whats the best way to clone with root riot cubes?

Hey guys, I recently bought some root riot cubes in an attempt to turn my og kush into a mother, since my second lot of seeds got messed up. I tried taking a few cuttings about a week ago with no success.

I think I'm keeping the cubes too wet; here's my system. I took an over watering tray (one of the round clear ones you put under the pot to catch the runoff) and filled it up with perlite. Then I took the cuttings that I had in the root riot cubes and set them on the perlite, and put Gatorade bottles over each one individually to act as a humidity dome. Then I mixed 5 parts water with 1 part hydrogen peroxide and poured it over the perlite, so that the cubes could wick up moisture. I set the whole system on top of a heating pad:



Sorry about the double. Anyways, what's the best system to use for these things? I don't have a humidity dome, but I might have to run out and buy something.

buy one of these bro.

I have 100% success. and you can plant directly into a medium without disturbing the roots...(you're perlite setup is going to shock your roots when you plant them)

They way your plants look, I would put them in the final medium now, as long as they have some sort of root system. And 100% perlite is something that I would not use as the sole medium. That's just a personal opinion. What do you plan on growing them in?

Hi again Thor,

Like said above, the method you use to germinate should ideally be related to the medium you wish to grow in.

As as general rule...

Soil/Coco = Starter cubes
DWC/RDWC = Aeroclone or Bubble
F&D = Rockwool

The closer the propagation medium style is to the growing medium, the less shock the plant will experience through transplant.

You can clone in whatever you choose, btu this makes a smoother transition in my experience. Bit like having a 2 part nutrient and mixing A from one brand, and B from another... it will work, it could just work better if done correctly (poor analogy sorry)

Keeping moms in a forgiving medium like soil or coco is ideal. If something goes wrong with pumps etc. on your grow and you lose everything, then you always have the mums in a 'trouble free, stable' medium to start cloning again

As for Rooting cubes, most of them already have enough nutrients to last a few weeks during rooting.
#Just add plain tap water, no ph required until it drips out the bottom. (Tap water is also good because of Chlorine = sterilizer)
#Cut and insert the clone full depth
#Dome the top, but open for 5-10mins every day for 4-5 days, then leave dome off

*Important note about keeping cube moist
- Cube will start to look light brown on top like before you initially wet the plug for your clone

#Instead of dripping water onto the top of the cube, just get a bowl and add about a 1/2 inch of tap water at the bottom.
#Submerge the bottom of the cube in the water for about 3 seconds then remove.
#Watch the top of the cube, as the water wicks it's way up the cube, you will see the color change from light brown to dark moist brown again.
#Put it back under the light and it is good to go for a few more days

Letting the cube dry a little on top will help the oxygen around the stem and the roots seek moisture.
Dont let the cube dry right out, but dont let it be constantly dark brown

Good luck!

Cheers Jimmy.

Heat is good for rooting, but to much can be bad.

Thanks for all the replies guys! I hope I can get this cutting thing down (no pun intended...if that even counts as a pun) BC only one of my seeds germinated for my second batch (hso OG kush) and until I make another order its my only hope for my next crop.

Top fuel, I totally think you're right about the heat. I had the heater on a timer so that it ran every thirty minutes, but I had to cut the control box off to bypass the safety "auto off" function, and so I couldn't pick medium or low, just the high setting which I think was a little much. That system still needs work, bit I've heard keeping roots at 72° steady works wonders.

JimD, what's up man and I plan on growing them in soil, although I havey eye on an aeroponic setup, and so hopefully in the next run or so I'd like to have it going, running clones. I'd like to get these cubes down, bc I could use them for soil and for the aero setup and not have to choose what they're going into until they're done rooting. Definitely don't plan on keeping them in perlite, but I have a shit ton of it and I thought it might help keep the cubes moist BC I'm gone all day at a time. My seeds didn't germinate BC they dried up while I was gone, and I didn't want that happening to the cuttings.

Stew--wooord, yeah they have one of those at my grow store. What does it have as a medium? Rock wool cubes? I might just have to break down and buy one of those, but I'd like to get some use out of these root riot cubes now that I have them. But I'm definitely thinking the bigger some would help.

And Jimmy L--thanks for the in depth reply. I was just about to ask how long those things stayed wet for-- its good to know that they'll stay moist for a day or more. I think I'm gonna take some more cuttings BC the bottom of the stem in my other ones turned brown and dead looking, and I cut the brown part off and re-powdered them with my rooting powder, but I'm not sure if they'll make it.

I know what you mean with the bowl of water-thats basically what I was trying to do with the perlite, but keeping the perlite soaked was keeping the cubes soaked and the cut parts just got soggyy and brown. The cuttings have survived for almost a week now, tho, and other than slightly dead tips they still seem to be doing alright.

Thanks a bunch for the replies, guys. I'm gonna adjust a few things and see if I can get one of those trays, even if I just usey root riot cubes in one (but hell if it comes with something I might as well try that too).

And about the shock from different mediums--the root riot cubes are peat-based, but they feel more like sponges. If I was planning on doing some plants soil, and some plants aero, which would have less shock? The aero I assume wouldn't be too bad, BC you can just set the cube on top of hydroton or whatever medium and the net pot. But would soil shock it? With the cubes being peat based?

Again, thanks for the replies I'll throw you guys some rep

Edit: must spread rep around stew and topfuel, lol

You can transfer the propagation medium to whatever growing medium you like really
It's just the way the roots develop in aero as opposed to peat are different in structure, thus the delay (more than shock) of the roots going "Hey, this feels different.. we need to change to suit this new medium"

You can use cloning gels/powders etc in rooting plugs, but reality is they have everything you need to get a clone or seed up and rooting... it is the way they are designed

KISS always works the best in propagation... minimize the fiddle to maximize the fuzz I say

Cheers Jimmy.