Hey guys,
First time I tied cutting in rock wool, it worked well, kept them covered and warm. Took a couple weeks.
Next I tired Jiffy plugs, lost a batch of cutting when they moulded. Too much humidity is not the hot set up. Tried it again and had success.
Retired for a while, but not having much luck getting restarted. I managed 1 rooted cutting from a batch of 9.
So, time to up my game. Air or Aero sound interesting, what do you think?
Just build an aero cloner. Very easy
Or build a dwc cloner. It’s a lot easier n temps stay lower bc pump is out of the tube.
I take my cuttings, dip them in powered rooting hormone, put it in the Jiffy plugs or seed starting mix, what ever you want to use is fine. I then place the cuttings in a propagation tent or chamber and spray mist (pH corrected water only) the cuttings along with the container they are in, close it up and let nature take its course. That is usually all it takes, open to air out for about 10 or 15 minutes every day, spray mist the leaves lightly as needed (this is where they are getting the moisture they need from to form roots at this time) for development to continue. I have had fairly successful rates cloning this way. I usually make up between 6 and 10 cuttings ( every couple of weeks) and on my paper I see that I have only lost 9 clones out of all the clones I have made in the past 16 months, not too bad.
regards,
mike28086
Thanks for the quick reply.
I am thinking DWC with air stones in a 3 gallon bucket, lid drilled out for x4 spots.
That way, I can maintain my Canada approved plant count while sharing the rooted clones.
I suspect one of my limiting factors was taking cutting from the lower light deprived branches. Nursed them along for 6+ weeks, one has survived and is thriving now. Next time, cutting will be from the top vigorous growing region.
So, fast is good. Under 2 weeks is good, weekly would be nice too.
I have the best luck with this method.
I’ve tried many others but I always go back to this. Best of all it takes little space and requires no maintenance. I seal them up well and don’t open until I see Root’s. Usually 10-14 days.
Works great with rockwool as well. Temperature is key , about 70deg works well for me
My water source is a well, over the Winter it gets very hard.
I have collected a supply of snow melt, plenty for this job.
My temps were low room for that first batch, about 62F. Moved them and a few more cutting into a room I can maintain above room temps, about 75-78F average.
Rock wool cubes do well for me have some of those spongy rapid rooters lying around need to try them rooting powder and root tech is what I did last run sprayed down propagation dome on a heat pad … haven’t tried aloe leaf hear it works well as does honey … oh iv used jiffy pellets to with luck
I also wanted to add that I scrap the stem as well prior to dipping saw a video the other day where a guy just stripped a fan leaf down to the cut taking that outer layer off which is pretty much the same thing IMO. Two nodes below the media also makes for more roots if ya can get tight internode spacing
I use pro mix in a 2 inch jiffy pot. I put my dome on a cool surface with 50w fluros. Typically I get very nice roots within 2 weeks with this method.
I built an aero cloner in a 6 gal fermentation bucket, 3 weeks ago, it has 18 holes, 1 for the power cord to the pump. I took 26 cuttings and doubled up on some of the holes. I use aloe juice for rooting and scrape the stems with my thumb nail and just plain tap water in the bucket. I trim the ends off the leaves and 45 degree cut on the stems.
My pump runs for 5 minutes every hour to keep the water cooler. I mist the plants with a weak 2.6.4 liquid fert if your going to mist them its better to give them a bit of food in it, otherwise just mist the inside of the humidity dome with water, which I do as well. Temps are constant at 75F with humidity in the cabinet at 60-70% outside the humidity domes.
First week I had roots showing on 8 cuttings, any that didn’t, got more aloe juice on the stems and after 2 weeks, 17 had roots, and the first 8 were taken out and put in solo cups under a humidity dome for 3-4 days while they set there roots, the roots were covered with mycorrhizae powder and some bone meal in the soil around the roots as well.
I lost 4 cuttings over all, and the rest just went under the humidity domes this morning to finish of setting there roots. I have tried cloning with DWC, jiffy pucks and soil, with varying degrees of success, this is by far the most successful way of cloning I have found so far. I think the most important aspect is a constant temp and humidity in your clone room/tent and the light foliage feed, which stops them burning up all their energy.
A pic, its back left, put foil tape on it to make sure no light was getting in. Domes come from the dollar store.
Thanks Shadey, that is the brain dump I was hoping for. 
Lots to consider, first up, my room temperature varies a lot over the day. In the room temp range, but governed by the furnace on cycle. Supplemental electric heat should solve that issue.
Misting low dose fertilizer would be interesting check out.
No argument with your success, nice work.
7 weeks in for the first batch of cutting, only one is actually growing. One more showed a root, but has not thrived. The two in the rear are still showing a spark of green, but otherwise are sticks.
The 3 in the center are 3+ weeks, any time now …
Is there a heating pad under them? I have not had great success cloning using a heating pad. I find the roots like to be cooler to grow
No electric heating. In the past, during actual Spring, I have not needed it. This Winter season does take some adjustment. They have been going through 5C temp swings through the day.
The LED lamp has proven itself awesome on full sized plants. I am confident it has everything seedling through flowering plants need. I have it at 24" and on 16/8 timer.
It is in my half bathroom, where I fuss over it every time I pee.
Thats why they are taking so long, my situation was the same until I made a plywood cabinet that holds the temp steady with the light during the day and the little heater at night. I put in a temp controller 4 weeks ago, and a small duct fan to control the temps better. When the temp is swinging about same with humidity they dont have the resources to deal with it, and just slow down in the root making process using up valuable energy in their leaves. Thats why I use the light ferts to keep them going and they stay green and are take less time to develop once put in soil. The biggest thing you can do to increase your success will be stabilizing the heat and humidity I think.
I tried a heat mat as well, but it just created mold on the stems when I used it. Probably too hot, I didn’t have a controller for it.
What I like most about the aero cloner, is you can lift the cuttings out and look at them. In soil you just have to keep waiting and hoping without knowing, I have had clones sit in a humidity dome for a month, and look all green and lovely, and you think they are done, but as soon as you try and transplant the cutting, it falls out of the soil with nothing, not one single root lol.
The best way I’ve found is to use powder or honey then throw them little babies into a rapid rooter plug, cover in the dome and spray once a day. Put your dome over a seedling mat and your good. Almost %100 rate of cloning…
Yea, been a learning experience this time around.
I like the idea of a cabinet dedicated to the job. Cool and stable or warm and wide fluctuation don’t help the process.
Thanks for the tip on the air on cycle, I had assumed it was 24hr on time.
Occurs to me, this is perfect job for a Raspberry Pi. Remote temperature and humidity sensors to monitor the vital moist zone. Switching lights and air pumps, simple.
Hmmm… IR camera with LED to monitor the roots.
I did a lot of reading different FAQ’s and grow reports for a month before I started cloning. This is what I found in my research.
If aero-cloning - run the water continuously 24/7 OR 15 mins ON and 45 minutes OFF OR 5 minutes ON and 30 minutes OFF OR 30/30 OR 1/45 OR 45/15 or… in other words - any watering cycle you want to use is perfect. The exception to that is no one recomends leaving the water OFF as long as I have been doing it = 1.5 hrs.
Lights should be very very low and only on 18/6 OR very low and 24/7 OR medium 18/6 OR medium and 24/7 OR… pick any light schedule you want as long as its not full power.
Use tap water only with no PHing at all OR use tap water but PH it down to 5.8 OR 6.0 OR 5.5 OR Use tap water and PH it down but add some nutes to around PPM 100 OR PPM 200 OR PPM 300 OR PPM 600…OR repeat all of the above with RO water…
Humidity should be kept hi with a dome - but only if you feel like it or maybe only on Thursdays… be sure to vent the dome!!
Keep the clones at room temp OR at 75F OR at 80F OR at 85F OR just keep the root zone at those temps… but only if you feel like it…
Use rooting hormones - OR dont
Cut the stems at an angle - almost everyone agrees with this one!!
scrape the stems - OR dont
Slice the stems - OR dont
Take lower branches only - OR upper branches only OR soft branches only OR hard branches only OR large branches only OR small tiny tiny branches only…
Cut all the leaves in half - lots of agreement here.
remove all the leaves except the upper two - or dont
Dont mess with aero-cloning its a waste of time. Just rip the darn stems off with a brush hog and stick them in a glass of old spit water and stick them in a window. 
… or just plant a seed
LOL, awesome
rStems freshly cut on an angle, gently scraped with a blade, soaked in rooting hormone for a few min. First week covered and ventilated regularly. Second week, dome off for an hour or so. Third week, dome overnight.
Honestly, pretty high success rate just putting the cutting in a mason jar of water under some weak light. Dip cutting in Clonex gel first. Roots in about 3 weeks and cutting can then be planted in the medium. 100% recent success with 6 cuttings, even during dry winter months.
I’ve also done well putting the cutting in moist, plain coco in small plastic cups under weak light. Use clear cups and you check periodically to see roots hitting the side of the cup(sheath clear cup with another solid colored cup to block light while roots form). Keep coco moist but not soaking wet. 2-3 weeks for roots to show.
