I recently built a small (8 site) aeroponic cloning system. I have never used aeroponics to clone before (usually use rockwool), but after a little reasearch I found a system I could easily duplicate with a very small investment (about $30) and speed up my cloning time. It was taking me 15-25 days to clone with just rockwool and a humidty dome. now, with the aeroponic cloner I am seeing roots after only 3-5 days, with very little wilting. The problem is, I have not been able to find any documentation on transplanting from an aeroponic cloner to soil. I have cloned lots of plants before, but like I said, I usually use rockwool and that is very easy to transplant. Does anyone have any tips for transplanting from an aeroponic cloner to soil? I suppose I could go from the aeroponic cloner to rockwool and then to soil, but do I even need the rockwool? Also, how long should I let the roots get before I transplant. Right now they are at about 1/4 inch after 4 days. When I use rockwool I just wait for the roots to show through the cube. I would imagine they are 1 to 1 1/2 inches at that point. Any tips or help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Awww do you really have to stick those beautiful roots into soil???!! Hehe Seriously though... I think you could transplant now and I would probably wrap roots into a rockwool block before putting into soil to protect them. You could transplant directly into soil by partially filling the pot and then while angling the pot insert the plant and then fill with more soil so it is covered.
I know, it's painful to see the beautiful white roots go to soil. When I first started growing, I gre only hydro, but the upkeep just got to be too much. i do have a family and a life. I have just found soil is much less time consuming. And the grow is just for me, so I don't care that much about the extra yield potential. If I want more, I will just grow an extra plant. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I figured rockwool was probably my best bet. I may experiment and do a few with rockwool and a few just straight into the soil. See what works best. I have plenty of healthy clones, and a healthy mother, so i am not too worried if I kill a few along the way (I know, blasphemy).
Let's say you're putting these clones into soil. How long ideally, would you want the roots of the clones to be in inches? Any special treatment of the soil? Should they be overwatered for the first few days or how about a humidity dome for a short time? Thanks.. Warn
I just wanted to take a moment to encourage anyone who has had problems with clones in the past to consider using an aeroponic cloner in the future. I took some clones 6 days ago from a very strong mother plant and I already have two clones in soil. But, the best part is that the aeroponic cloner has almost completely eliminated wilting. Which, doing it the old fashioned way (rockwool) was my biggest problem. By the time my roots would pop out of the rockwool, the clone was nearly dead. If anyone is ineterested, I can draw up some plans for the very simple aeroponic cloner that I built. I promise it is worth the very small investment. Happy growing.
I personally waited until the roots where poking out of the netpot. I am sure it can be done sooner, but this has seemed to work for me so far. I guess in inches it would be somewhere between 1 and 3 inches.
I for one, Mad4 Reef would be interested in seeing your aeroponic cloner plans. I am using a cloner made out of a rubbermaid shoe box with an air pump and bubble wand. It's OK, but the air pumping through the system makes me have to check on the humidity in the dome all the time. It the clones dry out, they're toast. I have had better luck with this lately as I've been more on top of debriding necrotic material and keeping the system clean. Yet the roots are still less than one inch long. I've got them under fluoros in a humidity dome and the temps are mid 80's. http://projects.greenmangardens.net/content/view/25/39/ This is a very commonly used design that I've been fooling around with. I bought the misters recommended but I think the pump I got at 80 GPH was inadequate to drive them. They are dribblers now, not misters. I'm going to try a larger pump. One thing I've learned is to keep the aeroponic chamber scrupulously clean. I clean this thing out every other day using a bleach solution. So it's a learning process.... Warn
great question! i am using an aeroponic cloner. i forgot about a batch of clones i had and they are now 14 days in the bucket. no wilting ,a little yellowing of lower leaves but they are starting to show new growth on the top. they are perfectly fine! the problem is that i want to transplant to soil, but the roots are about 8-10 inches long! will these be ok to transplant to 3 or 5 gallon square buckets with fox farm mix? thanks in advance
I use a little hydroton in the top of the pot to help the transition to soil. i also give them small waterings 2 or 3 times a day and keep a dome on them till I see em growing. what all are you guys using in your cloner res's ? what temps do you have? mine is running at 75 degree's and I use R/O water with liquid oxy.
I have the expensive EZ cloner, I paid $400 for it about 2 years ago now, and I get 100% success rate every time. I grow my ladies to maturity in aeroponics, an ebb and flow bucket system, and I fill in the rest of the open space with dirt for a sick headstash of 10 different strains. Directly planting into soil is one of the easiest ways to go with an aeroponic cloner. If your planning on putting the girls in soil, let the roots grow until they touch the water in your cloner, the more root mass there, the better success rate you will get b/c when transplanting them, they will be much less prone to transplant shock. When they are ready to be planted, simply fill the pot halfway with your dirt mix, then dig a small hole about 2in wide 1-2 in deep, and simply hold your clone with one hand by the stem, and put the roots down into the soil, back filling the soil you dug out of the hole to cover the roots. Then get another handful/cup of soil and bury the stem as high as possible. When I transplant, I put soil right up to about and inch before the first set of leaf nodes. Doing this helps the roots grow strong and have plenty of space to stretch out for water/nutes solution and also by burying the stem this way gives it more space below ground to sprout roots. I notice the base of my stem always trying to pop roots out the outer casing, which is why I bury them so deep. It basically gives the plant more surface area to stabilize and anchor itself into the soil. I hope this helps you. Keep it up!
I see this is an old post but thought I'd ask anyway. I am doing something wrong. I get 99% roots on my clone king however once i transplant into fox farms dirt 90% die off slowly. Iv tried adding more pearlite. Didnt help much just slowed the death. Can someone help me hear..
I'd start them in seed starter soil or the equivalent. You don't want to give too much water at first. I like to bottom feed for the first week. Does the distance to the light or the type of light change between cloner and cup? How big of a root mass are you allowing to grow in the cloner? How long are they in the cloner for? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Just for fun, I put some Jiffy pods into the cloner, waited to see a root bulge (about 5 days) and then to soil..so far so good. Here ya go...I copied this with no issues...<$50 Lets Build a Clone Machine *Step by Step*