DIY aero cloner

Airwalker16 said:

You pull them up... They'll come together and slide right out.

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Your roots would have to be tiny and falling straight down tho, any side shoots would stop you from pulling them through..

Yeah I’m not sure how those pipes work. The foam/neoprene inserts can at least be removed, opened up, and replaced. I’ll post a pic of my weatherstripping when I get home because it came out badass. I used the MD brand black stuff. It’s 1/2” wide by 3/8 thick. I ran two courses around the inside of the lid and it seals it up cherry.

Wastei said:

This simple DWC cloner cost me 10 bucks to build. Results speak for themselves. You don't really need any fancy equipment for rooting clones with 100% success rate. Light bloom feed and a few drops of chlorine is what I use.
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So your stems are submerged all the time with that?

westcoast420 said:

Your roots would have to be tiny and falling straight down tho, any side shoots would stop you from pulling them through..

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It's simple to put your finger on a root and jiggle it free from twisting up with another plants if that's what you mean.

TerrapinBlazin said:

Yeah I’m not sure how those pipes work. The foam/neoprene inserts can at least be removed, opened up, and replaced. I’ll post a pic of my weatherstripping when I get home because it came out badass. I used the MD brand black stuff. It’s 1/2” wide by 3/8 thick. I ran two courses around the inside of the lid and it seals it up cherry.

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All I know is my holes are barely an inch in diameter so I can fit more collar sites in a 5gal lid, so if I only made the pvc 1/2" long, I'd have no problems I don't think.

Yeah that makes sense. I love that people are posting some pretty unique designs in here. I’m a big fan of finding new ways to make things work. Sometimes they end up being better.

Here’s how I did the weatherstripping on mine. You lose the ability to snap the lid shut but that really doesn’t matter. Nothing leaks out. I’m really excited to run mine, but it’s going to be a little while still.


I’ve got a clone of this awesome nirvana tangie pheno that’s almost big enough to start cutting up. She’s got everything. That big yielding, colorful, frosty, and super citrus smelling sativa that I have always been after. I’m keeping her, and maybe two other good phenos from nirvana, but I’m not trying to fill this thing up until all my greenpoint shit is ready to clone. I’ll just probably take a few more old fashioned coir and rooting gel clones of those and save the aero cloner for my 16 plant greenpoint pheno hunt (3 ice cream punch fems, 4 OBS and 4 snake oil, and 5 pebble pusher). I think the greenpoint stuff will blow even that tangie pheno away and she looks pretty top shelf.

Airwalker16 said:

So your stems are submerged all the time with that?

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Yes. I still prefer cloning in DWC instead of Aero. Currently running a diy HP Aero setup. Reasoning is I initially get wider spread of roots which as result create more laterals in the beginning stage of root growth.

Another reason is I have used the same style of cloner successfully for 12 years. I see roots in about a week and let them go for two in the cloner.

I made one years ago. It worked great. I stopped using it because I found cloning in coco worked just as good and I didn't have to fool around with water, pumps, etc... and I could easily move the clones around when they were just in a small nursery pot of coco. Now I mainly grow from seed and just take the rare clone. I still have the homemade aerocloner collecting dust. Plus a bunch of extra foam inserts, sprayers, etc... I think I might stick it in my veg tent and use it to grow lettuce over the winter.

xtsho said:

I made one years ago. It worked great. I stopped using it because I found cloning in coco worked just as good and I didn't have to fool around with water, pumps, etc... and I could easily move the clones around when they were just in a small nursery pot of coco. Now I mainly grow from seed and just take the rare clone. I still have the homemade aerocloner collecting dust. Plus a bunch of extra foam inserts, sprayers, etc... I think I might stick it in my veg tent and use it to grow lettuce over the winter.

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That's definitely 3/4" PVC right?

Wastei said:

Yes. I still prefer cloning in DWC instead of Aero. Currently running a diy HP Aero setup. Reasoning is I initially get wider spread of roots which as result create more laterals in the beginning stage of root growth.

Another reason is I have used the same style of cloner successfully for 12 years. I see roots in about a week and let them go for two in the cloner.

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I wish I understood more about building HP Aero. There's no doubt the micro droplets do wonders for root development. But I don't wanna fiddle with large pumps and solenoids.

Airwalker16 said:

That's definitely 3/4" PVC right?

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Yes 3/4" PVC. I probably should have used 1/2" but I had a bunch of elbows and other parts from building a couple of these DIY flood and drain units. Which by the way worked great. Two liter soda bottles filled with hydroton. Posting a pic in case other DIY's might gain some ideas.

xtsho said:

Yes 3/4" PVC. I probably should have used 1/2" but I had a bunch of elbows and other parts from building a couple of these DIY flood and drain units. Which by the way worked great. Two liter soda bottles filled with hydroton. Posting a pic in case other DIY's might gain some ideas.

DIY: 6 Plant Ebb & Flow – Flood and Drain – Hydroponic System | Hydroponics Blog - Hydroponics Articles - Hydroponics Online

This Ebb & Flow hydroponic design can be custom built for as many plants as you wish, but it would be recommended to build smaller setups, and place them in

www.hydroponicsonline.com

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Ya I've seen them. Always thought it'd be cool to try, but kinda takes up more space than I need to.

Well I know it isn’t ideal having them in the tent under the board like this but I don’t have any alternative right now and it was time to take clones. I took these cuttings last night and they’ve already gone through their turgor pressure loss and perked back up. This morning when I got up they were still kind of slumped over but they’ve recovered nicely and quickly. Way faster than in coir/vermiculite, which is what I used previously. I love how I can pop the lid off and check for roots. The foam inserts are absorbing no water whatsoever and holding everything perfectly in place.

Okay well it’s time for an update. The first batch of clones did not go so well. They developed little root nodules that stopped growing. I was fortunately able to salvage my good phenos. I came to realize that my problems resulted from water that was too alkaline and too cold.

So, I bought a heat mat with a thermostat and a PH control kit. With the heat mat and the PH adjusted water the roots are forming much faster. My more recent batch of clones has started rooting much faster. These roots showed up on a clone that had been in the bad water for about a week, about another week after I put in the heat mat and better water. I also put a carpet tile under the tent where the cloner sits to insulate it from my brick floor better. They don’t look like much yet but they’re my first actual roots with this thing so I’m pretty thrilled. This one is ice cream punch (gelato 33 x purple punch) from greenpoint.

Inside the reservoir I’m using RO water, with 1/2 tsp each of KLN, pro-tekt, and southern ag fungicide per gallon, PH adjusted to ~6.0 and kept around 70 degrees f.

TerrapinBlazin said:

Okay well it’s time for an update. The first batch of clones did not go so well. They developed little root nodules that stopped growing. I was fortunately able to salvage my good phenos. I came to realize that my problems resulted from water that was too alkaline and too cold.

So, I bought a heat mat with a thermostat and a PH control kit. With the heat mat and the PH adjusted water the roots are forming much faster. My more recent batch of clones has started rooting much faster. These roots showed up on a clone that had been in the bad water for about a week, about another week after I put in the heat mat and better water. I also put a carpet tile under the tent where the cloner sits to insulate it from my brick floor better. They don’t look like much yet but they’re my first actual roots with this thing so I’m pretty thrilled. This one is ice cream punch (gelato 33 x purple punch) from greenpoint.

Inside the reservoir I’m using RO water, with 1/2 tsp each of KLN, pro-tekt, and southern ag fungicide per gallon, PH adjusted to ~6.0 and kept around 70 degrees f.

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Just so ya knows, roots will so fine with straight up RO water only. Good call on the thermostat adjustable heat mat. Might follow that lead.

Yeah. I like adding the IBA and the potassium silicate for peace of mind. People have told me that before and I may give it a shot. Save the IBA for phenos that are harder to clone. It was definitely low temps and alkalinity causing my problems. Should have taken a pic of what was happening but I’m sure others have seen it. I’m glad it’s all running well. Two ice cream punch phenos and the blue dream are rooting nicely. The other cuts that haven’t rooted yet were taken much more recently. I’m glad I finally have it dialed in, but I’m going to set up a smaller tent for clones and seedlings with a single 5000k f564b strip. That will make more room in the veg tent and provide the delicate stuff with some less intense light.

I use dyna gro KLN and pro tekt. They love it. Usually root in 7-8 days

fragileassassin said:

I use dyna gro KLN and pro tekt. They love it. Usually root in 7-8 days

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It’s been a while since I made this thread but I think you were the one that recommended it earlier on and I like it. Seems like really good stuff. I have a local friend that uses just PH adjusted RO water. He dips his cuttings in routing gel and just sticks them in the cloner with water. I like the idea of having some supplements in the water.

TerrapinBlazin said:

It’s been a while since I made this thread but I think you were the one that recommended it earlier on and I like it. Seems like really good stuff. I have a local friend that uses just PH adjusted RO water. He dips his cuttings in routing gel and just sticks them in the cloner with water. I like the idea of having some supplements in the water.

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Yep! Just the dyna gro combo and a little southern ag. Sometimes a little calmag. Usually 180ppm. They are good for at least 3 weeks. It's worked well for me so far.

fragileassassin said:

Yep! Just the dyna gro combo and a little southern ag. Sometimes a little calmag. Usually 180ppm. They are good for at least 3 weeks. It's worked well for me so far.

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I never thought about adding calmag to the reservoir. I microdose my plants with a little at every watering now because I had a lot of mag deficiency when I first started out. I’ve just been using those 3 things at 1/2 teaspoon of each per gallon. I’m not very well versed with hydroponics yet and precisely measuring all the different concentrations is over my head still. I usually measure nutes with a 10ml syringe but the half teaspoon of each seems to work well.