Clones day #7 - time to go into dirt?

Hey guys, I took 4 clones off my baby 7 days ago, using clonex rooting gel, rockwool cubes, and a vented humidity dome. I soaked my rockwool cubes in 5.5ph water, made clean cuts with a fresh alcohol-cleaned razor blade, dipped in clonex immediately, and straight into the rockwool cubes in my humidity dome. I've been misting them and my dome with 6.5ph water 3-4 times daily (maybe more... my dome dries up QUICK!) They seem to be doing ok... but they don't appear to have changed much from when I cut them off the plant. There is no sign of roots coming out of the rockwool cubes, but I gave the SLIGHTEST tug on each one and they are settled in pretty well (so there must be roots.) As you can see in the pictures, they are droopy, but I'm starting to think that might be due to being in the humidity dome too long. Do you think they are ready to come out of the humidity dome and into dirt? I'm using a 125w (real watts, not equivalent) CFL sitting about 8 inches above the humidity dome. When I woke up this morning, my humidity dome was pretty much completely dried up (though the rockwool cubes still had plenty of water) and the little guys were kinda droopy, but not any wost than I have seen them. Should I try leaving them out for a bit? What signs do I look for if they are ok? Any opinions would be much appreciated!

Definitely check for roots before you do anything. I'm talking pull one straight out of the rockwool and check to see if theres any roots at all. If there are, then the rest most likely do as well.

Roots out the bottom of the rockwool?

put that dome back on....not ready. give another week.... don't rush it

the way i you can tell if clones are rooted enough. is to take dome off, if they don't droop they are good to go.

yeah just wait till the roots show through the rockwool, probally a couple more days and you will be gtg.

DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS

Definitely check for roots before you do anything. I'm talking pull one straight out of the rockwool and check to see if theres any roots at all. If there are, then the rest most likely do as well.

Click to expand...

patience and you will have some nice clones, impatience and you will stress them and it will take even longer, they are really fragile right now.

I appreciate the valuable advice guys. And thanks RetiredMatthebrute for encouraging me not to pull my clone out of the rockwool That sounded like a real bad idea to me. I just hope the little guys make it... From what I hear most people see roots poking through the rockwool within 8 days. I hear that some people use a mild nutrient solution, but I'm just using straight H-2-0. My rockwool cubes still have some moisture, but they are definitely not FULL of water like when i first put them into the humidity dome. I haven't watered the rockwool at all. I just spray the leaves and my humidity dome. I think thats right..

Hey guys, I'm back with some more pictures because since yesterday my plants have gotten a lot yellower. There are also some other minor issues you will see in the pictures... Do I need to give these guys a weak nutrient solution or just let them keep feeding off the lower leaves (i assume thats why they are yellow?) Some of the stems are extremely purple-red (mostly the fan leaves stems) and others are healthy looking. As you can see also, the top growth looks perky and seems to support itself fairly well, but the lower growth is very droopy. I'm concerned that they might have sufficient root growth and that I might be damaging them by continuing to spray them (but i'm a newb, so what do i know). I've done everything I can to look for roots, short of pulling the clone out of the rockwool (which I wont do), and I haven't spotted a single root. I'm not being impatient, I'm just concerned I'm doing something wrong.... because most people seem to clone very easily and most posts that I've read have roots showing by the 1 weekish mark. Thanks for any additional input guys!

like the others said you gotta be patient. most likely if when you give them a gentle tug and they stay in place, then they are growing roots. from what you've explained 125w light 8 inches away is an ALOt of light for a clone imo. especially since you didnt cut the fan leaves when you took the clones from the mother(which is not necessary, but helps). basically what your trying to acheive when taking a cutting is forcing it to go into survival mode. by giving it so much light, and not cutting the leaves, the plant most likely attempted to continue to grow, using whatever residual nutes it had available to it, and the strong light. what you want is to promote root growth with weak light(for the first 3-5 days) and high humidity.

as for the dead existing foliage, that is completely normal. as long as you have healthy NEW growth, theyre doing just fine

EDIT: my best guess is the strong light+full fan leaves(uncut) set your clones back about a week, so give it another few days and im sure they'll be looking healthy as ever....remember only judge your clones by how healthy the NEW growth is, ignore the dying existing growth

EDIT: try a heating pad under the trey after you mist them and you wont have the drying your getting inside the dome overnight

gots2grow, Thanks so much reaffirming my thoughts! I just need someone to say "chill, its cool!" So, I did take your advice and moved the clones under a 65watt cfl. I moved them completely out of my grow tent as well, into a more neutral environment. They seem to be a little more perky now, and the humidity dome definitely is not drying out as quickly any more (I think due to there not being a TON of airflow, like in my tent.) I had to learn the hard way on a couple of my seedlings that a 125w cfl is too much light (my clones and seedlings were under the same cfl.) 2 out of 6 died At least they were bagseed and not my new G13 White Widow seeds that I just got! Hopefully none of my clones meet the same end. I only have 1 plant in the flowering tent, so it seems like I'm wasting light (using 400w hps).. I need to get some more guys vegged and into the flowering tent! Anyways, thanks a lot for your help. Oh, and one more thing: you said you usually cut off the fan leaves on clones? From what I read, I thought most people just trimmed 2 leaves at the bottom internode. Wouldn't it be beneficial for the clones to have the nutrients to suck out of the fan leaves (source of food?)

sry maybe cut off was a bad choice of words, but yes thats what i meant trim, trim ALL the leaves. the fan leaves take in sunlight required for photosynthesis, that with the essential nutrients the roots get from soil/water, is what makes the food to GROW your plant. but remember you dont want your clone to grow. you want it to create a root system. thats why the fan leaves are trimmed.

i like to think clones have a 3 stage cycle...

stage 1: (shock) you make the cut, place in rooting medium right before your dark period. first the clone will try to grow by taking in sunlight and pull nutrients from the base. no roots, no lights, so thats not gonna happen
stage 2: (repair) (day 1-4) since it cant grow it will attmept to repair itself. the clone instinctivly knows that it needs to pull the nutrients up from its roots. it doesn't have any, so it begins to grow them. when the lights come back on, after the dark period. the clone will immediately try to grow grow grow, but it cant. all of its leaves have been trimmed, and the light is so weak(i keep my 23W cfls 18 inches away from canopy). it still takes in some light, but not enough to create new growth. so it focuses on what it can do, grow roots. in the mean time the existing leaves begin to die.
stage 3: (regrowth) (day 5-10) with the warm humid climate your clone has grown a few roots, and is ready to create new growth, i move my light from 18 inches away to 8 inches away, i remove the humidity dome, and being to treat the clone as a seedling thats about to start is 2nd week. i use a very very very weak nutrient solution, to feed the clone(1/8 normal veg strength, is what i use). once you get some prominent new growth, you can remove the dead existing growth. make sure its beoynd repair, if the existing growth isnt that bad(just yellow, not brown) it might bounce back. its your call, with a little experience knowing exactly what to do will become second nature. if dead and left on, the plant will devote time and energy to try to keep it alive(not worth it).

when roots begin to show through my medium(7-14 days) i transplant

quick tips:

- use lower more mature branches to cut clones from. mature branches have more carbs built up in them, better for rooting
- this one is pure preference, atleast 4 nodes above where you make a cut.
- cut off growth at bottom node, and bury clone to just above the cut node in your medium

i get average 70% success with this method...and i DONT even use rooting gels,powders,solutions


trim the leaves


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I had to check mine to make sure before i spent more money on the pots and lights for a new 12 plant veg room, i grabed one pulled outer liner off and pulled the rock wool apart slowley btw it was soaked makes it easier whe\ i got to the stem there was a big spicked looking ball with a couple small roots comin off of it, i re-planted it in rockwool this will give u an ideavof whats going on so u can plan accordingly only do it if u have on u might end up loosing,

QUOTE=Byd3s1gn;7336975]Hey guys, I'm back with some more pictures because since yesterday my plants have gotten a lot yellower. There are also some other minor issues you will see in the pictures... Do I need to give these guys a weak nutrient solution or just let them keep feeding off the lower leaves (i assume thats why they are yellow?) Some of the stems are extremely purple-red (mostly the fan leaves stems) and others are healthy looking. As you can see also, the top growth looks perky and seems to support itself fairly well, but the lower growth is very droopy. I'm concerned that they might have sufficient root growth and that I might be damaging them by continuing to spray them (but i'm a newb, so what do i know). I've done everything I can to look for roots, short of pulling the clone out of the rockwool (which I wont do), and I haven't spotted a single root. I'm not being impatient, I'm just concerned I'm doing something wrong.... because most people seem to clone very easily and most posts that I've read have roots showing by the 1 weekish mark. Thanks for any additional input guys!





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I have done this i slowley pulled the rr in half when soaked making sure not to break any if any roots there where roots but just like a mm long coming off a big blb that formed at the bottom of the stem i replanted it, this was two days ago it looks healthy. Its crazy it grew that big ass i dont know heart befor reaching out with its roots or maybe its cause it was getting everything it needed rite there it didnt have to stretch out, thats why i think watering with nutrients should be mild and every 3rd time its been 15 days and still none of my 12 have visible roots showing but i know from the one i crusified, and reserected that they are. Starting to root they look good