What am I doing wrong(cloning)

I have grown strains out before but never had room for cloning or keeping a mother plant. So cloning portion is new to me. My set-up and technique is as follows: I have a mother plant of KF going, I'm takng cuttings from it, cleaning the ends were I made the cut, putting them in water for 5-10minutes, then dipping in house and gardens Root exculator and placing them in rapid rooters in trays. The dome I cover the tray with has a single t-5 on top of it and the inner part of the dome is covered with Mylar. I also put a heating pad under the tray, I keep the light going 24/0,and put water in the tray every other day. Now what's happening is the leaves are yellowing and clones are wilting. Do I have to wait till white roots show through the rapid rooters before I can transfer them to soil??

Can you post a photo of your clone setup? I take my cutting and place it in a bowl of water right away, and make the cuts underwater, then dip into the cloning powder and plant into soil. A humidity dome is important for the first week or so, and make sure to mist the clones twice a day, as they cannot uptake water or nutrients from the soil until they have roots.

Sorry can't post photos, Camara is crap. Is it ok to throw my cuttings that are in the rapid rooters in some promix, even if the roots aren't showing out the bottom of the rapid rooters yet?? I have had my cuttings in the dome for 12 days ?? Is that to long ?

I would do the following

cut clone dip in rooting gel or what ever you have put in rapid rooter. Push clone stem to the bottom of the rooter. Water only when bottom of the tray is dry, keeping them in watered will not grow roots very fast. Cover with dome. It should take 7 to 18 days for roots, 7 if everything is perfect 18 if struggling. Keep the heat under the clones around 80. I would get some liquid karma to feed them with.

It may be the mylar causing extra heat and mak oi n the leaves transpire more then wilt for lack of moisture@. This is how I take my clones and it always works. Take cut and put in water while preparing gel. Take out of water and use blade to go down the cut edge in an almost scraping motion on four sides of stem. This ruptures outer skin of stem to create more space for roots. Dip in cloning gel put in medium. (I use promix with perlite to help roots move through it and so soil is never soggy). Mylar is useful when they are using their leaves to make food. But cloning is when u stop them from usingtheir leaves so they can make roots.its good to keep misting them and take cuttings off a plant that hasn't been foliar fed lately.

H&G's Roots Excellurator is a great product, but only after the roots have developed a little. Roots Ex doesn't have the rooting hormones that rooting gel/powder does. So the first thing you need to do it get yourself some real rooting agent.
You can't go wrong with Clonex. It's cheap, it's tried and true, and it's in every hydroshop. Olivia's, and Dip n' Grow are two others I've used with great success. If there's no hydro stores around you, then you can get's Shultz Rooting Powder at Homedepot. I've never used it but it should work fine.
Do that, and try it again. You got the process right. You just need the right materials.

Btw get rid of the mylar. If the cutting start to wilt then cover the dome with a t-shirt or something or raise the light. If the clones wilt or the leaves shrivel, then the light intensity is too hard. Clones need very little light. I've roted cuttings with one 20w t-12 fluoro.

just started using gh rapid start, I got back to 100% success rate. Also, I run 20 on 4 off, root production happens in the dark and everything needs sleep.

Wow somebody else who clones like i do,this is a first for me to see another grower make the cuts underwater.

Ok bud heres the deal,alot of peoples problems with clones stems from what type cutting they use for a clone,,i have better luck when i use cuttings that are old growth & have a woody feel to them,i stay away from fresh growth beacuse the flimsy feeling usually ends up being the ones i loose.

Step one,select old growth for the cutting,as soon as you make the cut removing the cutting from the plant submerge the cut end under water,then recut the end at an angle,the reason to recut underwater is a botanist trick to avoid embolisms.

Branches are hollow,kinda like a drinking straw,when we remove the cutting from the plant the cut can suck in air right at the tip of the cutting,this is called an embolism,the air bubble stays at the tip blocking the plants ability to uptake water,thus the cutting never roots.

After you make the underwater cut dip in cloning agent then stick into rapid rooter,here is another important issue,make sure the cutting fits snug in the root plug,if the cutting is loose or spins it should be relocated,i find that rapid rooter plugs have this problem alot,i switched from using rapid rooters to another brand .

After the cutting is snugly inside its plug i then dip the entire rapid rooter into water for a few seconds,then i squeeze out the excess water,then they go inside a humidome,i spray mist the leafs twice a day very heavily.

When i mist i try to keep the canopy of the fresh cuttings out of strong light or a fan so the leafs stay wet & wont wilt,this allows fresh air to kill off any mold spores before they take hold & ruin the clones,before i put everything away i mist the clones again & mist the underside of the humidome to make sure the action of humidity filling the air inside the chamber starts instantly.

I never water the sponge plugs directly,plants are smart but lazy,as the member above so correctly pointed out cuttings wont root easily in wet medium,the reason is simple,if the cutting is taking in enough water via the stem the plant sees no reason to search for water via root growth,all water should be comming into the cuttings via leafs absorbing the mist water.

Next i see a problem with the humidome,the mylar you have on the sides needs removed,mylar is notorius for creating hot spots from reflection,plus it isnt needed,cuttings do need light so they have enough energy to grow roots but they only need the bare minimum,i use a single 24 watt cfl in one of those cheap $5 work light reflectors from home depot,i use that single small light to cover 2 large 96 slot humidomes that are 6 inches high & its perfect,too much light makes the cutting use photosynthisis in high gear which is not what you want,you want just enough light where the plant can photosynthasize & sprout roots,in the case of clones less light is better.

Now for the heat mat,chances are that its overkill at this time of year,pull out a cutting in its plug & feel all areas of the sponge plug checking for warmth,the plug should not feel warm in any way,it should feel cool & moist,when squeezed firmly the plug should have a moisture content where only a few drops of water come out,if the plug has alot of water run out when you squeeze the plug its over watered,anything more than a few drops is excessive water,i pull all my sponge plug cuttings from their slot every 2 days to remove excess moisture from any plugs that absorbed too much water,i hold the plug upside down with the leaves pointing straight twords the floor,i give each one a gentle squeeze & remove any excess moisture.

A cutting will only sprout roots from exact locations,dead center of a branch if your trying to look straight up inside the plant via the cut you will see what appears to be a white layer,this is the (spelling )petiole layer & it is where all roots will grow out of,the reason for cutting at an angle is to expose more surface area,you want to disrupt as many cells as possible within that layer because new roots grow out of ruptured cells within the white layer.

Try taking a new razor blade & scraping all the green layers from the bottom inch of the cuttings stem,dont stop scraping until you see white,if you scrape past the center of the stalk without seeing a white layer you know the cutting is not mature enough to easily grow roots,this will show you what type cutting grows roots easiest,the thicker the white layer means more ruptured cells,more cell disruption means faster root sprouting & more roots in quantity.

Recap.

Take woody feeling cuttings from the plant,submerge the cuttings stalk under water & recut the end approx 1/2 up from the 1st cut,making sure the cutting stays under water while the cut is taking place,allow the stalk to stay under water for 30 seconds or so before diping into cloning agent,i prefer powder but any brand that contains INDOLE- BUTYRIC ACID is the best type to use.

After dipping in the clone agent insert into the rapid rooter making sure its a snug fit,then dip the plug in water to remove any dry spots where roots will not grow,squeeze out all excess water until it stops dripping,put plugs into humidome & remist all cuttings at once making sure to soak the shit out of them,excess water will soak into the plugs & thats ok,after misting all the cuttings mist the underside of the humidome lid & put lid on humidome,place a weak light source over center of humidome,remist leaves twice a day,remove excess water from plugs every other day making sure to remist all leaves & the underside of the humidome.

Remove the heat mat & mylar,follow the instructions & roots will start showing in 10 to 14 days,once you have atleast 2 roots sticking out about 1/2 inch you can transplant into soil or hydro mediums.

If roots are not sticking out of the cube the cutting is not ready to transplant & will most likely die if transplanted too early.

heres a few pointers if your goin to clone

1 having a healthy plant to clone off of feeding your mothers about 2 hrs before you take clones from it

make 4 litres of ph'd water around 5.8 to 6.0 add very light traces of nutrients i use a 0 - 1 - 1 i add 3ml per 4 litres
i also add 1 ml of H202 to the water mixed very well

2 - getting prepared you need steril razors i use 2 one for taking cuttings other for final cuts
get your mister and fill it up from the 4 litres of mixed water
get a cutting board wash it and pour a little H202 on it wipe it dry
pour a few drops of rooting gel on cutting board thats where your goin to make your cuts

i like useing MG seedling soil its cheap and you can do approx 180 clones from one bag )
i pour my soil in a container and mist soil till you can grab a fist full should make squishing sound in your hands
your good to go
i use 1 " trays more clones less area fill trays with your soil useing a toothpick make your hole where your going to place clones now your ready for cuttings

pick your cuttings cutting them with a razor immediatly after you made your cut place them in your bowl making sure cut end is submerged
once you got cutting in hand first thing is cut all big fan leafs etc in half , leaving smaller growths alone
then placing cutting on your cutting board place your finger on stem ( long part ) 45 dgree your cutting aprrox 2 " below
once you did your 45 degree cut carefully make a few slices above the 45 degree cut making a fish hook look then place it in gell for like a min placing it into soil firmly packing soil around stem once all done mist clones lightly , and dome place under your light leave them alone for 4 days then mist dome and cuttings 2 times a day till you see roots

Everyone says you need root hormones but you dont. It just helps a lot. i think you may have too much light for the clones. you want to keep the light low so it will grow roots. if you give it a lot of light the leafs will try and grow and with no roots this will cause death.

i am guessing the op didnt cut his fan leafs this causeing portion of the wilting how wet is his medium is another major isuues to wet = wilting is his dome completely sealed on his tray anther reason most clones will wilt being your not keeping the humidity in there
it was mentioned above post having to much light imo you cant have to much light when your talkin t'5's i use lots and have 2 lights on each tray and 1 " above dome and they really seem to like it

yellowing of leafs tells me clones are taking energy from leafs to make roots this is a good thing in my books

Here are my ways to success (pretty similar) to everyone else. My mother plants are obviously hand picked for, growth, bud development, etc. I clone from my mother plant 2 days after a good watering (moms are in 3ga smart pots). I start cloning from the oldest growth first. Again, another user mentioned that the newer growth are a bit more flimsy and will cause issues making the cut and putting it down into the rapid rooters.

I prepare my cloning gel (CloneX cloning gel) I just put it in a little shot glass. I take my cuttings one at a time.. I cut about 1/8" from the main stem, then trim the excess leaves leaving 3-4 @ the top. I then cut on a 45* very gently and then I split the 45* cut vertically up the stem about 1/8". Immediately go into the cloning gel (I use a pretty good amount to try and prevent any air bubbles when pushing the clone down into the rapid rooters. I put each clone into the cloning tray, give it a good mist with straight water. Then I cut about 30% of each remaining leaf off (to promote root growth) Once all my clones are taken I then go ahead and put a very very small amount maybe 1/8" or less of water + CloneX in the bottom of the tray. During winter months I use the heating pad and see roots 99% of the time in 6-8 days. In summer, no heating pad. I keep the humidity dome on all day, mist 2x daily and keep the top vents each about 25% open (some air movement).

Hope you guys all end up successful!

You don't need rooting hormone, it just takes longer without it.

Thanks for all the replys, it helped out alot. I now have a plan of attack.

Pretty much what I do and close to 100% success rate, the ones that did fail was my fault for !)&!@ with them too much. Patience and let them grow.

Ok, so my first batch of clones went as Follows: Took my cuttings put them in water for a few minutes, then dipped them in House and Gardens Root Exculator and put them in rapid rooters in a tray covered them with my dome. My dome is lined with Mylar and has a single T-5 that was on 24/0. I put water on the bottom of tray and added a heating may underneath the tray, had clones in there for about 12 days took them out didn't see any roots coming out the bottom of the rapid rooters. Placed them in one gallon bags filled with Promix-BX, put under t-5 fixture. Waited two days gave them some water and superthrive. Are they Junk? How do I know if they are rooted? Should I give them nutes? How much water a quart? What did I do wrong this time that I can change for next time to be successful??

If you're interested, I just posted my method in the GMG folder tonight (https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/465526-starting-clones-technomage-method.html). It uses Rapid Rooters, T5s and a humidity dome much as yours does. It's not a super fast method as it usually takes 10-14 days for good root structure but I'm not in a hurry.