Clone issues

Discussion in 'Pests and Plant Problems' started by Justcheckingitout, Dec 7, 2016.

  1. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    I wanted to post these pics here since I have a hard time with the media albums. I wanted Res to check them out since hes having same type issue with his ak clones. When I get these clones that dont want to root good in the cubes (first picture). IMG_5927.JPG I go ahead and plant them cube and all in dirt and start light feeding. These ak's are heavy feeders so I start light for a week then full strength (well second week veg useless formula I use) and they always shape up (second pic). IMG_5928.JPG Here is a comparison of a two week difference from planted clones. (Third pic) IMG_5929.JPG then they get almost perfect in amother couple weeks. I know they look ugly (prob needed light feeding from chop?) and they are harder to clone than eaiser plants but a couple days after the wilt phaze of the clone chop if I dont plant them and start feeding they just go south. Looks like they got a mag or phosphorus deficiency, I am still working on the mix set up at start but just wanted to mention eairly planting usually shapes them up.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2016
  2. ResinRubber

    ResinRubber Civilly disobedient/Mod

    Good to know! Mucho apreciado compadre.
     
  3. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    its like that pre 98 bubba kush thats hard to clone also. I dont know why but after a few clonings the plants seem to get better, maybe its someting with cloning off a new or young plant? Just grabbing at straws there but I am sure its something strain/ nute start up related type thing. I know once the mother plant gets bushy its easier to clone. Also that super thrive is a good start on these hard to clone plants.
     
  4. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    Whats the ph of the water you use for the cubes?
    When my plants got nutrient build up and it made the ph go below 6 they looked exactly like that.
     
    nippie likes this.
  5. SuperMoChombo

    SuperMoChombo Well-Known Member

    I don't remember how you are taking cuts. Do you use a cloner or rapid rooters or plugs?

    You using RO water? i forgot to use tap a few times and got some slow crumbly growth.

    The health of the donor plant definitely makes a difference in how the cuts do. I am an expert at abusing and neglecting mother plants and then wondering why my cuts never root.
     
  6. nippie

    nippie preachin' and pimpin'

    this is would i look at, i use rockwool and just ph the water down to 5.5 for the soak, never lose a clone and they get roots showing in 5-7 days depending on strain.

    I will say that during winter they root faster if on warming mat and misted but I don't even use domes or anything. Most of the time RH is fine except during winter.

    Another cause if you are using RW for this is the RW being to wet, let it dry out some before dunking them
     
  7. OldSmokey

    OldSmokey Registered Users

    After 5 years of tap water, I've recently started using RO water for my grow. Trying to use it for the initial overnight soak of the cubes didn't work very well as the RW raises the pH almost instantly. So, just for fun and because I had the time, I soaked 4 cubes in a quart cup for a week, each day adding a tiny bit of pH down with a toothpick. After a week, the water in the cup was able to maintain the pH for much longer than at the start.

    The last cloning effort was one of my more consistent ones, with all 4 clones showing roots on same day, 14 day later. I really can't say whether the Botanicare PBP nutes that the mother had been enjoying for several weeks had an effect on the clones, but she did look pretty good. I have noticed that happy moms clone much better than sad ones do.

    So, why is using RO for RW cloning not a good thing?
     
  8. SuperMoChombo

    SuperMoChombo Well-Known Member

    My understanding is that the RO water is devoid of any trace elements that the cut can use as food, whereas tap water usually has a PPM of 200-300 and has trace elements of stuff the cut needs. Following the advice to never feed un-rooted cuts, I always just go with PHed plain water until they root. For two rounds in a row I totally forgot to use tap and used RO water in the clonerator. Damn cuts just wouldn't root, and those that did looked like hell. Upon reflection I realized my error and went back to using tap water. Back in business.

    The reason I switched to RO water in the clonerator those few times was that I have to let tap water sit out for 24 hours (if you have chlorine in your water) and I had failed to do this when I needed to fill the clonerator, so I used water from the RO tank.

    Of course once you start adding nutrients, you don't need the tap water trace elements anymore. I only use tap for unrooted cuts. Everything else gets souped up RO.
     
  9. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    I know the mother looked real good. I dont check the ph on anything any more, i know the tap water comes out at around 6 thou from when I use to test it. I am thinking of going back to the domes and the dirt in the cups cloning method I use to use. To see how that works out for this strain. These picky strains are temperamental for sure.
     
  10. nippie

    nippie preachin' and pimpin'

    are you guys using a rooting hormone?

    and i don't even let my rockwool sit overnight, i used to. but as long as the entire cube gets wet all the way through with PH of 5.5 you shouldn't have an issue.

    Also I use RO for cloning, and when they start drying out (a day or two later) literally just dip the entire cube in a bucket of un ph'd RO water and hold there for a couple seconds to rewet making sure i shake it a little to get any extra water off of them.

    you don't want you rockwool dripping wet, you will have a hard time getting them to root that way and it takes way longer.

    also I go full normal veg feed as soon as i see that roots on the bottom of the rockwool (after transplant to solo cup of course)
     
  11. OldSmokey

    OldSmokey Registered Users

    I use Clonex gel. But I also have a high tech cloner. ;-)

    [​IMG]

    Five years ago, I needed to try my hand at cloning. I made this and never got around to improving on it. It did get rebuilt with proper blue painters tape recently. The empty dehumidifier box goes over the top of it.

    Only one clone has failed to root in 5 years, most average about 2 weeks, with the record being 9 days in the summertime.
     
  12. SuperMoChombo

    SuperMoChombo Well-Known Member

    I don't use rooting hormone or anything. I am in a clone machine rather than RW or plugs. No medium whatsoever. Roots in the rain. No dome. I used to use domes and in adverse environment they help control temp and humidity. The ambient in my clone closet is ok so far.
     
  13. nippie

    nippie preachin' and pimpin'

    Oldsmokey, you clone like me except I use clamp light with CFL lol. how wet do you keep rockwool? are you letting them dry a little before redunking? running them a little drier helps get roots faster. not bone dry like out of package, but pretty dry.

    Also, try the powder. El cheapo shit from anywhere, Greenlight what ever they have at home depot, Lowe's, nursery by you. I like it way more and cause it's cheap, effective, lasts forever...vs clonex, Olivia's and the other gels that spoil rapidly

    Supermo, just reading about chlorine in your previous post. most places use chloramine. you should bubble that while it sits to help get that out. honestly I've never seen or heard of a problem cloning with tap or ro, I've done both ways and never lose anything. hell Ive heard of some large scale places adding because it's cheaper than h2o2 to keep water clean.

    I made a cloner once, went back to rockwool because it wasn't worth the effort.

    Have you tried adding rapid start by gh to cloner? I like that product, it's just so expensive it's not worth it for larger operations
     
  14. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    Thats awsome. High tech. Lol. Nice and small. Everytime I go to build something i always end up saying "why me God". Because I way over engineer stuff and never can find the right tools I need and have problems. Every simple thing I did worked the best.
     
  15. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

    I was using that clonex but it turns watery fast and the cheap powder works as good or better I think, I quit using everything but going back to the powder with the soil/cups and dome. It always worked with no problem for over 5 years I did it that way. Also when I put clones in straight hempy I didnt have problems which surprised me. I love hempy. I should stick with it but for certain reasons got to use dirt again for a few rounds.
     
  16. ResinRubber

    ResinRubber Civilly disobedient/Mod

    I use a clone powder from Bonide and RW under a dome under T5's with generally good results. If I take 30 cuts I get around 25 that are fully rooted in about ten days and toss any stragglers. The last three gifted clones in my garden got hit with a mold outbreak and fucked everything up.
     
  17. OldSmokey

    OldSmokey Registered Users

    Nippie, I shake the cubes out real well to begin with, avoiding squeezing them. They usually don't need more watering for about 3 days. After that, I pick up em up and heft them to decide how much water to give them with a 6cc syringe. I've never put more than 6cc into a cube, even if they feel real dry, usually about 2-3ccs. I spritz them with distilled (now RO) water three times a day for about a week, then once a day for three more days. I spritz the cardboard box around the clones to help keep the humidity up.

    For a lot of clones, this would be a pain, but the most I've done at one time is 6.

    My small bottle of gel will last another twenty years at the rate I'm using it. I only use a tiny bit in a little plastic case from an SD card to roll the end of the cutting in. It is a tiny tray, about an inch square. Most of the gel goes to waste.
     
  18. blazerwill420

    blazerwill420 Fuck AUMA

    Loving that high tech cloner man, that's the shit! My issue with clones right now is holding them all long enough in perlite and solo cups. Some of them will be about 4 months old by the time they see flower mode.
     
  19. SuperMoChombo

    SuperMoChombo Well-Known Member

    Maybe the RO water ting isn't a big deal. I dunno. I'm using a frankenstein home made cloner adapted to take 56 cuts each round. The instructions on at least one of the commercial models I've used say do not use RO water with clone machines. I never gave it much thought, just followed instructions and used tap until I didn't. Switching back to tap seemed to solve my problems so I'm feeling like there is something to the RO vs tap thing. But maybe not. Or maybe it's specific to my water district. I don't know if the non-RO water thing is applicable to cloning methods other than clone machines. I just thought I'd mention it because it seemed to have an impact for me.

    I am not sure what is in the water here but it smells just like a pool. Seriously strong pool smell. Once it sits for a day, no smell. I call it chlorine but I don't know what the actual chemicals are in the water. I never had it tested. It's a municipal city water system.

    And now my whole theory is blown. I just checked the PPM of my RO water. 300! Time for new filters LOL
     
  20. blazerwill420

    blazerwill420 Fuck AUMA

    I'm having the same issue with cloning the white. I've tried it three times now and zip, nada. I've been using rw cubes, clone powder and a dome. I just pulled four out of the cubes that were a month old and not even one root bump.

    Any suggestions?
     

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