Clones keep dying in Botanicare 25 pod cloner

I bought a Botanicare 25 pod cloning machine recently after seeing one at a friends house and noticing how amazing the machine worked and his root bases were.

Upon buying the machine, I followed the instructions for a 2 gallon mixture of the AquaShield and the other bottle that came with it. I've cut clones 3 different times now and each time I've cut them, the clones just wilt and die after a few days. I've tried using the clonex hydro mixture as opposed to the rooting agent that came with the botanicare system. I've also changed the water and thoroughly cleaned the machine.

I have no clue why my clones keep dying, and as of right now, I own a $100+ worthless pvc box..

1st run, I used 2 gal. of water and the recommended amount of AquaShield and Power Clone that came with the machine. Clones were cut on a 45 degree angle and shaved on the sides.

2nd run, I used 2 gal of water and the recommended amount of AquaShield and Clonex's water compatible version of their product. Clones were cut on a 45 degree angle, shaved on the sides, and split down the middle.

3rd run, I used just pH water for the hell of it because I'm out of ideas and I can cut more clones at any time. I know this wouldnt work but at this point I was just fed up and didnt give a damn. Doesnt matter how these clones were cut as this wouldnt work.

Between each run, the pucks and machine were hand washed and sanitized. The only think I can think of is that they're getting too much water from the machine. No root bases are forming what so ever.

If anyone can think of any variables that could be killing my clones, please let me know.

Put a humid dome on it so they can feed. They have no roots for food so that is how they uptake anything they need man. Hope it helps ya, saved my buddys ass too!

might be your water, next time try picking up a couple gallons of spring water and use it just for cloning. My tap was around 240 and is really hard if not impossible for me to clone using it. I switched to spring water and never had a problem since.

misting them for the first week would help, like said, without roots, they feed thru the stomata, so keeping them wet will keep them green

is there a pump in your water? I used to use an ezcloner and right from the get go I was having problems, come to find out that my water was getting too warm. If there is a pump in your water then what you can do is take a 20oz pop bottle and fill it with water and then freeze it, and put it in your res and see if that helps.... good luck but i must say that cloning in soil or promix is just as easy and you get roots in about the same time without the headaches. Good luck dude

VICTORYGARDENSHYDRO said:

misting them for the first week would help, like said, without roots, they feed thru the stomata, so keeping them wet will keep them green

Click to expand...

want water,,grow roots..lol

I've got the same unit. I made several changes and it works great now. First I put it on a repeatable timer at one minute on, 3 off. This helps keep the water from getting too hot. I use a timer from CAP model ART-DNe. around $75. I then drilled a 3/16" hole in the tube connecting the pump to the spray manuifold and pressed in an aquarium air line connector, the small clear ones, no glue needed and hooked it up to a small aquarium air pump. It oxygenates the water much better than air stones. The more O2 in the water the better. I use purified water (R/O is fine)with the Power Clone and AquaShield and get 95% to 100% every time. Make sure the room it's in stays below.80 degrees. If it gets below 75, get a small adj. aquarium heater and set it at 75 to 77

Two main things affect the Botanicare 25 site Cloning machine's effectiveness. Fluid temp and misting accuracy are the two main problems with this unit.

You can control the fluid temperature by placing the fluid on a 1 minute on, 5 minutes off cycling timer. If you don't have a timer, you can place a frozen water filled soda bottle into the fluid reservoir.

To fix the jet accuracy, there are a limited number of fixes. Replace the jets with improved 360° jets. Drill extra holes for additional jets, or fine tune the jets one at a time.

I have designed a tune-up kit for the Botanicare 25™ consisting of an improved manifold with 360° jets and hi output pump, along with a recycling timer to address these shortcomings.

I have finished the manifold which provides total saturation of the plant cutting's root zone with over twice as jets as the original cloner (a second design uses 25 jets or 3X the unmodified Botanicare 25 cloner).

I am waiting for the 360° jets and recycling timer to arrive to test the design(s). Peace,tested, I will post instructions on how to build your own. Or if you want, I can build it for you for a reasonable fee. Stay tuned for updates and photos.

Peace,

Bud