today is the day

Gquebed

Gquebed

Well-Known Member
... i hack a girl into a bunch of little ones...

I have never cloned before and im about to try tonight, using a diy bubble cloner...

I see a lot of people use tap water....might RO water be better? Protect against algae? No??

Best pH?
 
I'm not saying my way is better - I'm just saying cloning isn't rocket science, so don't worry too much and over-analyze.

Some leaves may droop on you but don't go to emergency mode. If you have a real problem with them you will know it
 
I have 2-25 site aero cloners and im building a 50 site today.

tap water (found its a bit better than the bubbled (24/7) water I was using
ph 6.2-6.4
sit and wait 7-11 days
change water every 4 days +/- depending on how many cutting u have in your cloner. a lot of cuttings, change more often.
I also have a small air stone in each cloner

some add additives such as rapid start, roots excelerator, clonex, ect. I found they all work about the same in reguards to rooting times. im going to try a 25% veg nute solution in one of my 25 site cloners this weekend when one is freed up.
 
I heard ro water is hard to keep the ph stable...so i went a 50/50 mix tap water and ro....so far got the ph and temps dialled in... just waiting now....
 
You don't need to ph the water until there are roots so you can use any water you like. Tap water works fine too and maybe even better because the chlorine helps keep bacteria away. If there's no way to uptake nutrients because there's not yet roots to uptake them the ph doesn't matter. Once there are roots poppin & if you want to leave them in there to veg for awhile then you'll need to worry about ph & adding nutrients. Somebody already mentioned it but rapid start is good for starting off freshly rooted cuttings.
 
Richard Drysift said:
You don't need to ph the water until there are roots so you can use any water you like. Tap water works fine too and maybe even better because the chlorine helps keep bacteria away. If there's no way to uptake nutrients because there's not yet roots to uptake them the ph doesn't matter. Once there are roots poppin & if you want to leave them in there to veg for awhile then you'll need to worry about ph & adding nutrients. Somebody already mentioned it but rapid start is good for starting off freshly rooted cuttings.
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Ya that's what I was reading... pH isn't that important until there's roots. But I thought that I'd like to the pH dialed in before they started showing up... so as not to f them up.

Anyway, water temp is about 75 and ambient temp just above the cloner is 77f. RH is 42%, just above the cloner as well and I was wondering if it should be higher???

So far the cuttings look good, they haven't even wilted much....
 

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First off tap water would protect against algae more than RO water. The chlorine would kill off any bacteria.

Light + any water = algae

Tap water is better for cloning. Here is why. The chlorine not only keeps everything sterile for the most part. Chlorine also promotes root growth.


Slime can form much easier in a cloner using ro water. Having aeration with a pump and stones also helps prevent slime from forming.

Temps are the most important part of cloning in an aero and bubble cloner You have to keep that water around 65 degrees.


Same thing for seeds. I prefer tap water over RO water for germinating seeds. 9 times out of 10 slime will form on seeds soaking in RO water. That never happens in tap water.
 
hyroot said:
First off tap water would protect against algae more than RO water. The chlorine would kill off any bacteria.

Light + any water = algae

Tap water is better for cloning. Here is why. The chlorine not only keeps everything sterile for the most part. Chlorine also promotes root growth.


Slime can form much easier in a cloner using ro water. Having aeration with a pump and stones also helps prevent slime from forming.

Temps are the most important part of cloning in an aero and bubble cloner You have to keep that water around 65 degrees.


Same thing for seeds. I prefer tap water over RO water for germinating seeds. 9 times out of 10 slime will form on seeds soaking in RO water. That never happens in tap water.
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Well i plan to change out the water regularly anyway. So ill change that out sooner and use tap water.

And it seems my water temp is too high. The reason for that is that i had read many times that the lower temps slow rooting down and that people were have better success with the higher temps...faster too...the danger being slime... so changing the water often would help protect against that.

I did black out the tub though so light shouldnnot be a problem...
 
Gquebed said:
Well i plan to change out the water regularly anyway. So ill change that out sooner and use tap water.

And it seems my water temp is too high. The reason for that is that i had read many times that the lower temps slow rooting down and that people were have better success with the higher temps...faster too...the danger being slime... so changing the water often would help protect against that.

I did black out the tub though so light shouldnnot be a problem...
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I rarely change water. Only when the cloner is completely empty of clones. I just add more tap water and a little silica.

Just throw frozen water bottles in there to keep temps down.

From what I've seen I get faster roots with colder water.

With a cloner you need to take larger , more woody cuts. Not like the small cuts taken for rapid rooters.


It also depends where on the plant you take cuts. Taking from the bottom of the plant rooting better is a myth. More mature cuts taken from the middle of the plant to the top root faster.
 
hyroot said:
I rarely change water. Only when the cloner is completely empty of clones. I just add more tap water and a little silica.

Just throw frozen water bottles in there to keep temps down.

From what I've seen I get faster roots with colder water.

With a cloner you need to take larger , more woody cuts. Not like the small cuts taken for rapid rooters.


It also depends where on the plant you take cuts. Taking from the bottom of the plant rooting better is a myth. More mature cuts taken from the middle of the plant to the top root faster.
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Well the good news is my cuts are quite woody...bad news they were taken down low...as per the myth...

How long on average does it take to see the start of roots at 65?
 
Well... this doesn't look good. Are those dark rings around the stems and indication that I'm fucked already?
 

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No. I also forgot to say soak the cuts in a cup of tap water for a day. You could even aloe ro that cup too. You want the cuts to heal before placing in the cloner. So there's no embolism.
 
Gquebed said:
Aloe ro the cup???
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Aloe to the cup. Aloe itself Works better as a cloning gel than anything you can get in a hydro shop.

Soaking cuts in aloe water. The cuts will uptake the beneficial enzymes, minerals , salicylic acids.


Use fresh aloe or aloe powder. Not aloe juice because those contain citric acids.
 
hyroot said:
Aloe to the cup. Aloe itself Works better as a cloning gel than anything you can get in a hydro shop.

Soaking cuts in aloe water. The cuts will uptake the beneficial enzymes, minerals , salicylic acids.


Use fresh aloe or aloe powder. Not aloe juice because those contain citric acids.
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Ahhhh...okay.

Ill give it a shot if these cuts go to shit...
 
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