Cloning from apical meristem

So the commonly accepted wisdom is that when taking clones, you should do so from a lower, developing side branch; the closer to the bottom of the plant the better. These cuttings will be the easiest to coax into developing roots. My current situation is that I really don't have any of those types of branches any longer. I've done many rounds of topping combined with trimming away of undergrowth. I did not actually anticipate this but I am now left with a bunch of apical meristems. I know that there is really only one true apical meristem but since I topped it so much, there is not one dominant stem, but a bunch of virtually equavalent tops with little to no undergrowth. I had no choice but to take clones from these top branches. It's been seven days now in the aero cloner and I don't see any root development which I usually do by this point. The cloning procedure was that I initially shaved a bit of outer tissue off the bottom half inch of the cuttings and dipped them in root tek cloning gel, and put them in the aero cloner with clonex solution at 700ppm. The cuttings' stems were all thicker than usual due to them being taken from the tops of topped branches, instead of lower, slender branches.

Am I screwed?
Will these cuttings from the top of the plant ever take root?
Is there anything I can do to help them along?

It's common to root tops, I personally do it all the time. I haven't really noticed that it takes too much longer, but if they look okay, you know nice and perky, then you should be fine and it's only a matter of time.

Just depends man I have noticed that my tops with the most foliage and stem site do take a little longer. But if the are reacting well and don't look droopy and stressed just give them time they will clone. I wouldn't worry much about it. Next time just take smaller cuts. Maybe a couple nodes.
My favorite clones are top clones. Maybe a little more time developeing roote growth but a lot less time to veg out if that makes sence

It's common to root tops, I personally do it all the time. I haven't really noticed that it takes too much longer, but if they look okay, you know nice and perky, then you should be fine and it's only a matter of time.

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Okay that makes me feel better. They don't look droopy or anything although I shant be doing the shaving technique anymore because I think it caused several of the stems to rot and die, so I lost a few clones. I replaced them and instead of shaving layers off the bottom of the stem, I simply scrapped a little of the outer layer of the stem off using a razor blade in order to expose the cambium. Some like to slice the stem at the bottom and split it a little. I haven't tried this yet. The rest of the clones look like they're doing ok, just no roots.

Just depends man I have noticed that my tops with the most foliage and stem site do take a little longer. But if the are reacting well and don't look droopy and stressed just give them time they will clone. I wouldn't worry much about it. Next time just take smaller cuts. Maybe a couple nodes.
My favorite clones are top clones. Maybe a little more time developeing roote growth but a lot less time to veg out if that makes sence

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Makes total sense I just got nervous cause I thought I wasted time and an entire batch of clones. I took too much tissue off the stems because they were thicker than usual and many were not green, but had begun to turn "bark" color, you know, that brownish hue. I thought that this toughened outer layer might be more difficult for the hormone clonex solution to penetrate so I took a scalpel and shaved the bottoms. I don't think this was the greatest idea. So perhaps I've stressed the clones by doing this and that could be causing them to delay rooting?

It's been 7 days now so I was thinking of dumping the clonex solution and just switching to a mild veg nutrient solution.

What do you guys think, is this my next move?
Or do I stick with the clonex for a while longer?
Or even combine the nutrient solution and clonex?

I'd wait, I like to give my clones at least ten days if they are taking too long. This usually doesn't happen and I get roots in 7-8 days but some times you just have to wait a little longer. It won't be much, this time next week you'll either have rooted clones or not

ok I'll leave the clonex solution in the aero cloner for another few days.

What happens if leave the clonex but add some mild veg nutrients to it, like 200-300ppm or so of GH flora series?