Secrets of the propogator revealed

This will be like the third time in two weeks that Ive answered a How to clone using water as a medium thread! I plan on making a thread called how to clone in water and Im hoping it sticks so people can "GET IT"! Some people have responded too my answers with the usual comment of thats overkill glutamate! But the reason I give all the steps is because some people are still not getting it...just because something works for one person doesnt mean it will for another...conditions are always different...thats why Im making the universal guide...do all these step correctly and YOU WILL HAVE SUCCES!


First and foremost remember that cloning a plant is the one of the most difficult things a plant can go through!

Second it can be very frustrating if its not working and your frustration can take over your VIBE and ruin things more for you...relax breathe, and remember that no matter how many failures that those failures are learning lessons and in the end all will be fine no matter what! RELAX!!!

3. Prepare your mothers a week in advance...Low N diet, Light bloom food, Foliar spray with B vit. and trace minerals.

4. Clean the shit out of the propogator, NO debris or algea or gunk on any part! Run it for a half hour with bleach solution, drain then run it with hot water, then drain then pull it aprt every bit, and hand scrub all the pieces ( get extra pieces and soak the used ones and use the clean ones), rinse it all, then put it back together and run it for a half hour in 3% H2O2 solution, drain it the n rinse run it with plain H2O ( make your PH of the cleaning and rinseing PH5.0), now its ready to use!
If you are using pumps all filters should be replaced before each new run they harbor the most bacteria and its immpossible to clean them out! Use pump filter bags new one each time!
Clean all air lines, suction cups, drain caps....EVERTHING!!!

5. Fill the propogator with the water you will use( do this right before you plan to actually stick the cuts in, not hours before but like the hour before)...tap or RO is fine.
You dont have to put anything into the cloner! But it seems to work better if you do!
Common things to add are ....KLN or POWERCLONER type liquid, these things have specific ratios of nutes enzymes amino acids, b vits and IBA type compounds that are for cloning they work great just go lighter than they call for.
SUPERTHRIVE or THRIVEALIVE type b vit, just a little please. These products help to limit the stress to the plant. But remember that POWERCLONER and KLN have B vits in it, just not all the types like these products do!
Remember that RO water has no trace minerals in it IE: CAL MAG! So it will try to leach the minerals out of your cuts! thats why you put in a drop of trace minerals, BUT NOTHING WITH NITROGEN! Only Powercloner and KLn type liquids have the correct amounts of N, any more and roots are screwed. These cloning solutions should be all you need but some people like to have everything covered so USE something like mineral matrix and only a very small amount like a drop, just to charge the solution. Never use ORGANICS in the propogator they grow bacteria and shit and take longer for the plant to actually use and require a root system or soil to be effective.

Now as far as inhibiting growth of bad microbes goes...If your cloner is running correctly and you have all the conditions under control you shouldnt have a problem...
But i suggest using some B. Subtilis, Which comes in many forms thje most common being HYDROGUARD. DO NOT USE MULTI-SPECIE MICROBE MIXES, just B. SUBTILIS, or use Flora SHIELD or SM 90 type product, which are plant extracts compounds that create clean environments and help plants grow or use nothing at all.
Do NOt use H2O2, it burns the brand new roots tips.

PH the water to 5.2, the Ph will increase as the clones root, they usually root around 6.0 to 6.2, but since it takes a few days for them to root and the water PH increases each day you have to start it out low, then it starts to root, then 6 rolls around and it shoots roots, then the finish by the time it hits PH 6.5

The water temp is crucial! when you root into cubes you want the temps to be in the 75-80s that I think is causing some misinformation for some people as far as water rooting goes.
Ultimately you want the water temp to be 1-2 degrees warmer than the air, this is causing alot of the different answers out there because everyone has a different grow room temp and humidity, and since almost no-one has a completely controled environment...You get one guy saying I heat thre water roots in no time and other people like I do nothing and it roots fine...You see the problems.
For water cloning the Ideal air to water temp is 70/72, thats air at 70 and water at 72. You have to remember that cooler water holds the most DO (dissloved oxygen), and inhibits the most fungus/bacteria blooms that hurt your MJ. You can put all the cloning nutes and stuff you want but without DO your screwed!
You never want the water over 75, little DO and nastys start growing! In cubes their isnt a bunch of water for those little crtters to take hold, and the cubes hold DO so its nice to warm things up to stimulate the roots.
Most peoples clonegrows are either a lot hotter or a lot cooler.
Hotter gorws forget the keep the water 2 degrees warmer than the air and keep the water between 68-72, the warmer the cooler the water, I prefer 68, it is the ideal temp/DO for MJ.
Cooler clone areas may need the water warmer than 72 just to keep them from going into hibernation mode, If that is the case get an titanium aquarium water heater, with a thermostat. And think about getting a heater for the spac, cause cuts dont like really cold environments.
Remember that keeping the WATER/AIR temps constant is very crucial to real succes, having things controllable and constantly monitoring is very good, adjusting temps for different parts of the day. Using water chillers and heaters is important as well as AC units and heaters for the air.
Remember to try to top up the water level of the propogator, this will help with DO and keeping the PH stable and lower.
Always use your BUBBLERS. Keeep them going for 24/7 and sprayers.!!
6. Take your cuts from the lower parts of the MOMs preferably, but all parts of the plant will clone just at different rates of time and succes!
Cut a few nodes below the node that you are going to have suspended in the spray or water of the propogator, use a sharp pair of scissors and immediatly place that initial "ROUGH"cut into a glass of H2O that is PH 5.5 and has a little of the same stuff that goes into the propogator(KLN SuperTHrive ect), let those "ROUGH" cuts soak for like 10 minutes or so to suck up the solution a little, to adapt to being cut and prevent embolisms. Get all those cuts ready and soaked. then get them next to the cloner and get out the GEL and scalpal.
Take each large "rough" cut and take off the fan leaves at the nodes above the part of the cut that will stick out of the neoprene collar or whatever is goin g to be "ABOVE GROUND, Up to the top most two Fan leaves, these leaves and any other of the larger of the smaller leaves that are at the nodes, cut these leaves about a a half inch from there tips at pointy angles. Basically clipping the tips off the large leaves, this prevents extra transpiration. Helps to keep them from wilting! YOU want like 2-3 nodes above the collar, with just the top 2 fan leaves clipped, you want some bare stem with NO leaves at all IN the collar, and you want 1-2 CLEAN nodes below the collar in the water or spray zone.
After you have the leaves all clipped put the "rough" cut back in the solution and clean up another, do this till they are all cleaned and ready.
I find this next step goes easier with a helper to hold open the collars and putting them in the propogator, which at this time is running.
You grab up a "ROUGH" cut and cut it at the 45 angle with the clean scalpal, right in between 2 nodes, below is waste ,and above is the clone with the cleaned nodes and clipped leaves, immediatly put that 45 cut into the GEL! sit for like 5 -10 seconds and into the collar and into the propogator. I like to take the 45 then put it back into the solution for a second then into the GEL to prevent embolism. On to the next one.
Whether or not to scrape some of the xylum off is your decision, just do it correctly!
Another trick is to splitt the stem like a half centimeter or so. This helps prevent embolism. You dont have to do either!

7. Humidity. Spray the intial cuts every couple of haours lightly with some PH 6.5 H2O for the first 24 hrs and you wont need a dome.
If you do use a dome then make sure you vent it correctly and watch the humidity.
The higher the Humidity in the clone area the better. But make the temp and the humidity correlate. If you have an ideal 70 room and the water is 72, then the humidity at like 50 is goona work great. if the room is alot warmer then Higher Himidity is better.
If its colder then use less humidity, but you run into lots of transpiration...but cold and wet, thats not good.

8. Light, 2 T5 bulbs Blue or white or combination about 18 inchs above should do the trick. But any Floro, will work. HID keep a long way above!

9.Air, low air exchange is good, too much and it will increase transpiration.

Some people will say that glutamate is trying to get you to do a lot of work and use a lot of products...but like I said not following all these steps and you can still succeed, everyones conditionds and vibrations are different, and the old saying if it aint broke dont fix it! But if you are trying and trying and nothing is working and you want it broken down then SECRETS OF THE PROPOGATOR REVEALED is just for you!

Good luck

 

There is a brand new thread posted about how to use a bubble cloner....

Maybe this thread should become a sticky?

 

Earl made this a sticky over at cannabis culture forums...Ive been suggesting this be made a sticky here...we just got a sticky on how to clone but that is all conventional medium cloning...and the number one thread on this forum is ?s about how to clone in bubbles!!!

I just got my new digital camera, I will take a photo op of the operation next time i take cuts...maybe that will get it stuck?