Clone sucess rate less than desired

As I said in the title, the results of my cloner are decidedly less than desirable. My failure rate with clones is around 90%. It's sad I know, but that's why I'm here, hopefully someone can tip me off to what i am doing wrong. I assume it must be something to do with my method, as I use a larger scale of the cloner for veg and I have yet to loose a single plant (except that one time I forgot to turn the pump back on after a ph test d'oh)

All my stuff is homemade, and despite what i think it may be, I will give you as much info as I can to help someone find the problem.

I use a 5 gallon light proof bucket. In the top I have cut 12 holes, which are filled with 1 inch net pots that
I have cut the bottoms off of (basically they are there to hold the neoprene sleeve in place.) with a neoprene sleeve in each to hold the cutting. Inside is 3 gallons of water at 73 degrees. I use the tecnaflora recipe, which is some root booster (mixed correctly for three gallons.) and the ph fluctuates between 6-7 though usually its around 6.5, its hard to nail it down with so little water. Inside is a 250 gph pump with some 1/2 inch pvc pipe and 5 sprayer heads, to give an even spray. Then I take a clone, I always take it from the bottom half of the plant, about 4 inches long, I use a sterile, and very sharp, pair of pruning sheers, and cut off any diverging nods, leaving the top untouched, generally it has 2 small leaves and the main growth thingy, and I then cut the stem at a 45 degree angle, dip it an inch or two into the clone gel, and place it in the bucket. The sprayers are on the same timer as my veg machine aeroponics thingy (also home-made, similar but with more sprayers and a 45 gallon tub with 15 gallons of water) and the sprayer shuts off for 15 minutes out of every hour.

To combat the low success rate, I have been taking extra clones, and it works, but I would like to dial this in and fix the problem.

the symptoms of the dead clones are as follows. Its always the same. The stem seems to become waterlogged, and mushy, and this progresses from the bottom up to the sleeve holding it until it is like a soggy piece of string hanging, from what above, appears to be a healthy little trimming, that dies completely 2 days later. this slow death takes rough 7-10 days.

Any help or questions are welcome, thanks.

My third grade teacher introduced me to the acronym KISS (keep it simple stupid) and more and more I see how it aligns with growing healthy plants. I think the complexity of your setup is your downfall. I have a 99% percent success rate with clones and never used a real rooting hormone before. What I started off doing was simply soaking some 4 inch rw cubes sliced into 4ths the tall way in some very light bloom nuted, cap full of superthrived, phed 5.5 water for 6-24 hours. When I cut clones i use a razor to slightly scrape the outer part of the stem near where I cut to expose more tissue for roots to shoot from. When they are all in the RW I just put them in some tupperware with a piece of celophane on top with a few holes in it. Throw it under some flros and that's it. Lift up the plastic and spray once a day with water to keep the RH up. I dont see why it has to be complicated and involve much more than the medium and cutting. I only lost 1 clone and probably done over 100. I've only made it simpler since then, The only clone I lost went straight into soil. I think that one failed because the soil wasn't tight up on the exposed stem and too much air got to it. Others survived and thrived straight into the soil with nothing but water. My advice is to simplify your setup and see if it helps. Hope I helped a little.

I run the aero cloner at 15 on, 45 off.
Aerocloners are best for when you're taking a buttload of clones, think SOG...


But like the dude above said, keep it simple. If you're only taking 12 clones, maybe use rockrool or rapidrooters or peat pots.. something along those lines.

second on the rockwool cloning. 100% clone rate with rockwool and clonex.

cut your 45 degree angle with a very sterile and sharp blade.