Cloning with rockwool qyestion

jake55

jake55

Active Member
I have been have lots of trouble with cloning. Taking to long to root (about a month). I am slowly working out the kinks but have one more question. before i clone i soak my rockwool cubes in 5.8 ph water with 1/4 strength rooting hormone. My question is once they have soaked they are water-logged, of coarse. Is that alright or do you have to squeeze out the water so it is only damp or ?

thanks for the help
 
mygirls

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
leave them be.. you need high numidity and mantain a temp around. 78 to 85 degrees..
 
jake55

jake55

Active Member
my clones are 10 days old and still water logged, is that ok. the clones are rooting (i pulled on the stem alittle and it held) but no roots showing.
 
mygirls

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
[video=youtube;6ahWqyJ-tpM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ahWqyJ-tpM[/video]

try this.
 
jake55

jake55

Active Member
good video, thanks for the help. I have always grown from seed. I have been messing my clones up by misting every morning and using a humidity dome. hopefullly it goes better now.
 
mygirls

mygirls

Medical Marijuana (MOD)
i don't remove my dome tell im ready to transplant.. as long as the dome stays dewy on the inside the whole time your good to root.
and remember that just cuz a cuting don't root, don't mean you can't take that cutting and recut and redip and try again.. 9 times out of 10 they will root..
 
jake55

jake55

Active Member
i didnt know you could do that, i will try it. I have six mothers now though so i aint short on clones, just trying to learn. I think i got it now. I am cutting new clones today and now they should root quick. thanks again
 
H

hampster

Member
No, the rockwool should NOT be waterlogged... Gas exchange is vital.

For both roots - and rooting clone-stems.

Just shake some of it out.

I clone in small pots with peat and perlite, and I water them with a fucking syringe to keep control of the moisture in the media... Use a heat-mat for underwarmth and a good cloning gel, get the temps, media moisture and RH in the dome right with experience, and see roots in less than a week for many strains.

Here's a copied post of mine on the subject, good luck:


Ok here's my experience.

Use soft fast-growing shoots for clones and not lignified slow growing tips. They root more easily, and also grows faster and yields more as mature plants.

Clonex rooting gel are good stuff. Just dip the cuts prior to potting.

Ever studied the underside of the mature branches at the nodes from the main stem on your plants, and seen the white pinhead size "knobs" there? They're root precursors; every branch is infact a complete plant, they grow as fractals... So, cut the clone at a 45 degree angle right under a node, roots sprout easiest from the nodes.

Use a heating mat wired through a dimmer/thermostat under the cloning container, put a good aquarium thermometer in a moistened pot/cube with only media in it, and adjust to 24-25C on the dimmer/thermostat. This works wonders for the speed of rooting.

And buy a digital thermometer/hygrometer and keep it in the dome, start out with misting twice a day and shoot for about 80-90% RH for the first couple of days. Then, reduce the mistings to one time a day and lower the humidity a bit, and after 5-6 days you can stop misting, shoot for 50-60% RH and let the media dry out a bit. It'll encourage roots to sprout.

Timing for the above is of course strain and system/experience dependent, but I get worried if I don't see roots on the fastest cuttings within 7-8 days...

And NEVER keep the media too wet, oxygen/aeration of the stems are vital. I never scrape stems either cause it opens for and encourages infections, and I also like to give them 4 hours of darkness.

I've seen roots in 3 days from an easy-rooting plant, with fast growing cuts taken at the right time...

Good luck!​
 
Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
i have 4 domes, and i get 95% cuttings to root in less than 7 days.. the wetter the cube the better, but i only open dome once a day for 2 minutes or so to air out and spray cuttings and pull off any dead leaves. but here is the key... u have a good gel like clonex i read, that is good. now go to walmart or home depot n spend 4 dollars and buy the rooting powder... dip cutting in gel then in powder then in cube, they will explode good luck
 
Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
and i take pretty much any cutting off a plant when it starts to flower on the lower 1/3 of the plant, even the weak ones root in 10 days
 
I

irieie

Well-Known Member
one thing that i use which speeds up the rooting process immensely is a heat mat. this really makes them root faster. i use cfls, rockwool soaked in ph 5.0 and a dome. i try to take the dome off as much as possible with out the cuttings wilting. also i shake out my rockwool after i let the soak but i do not squeeze them out, just a good shake does it.
 
Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
perhaps both or just me... but know this, i have probaly rooted 700 plus clones with clonex or olivias gel then i dip em in powder called bontone, 4 $ at home depot menards or walmart. i use nothing else besides ph'd water soaked cubes, very soggy after a 2 day soak(i imagine the cube is maxed out with water after a few hours) but i tend to let em sit longer, if that cube drys out. cutting dies
 
H

hampster

Member
Yeah, the point is to water the cube some times during the rooting, to keep the moisture in it in the sweet spot...

Aeration is vital, both for roots and rooting stems. Sure, they'll most likely root in a glass of stagnant water too, but much slower, and with a greatly increased risk of contracting rot.

This is just common sense. Try it out Corso, reduce the moisture in the cubes a bit and water them a little inbetween instead. Use a heat-mat if you don't, take fast-growing STRONG shoots for clones, and see the difference...
 
Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
post count = nothing... i know a lot of people who talk alot and say very little... as far as changing my process, doubtful having too much success why change?
 
H

hampster

Member
Yeah, agreed on the post count... I was a lurker at Overgrow since before a thousand members and registered before a couple, and racked up a few thousand posts there... I could still be the biggest brownthumb and jerk in the world.

And hehe Corso, how do you improve if you're not willing to experiment and try something new?

If you are not using a heat-mat, you should, it makes a world of difference regarding speed. And if you put them in soggy cubes, try shaking them out a little bit and water inbetween with a syringe instead... The moisture-control speeds things up, and are a very good preventative measure against contracting disease.

And soft, fast growing shoots roots easier, grows faster, and ultimately yields better than inferior, lignified, slow tips. It is a simple fact of life.

Just my 0.2 - again, hehehe...
 
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