need cloning help

[707NewGenGrower]

i cant seem to get cloning down
right now im trying to clone Cherry AK, not hard plant to clone buddy was doing fine. using root tech gel, 100% coco, heat mat, humid dome, the works
the plants aren't dying, they look healthy, 5 days later i give them a tug, green mold all down part that was in coco
watering every other day and spray with water one a day
what am i doing wrong?

 

[Locked]

Never cloned in coco before....I use rapid rooters in a humidity dome.
I cut at a 45 degree angle, scrape the end a bit with a sterile razor, dip in clone gel and place in rapid rooter. The dome gets heavily misted that first day and a small cfl goes over the dome....too much light and the clones will have a harder time throwing roots. Then they are not messed with for about 3-4 days. Then I peak in and mist the dome again if humidity is not high.

 

[707NewGenGrower]

im using 2 ft 4 bulb t5 with only 2 bulbs lit, i think they 2k lumens a piece, so total of 4k is that too much?

 

[PencilHead]

Once I quit spritzing clones, I have a lot better luck. Your lite's fine--I run mine on the wimpy 400w side of my veg room, in the shade of a bigger plant (about 50,000 lumens, though indirectly)and out of the fan's wind.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

dont need much light for cloneing..Sounds like your doing things right...My concern is the watering every 2 days...the algea on the coco can be sprayed with ISO:aok:..I dont think it harms the plant though...how long or how many nodes are on your clipping?..I like to have atleast 3 nodes and my 45* cutt goes through the 3rd node..hope this helps...

take care and be safe:bolt::bong:

 

[707NewGenGrower]

they all have 2 nodes on top and 2 nodes cut for roots, one at 45 angle and one quarter inch above it down to stem, ill try iso, wont it kill beneficial microbes?

 

[Growdude]

Try removing the dome after 2 days. Over watering sounds like the problem, clones dont root well when the medium is soaked.

Either just mist the dome every few days or keep the medium moist not wet and dont use any dome.

I never use a dome so dont think of it like life support for a cutting.

 

[PencilHead]

I'm with GrowDude on the dome thing. I use it for 2 days them they're on their own. The dome just makes work out of hardening them off later.

 

[woodydude]

While I agree with most of what has been said, I think the problem is down to your heat mat and watering.
My guess is this is what is happening.
I think you are cooking them with the heat from the heat mat plus those lights. This heat means your coco dries out, which means you need to water them. When you are watering, you are washing away the cloning gell!

If you have the cuttings under a 4 tube 2ft T5, they dont need the heat mat. If you have them in a humidity dome, mist the cuts, mist the dome then leave them alone. If the dome "steams" up after an hour or so, you dont need the heat mat.

My routine is mist once per day until day 6 then I dip them into ph'd water if they need it, the weight of the cube tells me if they need it. I dont mist after that, this is to encourage roots.
For the dome of the propagator, I have the vents fully closed for 2/3 days, then 1/3 open for 2/3 days, then off at the same time of the watering mentioned.

I know this may conflict with some of what has been said but it works for me 100% of the time now.
Peace
W

 

[bho_expertz]

Different ways to do things right. The success rate is what matters. :aok:

 

[BudLover#69]

Try removing the dome after 2 days. Over watering sounds like the problem, clones dont root well when the medium is soaked.

Either just mist the dome every few days or keep the medium moist not wet and dont use any dome.

I never use a dome so dont think of it like life support for a cutting.

I've only been growing a couple years now,, in the beging I tried everything people told me with really crappy succes! I finally went to just CHEAP 4$ cloning hormone, small rockwool and a Dome small amount nutes in water. 10-15 days later they go to soil and lose the dome. But I have never been able to clone with out a dome. My friend does but he only uses tops as cuttings and they are Big tops. I can't do that I take 5 inch cuttings from the very bottom maybe that is why I need the dome the whole time!? I dont know how you do it without the dome, I can't or just will not try anymore

 

[ozzywhitelufc]

Bob it in the soil, mist it up ,cover with your dome, mist every day, lights on 24. Clone in the Dome..... If that don't work lob it in the street and thrash it with a big stick.

 

[707NewGenGrower]

thanks for everyones input good info
i took temp readings of bottom of RR and i was cooking them, as well as washing away rooting gel. so im confused, some people say water every 2-3 days some day dont touch for 2 weeks other say week, what is it?
pre soak RR, gel, slap cutting in RR, spray dome everyday, and wait 2 weeks right? does the water from pre soak last that long? when do i water and how much? how often?

 

[woodydude]

If I have learned anything since I started growing it is that there is NEVER just one way to do anything. Some methods will suit some growers and most growers will tell you what works FOR THEM, it is all opinion. What works for me, may not work for you but may work for another guy so it comes down to thinking through your methods and finding what works for you and of course, what you are comfortable with.


The way I see it, its all cause & effect.
If you carry out an action, there will be a reaction. By watering the cuttings before roots have shown, there is a high posability that you are washing away the gell. If that is a posability, I wont do it. Remember, when you water usually, you are watering for the roots to feed/drink. Since cuttings have no roots, you dont need to water. All you need to do is make sure the cubes do not dry out. I find that misting daily, along with the high humidity inside a humidity dome stops my cutting drying out.
Going back to when I was having problems and trying to work out a method that worked for me, I took 40 cuttings from 2 varieties of plant. I batched them into groups of 4 + 4 of each variety and treated the 5 groups slightly differently, some with no dome, some misted and watered, etc. This gave me an indicator of what worked best in those circumstances for me. (I know, this is very subjective) Since that experiment, I have used the same method with a 100% success rate. It is as follows.

Pretreat rockwool cubes by soaking in ph'd water with 1ml/l clonex, 1ml/l bio biz root fast. To remove access solution, I "flick" the cube rather than squeeze it. Left over solution is what I mist with!


Take long cuttings with at least 5 internodes from the bottom of the plant and place into a cup of ph'd water.
Once I have taken the cuttings I need, I place a little of the solution into a bowl and make my 45deg cut under water, trim off the bottom 2 intenodes and clip the tips off the 3rd set of leaves. I then place the cutting in a small jar with 50/50 clonex/ph'd water in the bottom and let it soak for 5 mins until I have all my cuttings trimmed.
I make a new hole in the rockwool cube with a pipette and squeeze a little (0.25ml) of the clonex/water solution into the cube where I made the new hole.
I place the cutting into the rockwool cube, squeezing the cube around the cutting to make it secure and get good contact between the clonex/clone and rockwool. Repeat for other cuttings and label the batch.
Mist cuttings, mist inside dome, place under 9W T5.
Mist with solution daily.
After 3 days, open vent 1/3
After another 3 days, open vent another 1/3
Remove dome for 1hr per day but stop misting. Cubes may start to dry out so I place them in a tray with ph'd water to wick water from the bottom up, this stops the jell washing away.
At day 8, dome removed and placed under T5's w3ith lights around 1' away and so the cuttings get some air movement from fan but not in direct path of wind.
Day 10 transplant to next stage as all cutting will now have a good root mass.

You may find part of this works for you and you may develop your own method from the bones of this. I believe most growers here will use this method with some variations. It's what works for me.

Green mojo to you my friend and I hope you find yours soon. W

 

[Hushpuppy]

Woody is right on the money about the whole thing of each of us having our own methods of success. I believe yu have already discovered yer problem (too warm/too wet). I use coco as well and I have found that it holds a tremendous amount of water. I do not use a heat mat as the T5s and humidome keep them plenty warm. If yu continue to use coco as yer cloning medium then use water sparingly and monitor the moisture level of the coco. I use clonex solution as well with NO other nutes as they cant pull it in without roots and it just ends up feeding algae growth. Yu will have to do this a few times to get down the water/moisture regimen needed for that strain (and different strains will vary a bit in their individual needs). good luck with that. good grow mojo to ya

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I would say that if they are all moldy after only 5 days that they are too warm and too wet.

 

[707NewGenGrower]

good stuff woody
should i take away my heating mat then? and i switched to rapid rooters for this try, (thanks for info on coco hush, i intend to not give up on it) im trying to get a concept of what is too much water
when i poke the RR should i see what come out or not? yesterday it was like wet sponge today it doesnt bleed when i poke it?
just mist?

 

[woodydude]

I would remove the heat mat, unless you are in Alaska!
Rapid rooters hold a lot of water but when they start to dry out, they dry FAST

 

[woodydude]

Damn, I hadnt finished there lol.
I would say if water runs out when you poke the cube, its too wet!
With rockwool, I soak the cube, then hold it firm without squeezing it and "flick" it to remove access water. You can do the same with rapid rooters, I am not sure about coco though, I have never used it.
If there is no runn off when poked, thats what you are after so just mist.