# I suck at cloning.



## Elliot Jansen (Sep 27, 2008)

I have done alot of research on this topic. And I still have had a 0% success rate.  I have cut 9 clones off of 3 plants and all have died.  The strain is Lemongrass Thai.  I'm not sure which of my plants are female yet but I will not  flower until I have clones successfully rooting. The first attempt at cloning remnants of hurricane Ike killed 6 of my clones. (understandable we lost power for 4 days) . The second time around I had much more control over the environment and I thought I did everything I was supposed to. I cut at 45, cut 45 under water, dipped in IBA, and stuck them in rockwool in a humidity dome.  The last time my temp stayed within 75 -80 degrees and I misted with a very weak bloom solution. I cut a generous 1/3 of all the leaves off and kept them in indirect light.  I even sacrificed them. And the leaves curled up and they died.  I am chopping meristems and decreasing my yield and increasing my veg time everytime I screw up.  So if anyone knows anything that I am missing or not doing feel free to let me know.  I am very vague about how much light clones should be recieving as "indirect" is very vague term.  

I am constructing a mini MassProducer bubble cloner.  3 gallon Rubbermaid, 2 6'' Airstones, 6 slots.  I am waiting for the aquarium sealant to dry then filling it with 5.5 bottled water.  I will probably still dip in IBA, and I will cut at 45 at the stem and under water. then stick them in the contraption and hope they come out like MP's did in his pictures on his thread.


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## King Bud (Sep 27, 2008)

> I misted with a very weak bloom solution. I cut a generous 1/3 of all the leaves off and kept them in indirect light. I even sacrificed them.



Do everything you did, except for those. Should work fine. 

Keeping them in direct light has never (as far as I can tell) caused a problem. If anything, I've noticed it helps. 

Cloning is easy, don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. 

I remember the first time I made cuttings and cloned.. I did it in a home made bubble cloner (which works great, but is more complicated than needed, if you ask me).. I added superthrive, and greenfuse to the reservoir.. COMPLETE FAILURE! Ended up working just fine with plain water, go 'figure.

So meditate with them, send them some good vibes, be positive around them, and *keep it simple* 

You'll get it eventually.


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## BuddyLuv (Sep 27, 2008)

I just broke down and bought an aero cloner. I now have 100% success rate with strains that I could not get to root.


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## thief (Sep 28, 2008)

i cut lil clones. i use a humidity dome. i dont feed anything till i plant. i use a rooting hormone (olivias gel is my fav). i mist 4 or 5 times a day for the first week then cut back to twice a day the second week. if any leaves wilt i cut them off as the plant dont have the energy to pick them back up generally speaking. there should be roots showing by the end of week 2 unless you are cloneing a flower top  they tend to take 3 or more weeks to root. i have better luck just useing scisors  i dont cut them under water  and i dont wory abt a 45 angle of cut. an i run abt 80% survival rates generally speaking. only abt 50 % on flower tops tho. this is how i do it  not saying it is the way. oh yea i use an 18" cfl grow light at abt 6" from the clones.


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## Bleek187 (Sep 29, 2008)

aero cloner is tha way to go.. also keep fresh air going to the clones and U will see better results


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## bigweedo (Sep 29, 2008)

Do you guy still use a dome with the aerocloner?


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## King Bud (Sep 29, 2008)

I highly recommend trying the simple ways first, before dishing out large $ for a machine that only works slightly better.


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## PUFF MONKEY (Sep 29, 2008)

i used hicks method and had 100% success the first time....don't use any nutes


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## BuddyLuv (Sep 29, 2008)

100 bucks for a botanicare 25 site aerocloner doesn't seem like a waste to me. They even have smaller 8 site cloners. I just cloned a WW that was 9 weeks into flower and had roots in 6 days. I didn't initially think this WW would be the nicest so I just had to save the genetics. You can not do that with a rapid rooter.


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## Elliot Jansen (Sep 29, 2008)

Damn..  I should be misting..  It didn't say anything about misting in MPs original thread on the bubbler.  I have already lost one, well almost.. it looks very sad indeed.  1 has a root starting it looks like but I suspect the parent to be a male because of its growing characteristics, the other hasnt done anything yet..  Should I just stop trying to clone the plant that the clones keep dying from or should I assume that I screwed it up again.

Also, I have a T5 just a little under a foot away from my clones..


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## King Bud (Sep 29, 2008)

Assume you screwed it up again (don't take it to heart! some of them just aren't as determined as others).
Just keep trying.
If you have roots showing now, the others are sure to follow soon. Keep faith and patience


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## Elliot Jansen (Sep 29, 2008)

Ive also heard that clones will wilt the first few days, and then, bounce back and be fine.  Is there any truth to this?


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## BuddyLuv (Sep 29, 2008)

sure is... I had some that looked dead for two days and then started growing again.


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## Elliot Jansen (Sep 29, 2008)

It seems that these clones are very temperature sensitive.  The sad clone was very wilty so, I snapped off two whole leaves and bumped up the temp.  The air when I opened my cloning closet was about 86, and my water was a little hotter than lukewarm, and the weeping clone seems happy again. Straightened right up in a matter of hours.. Looks as good as the other two.. Strange...


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## King Bud (Sep 29, 2008)

Yes, wilting is common with cuttings, they usually recover.

It's a symptom of the cutting losing too much moisture.

Keeping fewer leaves (I keep the growth node, and a leaf or two) helps with this. I've heard people say that it takes energy to keep more leaves alive while cloning, but I'm not sure if they were referring to only moisture loss or not.

If you notice wilting, spraying the cuttings and the walls of the humidity dome with water can help.


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## 4u2sm0ke (Sep 30, 2008)

hey Elliot...Glad to see Im not the only one frustraded with this Art they call cloneing....i have tried all sorts of ways to clone my MJ plants..and have had some success..but cant say 100%....I can say That Patience is the key...I dont give up on my clones until they are brown and have no green what so ever..and i have had a lot..i have looked into the rapid rooters but still want a shot at traditional ways first..I love a challange..I am going to try a new method I have thaught of this Fall grow..Hope to have a better ratio...all I can say my friend is keep tryn...have patience...and find what works for you and build upon it..and I use a 4 foot flour..and its at 1 inch from clones..sometimes sits right on dome....KEEP M GREEN


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## Bleek187 (Sep 30, 2008)

No dome with aero.. just mist a few times a day.. and well worth tha money.. 25 clones.. no hastle.. just cut and put in there.. i sprey um one time a day when i get home from work.. 2 weeks later i put um in rockwool and throw them in flower.. bubble cloners work.. and they are cheap.. just depends on what you want.. no way is tha wrong way.. just some ways are more simple.. for me, being able to have 12 perfect clones with great roots every time i finish a crop, is worth the 100 and some bucks i paid for my aero.. i found with my bubbler i would take like 20 cuts and sometimes have good results, sometimes bad, sometimes just ok... **** that i need a sure thing..


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## King Bud (Sep 30, 2008)

For those on a budget.. don't forget that we can all build aero cloners..

I'm not sure if we have a DIY for it (yet)..

but it's basically a pump, some pvc, some spray nossles, a container, and some neoprene holders.

edit: DIY http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24621&page=1&pp=40


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## la9 (Sep 30, 2008)

Forget all the rooting hormone and stuff.

Simple way is just to stick them in a plain glass of water and wait for them to root.

Second simple way is to stick them in a plain glass of water with the addition of an airstone from the aquarium dept., of course hooked to an air pump.

Remember plain water, do not add nutes.

Shouldn't have any problems.


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## Elliot Jansen (Oct 2, 2008)

Thanks for the support peeps..  I now have my first 3 successful clones..  They are rooting like crazy.  Big ups to MP for his DIY Bubbler thread, its working wonderfully.  Glad I didn't spend 100 bux on a cloner from the grow shop.


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## 4u2sm0ke (Oct 2, 2008)

King Bud said:
			
		

> For those on a budget.. don't forget that we can all build aero cloners..
> 
> I'm not sure if we have a DIY for it (yet)..
> 
> ...


 

hey King Bud.....thanks for the link...snuggles has a lot of room..that looks to big for my needs.  i suppose you could make a smaller one..


Elliot...congrats on the 3..massP bubble clone does work..and did not cost much huh?..keep practicing my friend


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## whiterussian (Oct 27, 2008)

Well how i cut my clones is i cut them at a 45 degree angle and lightly shave thin shavings of the stem on the bottom inch very thin and then i dip in cloning gel and also inject cloning gel in rapid rooters and stick in my clone in the rapid rooter and put under a 105 watt eiko floro bulb and then i put the rapid rooter in soil or hydroton


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## CasualGrower (Oct 27, 2008)

Yep that Massproducer Bubble Cloner is the best way to go IMO.....   I tried this last batch to add just a lil bit of Nutes and well... It just doesn't work as well as it does with just plain tap water and maybe a lil Liquid Karma.


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## Elliot Jansen (Dec 13, 2008)

Well, I have finally got the hang of it.  I thought I would update this thread a touch..  I understand now what plant people always tell me about raising plants is the slow (sometimes frustrating) process of learning what to do.  I will share the three most important things I think that will give those having a hard time a better success rate at cloning.

#1: Environment: If your environment isn't what it should be for clones they will die.  I kept my veg box at a little over 80 degrees, and in MP's bubble cloner.  I didn't mist.  I found that little clones need T5's too be closer to them so they can catch those good rays.  Not too close, eh, about 3 -4 inches.

#2: Cuttings:  Choose wisely.  I started choosing clones that have 2 leaf sprouts from one node, so that you at least get 4 - 6 meristems from 2 or 3 nodes before she grows up and decides to do what she wants to do.  Always cut under water, at 45, dip in IBA (optional) and **do not cut too far from the node**. This was my initial problem.  Once I started cutting fairly close to the node my success rate sky rocketed.  From what I've been told the node is a root system in itself.  Don't know how much truth there is to this I just know it works.

#3: Patience:  Clones are the most moody, demanding plants when they are fresh.  First they are happy, then really sad looking, then they look awesome, then you wonder if they will ever root.  They may take a while to root, I peek in on mine daily.  Once you see those little bumps..  your're $$$$.


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## old blue (Dec 18, 2008)

I just tried my "massproducer" diy bubbler cloner for the 1st time, and i can happily say, 100% success after day 8! 4 out of 4 white rhino's rooted! Now i just gotta wait for the donor plants to show sex. :-/


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