First grow 10 day old clones not doing too well

I know they are not rooting. I started with 10 or 12, down to 6 decent ones and only getting worse.

Temperature is 82 with light on and 65 when lights are out.

Lights on 20 hours a day.

Water with just water. I was using tap and then switched to distilled from Wally's.

For light, I have a 1000w metal halide blue, which I thought was a little much. I was using a 500w shop light, Halogen. I use a 40w plant light, fluorescent.

I have switching between all 3 of them for the past 3 days. When I use the metal halide I usually have it shaded a bit.

I dipped the cuttings in clonex and planted in peat pucks. I did not realize you weren't supposed to break them in half, so I replanted about a 4-5 days ago.

No nutes yet.

I just have a little 6" oscillating fan, although I have a larger setup when it is ready.

What am I doing wrong? I fear my friends will soon die.

VancouverGrind said:

I know they are not rooting. I started with 10 or 12, down to 6 decent ones and only getting worse.

Temperature is 82 with light on and 65 when lights are out.

Lights on 20 hours a day.

Water with just water. I was using tap and then switched to distilled from Wally's.

For light, I have a 1000w metal halide blue, which I thought was a little much. I was using a 500w shop light, Halogen. I use a 40w plant light, fluorescent.

I have switching between all 3 of them for the past 3 days. When I use the metal halide I usually have it shaded a bit.

I dipped the cuttings in clonex and planted in peat pucks. I did not realize you weren't supposed to break them in half, so I replanted about a 4-5 days ago.

No nutes yet.

I just have a little 6" oscillating fan, although I have a larger setup when it is ready.

What am I doing wrong? I fear my friends will soon die.

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Hi, Sorry, they don't look too happy for sure. When you were using the 1000watt light did the plants get too hot by any chance? I'm kind of assuming there's no cooling duct keeping it cool or is there?
IS the peat pot and associated mess been kept soggy at all?
If $ is an issue try the CFL route for the veg phase, I like T-5's, but whatever it is use the same light for vegging all the way, the more Lumens the better..Use the 1000watt Mh blue for the flower phase but a HPS is better. The 3 lights you mentioned have pretty different spectrums. I wouldn't use the Halogen shop light at all except in a real pinch.
Using grodan cubes in those trays can keep things neater, the cuttings or sprouts root just the same and the tops dry quicker in my opinion. You don't need to feed cuttings or sprouted seeds until they're a fair bit bigger.
Hard to say why they're drooping so bad but...heat stress looks a bit like that, soggy roots can cause that droopy look, as well as a fungi or two. Good Luck! Happy gardening! GrowIT!

do you have a dome over them?...they look like they are pretty much done for at this point...1000 watts is wayyyy too much..you need to get (as stated before) low watt 6500k cfls, regular flors or the t5 bulb...the purpose of the dome is to get the humidity up so the clone can take in moisture through the leaves ( the only source for nutrients they can take in without roots). also, feed them with a vitamin suppliment like Supertrive in the medium and/or foilar feed them with it...the normal time for rooting is 7-10 days, however, i have seen them take up to 3-4 weeks depending on strain and how stable they are

VancouverGrind said:

What am I doing wrong? I fear my friends will soon die.

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your friends dont look to alive at all, and if they are they will grow so slow it probably wont be worth it. First of all get that fan off of them as it makes them transpire more and you dont want that. The medium or soil looks completely dry as well. I'm no expert with lil' girls but im finding they like to be a bit more wet then I would normally keep a plant, but thats all subjective.

Either make or buy ( approx. $ a humidome or some way to keep the humidity really high (95 - 100%) to begin their lil lifes, and lower it slightly as time goes by (80 - 85%). A simple clear thin bag can be used to help cover them and keep it more humid in some sort of container. Also spray the leaves with some good water to also help them from transpiring.

That should get you a step into the right direction

I will stop using the halogen. Thanks.
I have 2 plant 40 watt fluros.
1000w metal halide blue is probably 5' - 6' away and I kind of figured it was too much for it, I don't run it the 20 hours a day.
I have a humidadome (it was off for the pic). They're about $7 at the grow shop. They have holes in the top that can be opened or closed; I'm not sure if they should be open or closed. I will spray the humidadome.

I water probably 3 times a day with a mist spray bottle.

They're also on a seedling heat pad, which raises the temperature.

Am I not watering enough?

I am not a fan of cloning like this. I watched a lot of videos - some even of people not using any rooting hormone and they cloned in less than a week.

I think I'm going to make an aeroponic setup.

Prep your soil before hand spread out and mist spray until its moist Not soking wet.cut on A 45 angle ,I always dome ,I never mist them after I get them cut ,I dont even look at them for a week.As far as light the smaller the better.