i suspect that it's the babying.. if you have another tray and dome you could use (grocery store cake ones work brilliant
) take a couple cuttings, and leave em alone in the corner of your area.. don't even look for a week.
no misting, no heat mat
Well, I have the cuttings in three different humidity domes, so that can't be it.
As for the heating mat - I only recently started using it, so I doubt it's that. Besides, I thought heat was the most important element.
I haven't misted in over a week.
also do you cut fan leaves in half?
Yup.
and what is your rooting solution?
Clonex.
i had mediocre success untill i lost the heat mat, stopped misting, and cut leaves in half.
I've had hit-or-miss success for the entire duration and I'm still confused about the heating mat.. everyone says warmth is crucial.
here's my routine, maybe something will jump out at you
Yeah, my routine is almost identical.
I cut 45-degrees (though, again, I haven't seen any results from doing it vs. not doing it), I shave off the edges with a scalpel and cut the stem at the bottom to allow more surface area inside the stem. Then I dip in Clonex and stick into cubes which I soaked and then half squeezes so that they're wet but not soaking wet. I re-soak the cubes every day or two, whenever they feel too dry, which is quite often even with the humidity dome on 24/7.
The only thing I do that I'm not sure about is - I take all the stems and place them on a big tray. Then, after about 10 minutes, I cut them into individual cuttings. Maybe those 10 minutes screw something up, even though I don't cut the actual cuttings until right before.
Heating mats are very touchy. Too much can definitely fry the roots.
I don't leave my dome on 24/7. I remove it and mist the plants and leave the dome off for at least a few hours, sometimes longer. It stays on all night, for sure.
I never had any luck with rockwool. I could never find that happy medium between wet and dry.
Well, I don't know if it's too hot. I'll place something between and see if that helps. How do I tell if it's too hot? What's the surface temp supposed to be? I have an infra heat reader, so I can check.
I leave the dome cracked a tiny bit, usually, 24/7. If there's a moderate amount of condensation, I'm happy. If it's too much, I shake it off and leave it off for 15 minutes.
Guess it didn't help much with the mold..
My rockwool feels like it's completely wet 24/7 without any misting. It's simply odd. I also don't like rockwool because it's harder to spot roots since it's a light color.
Here is my set up...I mist maybe the first couple days. The are not under any direct light. You see no heating mat, you see no cover and I live in no humidity land. They are cut and recut under water, while keeping the water bubble on the plant i set it in the clonex and put it on up to the first set of leaves. I use seed starter with no nutes, well watered and drained before i add the cutting. That is it. In roses the average is 50 % success. I usually take three if I want 2. Sometimes i get all three... I guess my average would be 80 % success.
The only difference, it seems, is that I don't use water prior to Clonex.
Though, the two times I had good clones I didn't use water either..
I honestly can't account for the difference during those two times.
Ditch the heating mat, the dome, stop misting, and make sure they are under a single weak light, like a 26w cfl. Light that is too intense will inhibit root growth.
I have 20w CFLs in a 60x60cm area with now 25 cuttings. Should I keep it at 20w or increase it to 40w?
Also, there is a small bit of light bleed from my 600w HPS (currently at 50% so 300w of light). It's a very small amount, though. They're basically in darkness without the 20w CFL.. though, not quite.
Things to do :
Cut the clone on a 45 degree angle with freshly sharpened scissors, the sharper the better. Then use one of the scissor blades to rough up the stem along the lower part where it will go into your medium. Dip the bottom in rooting hormone and insert into your medium. The medium should be moist but not soaking wet. Then put them under the single cfl and don't mess with them for 3-5 days. When you do check on them don't do anything other than making sure the medium is moist. Misting them and keeping them in a dome on a heating mat is most likely where your problems are. Jmo
This is precisely what I do to a tee, besides the humidity dome.
I'm assuming it's the reason for the mold, or perhaps it's the fact that it already started flowering (?), but should I really do away with it altogether?
I suppose what I'm asking is - if the cuttings aren't wilting, I don't need the dome?