I have never used soil but you can build a $60-80 cloner very easily and get 100% success rate every time then transfer it to soil. I used a Rubbermaid Roughneck container with locking handles (the only container I have ever found to not leak!), some ez cloner replacement spray heads, a couple feet of pvc and some fittings, an air pump with air stone and a 396gph water pump. It runs 7/24 and keeps my water temp comfortable. I have used Arrowhead SPRING water (not drinking water) and that seems to root fastest. I then started using RO water (super cheap and conveniently in my house at all times) and that still has 100% success, even on dinky little cuts that I just stick in there and say "what the heck let's see if it grows". Now I'm testing 100-200ppm cal mag, hopefully it will root about as quick as the Arrowhead. Took me like an hour to build, theres probably lots of DIY ez cloners on this site so check it out. Most of my clones are tops because they grow so fast and they have about 3 nodes and 3 major fan leaves. I chop off the bottom node from that and dip in Clonex for 10 sec and a week or two later they have 6-12" roots, every time. Still on my first grow but things are well.
Good luck!
build this. It cost 10 for the oil change thing 15 for the air pump and air stone. I had the clay pellets so no cost there. Works great.
Thanks, but I'm a lot more comfortable in dirt. 4 of my 8 clones came in cubes and I'm having the hardest time figuring out if the cubes are wet or dry since they dry slower than the dirt does.
Even though I'll be selling all but 8 of the clones I make from these 8 plants for next rotation, I still want to get good at cloning in dirt. After my 2nd harvest I'm buying seeds and getting serious.
I've been using store brand distilled water. It's been working pretty good so far on the clones I bought, and the PH is always 7 which fits well with the FFOF soil I bought which has a PH of 6. That's only .5 off of the optimum 12.5 level.
Also I need to conserve money or I'm going to have to put them into flower after only 4 weeks of veg., and I'd really hate to do that, that's like throwing away money. So I'm going to use larger clear disposable cups (the kind you get beer in at fairs, concerts, and October fests. And for the domes I'll be using the top halves of Pepsi 2-litre bottles. I know it's ghetto, but money's tight right now and I need to conserve where ever I can.
No cloning tonight though. The $60, 4' , 4 bulb fixture I bought which advertised that it came with a whip has no plug at the end of the whip, and the hardware stores closed already. Plus I need to figure out how to hang it since it didn't come with any kind of a hanging bracket.
Thanks for trying to help, but I'm doing that once step back two steps forward "cha cha cha" right now. lol
