Anyone else clone with only tap water?

Ive had multiple people ask me what gel or treatment I use for clones, and but I only use tap water. I am just starting out growing on my own, but have been following my buddy who's been growing for years, and he's got a pretty good regiment down. We both use a Clone King, and he's told me he gets 100% results. I've done 4 sessions of cloning, with about 20 per session, and I've had 100% success rate. A guy I know locally said he uses gel, but was floored when he saw my clones at 11 days from cutting. I haven't had any examples to compare it to, so I'm not sure if they are typical. I'm sure it's strain dependant too, because one blueberry strain I have takes an extra 3-4 days in the machine to get at the level of root development I want compared to my main one. We don't even use razors either. I mentioned to my buddy that we should be using razors that have been cleaned, but he said fuck that. We just cut with sharp scissors, at an angle, and then give a light scrape around the bottom with the scissors. That's it. 24/0, lights close, tap water, no dome. I guess I should mention I'm using an AdvancedLED XML350 with the white all the way up and the red just clicked on at the minimum for a little heat in my tent. I'm not sure if that's the biggest difference if most people are using CFLs for cloning.

I do this in my blueroom tent, and the humidity is usually up above 80 with temps between 75-80. I'm mostly wondering, is there any reason I should ever bother with cloning gel or water treatments?

Anyways, I'm attaching a pic showing 11 day old cuttings.

Can confirm that it works! As long as you can keep using up the clone supply it's good because they start to yellow after like 2-3 weeks. So now i put around 300-400 ppm of nutes in the cloner and they root just as fast, they just don't get weaker anymore =D

eyderbuddy said:

Can confirm that it works! As long as you can keep using up the clone supply it's good because they start to yellow after like 2-3 weeks. So now i put around 300-400 ppm of nutes in the cloner and they root just as fast, they just don't get weaker anymore =D

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I do the same, but only once I see root nubs starting to form.

Ive actually done that twice, but only about 200ppm, and it was because I was waiting on some thicker cuttings to catch up with the rest on one, and waiting for the slower strand to catch up another time, so just getting some nutes to the further along ones so they don't start eating themselves too much.

I haven't continuously kept clones in the machine yet. I have just been keeping a mama plant in permanent veg to pull off of.

#1 factor in clones rooting quickly is the mothers health before cutting. Give her half feed or 1-1-1 npk feed schedule. Too much N in veg formulas which will cause them to be too bush and weak cutts full of N that won't start looking for roots till its all gone. If cuttings are too green spray with light fulvic acid once a day till they begin to yellow on the tips. then they will root in 5-7.

Twerkle said:

#1 factor in clones rooting quickly is the mothers health before cutting. Give her half feed or 1-1-1 npk feed schedule. Too much N in veg formulas which will cause them to be too bush and weak cutts full of N that won't start looking for roots till its all gone. If cuttings are too green spray with light fulvic acid once a day till they begin to yellow on the tips. then they will root in 5-7.

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oooo, some good stuff for experiments, thanks!

I've heard and seen first hand that thinner, newer growth cuttings also root faster. I'm usually waiting on the thickest clones the longest.

Ive done it many ways.

Plain well water.

Water with my nute mix.

Either way works. Just fine depending on yer water of couse lol.

And everything said so far rings true.

With tap they get yellow after a bit (this is an excellent indicators of root strike.)

With the nute mix i notice my roots are much more thick and juicy lol.

Also with the mix i give i notice MUCH more lateral roots (fishbone) then with plain water which tends to grow spaghetti type roots.

I have switched to my nute mix but .
As a side note when you put nutes in the cloner
This can add to maintenance as far as cleaning goes.

Worth it to me

This is 13 days from being put in the system

TheBFA said:

I'm mostly wondering, is there any reason I should ever bother with cloning gel or water treatments?

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No.

People (especially on this site) love to spend shit tons of money on things they don't need and then swear to God and sonny Jesus it's the ONLY way to do things.

Can using gel and other additives make the job a bit easier? It's debatable.
Can using gel and other additives make a better clone? No.

The only way to answer that question for yourself is to try it. If you don't find any real noticeable difference, then don't bother with it and go back to the way you've always done it.

Spoiler Alert: you wont notice any difference...so just keep on doing it the way you're doing it.

Gets easier with time. 100% strike rate in some Nestle's bottled water. The rim holds a few cuts.
Much lower temps have been the most help with success.

TacoMac said:

No.

People (especially on this site) love to spend shit tons of money on things they don't need and then swear to God and sonny Jesus it's the ONLY way to do things.

Can using gel and other additives make the job a bit easier? It's debatable.
Can using gel and other additives make a better clone? No.

The only way to answer that question for yourself is to try it. If you don't find any real noticeable difference, then don't bother with it and go back to the way you've always done it.

Spoiler Alert: you wont notice any difference...so just keep on doing it the way you're doing it.

Click to expand...

I was thinking this. My buddy has been doing it about 7 years now, and I just noticed a post on this, and he's already broke down ingredients for of the shelf nutes, so we buy the big bags of nutes and mix it up ourselves. It looks to be about a tenth of the price of buying the off the shelf stuff in the long run. Kind of the same thing with the Clone King vs EZ Clone. Clone King is about half the price and does the exact same thing, but the local shops only seem to stock EZ Clone stuff.

Yep, tap water only in my bubble cloner.

i have a ghetto little setup i made for my clones..
i took a kids plastic sippy cup, you know, the ones with the built in straw, and an open top.. no lid.. anyhoo, i took an old airline i had lying around, and run it down the straw part of the cup, make sure cup is pretty full of water only, or root gel on clones.. airline runs to an old air pump i had laying around for something another.. make sure water stays topped up, usually have pretty good results..

I use just plain tap water soaked rw cubes and see roots in 12 days, I haven’t used a gel or powder for years

Cold$moke said:

Ive done it many ways.

Plain well water.

Water with my nute mix.

Either way works. Just fine depending on yer water of couse lol.

And everything said so far rings true.

With tap they get yellow after a bit (this is an excellent indicators of root strike.)

With the nute mix i notice my roots are much more thick and juicy lol.

Also with the mix i give i notice MUCH more lateral roots (fishbone) then with plain water which tends to grow spaghetti type roots.

I have switched to my nute mix but .
As a side note when you put nutes in the cloner
This can add to maintenance as far as cleaning goes.

Worth it to me

This is 13 days from being put in the system
View attachment 4075143

Click to expand...

Isn't that brown slugde harmful to the roots?

Roots are strong not mushy or slimey
The brown goo is kelp and humic acids

But to be fair i dont like seeing it either.

Thats why i have my new salt based nutes arriving this week.

Same thing happens when using Botanicare liquid karma

I may have added to much kelp and humic on this last run though just playing around with it

But no nasty smells in my res no root rot that i can detect.

I thought about adding some bleach drops to the water when i flush to see if it knocks some off.
But plants are happy so im happy lol

Edit ill get a update pic of the roots in my thread
4 inches is all them girls need?

Its very interesting in how pruning the roots causes very rapid root growth while keeping the plant small.

I might have just found my new way to keep moms small lol

TacoMac said:

No.

People (especially on this site) love to spend shit tons of money on things they don't need and then swear to God and sonny Jesus it's the ONLY way to do things.

Can using gel and other additives make the job a bit easier? It's debatable.
Can using gel and other additives make a better clone? No.

The only way to answer that question for yourself is to try it. If you don't find any real noticeable difference, then don't bother with it and go back to the way you've always done it.

Spoiler Alert: you wont notice any difference...so just keep on doing it the way you're doing it.

Click to expand...

Willow water costs nothing and is proven to help rooting.

jonsnow399 said:

Willow water costs nothing and is proven to help rooting.

Click to expand...

Correct if you live where they occur

Sorry I forgot to state I use water AND bleach. That’s it, nowt else