one out of 10 clones survived

OK. I am new to cloning. Hopefully someone here can impart some wisdom and make me a better grower. This is the first time I have every tried cloning. I took 10 clippings from my mother plant... a Blue Dream, and only one has survived. They were place under 6 40w CFL's.

Here is what I did.

I purchased a tray of Rapid Rooter plugs pre trayed with 50 plugs. This tray comes pre-soaked with nutrient and sealed tight with plastic... so tight that the plastic tray was sqished in on the long sides ( mistake #1, I think ).

The clones were cut and dropped into water, then cut at 45 degrees, dipped into Clonex and inserted into the plugs. The tray was filled with Dutch Master A.P.S to about a 1/2", and the tray was lidded with a dome.

For the first week to 10 days we were fighting to get the humidity up in the dome... the was no visible moisture inside. We sprayed once to three times daily with no luck and installed a cool air humidifier. It wasn't until we sealed the squished tray side with plastic wrap that we started to see moisture and levels nearing 90%.

The plugs were very wet at all times from the solution in the tray and the clone were standing upright and even had what appeared to be new growth.

Over two weeks went by and we inpected the clones root. Nothing, except one.

Here are some pics of the pulled clones and my grow room. Where did I go wrong? Can anyone help? Please?

get a cup of water, take a cutting, put the cutting in the water, tweak for airbubbles, add a tiny bit of rooting hormone if you want, you can also do whats called scarification(i think) if you wantm but those 2 are not absolutelly needed, dont have any plant matter other than the stem in the water, might have to put saran wrap over the cup and poke a hole in it to put the stem though so the leaves rest on it. Put them in weak INDIRECT lighting 18/6, 24/0, dont matter. Wait-within 2-3 weeks you should see roots, maybe a month tops.

"The plugs were very wet at all times from the solution in the tray and the clone were standing upright and even had what appeared to be new growth."

That's why. 1/2 inch of standing water in the tray? Imminent death.


here's the correct way:

Dunk the plugs in ph'd water.

Squeeze the water out of em. Enough to keep it DAMP. Not wet.

Stick the treated clone in the plug, and into the dome.

Just for the hell of it, lightly mist the plants once, and keep the dome in a area that is about 80 degrees,

enough heat to encourage condensation on the dome.

Condensation, damp plugs = 99% success rate.

Add an eyedropper full of h20 to REDAMPEN the plugs as needed.

You want to balance the fine line of damp/dry.


Think about that one time when you were a kid, when you pissed in your pants in school, but was too embarrassed to say or do anything about it. Remember how damp those jeans were by the time you got home from school?

That damp.

Good luck!

i think the term is feild capacity just enough to dripp a few drops out if squezed

i've been having a similar problem. i bought a clone dome with air holes and a 50 spot tray and the eco plugs (i think). the guy at the hydro store told me to fill up about an inch of water with a capful Thrive Alive B1 Red, and spray 3 times a day with water, B1 red, and a wetting agent...let stand under 24 hours of light and to fill water back up when it starts to lose some due to evaporation. these clones are all i got cuz i had to move locations and the plants were too big to move...this is all i have as far as 100% certain genetics. clones are not easy to come by round these here parts

Thanks for your quick response. What you say makes perfect sense. Enough moisture to promote root growth, but dry enough to allow oxygen to reach the roots. I took my last remaining plug out just now and gently squeezed out the exceess fluids. It was probably 2 tablespoons worth. Thanks again. I will let you all know how this worked out.

John

I never use a dome, my room is about 50% humidity. I use rockwool for a medium. lighting is a 400 Watt MH. I scarify and split the stem, I cut 50% of the leaf matter off. High rate of success within 2 weeks. I dangle the rockwool over a reservoir of water with an airstone and air pump going to create bubbles. I cloned all my house plants too, put a cutting in a cup of water with an airstone and a small airpump going and a few weeks later there was roots.

wut do u mean scarify??

so i took all the water out of the bottom of the tray of the clone dome...tryin that...its day 6 and i havent seen any progress :/ i hope i don't lose my whole crop

I didnt write this, but its got good info and pics and can explain it better than i could.
How can I root quicker using cutting scarification?

You are here: Home » Grow FAQ » Cloning » How can I root quicker using cutting scarification?
Introduction:



The idea here is to scarify the stem of your cutting so that there is more area in which the cutting can have the opportunity to grow roots and therefore hopefully increase your rooting success rate. You will need a sharp razor blade and a flat surface to scarify your stem.





Scarification Procedure:

The first thing you do is cut your clone at a 45-degree angle; this will expose both the inner and outer area of the stem. Now lay your cutting on a flat surface. Visualize about an inch from the cut end and place your razor blade at this point.

Gently, and with the slightest pressure, push the blade to the end removing a fine outer layer of the stem. Don't be in a hurry - there is no going back. Gently scrape the stem with your blade until you can clearly see the internal tissue layers. You have just successfully scarified your cutting.


Cloning:

Now it is back to the regular cloning methods. Dip into your cloning gel or powder and place into rock wool, soil, water, peat pellet, or aero cloner. When dipping your stems into your preferred cloning solution, you will want to ensure that you get the very tip (remember the 45-degree angle cut) and the length, which you have scarred. I have used cloning powder for demonstration purposes so you can easily see where I have applied the powder to the cutting.




Rooting:




This last image shows a successfully rooted clone that has used this simple scarification method. As you can see there are roots that have emerged from the full length of the scarring and not just from the bottom. This will give your newly rooted plant a much better survival and initial growth rate.







This method is also very useful for hard to clone cuttings and woody cuts which do not take to rooting easily. It is also a good method to practice at all times and in general it greatly increases rooting success and shortens rooting time. Other tips that one can use for those stubborn cuttings are to cut the bottom of your stem into quadrants to expose more surface area. One could also scarify two or three sides of the stem as opposed to the one side illustrated here to really give an advantage to those stubborn cuttings that will just not take. Just remember when scarifying more than one surface it becomes crucial that removing too much material off any one surface will ensure failure.

Some plants which generally take around 8 to 10 days to root, once applying this method, it is not uncommon to have roots after 5 or 6 days.

One last tip, I like to soak my new cuts in a glass of cool tap water for 15-20 minutes before preparing them to root. The chlorine in the water will kill any bacteria present and the cool oxygen filled water will be absorbed by the plant, giving it lots of reserve strength to push out those roots.

Nice post.

Scarification helps, indeed. But all gets thrown out the window if the clones are kept too wet.

Remember that, peeps!

very nice post ddestruction gotta give you rep for that

CloneX is very good, Ditch the dome, Buy a 125 cfl or 150 and keep it 4 inches from cuttings. Your lights are to weak and to high up.

drewabu said:

CloneX is very good, Ditch the dome, Buy a 125 cfl or 150 and keep it 4 inches from cuttings. Your lights are to weak and to high up.

Click to expand...

um, yeah....you dont want intense lighting with clones when they are rooting. Plus, he said he had 6 40w bulbs......I'd suggest he use less of his lights.

um..well not to be rude destruction but have you ever cloned before? because cfls do not burn your plant unless you let them touch. And im just letting you know from real expo that 45w cfls are dogshit. And even clones need light.

because cfls do not burn your plant unless you let them touch.
That flouresent tubes......Cfl is something different. And i meant you dont want them geting alot of light, indirect cfl or flouro tube lighting is all it needs really and you want your plant to root, lots of people clip the ends off clones leaves so they have less photosythesis going so the plant doesnt have to support so much growth through its non-existent root system and through the air. . more doesnt make it easier for them to root....and you have no idea what your talking about if your trying to say a bunch of good sized cfls are not enough for rooting and vegging. I've been this a while now, I KNOW what im talking about. Go do some research and confirm it for yourself......

Research? I grow and clone brother. All I can say is his root gel is top nouch. I have his same set up in my veg room cept I keep 3 125 watt cfls 4 -6 inches from my cuttings. I get a pretty good 65% success rate taking about 7-10 cuttings a mom. Again Im not trying to insult you I was just wondering if you clone. All I want is to help this guy out from my on expo. Srry if I came off like a know it all azz.