I'm heading to a local hydro shop this weekend. Going to buy little net pots with neoprene...If its worth doing, then its worth doing right. I don't want to continuously have dead clones on my hands.
Thanks alot for the help! Also, now that I'll be using neoprene plugs, do I still need to dip the stems into clonex? Or just submerge them a little into the aerated water?
I always take 3" cuttings, and cut all of the fan leaves in half on each cutting. I have never used a humidity dome, here is what my routine consists of. 1. Take the cutting at about a 45 degree angle, you want a good raw area to dip your cutting in. 2. Carefully dip the cutting, do not force any air inside of her hollow shoot because this is a very quick way to ensure she will not live. 4. Make a slit in the side of your rockwool cube so that the cutting can be slid in rather then "stuck" in, be sure to leave the tip exposed. 3. I use a 10 gallon dwc res to house them, within a week they are generally all rooted. -C
Thanks! Thats the key I was missing, I didn't consider cutting a slit in the rockwool and using it as a plug...Here is my new little bubble cloner, 8 sites on it but I only made 4 cuttings, I don't want to keep hacking on the mother. I guess I need to cover up the empty holes huh? I am using a dual air pump but only using 1 stone as it is plenty for this little tub. I also washed the tub out using alcohol and then cleaned and dried before putting any water in. I also used foil tape as budslinger suggested.
You got it going on now buddy! That's exactly what mine looks like. I would suggest following thosevacanteyes suggestions. One thing I would add though, remove all your fan leaves but the top two (2). Then you would have one growing tip and two leaves. Also cut the leaves in half so they want take as much moisture from the clone. Follow those simple steps and you will be up to your neck in clones in no time. Good Luck! Oh yeah, definatley cover up those remaining open holes. You don't want any unwanteds mix in your water. Roots like the dark, so try to resist any temptation to check and see if you have roots yet everyday. I know it's hard to do, but try to resist.
I went ahead and filled in the entire cloner. My mother has had enough for one day - lol. I did hack off some of the bigger fan leaves, and now they all just have the 2. Thanks for the help guys... So in a week or two there supposed to be popping roots? Do I then transplant them elsewhere?
Yeah that looks good! I would still cut the remaining fan leaves in half. What I mean by that is take all the fans of the leaf and bunch them one on top of the other so it looks like one fan. Then cut the tips off in one whack. They'll love you for it, I promise! Edit here's an example:
I've always been under the impression that cutting any stem/leaf is bad for the plant or clone and causes tons of stress. Sorry I am such a noobie but I accidentally nicked my mother and I about had a damn fit over it :-O. Thanks alot for your help man, its been much appreciated!!!
What do you do with the clones after they pop roots, just transplant them to a bigger pot or are they ok to stay in the bubbler?
Another stupid question...How comes a flower stem from say a type of rose doesn't root when put into a vase? Because the water is not aerated or is it just you cant clone roses? confused
Still no roots yet, been about 5 days. Used some superthrive yesterday, don't know if it will help...Kinda losing faith in this process...lol
I couldnt get my bubble cloner to work right either. So i switched to soil cloning. I have about a 90% success rate now.
This is day 5...Probably too many fan leaves - maybe the stems are too far in the water, let me know if I need to trim (fan leaves) those buggers back or cut them off completely.
Just leave it like it is. They all look good, just give it a bit of time. I've had some to take awhile also.
OK one of the plants just popped a small root! Damn, super thrive ftw! How soon would I need to transplant it to a bigger pot?
let the root system develop. I would wait until you have 5-10 roots sticking out at least a half inch.
Still no roots...sigh...what I thought was a root was some leftover rockwool hair - lol... I took two cuttings, used clonex and put them in soil, but after a few days nothing. I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong. The cuttings I put in the DWC have been in there for 3 weeks, I give up.