Why won't my clones root?

Hi Guys

I am on my first hydro grow, I grew from seed (Super Skunk). My plants are in flowering now, but before they went into flowering, I took clones of them all. Only 2 turned out to be females, so I kept them clones, and chucked out the male clones.

But the problem is, my two clones are wilting badly and I don't think they are rooting.

Here is how I took the clones:

- I took cuttings from a healthy branch, I cut of just below the 2nd node on the branch, at a 45 degree angle, so that the cutting was 2 nodes high with new growth at the top, and one established leave set.

- Immediately I put the clone into Ph'd water for 1-2 mins. Then I took it out of the water, and scraped the surface off the bottom of the stem, about 1 inch up from the bottom.

- Then I dipped the stem of the clone into Clonex Rooting Solution up to about 1 inch from the base, for about about 30 seconds.

- Then I put the clone into a 4 inch rockwool cube which had been soaked into PH'd water for 24 hours, I stuck it down about 1 inch. I left the rockwool cube damp but not wet.

- I put then put the clones into a humidity crib, under 2 x 36W fluro lights on 24/7, and then put that all in the top shelf of a closet. The temp in the closet sits at about 25C, im not sure of what the humidity is in there though. I have my modem and network switch in there which gives off the heat to get it t 25C.

- I gave them a light misting with PH'd water once a day for the first 4 or 5 days.

Its been about 2 weeks now, and they are both wilting pretty badly and the tips of the leaves are starting to turn yellow. I can't really tell if they are rooting because I don't want to hack away at the Rockwool cube, but there are definately no roots coming out of the bottom of the rockwool cube.

What have I done wrong?

Cheers,

demonic1 said:

It sounds like you are doing everything right. Maybe add a layer of water or soaked Perlite to the bottom of your humidity dome for the roots to aim for. Are you giving it some fresh air daily? Do you still have the humidity dome on your clones? I prefer to leave it on and just open up the air holes I have on mine about 1/2 way after about a week. Some remove the humidity dome after about a week but I prefer to leave it on. It seems to keep the foliage greener for me although I am sure it takes a little longer for the roots to grow. The wilting is a sign that it is not getting enough water, which is not a bad thing because you want the roots to search out for water. Maybe give it a light misting now to keep it alive but do not do it too often. I use a heating pad under my clone tray, which seems to have knocked a few days off how long it takes before it starts showing roots in the Rockwell cubes. It used to take me 2 weeks for the clones to start showing roots without the heat pad and for some as much as 18 days. With the heating pad, it usually takes about 11 -14 days now in Rockwell cubes. I am just trying out the Jiffy pellets now to see how they work and if it will root faster. In your situation, just give it more time.

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here is my 2 cents worth...

if you have the humidity done on there still you could have choked out your plant... we know plants breath through their leaves... at higher humidty and temps they close their stomata, which is what they breath through, off.. with high temps they do it to save water... when the humidity is high it is to equal out respiration... if the humidity in the room is to high, the plants wont transpire.. it has to do with pressure on the leaves caused by the humidity.. but the important thing is that they essentially end up choking from this.. if they arent transpiring they arent breathing... all plant functions stop.. rooting and growth are halted.. and after a while of this.. the plant dies... hence what you could be seeing.. wilting, dieing plants....

now again this is based solely on the idea that you have the humidity dome on still and its at 95%+ humidity...

on the other side of things.. if your rockwool cube has dried out, which means the clone has roots and is abosorbing water, then all you need to do is to rewet the rockwool cube and give her a few days to recooperate...

i dont know which of those 2 scenarios best fits your situation.. but i hope this helps figure it out for you...

good luck
sampson

When you make your 45 degree cut your supposed to do that under the water so you don't cause am embolism, but sounds like it is ok. Clones plants do tend to turn yellow while the roots get going, so no worries there all mine do it. Get some water and put an airstone with airpump in it and put it below the plants so there are lots of bubbles bursting below the rockwool cubes. the plants will do much better as it will cause the roots to go looking for the water. Take the dome off and mist the plants a couple times a day for the first few days.

From my exp air gets in the bottom of the stem and causes it to die if you don't position it right in the rockwool.For that reason I use rapid rooters or soil and have 99 percent rooting clones.Not saying that its hard or cannot be done but next time you take clones poke a hole a little deeper than the rockwool hole so in can stand strong in a tight hole.

i know this is old but when they say no air should go up the stem.. how the hell do aeroponic cloners root then? its dangling in the air for christ sake lol

madbushykush said:

i know this is old but when they say no air should go up the stem.. how the hell do aeroponic cloners root then? its dangling in the air for christ sake lol

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Aero cloners keep my stem soaked 24/7,I know some people have thiers on timers but mine runs all the time...Dont know about the air in the rockwool

Some strains just take longer to root than others, and various other factors can extend rooting time (older growth, clones taken during flowering etc.). As long as they aren't visibly dead, and still have some green coloration, just leave them longer.

EDIT: sorry, didn't read the thread properly. My reply was aimed at the OP, but since that post was a while ago, they have probably figured it out by now lol.