Cloning during flower DIY bubble cloner

Spliffy Twojoints

Well-Known Member
I am a fairly experienced grower and have been cloning for years, fine-tuning my technique to get around 95% success rate.
I have been an organic grower for some time now and was fairly happy with bottled organics but have made the switch to dry amendments. I used to use cloning gel and a light nutrient schedule from the bottle but want to eliminate that as well.

My last couple rounds of cloning with gel but without nutrients had poor results, like 50% success rate and half the clones that survived were in terrible condition.

My last round of clones were taken just before the donors went into the flower room and also had a low success rate and some of them took just over two weeks to throw roots. As a result, I was not able to keep clones of many of my flowering plants.

I should point out that this is a mixed grow from seed, now just over four weeks in bloom. I have found three plants that I would really, really like to keep around based on their terps and structure but don’t have clones of them.

So, I built myself a bubble cloner with the intention of only using water, no gels, no nutes. However, since I’m four weeks plus into flower I expect the clones to take a long time to root, if at all. So if I see a clone about to die but has roots, I think I will add some liquid organic nutes just to save its life. hopefully that won’t be needed.

IMG_6057.jpeg

They just went in to the machine late last night.

It’s my first time using this machine so it’s not really fair to judge its overall effectiveness if these flowering clones don’t survive, but I think it will still be interesting to see the results if they do survive. The more accurate test would’ve been for me to use some vegging cuttings so I can compare the success rate to the old dome and peat pucks.

I did notice a bit of a dead spot in one corner of the reservoir where the bubbles seemed to avoid going but I couldn’t do much about it last night. I placed a clone directly above it just to see, and that clone seems to have wilted already☹️.
I just came up with a solution to correct that problem while writing this, but it’s gonna be too late for that cutting.

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Hopefully there won’t be frequent updates because that would mean they’re dropping like flies. I don’t expect roots to appear for some time, and that’s when I really want to post again.
That said, I’m happy to reply to anyone in the meantime.

Incidentally, the keepers include an old (10 years +) Durban Poison from Dutch Passion that has purple hues and reeks of lemon cleaner.
There’s also a Big D Energy freebie from Ethos that stinks of orange gas and has huge branches, hopefully preparing for huge buds.
Finally, there’s a Pink Kush from Reeferman with a very strong fruity candy funk smell. Have grown the PK from seed a few times and it’s always super potent although it’s also different terps every time so far.

I took four clones of each plant and suspended them above the water because I’m fearful of stem rot with the extended time flowering cuttings will need to root.
 
Hm. Some bubbles aren't enough. You need it looking like a rolling boil. If you hold your hands above it where the stems are you're hand should get wet pretty quick. I tried a bunch of diy ones and ended up just buying an aerocloner and I'm so happy I did. Depends where you are but you can find just the manifold itself or just source the sprayer heads on Amazon and plumb it yourself. I did the math and after I bought all the parts etc it basically worked out close to the price of the cloner on sale so I said fuck it and bit the bullet. It's honestly the easiest cleanest best rooting method I have ever used hands down. Run the pump 10-15on 5off on a repeat cycle timer for the first 24hrs then switch to 10on 10off. I've had roots in 5 days more times than I ever did with any other method. Usually by day 10 stubborn rooters pop. I'm not a fan of just using an air stone but rather a pump and manifold with sprayers
 
You'd have much, much better luck if you just cut, skin, dip and stick it in root riot plugs, on a heat mat at about74°, and put a dome on it.
I get roots in 7 to 14 days.
 
You'd have much, much better luck if you just cut, skin, dip and stick it in root riot plugs, on a heat mat at about74°, and put a dome on it.
I get roots in 7 to 14 days.
Everyone's got their own ways. That's how I did it for years then suddenly began having issues. Couldn't figure it out. Messed up some timing of cycles for me and I got frustrated enough to try something new. Worked better for me in my situation. No dome. Raw dawg. Much easier to control mold on flowering bud clones.... There was none. Just sayin
 
Everyone's got their own ways. That's how I did it for years then suddenly began having issues. Couldn't figure it out. Messed up some timing of cycles for me and I got frustrated enough to try something new. Worked better for me in my situation. No dome. Raw dawg. Much easier to control mold on flowering bud clones.... There was none. Just sayin
Why clone from flower, takes way to long for them to revert to veg but as you say, every one's got their own way. I never get mold on my buds, ever, just saying.
As an aside, I wasnt being a dick.
 
Hm. Some bubbles aren't enough. You need it looking like a rolling boil. If you hold your hands above it where the stems are you're hand should get wet pretty quick. I tried a bunch of diy ones and ended up just buying an aerocloner and I'm so happy I did. Depends where you are but you can find just the manifold itself or just source the sprayer heads on Amazon and plumb it yourself. I did the math and after I bought all the parts etc it basically worked out close to the price of the cloner on sale so I said fuck it and bit the bullet. It's honestly the easiest cleanest best rooting method I have ever used hands down. Run the pump 10-15on 5off on a repeat cycle timer for the first 24hrs then switch to 10on 10off. I've had roots in 5 days more times than I ever did with any other method. Usually by day 10 stubborn rooters pop. I'm not a fan of just using an air stone but rather a pump and manifold with sprayers
Thanks for the feedback.
I did research sprayers but ultimately settled on the stones and just put a lot of them in there.

IMG_6065.jpeg

There’s just a dead spot in one corner where all these stones create a current that gets in the way and the bubbles don’t get there. I have another small air stone I will drop in the corner sometime soon.

I’m in Canada so everything is super expensive compared to the states or just not available unless you ship from the states, which also drives the price up. To be fair, I did not research much for new ones except glancing on Amazon and I’m pretty sure they were all around $200 or more. I still might’ve spent $100 on this but I also got the satisfaction of doing it myself and I enjoy a project.

It’s interesting that you had good success shutting off your system for hours at a time because I’ve read so many other reports saying that water flow or bubbles need to stay on. Just goes to show everyone’s experience can be different and how experimenting can find new techniques.
 
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You'd have much, much better luck if you just cut, skin, dip and stick it in root riot plugs, on a heat mat at about74°, and put a dome on it.
I get roots in 7 to 14 days.
I had great success using the same technique you mention but sticking in peat pucks. One of the reasons I’m trying things this way is to avoid using any gels or powders, just straight water.
I also want to avoid the daily maintenance of removing the dome to ventilate fresh air, spraying the cuttings and making sure the pucks stay moist.
If this fails, I will go back to my old ways but if I can have a high success rate cloning without cloning agents or liquid nutes and also don’t have the daily maintenance of a dome, it will become my new technique.
 
Why clone from flower, takes way to long for them to revert to veg but as you say, every one's got their own way. I never get mold on my buds, ever, just saying.
As an aside, I wasnt being a dick.
Cloning from flower wasn’t my first choice, but as I mentioned I had issues cloning before they went into flower. Also, I didn’t expect those three to stand out as much as they do and had no clue until the terps started getting really strong about 3 1/2 weeks in.
I have tried to clone during flower in the past at about five weeks on an outdoor plant, the clones survived for three weeks but did not root. So yes, unfortunately I’m fully aware how slow the rooting can be in this case. I have also successfully re-vegged plants in the past and I’m fully aware how slow that process is as well.

I know I’m in for a long wait but if I’m successful the effort will have paid off. If not, I’ll probably smash it all with a sledgehammer.

JK, I’ll just try, try again
 
I have been all over the place with cloning. Seems the more effort I put in the worst success rate I have. Decades ago I used to just cut a couple of branches and stick them into my fish tank where the aeration was. No gels or powders, just super fast rooting. Now been trying with gels and rockwool in a dome and it seems hit or miss, and takes for ever.
Thinking I should make a little bubbler.
 
Why clone from flower, takes way to long for them to revert to veg but as you say, every one's got their own way. I never get mold on my buds, ever, just saying.
As an aside, I wasnt being a dick.
Ops pics are of flowering clones with buds on them

I wasn't either! Sorry if it came across abrupt didn't mean it that way
 
Thanks for the feedback.
I did research sprayers but ultimately settled on the stones and just put a lot of them in there.

View attachment 5456507

There’s just a dead spot in one corner where all these stones create a current that gets in the way and the bubbles don’t get there. I have another small air stone I will drop in the corner sometime soon.

I’m in Canada so everything is super expensive compared to the states or just not available unless you ship from the states, which also drives the price up. To be fair, I did not research much for new ones except glancing on Amazon and I’m pretty sure they were all around $200 or more. I still might’ve spent $100 on this but I also got the satisfaction of doing it myself and I enjoy a project.

It’s interesting that you had good success shutting off your system for hours at a time because I’ve read so many other reports saying that water flow or bubbles need to stay on. Just goes to show everyone’s experience can be different and how experimenting can find new techniques.
I'm in Canada too. I got my aero on Amazon (on sale) it was less than 150. I felt the same way as you but ultimately, leaking and uneven spraying etc. I just wasted a bunch of money trying to make it work when I could have just bought the thing in the first place and saved myself all that headache, time and $$$
 
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