How I improved my root success rate on new clones

I had a major problem recently getting my clones to root. It is winter and very cold, the clones did not like this and out of 10 I lost 9. 1 barely survived and is now finally recovering.

I decided I needed to take action.

After studying this forum and asking many questions I did the following:

1) turned my light cycle from 24hours to 18/6
2) Got a heating pad, placed between two tiles.
3) Bought a new scalpel for making cuttings.
4) New liquid rooting solution
5) New jiffy cubes expanded with rainwater
6) New dome

I can't say which did the trick but I think every little thing helped the situation.

Now they are all rooting and much faster than before. It took 10 days for roots to show, and I mean lots and lots of roots.

Any questions, please shout.

Good to hear, I made a thread with a few fine tuning tips a while back, ill see if I can't find it. Sounds like u got things right though.

sensisensai said:

Good to hear, I made a thread with a few fine tuning tips a while back, ill see if I can't find it. Sounds like u got things right though.

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Thanks Sensi

in the winters i lay down a sheet a stryofoam then a heat mat. heat is a big thing for cloning

sven deisel said:

in the winters i lay down a sheet a stryofoam then a heat mat. heat is a big thing for cloning

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I get what your saying but the heat is upwards so it does not really matter what is beneath. What matters is that you have a tile on the top, this spreads the heat and makes it more natural. If you go to any place that sells tiles, make as if you want to tile your lounge, look at a few tiles and then ask for a sample. They always give free samples. This way you get a free tile for your clones.

UPDATE***********

So far I have made 21 clones over a period of 4 weeks ( 2 batches) and I my success rate is 100%. Not a single clone has failed.

Congratulations! Your a great Gardner

Hey what's up Dude. Glad to hear your having success. I wanted to ask you what temperature are your clones in now and what lights do you use?

GeeBee3000 said:

Hey what's up Dude. Glad to hear your having success. I wanted to ask you what temperature are your clones in now and what lights do you use?

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The temp question is a bit hard I will explain. Although I can measure the temp in the grow box this is currently between 17 and 20 degrees celcius (winter here), I can't be sure of the temps the clones are experiencing but it would be higher. They are in this box on top of a tile with a heat pad underneath. They are covered with a round clear plastic container, making a seal with the tile. The heat pad heats the tile very nicely, think underfloor heating. So I would gues it would raise the temps by 2 to 4 degrees. Making the clones temps between 20 and 24 degrees celcius. I think the clones love the heat and that is what has helped the success rate.

Re: the lights, I have 4 x 60w cfls in this grow box. On the one side is the clones and on the other I currently have 14 plants vegging.