clones are NOT stretching at flower

Having an issue with a new hydro setup. Im using 3x3 lood tables with 25 gallon rez. My environment is in check as this is not my first grow but just starting to learn hydro.

Im using rapid rooters to clone and I get 100% success. Running maxibloom at 7g per gallon with tap that ends up around 850 ppm at .5 conversion.

When i put the clones directly into flower. I place them in 6 inch square pots surrounded with hydroton. I flood 3 times a day to about 1/2 inch below the rooter plug. The roots arent low enough to be fed by the flood so for the first 3 or 4 days i must water from the top or i get drooping and the rooter plug dries completely. after being married to these new clones to assure they arent under watered or over watered, the roots seem to be getting fed from the floods.

After 2 weeks only half of the clones have stretched and some have not grown at all. they start budding but there is only 1 tiny bud at the top of the clone. im on my 4th set of clones transplanting into the flower room and I can see half of them have not stretched at all but the other half look great.

I am starting to regret ever going to hydro as soil seemed way more forgiving and I only had to worry about watering dirt. PLEASE HELP! Only getting 4 grams from a plant that is in flower for 8 weeks! WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!

The cuttings must be min 6" up to 9". Grow mums to about 3 feet then take the 4-5 biggest branches as cuttings, your success rate will be much higher ,plants bigger and little droop. Also strains with about 50% sativa stretch more during flowering, dont grow sog with pure indicas.
Another thing you must hand water/feed from the top untill roots have sprayed out.

All clones are at least 6 inches. What is the water from the top strategy? do u wet the cube? do you wet the surounding hydroton only?

I geta huge spray of roots from the rapid rooters before even transplanting. In the past when i chopped it seams like the root mass only fills the top half of the pot so I understand why such small yield. I have read so many grow journals and no one talks about how they water from the top or what they do to get roots to fill the pot of medium.

I am beyond frustrated as i just keep losing every month as my electric is higher than what im bringing out of the flowering room.

I can put up some pics when the lights come on at 6 but I feel like you got the idea of the clones not stretching.

Already answered but I will again. Veg them for a week or so, you are trying to flower shocked clones, put them all under a veg light cycle until you see first signs of growth then flower, never understood "zero veg" as per when I did it I had same issues, a little veg solved the problem.

Have to agree, I tried str8 to 12/12 with a indica dom and had the same problem as your having. I now veg for 2 weeks my plants dont stretch more then 5 inches going into flower. I know its strain dependent so you will have to play around a little b4 you figure out how to fill out your canopy,but vegging should get you better results. And yes I do grow SOG style. Its funny almost same set up as you, 4x4 E&F, in hydroton, using RR plugs, 6x6 sq. pots, but I use 1000watts hps.
I also have a hard time with taking really large clones. So mine are like 5-6 inches when rooted,after veg they go to like 20'',after stretch they end up around 24-26'', I get around 1/2 to 1 oz per single cola plant.
Im not the norm here,so I only suggest this because you seem to be having the same probs I had with no veg. No veg works great for most ppl,just ask AL.B Fuct.

Most important thing I can tell you is DON'T give up on hydro! once you get it dialed in, its so easy and results are unreal. If you havent already check out AL B Fuct. stuff. I dont harvest every two weeks like him, but do mimic him as close as I can. He really is a no bullshit guy.Tells it like it is and backs it up with fact not opinion. He keeps everything simple.

Al uses floc (loose RW) and he clones in RW so it's basically like setting clones roots on a spongy bed (during transplant) you can see how that would not be so stressful for the plant, as with someone using hydroton you are not only setting the bare roots on a bed of rocks but then dumping more rocks on top of those roots (far more stressful). In my grows now I have started using perlite as a medium in my ebb system and it has decreased shock time after transplant dramatically.

al is a great grower and has perfected his setup, he knows allot, not on the board allot but if you post in his thread he will eventually get back to you with a answer.

thanks guys, I will definitely be trying to make adjustments. I have some power plant as well that doesnt seem to be affected as much as the slow vegging querkle.

I have read every post that AL B. has written on this board. I didnt even consider transplant shock stopping the needed stretch. combine that with the slow pheno i have and well there you go. I have some rooted clones now ready to make it in the flower room but i will give them some veg time in my tent before moving to 12/12.

Also, do you suggest transplanting to hydroton then vegging? or should i allow them to veg directly in the rapid rooters?

Thanks again everybody for your help. + rep

No prob man, allow them to veg in the medium they will be finishing in (if your using hydroton than let them veg in that). Try it I'm sur it will help.

well that solved the mystery of stunted growth of the clone i put directly into flower" after transplanting clone at first sign of roots.

850 ppm at .5 conversion is pretty high for little plants.

Yep, it takes my clones easily 10 days to start growing again after I transplant them. I'm pretty sure they are stretching their roots to the max, and then start growing.