Advanced aero cloning techniques? My cuttings look bad today

curious2garden said:

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I buy it for the indole butyric acid, a rooting hormone. It's worked great for me. Oh and in my 2.5 gallon cloner reservoir I'll add 5 ml of Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro but it's not necessary just keeps them looking a little nicer.

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I found this available at the local Home Hardware. Only about $9 for 50ml. Says it has a higher concentration of the indole butyric acid, so going to pick some up. Thank you for the tip.

Nugnewbie said:

I found this available at the local Home Hardware. Only about $9 for 50ml. Says it has a higher concentration of the indole butyric acid, so going to pick some up. Thank you for the tip.

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Please report back. I'll be curious how it works for you.

If you suck at cloning just put some dirt on the plant make it little bit wet and put in dark foil after a month or soo it will shoe roots then you can cut it from the plant

I used an aerocloner with pool shock and plain water... feed the mother with bloom solution for a week before taking cuts (clones need to have stored phosphorus), and dip in rooting gel... near 100% effective...

Nugnewbie said:

Thank you all for sharing your techniques for success. I should have mentioned that I had purchased an aerocloner already, but haven't used it yet. I got this at the local grow store just before it shut down. View attachment 5377377

I also took some cuts of 3 different cultivars and put them in the fridge in ziplocs in January that I am hoping I can get to root. I will post what I end up with when I attempt it. Probably will be shortly after this weekend when I chop my two Meltdowns.

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Exact unit I have, also in Canada (Waterloo)
They sell them at Indoor Farmer

All my cuts in the aero cloner died. I inspected them after another day of looking terrible, and it appears the stems completely turned to mush and rotted where those colorful pucks hold them in place.

Absolutely no clue went wrong, but I have packed the aero cloner back up and unplugged it. Trying a new round directly in soil and it's going so much better it's unbelievable, it's day 5 and the clones are at full attention, full color, and look amazing

Only problem is, they say it takes twice as long

Wish I knew what went wrong, but I don't feel like this happening again, I lost 5 cuts

I don’t know if this helps, but we use glad bags, root riots, indole 3 and aloe. It takes 5-15 days pending the thickness of the cut. Heat and humidity speed up rooting along with the rooting hormones. As long as spring water is used, over 90% success rate

Forecast for 3” to 5” of rain today, Nice to be 550 feet above the river!

I got seriously good result in 12 days with my Turbo Klone and Clone X. The name of the game for better result 1: select only woody and well branched aged clones, the skinny one with weak branching will not work properly 2: Add a ship load of bubble to the Aero Cloner 3: maintain perfect water temperature, and flush water after 7 days.

deimos phobos said:

Exact unit I have, also in Canada (Waterloo)
They sell them at Indoor Farmer

All my cuts in the aero cloner died. I inspected them after another day of looking terrible, and it appears the stems completely turned to mush and rotted where those colorful pucks hold them in place.

Absolutely no clue went wrong, but I have packed the aero cloner back up and unplugged it. Trying a new round directly in soil and it's going so much better it's unbelievable, it's day 5 and the clones are at full attention, full color, and look amazing

Only problem is, they say it takes twice as long

Wish I knew what went wrong, but I don't feel like this happening again, I lost 5 cuts

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I'm with you, I ditched mine. Root Riots, Clonex and time. Works fantastic.

curious2garden said:

I'm sorry, that's really frustrating. @Laughing Grass and @shnkrmn have interesting cloning set ups that are quite successful and don't use an aero type cloner. Maybe one of them could share their technique. I know in the aero type cloner you are heat limited. As soon as the water gets warmer they take longer to get roots and some rot prior so sometimes I have to add a few in to get roots. I also have my pump on a timer instead of running continuously to keep the heat down in the res.

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Fill small water bottles 3/4 full freeze and drop in the res as needed

Aero cloning usually fails because fungi (like pythium) and/or bacteria (like brown slime aka cyanobacteria) infects the cuttings stems. Different factors can play a role in this - high water temps, poor water quality, etc.. I have had great success with aero cloning with two different methods. When using RO water, I've used pool shock (calcium chloride) with great success. Recently I've been using tap water adding two products with even better success, both from a company called API. One is their Tap Water Conditioner that neutralizes chlorine, chloramines, and heavy metals. This creates water conditions in which bennies can thrive. The second product is Ecofix, a liquid concentrated blend of beneficial bacteria. Both of these products are designed for pond and aquarium maintenance for healthy plants and fish, but they're amazing for creating healthy hydro reservoirs. My flowering systems, veg systems, and cloners are aero, and the rez temps get into the mid 80s. These inexpensive products keep my root systems white and healthy even under adverse conditions.

I recently found that my aero cloner holes for the neoprene plugs are the same size as rapid rooters. I put the clones in the rapid rooter, into the cloner, and have a repeat timer that sprays the plugs for like 20 seconds every two hours. Keeps the water cooler since the pump doesn’t run much, and the plugs nice and moist. Not much different from the floating tray idea, but I didn’t have a floating tray. I am getting good results even with plants well into flower.