Having hell cloning..

Renfro

Well-Known Member
If you have trouble with cuttings wilting a product called Vitagrow Antiwilt makes a fantastic dip additive. When taking cuttings I will use a jar of antiwilt solution as a dip, clean up the cutting, dip it in the antiwilt then stick it in the clonex and then into the rapid rooter.

Personally I like to pre-poke the rapid rooter plugs so the cutting slides down in there snug. Don't want it sticking out the bottom tho.

I have never been all super sterile or anything either and it's rare that a cutting doesn't root. These rapid rooters were a game changer for me back in the day. I used to have a dude back in Missouri that would buy 100 well rooted cuts for 2k every couple months for his grow and I rarely had to pull a cutting from one of my trays to fill his order, if I stuck 100 I rooted 100.

I had a 2x4 flood and drain tray with a dome. You could put 4 rapid rooter trays in there. I would set the flood depth to about an inch a few times a day, put the rapid rooter tray inserts with plugs in there. Had a 4 tray heat mat in there. It was totally automated since I was only at that house once a week or maybe twice. That tray had a 250 watt MH over it back in the day, probably about 30 inches away. If I needed more cuts thats what I would set back up.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I really dont think I'll need the heat mat if I set them over the lower T5's. ... I'll give the heat mat to Paige so she can keep her feet warm in the trimming room. LOL.. It's about 62 in there at 55%, and 5 indirect fans running.
Is that your veg room where mothers are? Why so cold?
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Really man you are over complicating things for yourself with a cloning machine, just go with the rapid rooters and you won't regret it.
Dixie cup of moist Pro Mix. Cutting in clonex then dipped in Great White. Into the moist Pro Mix that’s never soaked and never dry. Weak light. I use CFL. It works like a charm.
 

Ladiesonly

Well-Known Member
I've got 3 CloneKings, and they worked great when I first got them. I had 99% success rate. After a couple of uses, I can't get shit to root in them. the stems just rot. I didn't even try that hard when I first got them, and they worked great. Thinking of going to a Rapid Rooter with a dome. Does anyone have any recommendations on a kit? Getting tired of fucking with these clogged jets, broken jets, cleaning the damn pumps, getting squirted in the face to see if the jets are working, etc. Looking for a 100 spot, or 2 50's, or something close.
I just got a clone king. I didn't have a timer at 18 days I had nothing but mostly wilted and rotten clones.

what bulbs are you using. I switched to 4x t5.

don't scrape clone. Ph 5.5-5.9

timer has to be set to 1 minute on 4 off

I'm on my second round but not impressed with results

I wouldn't take big side branches take small
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
This looks nice for sure that looks like dry ice in the bottom
What is that
Ultrasonic mister, makes fog. I have some that I use for growing mushrooms. One thing I learned is that they don't seem to work with distilled h2o. There needs to be some level of impurity apparently. I thought that the ones I bought were broken because I first tested them on RO water. But I tried in tap water and they worked. So I spiked the res my mister is in with a shot glass of tap water and hooked it up to the RO filter via float. Then a tiny fan would blow the fog into the mushroom boxes.
 

Mak'er Grow

Well-Known Member
I made mine from dollar store pieces. :)
basic tray info.png

Chop my rockwool cubes into tubes then into 2 pucks.
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Use some $ store warm meal tray things.
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With dome on they last 3 to 5 days before watering is needed...wait until about 80-90% dry.
Watering is as easy as sitting the clone/cup in a tub of water again for 30 seconds or so until it soaks up what it can.
Spray daily, only dome if theres no condensation, but try to keep it warm enough to form condensation...don't spray plants/clones.
Under $5, no equip fails and when you get better at it you can put 4 clones in 1 puck...just pre score it before putting the clones in...makes separation easier.
 

MICHI-CAN

Well-Known Member
Ultrasonic mister, makes fog. I have some that I use for growing mushrooms. One thing I learned is that they don't seem to work with distilled h2o. There needs to be some level of impurity apparently. I thought that the ones I bought were broken because I first tested them on RO water. But I tried in tap water and they worked. So I spiked the res my mister is in with a shot glass of tap water and hooked it up to the RO filter via float. Then a tiny fan would blow the fog into the mushroom boxes.
Buy a bottle of soft scrub and clean the pads bi weekly. No too much pressure. Will remove plating very quickly. Used for years with amphibian terrariums and cool mist for shrooms.
 

Ladiesonly

Well-Known Member
Ultrasonic mister, makes fog. I have some that I use for growing mushrooms. One thing I learned is that they don't seem to work with distilled h2o. There needs to be some level of impurity apparently. I thought that the ones I bought were broken because I first tested them on RO water. But I tried in tap water and they worked. So I spiked the res my mister is in with a shot glass of tap water and hooked it up to the RO filter via float. Then a tiny fan would blow the fog into the mushroom boxes.
Ive been miserable with clone king. (Not to hijack this thread) I just filled it up again will see. Ive cloned trees, and everything. I thought it would be stupid simple nope. Im going to go to rapid rooters we shall see
 

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
Ive been miserable with clone king. (Not to hijack this thread) I just filled it up again will see. Ive cloned trees, and everything. I thought it would be stupid simple nope. Im going to go to rapid rooters we shall see
Success with the Clone King and every other are solely water temp depended.
If you can't keep it below 70 either forget it or plan on running high concentrations of Clear Res or similar :peace:

IMG_7072.jpg
 

DaFreak

Well-Known Member
If your cloner stopped cloning, then there is a good chance the mothers aren't as healthy as you think that are. Also I don't have to clear clogged jets very often. CAn't imagine what's in the water doing that. Maybe the water quality isn't good enough. But Dixie cups / coco and a prop tray do the trick.
 

myke

Well-Known Member
Well if it worked before then something changed,MOMs fed differently? Too much N?
 

halfbreed421

Well-Known Member
I’ve always had great results with rock wool and dome but it takes some work and can get finicky.

Terrible results with the clone king. Don’t know why. Gave up with it.

For shits I’ve been putting cuts in a glass of water and every one roots no problem. Turned out to be the easiest most maintenance free way of getting roots. Give it a try.
I came to say the same thing. I used to have no problems using the rooter plugs and trays but this time around I got like 1 out of 10 to root. Now I use the pucks and just keep 1 inch of the cutting under water and everything roots problem free
 
I'm a newb but this is my experience cloning. All info is mostly plagerized and mostly from Organic sources like Coot etc. DYOR

Cloning was by far the wonkiest thing I had to deal with in the process next to drying and curing.
I used a homemade Aerocloner based off of Rumple w/e from the city. That thread is like 10+ years old. Never checked my water temps but they weren't above 72* ever. I used carbon filtered water and that was it. I've read nutes tend to cause roots to form slower but I have no personal experience with using them. It was the first thing I built for my grow, worked very well but was not optimal for my needs.
The 2 biggest problems I had with the aerocloner were
A. it took up to much space and was a mess if spilled which was often. and
B. Transplanting them from the aerocloner to soil had to be timed really well or they got stressed out for a few days due to what I assume is water root/shock whatever. But they did recover after transplant 95% of the time, it just took time. Which if you're space constrained/perpetual is a problem.(I'm fully organic besides some protekt for silica since my compost sucks)

Rapid rooters are nice and work. From what I've read from Coot and other sources they are just cheap bark and wood scraps from sawmills etc compressed but if it works who cares. Coot likes rockwool cubes IIRC. Me personally I clone then stick them into a mixture of worm castings, some vermiculite and a 1/2 teaspoon per tray of Calcium at most from where ever. Im prob overdoing the Ca. It works for me and is cheaper than the rooters. Tiny tiny perlite works too if added to it I'm just out of it atm. I have no idea if it helps I just use it if I have it. I then just stick the trays into a dome. Walmart cake holders are nice if you only have a few clones and are way sturdier then those cheap plastic things from amazon but they only have room for 10-20 at most. They're like 9 bucks if you want to cheap out.

Another thing. Clonex works but its expensive as fuck. If you want a cheaper way, if a litle more inconvenient, go to Home Despot and get yourself an Aloe Vera plant. Emulsify that plant then add it to w/e water source your gonna use for your clones. use as much of it as you want can't overdose. It has a broader spectrum of the enzymes that stimulate root growth then clonex as well though again both of them work. I'm just cheap and mostly aping Coot. More than one way to do this. But cloning was def irritating. Different strains were definitely harder than others to clone as well. My Thais/ Blue dream did not clone as well/fast as my Hash Plants/Green Cracks. But I've had 95%+ success rate with both Aeros and the castings method. But the castings way is just way easier and has the added benefit of not needing a power source +space. GL man lots of good info in this thread.

If you really want to go nuts get some malted barley or grain of any kind from a brew shop at $2 bucks a pound. Grind it up fine and add it to your clone dirt pile mix/ Rapid Rooters/clonex whatever as well. It cuts down on the time and helps at all stages of plant growth. I add about a pound a 4x4 table every 1-2 weeks during all stages of growth. It'll cut your flower time down and aid in resin production at optimal usage and I am most definitely not at that as of now but it still helps.
 
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pulpoinspace

Well-Known Member
I had the same experience. Went back to rockwool cubes. Currently my aeorocloner is sitting upside down in the corner of the room with a tower fan on top of it. I do use the pump it came with from time to time. Think its just too warm here for aero the water temps go up no matter what i do.
 
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