone in water - yes yes yes.... whatever water your placing your cubes into for the initial wet down before you stick your clones in it... get some darn dyna-grow K-L-N and mix it at a tsp per gal. the little bottle will last you forever and it is a MUST HAVE when cloning. it will speak for itself. i promise you that.

and lastly, foliar feeding - this is a huge one that may be overlooked. you can give these little guys very trace amounts (the bottle of a spray bottle about an inch deep with your nutrient water used for watering, the rest of the way filled with fresh water) and you will notice them very happy. people forget that the plants at the delicate points they are at when they are clones cannot truely uptake water through the hole you have just cut in their stalks. the only way the clones can intake water until the base of the stem callouses over is through foliar feedings....

again these are things that have worked for me and have gotten me from a 4 or 5 out of 20 clones, to damn near 100 out of 100. this isnt me saying this is how it has to be and any other way is wrong, so for you keyboard growers out there, stow it.
 

209 Cali closet grower

Well-Known Member
in the pic it looks to wet in the dome? you want them moist , but not like in the pic, also see a heat mat. If your temps are in the 70's then no need for a heat mat.
 

sacpirate

Active Member
i use those jiffy pellets too with much success. i initially soak them in the clonex brand of fertilizer @5.5_5.8 ph, not to be kungfoosed with the gel that use prior to inserting into my pellets...aslo clonex brand. after a good clean cut, gel dip and a misting i put them in the dome and leave them alone for a week with the exception of one misting of a liquid karma/clonex mix on 3-4 th day. looks like they are pretty wet to me which is a mistake i made repeatedly. also looks like u took those from flowering plants? results will always be delayed if you clone a flowering plant but success is still possible. id invest in a thermostat for that heat mat and set at 75-76 degrees. and if using florescent lighting on clones, get them as close as possible. mine touch the humidity dome. 2013-01-30_10-42-38_66 (1).jpg
 

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
fuck rotters and fuck clonex.

get some rock wool and soak with distilled water. after rinsing them soak them in distilled and shake them one at a time in your hand till you only see a drop or 2 of water. dip your clones in some super thrive for a min or 2 then insert into your rockwool. shouldn't need any water for a few days. then when you do just spray lightly with distilled water.helps to eevate the rockwool off bottom of tray at first to avoid wet feet.

i find non organic cloning to be much easier than playing with natural organisms that want to eat.
 
Pocahontas Gen 3 10.jpgPocahontas Gen 3 11.jpg
First of all, thanks to everyone for the advise. Funny how wet feet can make your success rate go from 0 to 100%. Resilient little bastards. Especially the one on the far left.
 
You are correct tussel. The two on the outside are taken from 46 days ago when they first showed sex. The two middle ones I look on Feb. 20th when flowering was about a month underway.
 

tusseltussel

Well-Known Member
going to be a long slow recovery for you then... flowering plants can be a bitch some times. re veging from that far in is strange, you will see what I mean when they start growing again
You are correct tussel. The two on the outside are taken from 46 days ago when they first showed sex. The two middle ones I look on Feb. 20th when flowering was about a month underway.
 
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