I don’t have any input, but am thinking of doing the same. Will be watching this thread.
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You’ll find a lot of info on that here. I think there were a couple of guys trying out these methods… @Swampthing has a turbo cloner and there’s a few DIYs…
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Swamp uses Clone King.
I use soil and aloe vera to clone. because you need soil life. my advice to you would be to get that aero cloner and stop using fiberglass. aero cloners are great! quick roots. no need for a dome. you don’t really use up collars that fast unless youre rough. they also need power to run which in my eyes is a con unless you have a generator for everything just incase. I think turbo or ez cloner are the most popular but diy ones are just as good and can save you lots of money.
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@lotus710 thanks for the reply. Can you tell us a little more about the soil/aloe technique for sharing info sake? I think I’m leaning tword turbo.
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aero cloners are very easy to DIY with a storage tote of 5gallon bucket. i put mine together for probably under $50 idk. just make sure you get a pump that is powerful enough.
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@lotus710 thanks for the link. I read it. What’s your success rate with that technique? How long until fully rooted?
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ive never lost a clone until I got lazy and used some rapid rooters. then I lost them all. quickest roots ive gotten was like 5 days.
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i only tried using it once and my pump was too weak so the sprinkler wasn’t wetting the stems. the few it was spraying grew roots but i ended up just throwing them all out. i’m confident it’ll be 100% within 14 days once i replace the pump.
i used a food grade plastic bucket and a 1.5" hole saw. instead of neoprene inserts i cut pieces of ~1" styrofoam from an amazon box or something
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Ive always heard great things and reviews of aero cloners. If I had to choose it would be the Aero. Because of the 1 time cost factor and you can build one for cheap that is just as effective. But I have no experience with either ha
You start from seed every time?
I have a 9 site EZ cloner that I’m still learning to use. So far I like it, but the transition from aero to soil is rough.
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@ReikoX I was looking at ez, but it seems I like the turbo a little better. I really only need the 9 sites though. Any tricks on going into soil? I’ll be going into promix hp. What do you find is difficult about it?
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Maybe they need a dome, or a bag over them. They tend to yellow and stress out, then new growth will come in green after a while. It’s fast though 10 days in the winter vs 3 weeks in my perlite.
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I just got a cloneking 64 to try to cut down on cloning time.
Last set i took in peat pucks they all rooted but a couple took 5weeks.
I put my timer at 1/2hr on n -/2 hr off to combat high resevoir temps but I think its still getting pretty warm
Any other tips or just try to keep water cool and sit back kinda thing?
Thx
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Somebody else is going to have to chime in. I haven’t done aero yet. @Swampthing uses clone King though.
I have been slow in adopting too much technology, and have relied upon rock wool.
I use it mostly to hold the plant upright and maintain an appropriate moisture level.
I place my fresh cuts into rock wool and directly into organic soil leaving the top of the block showing.
Nearly 100% success rate. I am very interested in what @lotus710 has been offering regarding the use of aloe and soil. This sounds about right.
@99PerCent what’s your apprehension? Also I have done the way you mention and I’ve also just used plain rw. The ones in rockwool and then the cube directly into the promix how you explained seemed to stay a little healthier.