Rapid Rooter Vs Rockwool, Help me clone please!

Can anyone tell me what they prefer to use, rockwool cubes or Rapid-rooter plugs? I seem to be able to grow a bumper crop but no matter what my clones always fail.

I switched to rapid-rooter plugs as a last resort, they are more difficult to integrate into my hydro but at this rate it's better then nothing. I think my last clones were too wet and thats why the stem swelled but didn't produce roots. The rapid-rooters can be squeezed out more (without compacting like rockwool) so I thought that might help.

I took my clones using a razor blade, I made a 45 degree angle cut and placed them directly into luke warm water. From then I dipped them in clonex or rootone powder (My clones failed with the gel last time so I though I might give it a try) and placed firmly in the plugs. I soaked the plugs in a very dilute mix of water and liquid-karma. I use a heating pad (and thermostat) to keep them at 80F with a thin layer of wet perlite under the insert to add humidity. I raised the plugs a bit so they don't touch the perlite and get too wet. I have a single agrosun fluorescent above.

I could really use some advice with this, I'm cracking my head against a wall and these are my last batch I can take from my crop, it's this or start over from seed again... and I want to get a mother plant going.

Help me PLEASE oh wise ones!

Go to GrowFAQ there are 20 articles in the cloning catagory alone.

already did, all of them, I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong

hi dude

ill try t help you out.

from what the pics look like. it seems your going overboard on the watering. remember theyre weeds. not flowers or anything. they grow in the desert on theyre own ect. so mist the top of your propagation dome 1 time a day. and if you dont have a heat mat get one. also just make sure your rockwool cubes are just moist and not soaking wet.

i use jiffy pucks for my clones and then seem to like it. and all the videas ive seen use jiffys over rocks wool but its on personal choice. if these dont work out then try the jiffys.


what strain are you trying to clone?

what ive heard from other people on the website. is that some strains are harder to clone then others. i personally dont beleave that at all.


let me know so i can help you further or pm me with Q's and ill do my best to answer them


peace
cali-high

Some varieties are easier to clone than others. There are Sativas that will sprout roots so easy, you can (almost) stick them in the ground and forget em. But then there are some early Indicas that you can baby and they will just sit there and starve to death. So there are a few things you have got to look at.

Help the roots grow. Figure out where the roots will grow on your cutting before you actually cut it. Keep this portion of the stem dark for a week or two by wrapping some tape around it. This is called "etiolation" and will encourage rooting. Make the cutting with a sharp anvil pruner or very sharp scissors, and sterilize them after each cut. A dull pruner will crush the stem and it will be harder for the roots to form. A razor blade will make an even cleaner cut, which will also help rooting, but don't blame me if you cut yourself. Try to make the cut at angle to increase the surface area it has to absorb water.

The plant needs air to help the roots form, but don't let any get in the stem. This will cut off the capillary action and make the poor cutting work harder. Immediately dunk the cut end in water or rooting solution to prevent this from happening. You could even take it over to the sink and make a second cut under running water if you're really worried about it. Leave it in the rooting solution for a day or so. If you just leave it in the water, you might get lucky and sprout some roots, but they really need some oxygen. You can actively provide O2 by aeration or passively aerate by using an airy medium.

Another thing that makes the cutting work harder is breathing itself. Use a plastic dome or humidity tent to limit transpiration and keep the medium from drying out, and. Half of a 16 oz plastic drink bottle fits right on top of a 3 inch clay pot. Another way to limit transpiration is to cut about half off of each leaflet. You will still have the same number of leaves on the stem, but the surface area has decreased. This also helps control fungus by preventing the leaves from contacting the dome or the medium.

The proper lighting is also important. Direct sunlight will heat the air in the dome too much, but they're not going to root in the dark either. Fluorescents are ideal for this. An HID is OK if it’s not too close, or you could even give them a bit of indirect sun from a window if you can keep them warm.

You’ve kept an eye on the pH and the nutes, and you see it’s starting to grow again, so its safe to assume that it has roots and you can remove the humidity dome. Occasionally a cutting may wilt a little at first, but give it a mist and it should perk up. If none of these tips help, either consider tissue culture or finding a different mother.

Thanks! I'm currently growing Northern lights, I even bought female seeds from a good company just in case. Right now I took cuttings from each of my 6 mothers so I would have at least one from each that could become a mother. That way the best of the bunch I can keep alive and have a uniform crop. It seems though that I have done everything I should have... it may just have been that I over watered and used too much rooting hormone. Just my OCD I guess lol. Next time I will try that "etiolation" practice, sounds like it could help. Thanks guys!

A fellow OCD'er? My post was just a copy from FAQ.

haha I'm a little high so I didn't catch that lol. I'm one of the few people who is a "medical" patient due to OCD alone, I mean almost "Monk" bad. Guess it does have it's advantages

I am not the only one. I have OCPD. It's a gift and a curse.

Hells yeh, hey I'm thinking of putting together an ultrasonic cloner, I had one rigged up a little while ago but that wasn't built for cloning specificly. Thinking of using a very shallow, long and wide plastic container with holes in the lid for neoprene inserts and a single ultrasonic fogger unit. I will post what my results are eventually.

Hey dude you shouldn't have to water those clones at all if yor are using rapid rooters and a humidity dome, especially with a heat mat. you need to take that dome of a few times a day and let some fresh air get to the plants. If its raining in the dome the humidity is to high and the air is too stale.
Remember to mist the plants when you have the dome off. This is the only way they get water because there isn't any root system yet.
One thing I found helped me when using the Rapid Rooters. I use a pair of needle nose plyers to rough up the material around the whole in the center. This allows me to get the stem down far enough for supprot with out pusing it down to hard. The roots seem to come out quicker that way. VV

My rapid-rooters were in the fridge for a while in a zip-lock bag but they still dried out a bit, I basically just brought them back to the moisture level they were when I bought them but with a bit of liquid-karma just in case. It doesn't have much of a nutritional value (as not to overload them too early) but I use it on my soil plants and they like it a lot so I thought what the hell. I used half the strength of what it recommended on the bottle for cuttings so it was mad weak. I didn't rough up the hole but I did fill in the gap with a little bit of the plug material down the side of the stem so there was good contact. I will get some tweezers and try that next time! Thanks!

Wish my state would go medical already, we are close! Then maybe i could get it for OCD too. My house drives me insane every day.. how about you?

What do you get at 1500 posts? Just one more russ.

Hey my state sucks with medical, all it means is that if I have less then an Ounce I get a $100 fine max, no other provisions for allowable sales... medical is relative.

I was having no luck cloning, rockwool they would wilt within a few hrs sprayed a wilting agent on and would still be the same, and after awhile they would just slowly die, tried just reg water in a cup and same outcome. My stems looked exactly like urs, almost looks like its decaying. I got the rapid rooter 4 days ago and put clippings in it, sprayed wilting agent on aswell as superthrive, the clones look awesome, perky and healthy looking, i think it was like 15$ definatly worth it, i think u can reuse the tub and just buy the cubes separate.

northerntights said:

Hells yeh, hey I'm thinking of putting together an ultrasonic cloner, I had one rigged up a little while ago but that wasn't built for cloning specificly. Thinking of using a very shallow, long and wide plastic container with holes in the lid for neoprene inserts and a single ultrasonic fogger unit. I will post what my results are eventually.

Click to expand...

you can make a bubbler that will work just as good. it will be cheaper as well.

the one thing I love about this is that there are almost an unlimited # of ways to do everything. here is one very simple and efficient way to clone.

Setup: Bathtub , pvc frame to support lights and clear plastic sheet,aquarium heater>20 gal.KEEP WATER TEMP 78-80 DEGREES.4' shop light
1/2" pvc pipe.make frame about 2' tall and slightly smaller in width and length so it will fit in the bottom of the tub and sit level. Painters plastic sheet with about 1' of extra plastic on all 4 sides. a lid from a 30 gal. plastic storage tote or just trays. something that will float. put the plastic over the frame. lights on top of that.if you need to, you can put extra plastic or something for insulation on top of the lights for added heat.such as for night or downstairs bath where it is cooler.(for example, i live way up in the mountains and my downstairs rooms can get down into the fortys pretty easy). watch,play with it, tweak it 1 or 2 days and you should have it down.
a small sbmersible pump to circulate water in the tub.( keeps temp the same thru-out)

this makes it very easy to keep humidity at 90%.base temp at 80 and ambient atmosphere about 70-75 degrees.Use extra plastic on all sides to seal environment in tub. also very easy to vent 3-4 times a day by flapping the front. also easy access to clone for inspection. requires less misting which can lead to leaf rot from little pools of water sitting in the v's of the tops.rockwool above setup and "dip n grow" 98%.cheap, easy.