Wilted cuttings

Jimmyjonestoo said:

Never heard of clone gaurd. Is it a rooting powder or used along with it?

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Not it's a dip for the cut, it's like whiteout for stomata is the best way I can describe it.

GreenLogician said:

Okay. Well I'm not saying other techniques wont work, just that I've had a string of success with very small clones and no dome (except to restore the occasional wilter), nor heating pad nor misting

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Hey what works works. Just saying i doubt it's the ops problem.

dbkick said:

Not it's a dip for the cut, it's like whiteout for stomata is the best way I can describe it.

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So no rooting hormone? Just clone gaurd and into medium?

I used to have a leaf-sealing, sweat reducing spray.
I think it's unrelated to rooting hormone, you don't put it on the cut of the stem, just the foliage.
You still make your usual choice if you are going rooting hormone or plain stem.

Jimmyjonestoo said:

So no rooting hormone? Just clone gaurd and into medium?

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yeah, what green said. It's just to stop transpiration which makes your cuts wilt. The other benefit is it kills any bugs and their eggs that may be on the cut.

my ambient RH is around 10-20% since its all in the basement. temps without the heat mat is 65 with the lights on, and 45 with the lights off. The difference between the healthy looking and wilted clones is night and day. the healthy ones looks rooted already ( i know they're not).

Oh wow RH, okay definitely don't go the entirely domeless method

65 with the lights on is only a little too low.
Perhaps reduce the effect of the heat mat by raising the tray off of it slightly, or putting a towel or something between them, or move the pad to under the tote's floor.
Perhaps go 24/0 to use the lights to keep temps nice all the time.

I reckon with lights on, you want the heating pad to raise the temps about half as much as it is.

GreenLogician said:

I used to have a leaf-sealing, sweat reducing spray.
I think it's unrelated to rooting hormone, you don't put it on the cut of the stem, just the foliage.
You still make your usual choice if you are going rooting hormone or plain stem.

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Thanks for the info. Never had cloning issues but njce to know such a product exists.

Do you veg and flower in that basement, with that RH?

i havent grown in this location yet, but i will be. i shouldve specified the temps more. inside the tote the temp is 73-81 and RH is 75%-90%.
Ambient room RH 10%-20%
Ambient room temp 45-55

Tent RH 25%-40%
Tent Temps 60-80
I'm growing 100% organic and have done nothing but EWC/kelp teas (occasionally adding Neptunes fish hydrolosate and seaweed)

I think 81 is going a bit too high.
Main suspect at the moment

What other options can we explore...
You said you mist the soil to keep it feeling damp all the time, maybe that's not going deep enough? Give it a full drench until water comes out the bottom?

thanks for sticking around on this one. i'm going to lessen the misting a little and try watering the medium more. I've never had cuttings do this including my first grow when i knew nothing... At least it's not all of them. some look GREAT.. always something new to learn

Sirgreggins said:

it seems moist to me. i mist it to keep it constant.

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99.9 % of the soil can be moist BUT at that stage the only part that matters is 0.1% that's around the stem. Are you putting 2 nodes clean cut in the soil???? They should never wilt that bad. Remember cuttings need minimal light. And I mean minimal. Maybe put the light further away. I root mine under indirect light from the side of my T5 that has the rooted cuttings directly under it.

Gosh I wish I'd thought of that! Goes hand in hand with the suggestion of too high temps - too much light. Good one.

It's important to know how delicate these things are at this point. They need everything to be as ideal as possible. It should be constant. They should be taken from plants that aren't in need of water either. You want them to be at 100% when you take the cuttings. As soon as they are cut they should be put in a cup of distilled R/O water. NO sitting around with an exposed cut to the open air! The cuttings should be longer than you plan on using. This will allow you to make a nice clean angle cut on the stem at 45 degrees. Then you must have a minimum of 1 but 2 nodes also clean cut with a clean razor. All 3 of those should be below the soil. So that the cutting can draw in water from all 3 spots as well as develope a root system. All this needs to happen quickly. As I've said before what ever they are being planted in and any water being used should NEVER be cold. They need a little warmer than usual as this time. The cold can shock them. From this point until they have rooted they need the entire stem area below ground needs to be wet. The humidity needs to be up so it can help the cutting transpire. Remember the only thing this has to live on is the moister you're providing it and the food in the leaves. If they struggle for anything they will wilt. As I said before they should never "lay down" like most of yours are. Once they've wilted damage is being done and viability is decreasing. You have to make sure there is enough "plant" above ground to want to live. You don't want to over crowd them because it makes it harder for the leaves to get fresh air. If you want to know the truth my cuttings NEVER bend over. And it doesn't matter if they are small thin side branches or a 14 inch cutting that needs to be rooted in a solo cup for depth! I've listed before what conditions need to be. I'm not lying you just need to do what ever it is you need to do to maintain those conditions any way you have to. If you can do all that and they are still wilting you are giving it more light than it can handle. If nothing is under my T5 and I'm rooting my lights 3.5-4 foot away and not running on all 6 bulbs. You could see some yellowing of the leaves that's not awful it just means that the plant is "working" and the only place it can get N from is the leaves until it roots. They should get nothing but RO or distilled water for 2 weeks. At that point roots should have started. You can test that by lightly pulling up on the cutting of its steady rooting has most likely started. If most of the cutting are like that then you want to start to give a LITTLE and I mean LITTLE food. I don't take my cuttings out of the flat until I start seeing some roots coming through the bottom. This really boils down to can you maintain the right environment for a 2 week period. Because besides that all you have to do is make sure the stem stays moist.

Go buy an Ez cloner. You'll thank me later.

adower said:

Go buy an Ez cloner. You'll thank me later.

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I've never used one and I'm sure they probably work. So in no way am I knocking them. BUT if you're going to do this properly -----> taking cuttings should be easy. And it shouldn't take anything special. At most a dry area needs a humidifier but that's only because of the climate that person lives in. How hard is putting 2 nodes under the freaking soil and keeping it warm moist and under a tiny bit of light? Personally if you can't root a cutting you probably shouldn't be growing at all. Because in the end it probably won't be worth smoking. Better to take the $ and buy a bag!

I haven't had any problems cloning in soil, but I bought an EZ cloner because I thought it would be fun
It was pretty cool, but I've gone back to soil for ease. I wish I hadn't dropped $300 on it

GOLDBERG71 said:

I've never used one and I'm sure they probably work. So in no way am I knocking them. BUT if you're going to do this properly -----> taking cuttings should be easy. And it shouldn't take anything special. At most a dry area needs a humidifier but that's only because of the climate that person lives in. How hard is putting 2 nodes under the freaking soil and keeping it warm moist and under a tiny bit of light? Personally if you can't root a cutting you probably shouldn't be growing at all. Because in the end it probably won't be worth smoking. Better to take the $ and buy a bag!

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I agree that cloning is easy but the op is having issues. An Ez cloner should help him get going. You can't really mess it up with one.