Clean Clones

dstroy

Well-Known Member
I have used Physan 20 before. It's been several years ago but I don't recall being impressed with it as a sterilization agent between grows or as a cure. It doesn't seem to kill pythium spores or disrupt a heavy infestation. It might work well as a preventative though. I would be willing to test it in the cloning trials. If I don't include it in Round 2 I will try to work it into round 3.
I hope you find something that works for you, sounds really frustrating what you're going through.
 

firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
Is there a trick to healthy clones? By the time they root they are usually very nutrient deficient.

Is 0.8EC enough for them?
 

firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
I’ve been having better luck after recently switching to very low intensity lighting. 2 weeks some have roots most don’t because they were cuts from 3.5 weeks into flower and everything is still green as can be.
That's interesting cause I'm using a 2 tube 4 ft t5ho this time and feel they are worse off. Then again the plant I took them from started having issues after cutting so I'm sure it wasn't 100 % at time of cutting. My clones always root slower in the winter. Warm water in the 90s I get roots in as little as 4 days. I'm feeling like the health of the plant prior to cutting is the biggest factor in clones health. I wanna try a sog with 1-2 week from clone which is why I'm asking.
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
i am fighting a root rot problem in my dwc veg area. so far i haven't lost any seedlings or clones, but it has not been pretty.

i am currently adding 100ml of H202 to 5 gallon reservoirs every 24 hrs. may need to bump up the dosage, as plants don't seem to be sprouting new roots yet, just hanging on.

i am also foliar feeding to help.

i collect rain water and have noticed algae in my tanks. added bromine tablet to those to clean my tanks up.

ongoing battle :cuss:
 

Rahz

Well-Known Member
Is there a trick to healthy clones? By the time they root they are usually very nutrient deficient.

Is 0.8EC enough for them?
Higher humidity and less light intensity help prevent early burnout. Ideal temps reduces rooting time and also amount of work required by the plant. Most accounts suggest clones root fine in a nutrient solution but there's nothing I've read indicating it's better (faster) than using plain water. I've read anecdotal evidence suggesting RO or distilled water without a mineral supplement wasn't ideal. Whether that's true I don't know but kinda makes sense that at least some level of nutrients in the media would encourage rooting.

i am fighting a root rot problem in my dwc veg area. so far i haven't lost any seedlings or clones, but it has not been pretty.
Curious what media do you root/germinate in?

I'm currently simmering a water pump along with a few elbows and net cups. I'll get back on whether the pump works afterwards. I took the tub and rinsed it out well, added a cup of bleach and used a paper towel to keep the surfaces wet for about 15 minutes. Removed the bleach and repeated the process with phosphoric acid and then ammonia. The chiller has been replaced with the one I have soaked in 30,000ppm sodium hypochlorite for the last week. I'm thinking I'll be good if I can get some clean clones in there.
 

Rahz

Well-Known Member
rockwool cubes, got any tips for me?
No I just thought maybe there would be a correlation between cloning method and root rot showing up at other points in a grow. Using cubes or rapid rooters seems like the safest way to do it.

The water pump did not do well being simmered.
 

firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
Higher humidity and less light intensity help prevent early burnout. Ideal temps reduces rooting time and also amount of work required by the plant. Most accounts suggest clones root fine in a nutrient solution but there's nothing I've read indicating it's better (faster) than using plain water. I've read anecdotal evidence suggesting RO or distilled water without a mineral supplement wasn't ideal. Whether that's true I don't know but kinda makes sense that at least some level of nutrients in the media would encourage rooting.
I added the nutrients after I saw roots. Makes sense about humidity and temps. Humidity has been like 5-10% and temps in the high 60s. Maybe that has more to do with rooting in the summer than high water temps.

I need to buy a bigger humidifier. The one I have is like out of water after 2 hours
 

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
I use one 2' low intensity t5 16" above my clones that are covered with a clear tote lid. I found I have better luck with root riot cubes than rock wool but that is anecdotal evidence. I have real issues with rock wool once transferred into veg trays if I don't limit flood times to once or twice a day until roots are well established. As for the chilled res I keep mine at 66 and have never added anything re beanies for a year and get amazing root growth. I clean my stuff every run but never in between and wipe everything with H2O2 and run a few days with a concentrated mix of water and H2O2 then refill with water, I should mention that my well water is run through a whole house uv filter as well. I would use bleach but I have 5 gallons of 35% peroxide that I need to use lol.
 

Rahz

Well-Known Member
The Recharge has arrived. It seems like a pretty good deal, 8 ounces and 1/2 teaspoon per gallon will make a lot of tea. Another thing I like about it, it's completely soluble. It probably uses a filler but whatever it is it's not clay or other material that will create an instant residue.

I've cleaned the grow station as well as I can. I suspect there are spores that survived. As an additional measure I've brewed some tea and added it to the rez. I'll be adding more tea every couple days until the clones are ready at which point I'll sanitize the system again and start a new cycle.

Nothing new to report with the clones. Day 7, no sign of roots.

As mentioned, water pumps don't survive being simmered. Also, the suction cups and o rings don't do well in 30,000 ppm sodium hypochlorite. Cups and o-rings can be removed, so it's still possible to soak them in heavy bleach. Whether there are internal parts that will dissolve after repeated applications I'm not sure. I plan on treating the pump with the same solution between grows so if it fails in the future I'll report it.
 

Rahz

Well-Known Member
It's been 13 days since the clones were started, I had lost count somewhere. No roots yet. Clones still look healthy, tips have browned slightly but leaves are still praying. No stem rot yet even on the controls. That was the reason I switched from cubes to a bucket cloner originally. I think the 72 degree temp is the main reason roots aren't showing yet.

I'm going to purchase a heat mat. I'll work 72 -vs- 78 into the test. I've got a couple more moms in the works so I'll have plenty of cuttings available soon.
 

Cold$moke

Well-Known Member
Check out my thread
4 inches is all them girls need in the advanced section.

I just posted a pic of a 13 day old cut :)

If theres any help you want or the recipe i used let me know
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
It's been 13 days since the clones were started, I had lost count somewhere. No roots yet. Clones still look healthy, tips have browned slightly but leaves are still praying. No stem rot yet even on the controls. That was the reason I switched from cubes to a bucket cloner originally. I think the 72 degree temp is the main reason roots aren't showing yet.

I'm going to purchase a heat mat. I'll work 72 -vs- 78 into the test. I've got a couple more moms in the works so I'll have plenty of cuttings available soon.
i use a heat mat under my clone greenhouse
 

Sour Wreck

Well-Known Member
Go hydro lol
Serious i just gave rockwool a shot and they all survived but they look like crap (my fault)

And a cut that i put in the cloner in 13 days is ready to go to a veg setup
i run DWC. suffering root rot in my veg area. can get clean clones when i root in rockwool, but as soon as i move to my tubs it sets in.

i believe my rain water is infected with too much algae. pool shocked it and threw in bromine tablets trying to clear it up.

in the meantime, i planted a rockwool cube and 707 Truthband clone in soil today to get it bigger so i can take more clones and disinfect my hydro area/clean rainwater or drain and start praying for rain, lol.
 

Rahz

Well-Known Member
17 days and no roots yet. Cuttings still look fine. I'll give it a couple more days and call it whether roots show or not. Also, it seems pointless to test 72 -vs- 78 so after this test I'll be running exclusively at 78 degrees. We'll just call this current test the 72 degree sample.

To that end, I'm working on adding a temp controller with a probe in the dome so the heat mat will maintain +-2 degrees of 78.
 

Twerkle

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, just wanted to stop by the thread and add my 2c. I love when people talk about live dwc <3333.

So something that might help you Rahz is alcohol ethoxylates. which is a ester based non-ionic surfacant.

Basically it stops root rot from spreading between plants in the same hydro system (in this case your cloner). It helps control the spread of zoospores by reducing the effecancy of their flagellum (the little thing that lets em swim). It does not sterilize or disinfect, so it can be ran along side bennies. Algea is a zoospore also so I use this in my DWC as well with every feeding. They also help with nutrient uptake so you can reduce your nutrients by 10-15%. A little goes a LONG way (FOAM!). It breaks down every 3 days or so I add it to my recirc twice a week. You will get an eye for when it needs it by observing the size of the bubbles coming from the air stone.

Here is a paper for those who want to read it: https://www.apsnet.org/publications/plantdisease/backissues/Documents/1996Articles/PlantDisease80n04_422.pdf

Alcohol ethoxylates won't stop your clone from getting root rot but will stop it from spread to healthy clones.

I use it in conjunction with bennies. I usually run r/o, great white, myco jordan, alchohol ethoxylate, pinch of kelp, and a blend of enzyme powder (cellulase/hemicelluase). I spray once a day with a light fulvic acid to begin to use up any extra nutes left in the leaves to get them searching (leaves yellowing). Ususally healthy clones begin to get nubby in the cloner around day 5 and have roots by day 7-10. I plant as soon as a nice cluster of nubs forms on the stems. Anything not rooted by day 14 is tossed. I change water every 3-5 days. Also i dip in elite 91 rooting liquid after cutting.
 

Rahz

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info. Anything that makes life hard for pythium sounds good to me. I'll do some research on alcohol ethoxylates.

I'm still determined to make it work with rockwool cubes. I have upped my dome count to 3 (I'm going to be germing pepper plants in a month or so) and have a temp controller arriving tomorrow for the heat mats.

Regarding the infected DWC station, after cleaning it as thoroughly as possible I filled it with water and added some brewed Recharge. Every couple days I added more Recharge changing the water once in this process. I then selected a couple of the cuttings that hadn't rooted yet and placed them in the station, inoculating the net cups with Recharge tea. So we'll see how things turn out. Even though the clones haven't rooted yet I suspect they will develop roots in the net cups. Whether they will get rot again remains to be seen, but I'm hopeful the Recharge treatment has reduced the pythium spore count to low levels.

I've also added extra bubblers, increased the chiller temp to 72, starting nutrient solution with silica while keeping ppm low and P levels under 20 while vegging, basically using everything I've learned recently to try and give the bennies the edge.
 
Top