Forced to clone due to stem rot

[anglerguy78]

Hi Growers. I had a nice 10" plant growing outside in ffof that got a lot of rain. About 10 days ago, I noticed it leaning and found stem rot at the soil interface. Knowing it would not survive as is, I did a clone cut (45 deg) with clean razor blade and was left with about 5" of exposed stem until first node. I powdered it with the only rooting powder I had then planted the stem up to the first node. I've kept it outside, watered, and protected from very heavy rains. The remaining 3-4 nodes look in good shape with growing tip intact and not wilting or turning yellow. My question is, is there any way to tell if roots have formed other than digging into the dirt to see? Thanks. Look forward to your replies.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

outside...and ya didnt thinks it would make it?....:doh:


Best of luck....

is there any way to tell if roots have formed other than digging into the dirt to see?

give a tug on the clipping..if it pops out...no good...if it doesnt :aok:

 

[Hushpuppy]

I watch my cuttings for new growth. Once cut and set in a cloner setup, It should pause all veg growth until the roots redevelop. Once the roots get established you should then see the veg growth begin to pick back up. You may even want to take a couple pics of it at close and from a little distance so that after about 10-16days you can compare it to see if there is any new growth beginning.

I would keep it in low light and only keep the soil moist, not wet, AND NO NUTES. I would recommend that you get a small bottle of Superthrive if you can and very lightly spray the leaves of the plant with that once a day, in the late afternoon when there is about 2 hrs of daylight left.

Expect to see some yellowing, and possibly loss of the lower leaves while she is rooting. The Superthrive should help some with that, but it will greatly depend on how quickly the plant switches over to rooting, and how long it takes for the rooting to build the level of roots needed to begin pulling in nutes. It may take as much as 4-5weeks, or as little as 10 days to recover enough roots to maintain itself.

If you set the plant back into ffof soil, then you don't have to worry about adding nutes right away as the roots develop. You have to be careful with adding nutes while the roots are rebuilding as you don't want to burn the tender developing shoots that are critical for nute absorpsion. Once the plant shows some veg growth, that means you have roots, but you still need to wait about 7-10 days before adding any additional nutes.

Green Mojo Grow Friend

 

[anglerguy78]

Thanks for that good info smoke and hushpuppy. I like smoke's simplicity but I really like hushpuppy's great ideas about timely photos and the water and light levels and nutes needed. So far she's looking good for being cut 11 days ago now. I'll include some pics shortly.

 

[trillions of atoms]

stem rot= poor drainage near stem and wet conditions.

 

[anglerguy78]

Yippee!!! She's alive and well after 3 wks in rooting pot. I was really curious about root structure so I decided to transplant this 6" clone into her final 3-gal pot. After inverting and removing her from the 6" rooting pot, I saw a well-defined root system at the bottom with roots in the sides as well. Hope to show some bigger and better pics later this summer. Go rooting hormone!!!

 

[Hushpuppy]

Congratulations :yay: good job bringing her back. MJ is a very resilient plant