first time cloning

so I've been growing for a while now from seed and figure what the hell.

the worst thing that can happen is they die right?

anyway, this is the first time I've ever taken clones and put them into a clone machine (home made) I've tried jiffy pucks before but had no luck. and i would like to ask your opinion.

i took the clones on the 6th of this month and the tops look perky and lively. the stems are still stiff and not limp. i did not use any rooting hormone or compound at all. i haven't been monitoring temps or Ph at all and have not really been taking them seriously.

like i figured would happen there is little to no progress, and was about to toss em yesterday. but i pulled the top off and noticed tiny white speckles on the stems that i hadn't noticed previously.

obviously thinking to myself that i could have roots soon enough. i was also plagued with the thought of possible fungi of some sort.

so i took some photos with my camera-phone, and they are blurry but i think you can see what i'm talking about.

let me know if you can see and or tell me what you think the white spots could be.
thanks!

looks like roots to me.. congratulations.

yay! so dose anyone else have a different opinion?

am i just over thinking it?

thats the start of roots........congrads

Nope those are the beginning of roots... good job homie, stick to how your doing it because if it works then keep doing it that way. People try all these different ways of cloning and then wonder why they can't get roots. If it ain't broke then don't fix it

o ya and wait until those roots pop out a little more to transplant them

+ rep everyone, thank you for all of the encouragement!

after recently having a hell of a time getting seeds to sprout i decided to try my home made bucket cloner.

for like 2 years using seeds i have had Very close to 100% germ/sprout ratio. over the last month its been more like 5-10%. I've been feeling really down about it and cant quite figure it out. at least i have shit loads of beans thanks to a close breeder friend.

being able to have clones to fall back on will make me feel a whole lot better about it

Cloning will save you lots of time and guess work, popping seeds and waiting is a pain in the arse... find a good mom and turn her into a plant that will provide lots of cuttings and you'll be a happy camper. I've had bb cross moms for at least 5 years and they are still popping out cuttings like there is no tomorrow.. I've probably gotten at least 5000 cutting off them over the years.

about how long does it take you to get roots on your clones?

2 weeks seems like a long time...
I do have some dip-n-grow rooting hormone but didn't have much luck when i used that with the jiffy pucks and clones.

come to think of it, the only thing i added this time was about 1/2 a tsp of vitamin B1 to the gallon of water in the clone bucket. but i added it on day 9 or 10 i think.

I have been growing a Blueberry x Nl cross for about the last 5 years and that strain takes about 7-10 days to get decent roots but I just started Greenhouse's WW and I'm totally amazed... Cutting are rooting in 4 f'in days, quickest I have every seen roots on a cutting in my life. Hope its a good strain cause I could pop out clones like there is no tomorrow lol

steven7685 said:

about how long does it take you to get roots on your clones?

2 weeks seems like a long time...
I do have some dip-n-grow rooting hormone but didn't have much luck when i used that with the jiffy pucks and clones.

come to think of it, the only thing i added this time was about 1/2 a tsp of vitamin B1 to the gallon of water in the clone bucket. but i added it on day 9 or 10 i think.

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Yep! Thems little roots!! Congrats!!
What are the steps you take using the Jiffy "Pucks" (I love it!)? I use them exclusively and get at least a 95% success rate between them and a good rooting hormone powder/gel. What I DO use that you haven't mentioned is a Miracle Gro product (It's the ONLY one I use) called Starting and Rooting Solution. I make a 1/4 strength solution of that and use it to expand my "pucks". If they start to dry out, I just spray 'em down a bit and replace the dome, keeping them DAMP/MOIST until roots show thru the peat. Anything containing Auxin (Indol3 butyric Acid) can be used as a root starter tho.
I have read on many forums that a whole lot of folks seem to have a problem with the Jiffy pellets. I dunno, they work extremely well for me. Warmth seems to be the key.

Jack Harer said:

What are the steps you take using the Jiffy "Pucks" (I love it!)?

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thanks for joining in!
i would expand the pucks with regular luke warm tap water. no Ph solution and nothing nutrient wise.
then i'd take my cutting strip off some of the lower leaves/growth cut the stem at a 45* angle and soak the tip plus about an inch in the Dip-n-Grow rooting solution, poke a little hole into the middle of the expanded puck and place the clone about 3/4 of the way down, then kind of squeeze the puck a bit. place in a starter tray with a humidity dome (not the jiffy puck tray with circle footings) and kept moist.

when i took my current cuttings i followed the same procedure, cut a potential clone, strip off some of the lower growth, cut a 45 on the stem, excet this time i DID NOT use any kind of rooting hormone/gel/liquid/powder i just inserted them into 2 inch polyurethane circles, and about day 9 or 10 decided to add about a 1/2 tsp of vitamin B-1 to the gallon of water. i just cut holes in the top of a 2 gallon bucket to accept the inserts and used a 180gph eco-plus water pump with 1/2 inch plastic tube an elbow and a single 360* sprinkler/sprayer/spinner whatever you want to call it. and have the pump running 24 hours a day under 24 hours of t12 fluorescent 6500k daylight bulbs (4ft X 2 bulb shop light).

i made it out of things i had laying around, minus about 6 bucks for the foam inserts, the elbow and the sprayer. seems easy and surely re usable.

to be perfectly honest. i am absolutely stoked that i have any roots at all. i really expected this to be a low budget experiment that wouldn't work.

ill just show you kind of what i mean LOL...

on the other hand i will say that my most recent planting of seedlings in jiffy pucks is going well.

hey Max I see that you are pretty skilled in the art of cloning. I have recently started 8 plants from seed. I built a cloner and want to try it out. My question is about choosing the mother. I know that if you choose a mother that is flowering it will add time to the growth of the clone. However I have one plant that just literally exploded on the scene. It is 2.5' tall and has sweet buds all over it. The other 7 are all very similar to each other showing growth but no buds yet. I can barely tell they are female at this point. So if I take cuttings from this one with the super fast growth and wait the extra time from the clone, when I am ready to clone the next round and do it before it flowers would I expect to have the same explosive growth? I think by taking the hit now it might work out in my favor down the road. I am curious of you thoughts...cheers.

thank you everyone for the encouragement again!!! im really seeing roots now!!!
sorry my pictures are soo blurry and low quality.

how much longer do you think i should wait to transplant them? these pictures are of the best 2 or the 2 with the most developed roots.

some of them only have 1 or 2 roots about a 1/4 inch long yet.

homer265 said:

hey Max I see that you are pretty skilled in the art of cloning. I have recently started 8 plants from seed. I built a cloner and want to try it out. My question is about choosing the mother. I know that if you choose a mother that is flowering it will add time to the growth of the clone. However I have one plant that just literally exploded on the scene. It is 2.5' tall and has sweet buds all over it. The other 7 are all very similar to each other showing growth but no buds yet. I can barely tell they are female at this point. So if I take cuttings from this one with the super fast growth and wait the extra time from the clone, when I am ready to clone the next round and do it before it flowers would I expect to have the same explosive growth? I think by taking the hit now it might work out in my favor down the road. I am curious of you thoughts...cheers.

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Yes growth would be alot faster because when you clone a flowering plant, after it roots it's gonna have to revert back to the vegg cycle and start actually growing in the vegitative state again.. The only time I would recommend cloning during flowering is saaaaay if you killed your mother or you love the genetics so much you can't live without em' lol. I went outta town once and had some ladies that were in their true 7th week of flowering and my friend that was taking care of them killed ALL my moms and I LOVED THIS STRAIN, with no more beans left i was about to cry and then I was like fuck it I'm gonna try and cloning a few of the flowering ones and see what happens... 2 months later she started to re-veg and I still have that plant 5 years later. So just remember no matter how crazy some things sound when growing weed, If you think it might work it's always worth a shot. Good luck bro and happy gardening

steven7685 said:

thank you everyone for the encouragement again!!! im really seeing roots now!!!
sorry my pictures are soo blurry and low quality.

how much longer do you think i should wait to transplant them? these pictures are of the best 2 or the 2 with the most developed roots.

some of them only have 1 or 2 roots about a 1/4 inch long yet.

Click to expand...

I would let them get at least 4-6'' long, sounds like it would take a long time to grow that long but they should be that long in 1-3 days ONCE ROOTS POP THEY GROW QUICK AS HELL

thanks max! i would +rep you again if the site would let me

Yeah, once the roots start to come out at all, they explode it seems like.