A simple question about cloning with rock wool

how dry/moist/damp should I keep the rooting medium?
The cube will be submerged in potting soil as per the great info I found on this server

Many thanks to Widow

I am confused.. That is easy to happen, it if friday night. But you have a grow medium in your SOIL?? What kind of grow medium? Sounds almost to me that you are hald breeding a soil grow and Hydroponics. I think the call it Terraponics or some funky name like that. Well i am sure someone will answer later with more knowledge then me. But here is my opinion. Your plants need Air around there roots just as much as water. So if you over water them, they will die from lack of air, if you under water the will dry out from lack of water. I can not tell you how much water to apply because I do not understand your system one bit.

Do you hand water them? or is it a automatic watering system? My opinion is this. It is much better to under water your plants then to over water your plants. I under water my plants, I just give them some water and WALLA within 24 hours they look great.
If i over water them, it can take weeks to get them back to looking good.

Sorry i could not give you an amount, I just do not understand how you can have soil and another grow medium. Unless you are doing the Terra thingy.

Sorry, just noticed you used Rock wool. was this the little 1"X1" cubes? the ones you germ in? If so put about 30% perlite in your soil, for drainage. water them ever 4 days, but misted them everyday. if the wilt, step up the watering until you get it right. Do not water everyday, and then lay back on the water because they are dieing.

Also, until you see roots on your clones comeing out of the rockwool cubes, just misted the plants. You did not say how old they are. And if they are not showing roots yet, make sure to keep a DOME over them. And not much light.

I took five clippings yesterday and tried to clone them using Schultz root hormone. I put them in soil with perlight and vermiculite, and within 25 minutes they were down... why does this always happen to me? what am I doing wrong?

CLONES DO NOT WANT SOIL!!!!!!!!!!

They want a nice place to sit, and have nice Humidity.. this is why you do not water Clones,,, You misted them 3-4 times a day, and keep them covered in a dome.

I suggest going and buy a Clone DOME... They cost like $14. and also by the Rapid Rooters.. This is what you Clones should be in for the first week, to two weeks. With out the dome, the clones will die,, they have no roots to get moisture from the soil. The only way they can get moisture at this point is from their leafs. So this is why you need to keep them covered in the dome. So when you mist them down,, the moisture stays there.

Grow CHEAP,, get CHEAP>>>> But this does not cost much.. $14+$15=$29

Plus this money spent will last more then 2-3 grows. Maybe more.

As soon as you take the cuttings, they are going to wilt big time. but if you spray them with PH'd water and have them in rapid rooters, they will come back fast.. like with in 3 hours. Then it will take a week or two for the root to pop out the bottom of the rapid rooter, once thise happens. take the dome lid off for like 2-4 hours and see what happens. If the clones wilt mist them and replace the dome lid. Do this each day until they stop witling when you remove the dome lid. Once this happens, then they are ready to plant. You seem to be planting them as soon as you cut them.

Thanks for the info. I probably would have been trying in soil for decades. Will home depot have these or a garden supply store?

probably not.
You will have to get them from Hydropnics store or by the internet. But they are a must for cloneing.. You could make your own, but why?? The domes are cheap.. and easy.. I live by my Clone dome, and Rapid Rooters. they go together.

what is this rapid rooters you speak of?

go to a Hydroponics store and ask them. If you want to grow clones it is a must have item.

O.K. thanks

look for these.

Also get dip N Grow rooting hormone or a cloning gel.

and a scalpel

make sure the area is clean. No smoking.

fuck misting the clones. just spray the inside of the dome lid if needed and lightly water the rooting plugs after 4 days....then again at 7 days...at which point you should start to see roots...

chabnock said:

Grow CHEAP,, get CHEAP>>>> But this does not cost much.. $14+$15=$39

Click to expand...

You mean, $29.. right?

Yep $29. Sorry. diod not have a calculator...lol

O.K. so I'm calling my local hydroponic shop... do I say hey do you have clone domes and rapid rooters? ... what else should I get while I'm there?

Cloning Gel, and a bottle of Clonex. Maybe some Shaman if you want to go full out.

And yes, they will know exactly what you are asking for.

O.K. thanks... and this stuff is really called shaman?

Yes, But it is not needed really. But it is supposed to help. I will not be using it anymore once I run out. Cost to much really for what I seem to get out of it.

thanks. going to look around for that stuff.

O.K. ... so today... I went to the Hydorponic shop... bought a clone dome with the little individual squares... like 72 way too many... bought rock wool...
clone dome was only 3 bucks... rockwoll was 12...
Ummmm... so the clone dome has a tray with the squares and holes in the bottem that sits inside of another tray... am I suppost to like have water in the bottom or something?... and how often should I mist my clones... took them yesterday. survived over night... that was a first.. put them in the clone dome today about 2 houres ago... doing good... I have benn misting once like every 45 minutes.

IMO....

No standing water. the cubes hold enough as it is. I dump anything out that ends up in the bottom tray.

No misting. The dome should be enough. If you see there are no drops of humidity on the dome surface inside...mist the inside of the dome itself and put it back on. If you mist..mist...mist..mist every 45 minutes things are gonna be too wet... especially the cubes as gravity works the moisture downwards. IMO..people here are mist-happy. I was told this many years ago...and have never questioned it/never misted a clone in my life...

"If the plant gets water through the leasves why will it want to send out a root immediately to get water?"

I hope the guy told ya to flush then soak the rockwool and adj the pH. If not and you didn't....well..we'll see what happens and cross that bridge when we come to it....

anyway//good luck

you'll get it down..it just takes practice and a bit of luck

On the package it said to use Ph down (for a fishtank?)... I have Ph up for a fishtank...
but it said if you dont have Ph down use lemon juice... so I did... because I had no Ph down... what happens if you don't use it???