Aeroponic Cloning Issue

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HPAgirl

Member
I just cut these clones about 10 days ago. They have rooted and their roots look good but the plants themselves do not look good. I am cloning in a different room that I'm used to and had some environment issues in the beginning. I started using plastic cups with slits cut into them to solve the humidity problem in the room (humidifiers alone were not working) and my clones finally began rooting in this room. The nutrient solution the plants are getting is:

RO Water
1 ml/gal Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus
1 ml/gal Clonex
pH Down for overall pH of ~5.7
Overall ppm is about 110

Spray time is 1.5 sec on, 210 sec off.

I leave the cups on the cuttings until they root and then I eventually take them off, after about 2 days. I do "burp" them here and there even though they already have slits in them. Am I leaving the cups on too long? Is the nutrient solution too strong? I've never had problems with cloning until recently. Please help!
 

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mike4c4

mike4c4

Well-Known Member
HPAgirl said:
I just cut these clones about 10 days ago. They have rooted and their roots look good but the plants themselves do not look good. I am cloning in a different room that I'm used to and had some environment issues in the beginning. I started using plastic cups with slits cut into them to solve the humidity problem in the room (humidifiers alone were not working) and my clones finally began rooting in this room. The nutrient solution the plants are getting is:

RO Water
1 ml/gal Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus
1 ml/gal Clonex
pH Down for overall pH of ~5.7
Overall ppm is about 110

Spray time is 1.5 sec on, 210 sec off.

I leave the cups on the cuttings until they root and then I eventually take them off, after about 2 days. I do "burp" them here and there even though they already have slits in them. Am I leaving the cups on too long? Is the nutrient solution too strong? I've never had problems with cloning until recently. Please help!
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I dont add anything to my water in the cloner. No PH ing nothing. it normal for it to take 7 to 14 days to get roots so be patience. The only thing you need to keep a eye on it the water temp.
 
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sidewing

Well-Known Member
if you're cloning in aero you dont need a dome as others have suggested. you also don't need to use RO water or calmag or ph the water.. just give them tap water. and a very small amount of bloom feed. then let them do their thing. i like to add dutch master zone at 1ml per gallon to keep things clean.
 
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HPAgirl

Member
@sidewing @mike4c4 what's your on and off time in your cloners? I had never used domes until recently because I couldn't figure out why my clones weren't rooting. Like I said, I cloned for about 2 years without domes and as soon as I'm in a new environment, I can't replicate it. Very frustrating.

What's the bloom feed for in cloning? Is Dutch Master Zone comparable to Clonex? I have to do a little reading on that product.
 
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sidewing

Well-Known Member
I leave mine on 24/7. when you shut it off, it lowers success rate i found, because it causes the stems to dry out. you don't want that.
I also don't use clonex gel. I just cut the cutting off, remove foliage except for the upper nodes and like 2 fan leaves, trim half of all the leaf tips off (like giving the leaves a haircut), and then i cut the bottom of the stem at a 45 degree angle using a scalpel. then i take the very tip of the scalpel and lightly cut into the bottom of the the stem just enough to break the stem surface, from the bottom up an inch, on all 4 sides of the stem.. to expose more of the inner stem to allow better rooting.. then just throw it in the cloner and let it do its work.

I use 3 gallons of tap water, 1 teaspoon of maxigrow powder, and 3ml of zone.. zone is basically to keep things sterile so you don't get bacteria growth which will keep your clones from growing roots.
and keep your water temps around like 70-75 degrees.
 
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sidewing

Well-Known Member
but to me it looks like from the pics that it could be a couple things.. they're thirsty and not getting enough water.. they're definitely not getting any food (you're just giving them calmag which is not enough, RO and calmag will not keep a plant alive).. you dont need to give any food really until the roots start to pop, then you need to introduce a light amount of feed, i use maxigrow powder. once the roots are like at least an inch long, they're ready for full strength nutrients. if you arent feeding them they will wither and die like the pics show.

remember a rooted cutting is not the same thing as seedling.. a rooted cutting, it it's mind (so to say) is a full grown vegging plant.. its mature and ready to explode. a seedling is not and needs lighter feed. once your cutting has roots (even just an inch long) it needs full strength feed. ppm's of anywhere from 400 to 700, depending on what type of light you have them under. more light needs higher ppm's. i keep my PPM's in veg at 600 under a 4 bulb t5 fixture. in flower i take my ppm's to 700-900. higher in the beginning and middle of flower, lower at the end of flower.
 
mike4c4

mike4c4

Well-Known Member
HPAgirl said:
@sidewing @mike4c4 what's your on and off time in your cloners? I had never used domes until recently because I couldn't figure out why my clones weren't rooting. Like I said, I cloned for about 2 years without domes and as soon as I'm in a new environment, I can't replicate it. Very frustrating.

What's the bloom feed for in cloning? Is Dutch Master Zone comparable to Clonex? I have to do a little reading on that product.
Click to expand...
sidewing said:
but to me it looks like from the pics that it could be a couple things.. they're thirsty and not getting enough water.. they're definitely not getting any food (you're just giving them calmag which is not enough, RO and calmag will not keep a plant alive).. you dont need to give any food really until the roots start to pop, then you need to introduce a light amount of feed, i use maxigrow powder. once the roots are like at least an inch long, they're ready for full strength nutrients. if you arent feeding them they will wither and die like the pics show.

remember a rooted cutting is not the same thing as seedling.. a rooted cutting, it it's mind (so to say) is a full grown vegging plant.. its mature and ready to explode. a seedling is not and needs lighter feed. once your cutting has roots (even just an inch long) it needs full strength feed. ppm's of anywhere from 400 to 700, depending on what type of light you have them under. more light needs higher ppm's. i keep my PPM's in veg at 600 under a 4 bulb t5 fixture. in flower i take my ppm's to 700-900. higher in the beginning and middle of flower, lower at the end of flower.
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I leave mine on 24/7. And i have a 100% success. scene clones dont have roots they cant up take nutes. so adding anything to the water is not necessary, in fact it could cause them not to root or burn them up just as soon as they get their roots going. Water temp being too low will cause them problems, i had to get a heat pad for mine over the winter.
 
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sidewing

Well-Known Member
I use one of those cheap aquarium heaters, the pad that you just throw into the water. I've used a more expensive one in the past, but as long as your temps aren't really cold the pad works.

It's true roots may not grow as well with nutes cuz no nutes causes them to search for food, but once they have roots they need food to survive. I now just add one tsp of maxigrow to the 3gal and have near 100 percent success.

The thing is too use a lower ppm. I don't recommend going without feed. I keep like 300ppm of nutes in there it works fine always
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I've had problems with aerocloners for years. I recently hauled mine out for another try, based on reading about someone's experience of success with adding nothing to their cloner solution.

It's been a week today, water temps in the mid seventies and about half have pushed out roots, some are quite impressive!

I run mine one minute on and five minutes off. No cover over the cuttings, they got misted only a couple times right after being put in the machine.

They're sitting right next to my usual batch; under a dome with rockwool cubes. That bunch is 5 days older, no roots yet.
 
mike4c4

mike4c4

Well-Known Member
sidewing said:
I use one of those cheap aquarium heaters, the pad that you just throw into the water. I've used a more expensive one in the past, but as long as your temps aren't really cold the pad works.

It's true roots may not grow as well with nutes cuz no nutes causes them to search for food, but once they have roots they need food to survive. I now just add one tsp of maxigrow to the 3gal and have near 100 percent success.

The thing is too use a lower ppm. I don't recommend going without feed. I keep like 300ppm of nutes in there it works fine always
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Well these have been in for 3wk now and no nutes. Plain tap has all they need, my tap water is 500ppm.images (3).jpg
 
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sidewing

Well-Known Member
not saying it wont work, but at that point if you don't give them anything at all, except tap water they're gonna be yellowing very soon, following by leaf death because they're hungry. assuming that you'd transplant by that point or around this point and start feeding them.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
sidewing said:
not saying it wont work, but at that point if you don't give them anything at all, except tap water they're gonna be yellowing very soon, following by leaf death because they're hungry. assuming that you'd transplant by that point or around this point and start feeding them.
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I think part of the reason it works is because there AREN'T nutes to be had, so the plant throws roots to find them.

My tapwater is 50ppm, or .1 EC. Seriously... and it's working like a champ here, too!
 
mike4c4

mike4c4

Well-Known Member
sidewing said:
not saying it wont work, but at that point if you don't give them anything at all, except tap water they're gonna be yellowing very soon, following by leaf death because they're hungry. assuming that you'd transplant by that point or around this point and start feeding them.
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Im not saying my way is better than another but thats what works for me. Even when my clones go into soil i dont feed them for several wks. I treat them like seedlings when they go into soil. I figure for the first 3 wks in the soil their working on making a better root system and get what nutes from the soil. I use my own organic soil mix so that helps. I love my cloner. I dont even keep a mother plant any more.
 
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sidewing

Well-Known Member
True that when you put them in soil they don't need additional feed (cuz the soil has it). I do the same in soil after transplant. But if I were to take a rooted clone and put it in my dwc bucket of only ro water it'd be near death after a couple weeks of no food if it even made it that long. There's many different ways to skin a cat, but the plant will grow roots when there's food available, it's related to the size of the plant. If it doesn't have enough roots to supply the plant with food, it'll focus on root growth over foliage growth. And vice versa. But it his a certain point when it needs something.
Tap water is far from a complete diet. Calcium and magnesium, and most of it it's unusable immediately, it needs soil bacteria to break it down more (tap water calmag). It really depends on grow methods. Running dwc is a completely different machine than soil
 
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