trouble with ezclone machine

need help. i have an ezclone cloning machine and i can't get it to work.

i take cuttings according to the ways i've read about.
1/4 inch below node, 45 degree angle, dipping immediately in clonex. the cuttings are 4-5 inches tall, a couple of leaves on top. i've read about wounding but haven't tried it---yet. the mothers are healthy, in vegative state. i have read something about the ma's shouldn't be hyped up with nitrogen. this could be a problem. i've been using a grow juice with lots of nitrogen. i've decided to flush with pure water a couple of waterings before taking anymore cuttings.
into the machine they go.
there are compact flourescents, a 6 bulb fixture. its raised to 17 inches above the top of the machine. i leave the lights on 24/7.
my ph averages 5.5-5.7, water temp--well i have a problem with that. it goes up, but on average it measures 71-78. air temp 79, relative humidity 48 percent.
i have a timer on the spray, 1 on 3 off i think is the cycle.
i'm using a root stimulator i bought from a local grow shop.
without fail 6-7 days in, no roots and the leaves begin to yellow.
i think that's about it.
any suggestions?
thanx in advance!

Well I have 1 of these bucket ez clone machine but never bothered to use it.Its still in the closet as after looking at it I saw more problems then easy so went back to rockwool and trays and my 100% 6 day clone ways. I can suggest dumping the cfls for 48 inch florescent tube lighting but I see with these unless you can keep a humidity dome on there may be problems. Got a picture of what yours looks like

thanx for the help, no pix, and no dome. my local grow shopkeeper tells me the domes are gimmick. knowing that humidity is crucial i wonder why he thinx that?

Well, everything sounds just grand, except one thing that I noticed. Your lights are 17 inches above the tops of the plants? That sounds like it's too far for the flourescent light to reach. I know rooting cuttings don't need much light, but I keep my tubes almost touching the dome, and when I remove the dome I move the tubes closer.

HTH

If you are using florescent tubes I keep them as close as I can cfl those spiral type bulbs I dont know I dont think much of them for growing and have no idea how close those can get but a florescent tube can almost touch the tops. And the local guy is an idiot if he told you that.

Fletch, I've never needed a humidome. My clonebox has an exhaust fan which runs 24/7, so the box is not trapping much humidity.



My box is there mainly to contain light and help keep the rockwool cubes slightly warm as they sit on their heatmat.

Humidomes are supposed to slow transpiration to prevent wilting, but for some odd reason, my clones never wilt.

I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call humidomes 'hokum' as the hydro shop guy did, but I'm getting by without any.

*shrug*

artfern said:

without fail 6-7 days in, no roots and the leaves begin to yellow.

Click to expand...

Sounds like pythium or other pathogen causing stem rot. Stem tips going squishy?

Add hydrogen peroxide (50% horticultural type) @ 1ml/litre of water in your cloner (which I presume is some type of aerocloner) and add the same every 3-4 days. Should keep pathogens down long enough to get some roots.

Alternatively, you could go to 1" rockwool cubes on a heatmat in a lighted box of some flavour.

the tips, yes they are going squishy. it is an aerocloner. i'll try the hydro-per. thanx

artfern said:

need help. i have an ezclone cloning machine and i can't get it to work.

i take cuttings according to the ways i've read about.
1/4 inch below node, 45 degree angle, dipping immediately in clonex. the cuttings are 4-5 inches tall, a couple of leaves on top. i've read about wounding but haven't tried it---yet. the mothers are healthy, in vegative state. i have read something about the ma's shouldn't be hyped up with nitrogen. this could be a problem. i've been using a grow juice with lots of nitrogen. i've decided to flush with pure water a couple of waterings before taking anymore cuttings.
into the machine they go.
there are compact flourescents, a 6 bulb fixture. its raised to 17 inches above the top of the machine. i leave the lights on 24/7.
my ph averages 5.5-5.7, water temp--well i have a problem with that. it goes up, but on average it measures 71-78. air temp 79, relative humidity 48 percent.
i have a timer on the spray, 1 on 3 off i think is the cycle.
i'm using a root stimulator i bought from a local grow shop.
without fail 6-7 days in, no roots and the leaves begin to yellow.
i think that's about it.
any suggestions?
thanx in advance!

Click to expand...

I have had problems with my aero cloner and with cloning in general the first few times around, but this time I got roots in three days. This is what I did differently: After taking cuttings I dipped them in clonex and left them in the clonex for about 15 to 20 minutes. I had never left them in there this long. I also read something about changing the water in the cloner every day. This helps to prevent bacteria growth and stem rott.
I thought it sounded like a bit of a pain in the ass but I was willing to try. Also, in the past I have mixed some cloning solution in the water. Since I was gonna be changing the water every day, I decided against putting anything in the water. Plus that shit is expensive.
I saw the first sign of roots on Tuesday night. I took the cuttings on Sunday. That is the fastest I have ever gotten roots. So it appears that changing the water and keeping the cuttings in the cloning gel for a longer period really did the trick this time!

i might give it a try, seems that clean aqua is of the utmost import.

Good to hear you got it figured out splif. Never had to keep cutting in gell more then 30 seconds but if it works for ya why mess with it right. Keep on growing. Al you are the freak of all nature with your giant clones and no domes lol but I cant argue your point as I see what you get so what can I say guess it depends on methods lol

splifman said:

I also read something about changing the water in the cloner every day. This helps to prevent bacteria growth and stem rott.

Click to expand...

heh, getting rid of the pathogens is as easy as getting rid of the water they're living in.

However, there still will be pythium living on other wet surfaces within the aerocloner. Changing out the water will get rid of a lot of the pathogens, but H2O2 will sterilise everything without killing the plants.

Horticultural grade 50% H2O2 may be hard to find outside of a hydro shop. I've had a recent caution from a rollitup reader that the 3% & 6% pharmacy grades of H2O2 contains some sort of stabilisers which are said to be hard on roots. I don't know what these stabilisers are, nor have researched their effect on plants.

I have used 3% pharm grade before myself without problems, but only for a week or so in an emergency when I could not get across town to get the proper stuff. If you can only get 3% H2O2, apply it to tank water at 17ml/litre of tank volume. Apply 6% at 8ml/litre. Don't use H2O2 with organic nutrients.

FilthyFletch said:

Al you are the freak of all nature

Click to expand...

That what my mom calls me, too.

You know my mom?

Al B. Fuct said:

heh, getting rid of the pathogens is as easy as getting rid of the water they're living in.

However, there still will be pythium living on other wet surfaces within the aerocloner. Changing out the water will get rid of a lot of the pathogens, but H2O2 will sterilise everything without killing the plants.

Horticultural grade 50% H2O2 may be hard to find outside of a hydro shop. I've had a recent caution from a rollitup reader that the 3% & 6% pharmacy grades of H2O2 contains some sort of stabilisers which are said to be hard on roots. I don't know what these stabilisers are, nor have researched their effect on plants.

I have used 3% pharm grade before myself without problems, but only for a week or so in an emergency when I could not get across town to get the proper stuff. If you can only get 3% H2O2, apply it to tank water at 17ml/litre of tank volume. Apply 6% at 8ml/litre. Don't use H2O2 with organic nutrients.

Click to expand...

This is the trick I learned from you my friend, and I still do use it! Like you said, there is probably shit growing in the cracks of the water pump etc... Its good to use it as a precaution if nothing else...

coolio, splifman

H2O2 is a fairly useful antimicrobial. The oxygen it emits when it breaks down is just a bonus.

this

can do this in 2 weeks running 24/7
not sure why some ppl use timers to cycle pump. first round went without water for 1-1/2 hours 1 wk into it and took 4 wks to look like this, poss shock?
2nd round pict

second round used same water from first round, just refilled. adj. ph between 5.5-6.0, gave it a splash of "thrivealive" majority showed roots w/in 1 wk.

put fresh cutting in dip-n-grow for under 1 min and into cloner

well first off you should not have you ez clone going on and off?? well let me say that in all the years i have been doing this with this machine I have never tried it, I would say turn it on and leave it. Next thing is and I have learned this much in 25 years of doing this and that is what works for one person might not work for another and thats in regaurds to your PH! do not go below 6 I keep my PH aroun 6.3 to 6.5 and that has worked best for me. I do use a little root hormone and just started adding a little cal mag. now depending on your water you do not have to use cal mag but I am on a well and I have to use PH up 1tsp per five gallons of water. Anyway thats all I have to say about that.

I have really good results with the EZ Clone. I first put the cuttings in a solution of KLN and water, as per instructions on the KLN. I leave them in that for about 1 week and then put them in the EZ Clone Machine with Kln in the water also. All root with in the week this way. What I am looking for is round rockwool cubes to use in the EZ Clone instead of the black ones provided with the machine. That way with a water/nutrient change every week (important) I could leave in the machine to get a Super Good Root System to go into the grow champer right aways. Anyone know where to get round rockwell cubes that fit the EZ Clone, please let me know.

After reading these replies I feel not 1 has helped you...

Cloning gel or hormones in an ezcloner is laughable....sorry guys.
You only need biologically active water @ proper temps.
PH in the water is absolutely irrelevant ,,,,reason,,,there are no roots yet.
That's what we are trying to develop remember...?

PH is only relevant to nutrient uptake within the roots after they are developed.


Water temp, 70 -80 degrees is crucial,,,a poster showed roots in 4 weeks!

4 weeks?? I could run 4 batches through in 4 weeks...not 1


If your temps are up there take a panty hose and fill it with fresh worm castings
and tie it off and drop it in the res..

Keep airstones in there and a teaspoon of black strap molasses...

Watch and see how fast the roots will grow in an aerobic and microbial rich solution.
no pathogens are going to take hold in this....

A sequence of 15m on and 15m off works great...

Change the water every day?? are you kidding?? if you have to go through that much BS
take that thing and toss it in garbage! and use rapid rooters.



Lighting is simple....fluoros!! only!

I don't use an aero clonner, I do however use a crude homemade bubble clonner with homemade neoprene disks. I just use tap water right out of the faucet (ph is between 7.7-8.2) I don't use any rooting hormone, and I take my cuttings with my trimming scissors. Cut 'em, put them in their disks and about 10 days later, good to go.

I even took a cutting from a plant (with my pocket knife) and it sat in the seat of my veh for about 8 hrs, put it in a disk and 11 days later, we got roots. I do cut all the leaves in half. The sit next to mommy under 2 75watt cfl's, and i've yet to have one not take. I have done roughly 20 clones this way.

The one very valuable lesson I have learned here was that all the plant problems I've had were because of me, typically doing too much.

Plain water, right temp, cut clone, put it in, forget about it for 2 weeks, veg or flower, enjoy!

I guess I said all that to say, keep it simple, it's not magic.