Cloning 101

Pics of my first clone attempt


Hey gang. Whats up? This morning I was fucking around with one of my plants, doing some LST when I felt something give. I accidentally snapped off a pretty nice grow tip. My plants are getting too big for my closet, so I said "fuck it" and I took about 10 cuttings. I followed directions I've read on here to the L.E.T.T.E.R


I took some cuttings. I cut underneath nodes on different branches. I trimmed them up, cutting the leaves off of the ascending nodes until there was just a few leaves left on top. I held them underwater and did the 45 degree angle cut. I then dipped them generously in Clonex, and put 'em in the Rapid Rooter. I have a heating pad underneath the Rooter set on "low", which stays warm, but nowhere near "medium" or "hot".


You can see the lights I'm using over the dome. Those are 40W 2700K CFLs. Should I have them right up close over the dome and the plants or should I back the lighting off a bit? Check the pics. Many tanks and much rep to those who look and comment!


PS- I've already misted twice today. Twice in about 3 hours to be honest, but it looks like its kinda drying out in there every few hours and I just wanna make sure I am able to keep that humidity and warmth in the Rooter.











Rapid Rooter tray

 

Looks good to me man :thumbsup: I dont grow with soil so I dont clone with those things either, I just use a perlite wick cloner and have had 100% cloning success on both my attempts. I wouldnt mist them as often as your doing it. 2-3 times a day is plenty IMO. They look like shit shortly after cutting but should look better within a day or two. But if its really required to keep the humidity up then by all means do what you have to. Good luck man, peace.

 

Thanks for taking a look and giving me your take on it. What about those lights Im using? Im gonna run 'em 24/0. Do you think they are too close to the dome?

 

How many watts are those bulbs? I only used a single 26W bulb over my humidity dome about 6" above it. You dont want alot of intensity or they will use up their nutrient stores faster because they are trying to grow faster due to the increased intensity. At least thats my take on it, you want them to focus more on rooting than actually growing. Your also not in a cab, my cloner is in a speaker box so the light is contained so you might be just fine, I dont want to steer you in the wrong direction either way. I also used 24/0. Peace

 

The bulbs in those 2 lamps im using are each 40W 2700K cfls.

 

misting


hey scotty as a current first time cloner...youve got a little nicer set up than me..i'm just using solo cups for domes,but i can tell you that i almost fucked up by misting too often,mine really started to turn yellow cause i was misting 3 times a day...take it back a little,i switched to just misting the inside of the dome once or twice a day at the most.good luck man,i'm still hoping mine will all make it---at day 10.

 

misting the clones

Man, this is really good advice and I appreciate you taking the time. I have backed off on the misting since my last post on this thread. I have 100% humidity in that dome, and a heating pad set on "low" underneath the Rapid Rooter. I've got a cfl in a simple desk lamp about 1' away from the dome, it's output is like 970 lumens, so I figure it's safe, but I do not know for sure. What kind of lighting are you using for your clones?


Thanks Ozz.

 

lighting for clones


scottyg...i'm using 2-4ft. fluros..one cool white one warm white...like i said before ,it seems great for vegging and seedlings so i figure it would be good for clones too.with seedlings i can pretty much put it as close to the tops as i want,but for the clones i've had it about a 8 inches or so above the top of the domes(another cup flipped upside down,yes i'm cheap)I think i need a little heat under the cups,gonna look for a reptile heater or something today.

 

clone light

OK. That's an important piece of info for me, considering it's my first go-around cloning.. Thanks Ozz.

 

wilting clones


Hey whats up? I just transplanted my clones and some of them appear to be wilted. I didn't leave that much foliage on the cuttings. But some of them that have foliage, the leaves are wilted and shriveled up. They are still green, but they look pretty bad. Some of the others seem to be doing just fine.

 

You got to find a balance between transpiration and leaving enough foliage to support new growth. If they show the slightest signs of wilting, I throw a humidity dome on them. The downside to H. Domes is that is takes longer to re-acclimate them to the ambient humidity in your grow space. Once you get it dialed in, you'll laugh at how much trouble they used to give you.


-tC

 

more transplanting questions


I have some clones that are handling the transplant just fine. But, like I said, some of them that were nice and green in the rooter have wilted. What might be the difference? What can I do in the future to prepare clones for transplanting from the rooter&dome to their pots? What might have gone wrong in the rooter? Maybe too much moisture on some of the cuttings and not enough air. I have some vent holes in the top of the dome that I opened up on a regular basis. I'm also wondering now how moist I should keep the rooting plugs when they are in the dome. Also, the pan under the rooter-plug tray is grooved so that there can be water in the pan, but since it's down in the grooves, theoretically the rooter plugs won't be able to touch it and soak it up.


Any clarification, even just a lil bit of info regarding any of these issues, will be madly appreciated.


Thanks in advance.


EDIT: Please excuse my double-posting.

 

Did you wean them off the dome? I wouldnt worry much about it, after transplanting they are going to continue to work on their root system as opposed to uptake of nutes and work on growth. Once the roots settle into their new home they will bounce right back with a vengeance. Get ready for a growth spurt :thumbsup: Peace

 

That's exactly what I was going to ask? Sometimes it takes a little longer to wean them off of the humidity domes. Start by taking off the domes for 5 - 10 minutes several times a day, increasing the amount of time that the domes are off until they are able to go completely dome-less. Also when you're using domes, you shouldn't have to mist them much, if at all...you want just enough to keep the RR's from drying out.


-tC

 

Thanks guys


OK. I was misting like 2-3 times per day. I guess those vents weren't enough to keep up with all the moisture I kept spraying into the dome. I also used a Hydrofarm heating mat under the rooter. That pretty much clears up my questions. Thanks for the pointers.


I definitely appreciate it.


I'll be better informed next time I clone, and prolly more successful.


Take it easy


assit:

 

Thank you for all the info on cloning,all questions answered for now.Great job.Just wanted you to know.

 

Just finished reading the whole thread and it's very informative and descriptive. I'm glad that admin decided to make this thread a sticky. I've learned a lot and for my next grow I will def do some cloning because I will buy some great seeds because for my first grow I used bag seed. I will def look forward to my cloning adventures. Peace

 

for fucks sake


I'm cloning again. Took some smaller cuttings this time around and made sure that they all had flourishing grow tips. A few are in rockwool, a few are in rooter plugs, and a couple are in jiffy pellets. Got 'em under the dome etc. But I'm still fucking up. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing wrong. I cannot seem to find the right balance of moisture and air these clones need. It' always seems to be too much of one and not enough of the other.


For me, cloning is frustration and pain. But goddammmit I wanna become proficient at it. Any further help would be appreciated.


How many days should the clones be under the dome before I start taking it off/opening air vents?


Thanks

 

cliffs notes

Thanks for the response, but dude, the clones are already under the dome. I can appreciate researching academic scientific literature. But at this point, I need somebody to just give me the answers to the test questions. :icon_scratch: