Clones not rooting

Hello,

I took some clones about 5 weeks ago. Kept them under a 400w MH lamp at about 70 cm away from their tops. 16 hours of light/day (18 hours/day since last week). They are in rockwool cubes in a propagator. They are now watered constantly by a water pump in the propagator since last week.

Temperature was between 16 and 23 degrees Celsius.

The problem is they haven't rooted yet, and some of them have dried up and died. Rot also appeared in the parts that are in the rockwool cubes.

What do you think could be the problem?

Firstly 400w is way to much, a single 11w@6500k cfl that is on 24/0 is good. Soak your rockwool for 12 hours then shake all the remaining water out. Make the rootzone temp a little warmer.

Are you using roxkwool in an aero cloner? If so because that's what it looks/sounds like. Therers your problem. One or the other. Your rockwool is way too wet.

You should have at least an inch of stem protruding from the bottom of your rookwool, the longer the better (3 " perfect). you need warm water (aquarium heater) Start over, you will never get roots at this late a date. You should have the pump on alway's, from the beginning. Sorry on your loss. Oh, by the way, too much light, get a CFL (as mentioned above) hang it above the plants and you should be good to go, also some Clonex wouldn't hurt

Jimmyjonestoo said:

Are you using roxkwool in an aero cloner? If so because that's what it looks/sounds like. Therers your problem. One or the other. Your rockwool is way too wet.

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Yes, I'm using rockwool in an aeroponics cloner. Should I not do that and just put the cubes in a normal tray and hand water them each time when the cubes have almost dried?

zeitate said:

Yes, I'm using rockwool in an aeroponics cloner. Should I not do that and just put the cubes in a normal tray and hand water them each time when the cubes have almost dried?

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Yeah your stem is staying soaked using both not allowing the stem to get oxygen thus causing the rot. In an aero cloner the stems hang freely under the lid and get sprayed with a mist of water. I would dump the rockwool altogether.

Thank you guys. A few more questions.

1. What is the ideal water temperature if I'm using an aero cloner?
2. Should I use an air pump to better oxygenate the water in the cloner?
3. For lighting I have 3 CFL options to buy: a 40w, 85w and a 125w. Should I pick the one with the lowest wattage?

5 weeks is way to long I toss any clones that don't root in 2 weeks its just gonna bring problems later, that was definitely the "root" of the problem your rockwool drowned the clones. Use a root stimulater to help promote root growth preferably kelp derived and you will see better results. I never cloned in a aero cloner but from what I know about hydro is that it always need oxygen ,temp for the water above 70 for the clones,I would go for 125w watts and do at least 18/6 of light.
here is a link of my cloning method if you want to give it a try!

Thank you guys.

I've changed the 400w lamp with a 125w cfl and I've taken the clones out of the rockwool cubes entirely, but unfortunately nothing happened since then. No roots after a week and they are continuing to dry up. So, I've decided to not wait for them anymore and order a new batch of seeds and start from scratch.

The cfl is still to much. Buy a single small cfl put it in the cubourd, nvm ill post you a few pics now now

if nothing works for u, buy a clone king on amazon for like 50 bucks, i have the 36 site and 100% success without anything just ph balanced water and get roots in 7-10 days..i like that i dont need to have a humidome over them and dont even need to spray them, just stick them in, plug it in, and roots in a little over a week..

I rate your problem is with 2 much light.

Here is how I do it.
!. I cut my rockwool cubes into cylinders.
2. Stick a pipe cleaner in there to keep clone upright.
3 Soak that in RO water for 12 hours.

4. Prepare everything so that when the cut is made its only a few seconds before its droped in rockwool. This includes :
A. Swing the soaked rockwool around with your arm so that only about 30% of the water is left.
B. Make a hole in the rockwool about the size of the stems.
C. Clean your blade with alchol pads
D. Get your cloning gel ready.




5. Make a 45 cut just below a node where fan leaves are. like half an inch below. Rip the fan leaves off and split the stem about half a inch. Then i like to scratch the outside of the stem aswell.
6. As quick as you can pop it in the gel for about 10 sec.
7. Drop it in the rockwool cube.
8. Make sure to cover the outsides of the cubes, to retain water and keep it dark.
9. Put them in a spot where there is not allot of air movement and the RH is quite high.Use a single 11w cfl. 1 foot away
10. I put a flat tray with water in it on the side to keep RH up.
11. 100 percent success with this method.

END RESULT
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to much light.

Several problems here.
1- dont use hid lights to raise root cuttings, you only need a small cfl ,in cloning its not a 'grow light' they need just a light to keep them in light period for 24/7.
2- 16-23 will not work. Cuttings are sensitive to temp so 24-28 works best, too cold they die, too hot they die
3- Cubes probably too wet.The rw cubes must only be 50% wet in weight max at all times, dont over water them.

Your little roots can get slimy if that water is too warm. I actually have to keep frozen bottles of water and swap every day into my reservoir, the pump gets warm. For the aero cloner deal.