# First time cloning and the clones wilt over soon after put in medium



## DirtyDiana (Jan 25, 2011)

Ok, so I have done reading and reading and watched lots of videos on cloning, but for some reason, probably something simple, these cuttings wilt over, and I am assuming this isnt normal. I just cut them today, about 2 hours ago, and they were drunk looking, leaning over. 

I cut the clones at 45dg angle, put in rooting gel, and then put in these things that you put water on them and they swell, sorry I dont know what they are called. So, I am thinking, these "things" im putting the cutings in, could it maybe not be compacted tight enough around the cut area and letting air in? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## RawBudzski (Jan 25, 2011)

Soak the soil tablet things good with water.  Cut the Cutting off, THEN RE-Cut it underwater at a 45degree angle, with a NEW RAZOR. make sure you cut right below a pair of fan leaves, Cut off the FAN leaves right above your 45 degree angle cut.. cover ALL cuts with your rooting gel. Put the entire cut under the soil, then mist and put under a dome. Open dome and mist several times daily.


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## cadence (Jan 25, 2011)

Regardless they will usually wilt a bit after taking clones regardless of medium. Then they perk back up. I use a bubble cloner with 99% success rates.. easy to make and cheap.. The thing about the medium you are using is that it is hard to tell if the clones actually are getting water.. and if you put too much water they can rot... I say try making a bubble cloner.. the never fail me! Also.. with the Bubble cloner, you can see the root growth..


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## djfloms (Jan 25, 2011)

First thing... doesn't sound like you are misting the leaves afterwards. THIS IS A MUST. there are the cheapo sprayers, i get mine from family dollar. get one of those, this is the reason they are wilting


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## DirtyDiana (Jan 25, 2011)

i mist them with water before I put the dome top on. I also mist the underside of the dome top


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## DirtyDiana (Jan 25, 2011)

I just read in several places that it is normal for them to wilt for the first 24 hours. Is this correct?


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## RawBudzski (Jan 25, 2011)

Are you only making the 45degree angle cut? and not cutting a pair of leaves along with it? your supposed to have a Fresh 45degree angle cut AND 2x fresh cuts from leaves removed under the Soil.


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## DirtyDiana (Jan 25, 2011)

RawBudzski said:


> Are you only making the 45degree angle cut? and not cutting a pair of leaves along with it? your supposed to have a Fresh 45degree angle cut AND 2x fresh cuts from leaves removed under the Soil.


Yes, I cut the leafs off besides the bottom cutting.


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## IXOYE (Jan 25, 2011)

Yes. Mine took 3 weeks to root and they wilted and perked up numerous times. The bottom leaf set browned and fell off after some time. They wilt and perked again. Now they have a strong root system with only the top most leaf set remaining. It was scary there for awhile but it worked.

Here's a great link someone posted earlier:
http://www.cannabisgrowguide.net/2010/07/cloning-marijuana-step-by-step-fool.html

I used grodan mini cubes but I'm pretty sure they work in the same way as the pellets you're using.


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## new smokey (Jan 25, 2011)

Are you leaving lots of folage on your clones?If you leave to many of your leaves on the clone they put to much energy into trying to keep the leaves alive instead of starting roots. Also you wanna trim your top leaves at about little bit above half or around 60% of your leaves left on the top. keep them moist and keep your temps up inside the dome. Hope some of that helped.


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## BloodHoundsRule (Jan 26, 2011)

cadence said:


> Regardless they will usually wilt a bit after taking clones regardless of medium. Then they perk back up. I use a bubble cloner with 99% success rates.. easy to make and cheap.. The thing about the medium you are using is that it is hard to tell if the clones actually are getting water.. and if you put too much water they can rot... I say try making a bubble cloner.. the never fail me! Also.. with the Bubble cloner, you can see the root growth..


 +1 on the bubble cloner. Been using a DIY bubble cloner and mine wilt but perk back up within 3-4 hours.


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## DirtyDiana (Jan 26, 2011)

cadence said:


> Regardless they will usually wilt a bit after taking clones regardless of medium. Then they perk back up. I use a bubble cloner with 99% success rates.. easy to make and cheap.. The thing about the medium you are using is that it is hard to tell if the clones actually are getting water.. and if you put too much water they can rot... I say try making a bubble cloner.. the never fail me! Also.. with the Bubble cloner, you can see the root growth..


How would I go about making one of these? Maybe I will look around and see if there is a diy on this. 

They look better today, I thought I would wake up and they would be laying on the soil just dead, but they are not, they are actually standing up, a tiny bit limp, but if they were dead they would just be dead. So I will keep an eye on them.


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## ooli (Jan 26, 2011)

I had lots of trouble cloning when I first started, and I can only speak from experience, but I've been doing all my cloning in 100% perlite since I found the method. I've had a 100% percent clone rate for about a year now. I had to switch from my first bubble cloner, because I couldn't get a lot of things to root. Perlite seems to offer the perfect balance of high humidity and aeration, and talk about cheap and easy! I start with straight perlite (I think it costs me like $3.50 a bag--I still haven't gone through the first one ) and I put that into a larger 16oz dixie cup and then I use a smaller 12oz (I think) clear dixie cup as a dome, which happens to fit very nicely inside of the larger cup. I, of course, make drainage holes on the bottom and vents on the top. I then water it, set it and forget it. This method has worked on every strain I've tried, even my dreaded pineapple kush that I had been trying to clone for almost a year (what an extremely finicky phenotype).

I haven't had to mess with temps or light cycle (it's 24/7) and haven't had any problems. I simply take the cutting at 45º angle, scrape the stem, wet it and dip it hormone. I then let them sit for a few minutes (no more than 10) and rinse them off--as the hormone has already done it's job--and throw them in the perlite with a good spray or two. I actually have fit 7 clones in one cup!

This method just doesn't seem to fail; I've taken clones ranging from 2.5 to 8.5" and rooted the shit out of them. Another great part about this approach is that it is completely modular--you can clone as little or as much as you want, just add another cup. Also, if you use two clear cups, you can see the root development. 

Ahh, a lot of ramblin'. Anyway, just my 2¢.

Oh, and I never get any wilt until I take off the dome and aerate them. The wilt goes away after a few minutes of being back under then dome.

~ooli~


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