lol ya I got lucky my first time cloning not doing anything and had no success for a while , I think my main problem was my soil . Definitely understandable , I have learned on this website that a lot of people have cool different ways of doing things here and I’ve been trying to apply them to my grows. I would keep messing around, I’m sure you’ll get it .
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I think the drying period makes them root faster. I don’t ever let them, or try not to let them get to crouton status.
Sorry, I saw you said you use a dome.
I was just reaffirming that’s how I do it. I actually just cycle cuts through there and never take the dome off. When they start to throw roots, I’ll plant them and sometimes use a clear plastic cup as a temporary dome if they look a bit wilty still. It usually is only on a day or two after. I have had huge success with this way. I’d say 90-95% likely. I used to have issues, but I was definitely those jiffy pellets. They stay wet, way too long. Root riot plugs maintain a nice moisture, and don’t retain it as long.
Anyway, there’s lots of ways to go about rooting. I’ve rooted cuts that were in my fridge for nearly 6months. 
. Bubble/mist cloners work, and I’ve used them, but I hate that maintenance. Tray, dome, riot plugs and water do me well. I’ve been doing it for awhile now. 
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Only recently upon going through this thread fully did I see other people mention keeping snips in the fridge for months and that’s awesome to know it’s possible! I would have never thought of that, I’ll have to ask for tips on that another time once I figure out how to consistently get them to root!
I’ve been thinking of buying some root riot or rapid rooter plugs wondering if they might make a difference. I don’t like how short the jiffy plugs are for clones
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I’d go for root riot plugs. And turn the upside down. Make your own hole to pop em in. And just keep em moist enough. I usually spray them with water 2x a day. If I’m gonna be gone all day, I’ll bottom water them and let a bit of excess linger.
And it’s easy to keep snips in the fridge. I just stuck them in a ziplock with a breath in it for humidity, and I squeeze most of the air out, then zip it up. I stuck mine in a bubble mailer to protect them from the other items, but if they stay around 42°F, what my fridge is set at, they can last a good while.
Also check out my method to send snips in an envelope, also avoiding customs declarations.
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Woah woah woah…. Snips in the fridge?!
I must learn more about this @Rhino_buddy
Are you saying you just put a fresh cut in a zip lock bag and keep in the fridge until you’re ready to transfer into a plug/cube?
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I don’t know Rhino_buddy’s technique, but I plan to try this at some point in the future with my own clones (on plants grown from seed):
And to use the sterilization techniques to see if I could clean clones to make me less stressed about the idea of bringing someone else’s in.
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yeah this really tickles my fiddle also
would like to be able to save them in the fridge
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You got it @Wojak ! Just zippy them and protect.
I don’t think all the sterilization is necessary, but could help. I haven’t had issues with them rotting in the fridge as fresh cuts.
@C_in_CT, when I get cuts in, I soak em submerged in a ~8% alcohol/water solution with a few drops of dish soap. Sometimes I soak them overnight, but I for at least an hour. I shake em every once in awhile. I still quarantine new cuts for a couple weeks. Sucks but it’s worth it. 
I forgot a key to rooting, @Growgrassblowglass .
Make sure to put a heat mat under your tray. I think that is a large factor in my successes in rooting.
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Lets do pine clones. You will need; Deep dish containers preferably simi translucent, Perlite and tin foil
The hard part is rinsing the perlite. I use a toy strainer from a surf shop, anything flat with holes will work
Fill the tubs with perlite and fill to the top with tap water
Then cover with foil. Write the date and cutivar on the foil.
Next select and trim the clones as usual. I cut a little under a node but it works if you dont be particular.
Poke a hole in the foil, treat cutting with rooting hormone and insert most of the way down. make sure not to let the cut touch bottom.
Six is a good number, all will root but if theres ten, they don’t all root.
Put near light and keep around 80 degrees for ten days then pour out the water, most will already be gone but pour out whats left and in four days there should be roots visable in the bottom of the tub.
This is super reliable for me, I hope it helps someone that struggles with cloning.
pine
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I get 100% to root in 10 to 21 days using basically the method in the second post of this tread. I found a medium that is too wet to always lead to stem rot. So I use that groaden insert that holds the plugs above water. I don’t soak the plugs at all, just straight from the bag. I use ihort plugs that come pre moistened, and a heat mat set at 77 degrees and don’t take the dome off at all for the first 10 days. The plugs will probably need a splash of water at 7 days if you’ve been opening the dome, I use distilled. If your mothers are healthy and vibrant they will root in 7-10 days.
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Thanks for sharing! I will have to try this in the name of science 
Hey do you sit your stems in water before you bag and fridge them or just staight in?
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I’ve done both. Also tried moist paper towel, but they fail way sooner with that. But I usually only pop em in water if they aren’t going somewhere or into a ziplock directly.
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Never seen that method. Low maintanence which is a bonus. Do some rot in the water?
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Hey @Wojak , if the cuts are inserted right about halfway in there’s not much chance of rot.
Thats why care needs to be taken not to insert too deep. There’s evaporation and saturation going on in the tubs, after a couple of days the water level is down near the bottom.
It’s a very simple method, give it a go.
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Didn’t read the whole thread, just my 2 cents:
I tried all kinds of methods in the past but once I found a DIY manual for an aeroponics cloner on IC mag and was able to source all the materials (much easier today in EU) and built that bitch I never looked back.
Pretty much 100% success rate, I have seen roots in as little as under a week when I used some Clonex as well and after 2 weeks tops.
If I forget the clones in there for an extra week, I had proper rootballs hanging in the Water already.
All you need is:
- A tote/container that doesn’t let light through and has a tight sealing lid (my cloner sadly had the plastic warped over the years, I’m still tinkering with it to avoid water leaking out while it runs lol)
- A couple of net pots and fitting neoprene plugs from y hydro store
- A power drill with the right add-on to drill holes in same diameter as the net pots
- Some PVC piping to cut to size with some corner pieces etc.
- Those “ez cloner” spray nozzles you can find everywhere these days but used to be super hard to get
- A submersible aquarium pump
The whole DIY process takes maybe an hour if you work slow and you can be done in like 15 minutes if you have done it before.
The cost should be below 50 bucks if you source the materials right and don’t have to buy sth like a power drill first.
And once you built your aero cloner, you only need a place to put it and never have to worry about clones again.
My aero cloner also doesn’t have a dome, I never saw problems due to not having one either.
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Cheers for the reply @pine,
I am still very successful with the ez plug & dome method. But I will carry on the age old tradition of fucking around & finding out. 
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What up @Rhino_buddy, You are rooting them and then putting them in the fridge right?
I would love to have some extra space but Im not trying to get rid of anything alive and rooted, also dont think its a good time to throw them outside. Does it matter what kind of fridge i put it in?
I have a mini fridge and Im thinking the freezer would be an issue, I might try to find a used bev cooler.
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Not rooting them. They last way longer as cuts in stasis. Roots are too sensitive. And I measured the temp of my fridge while storing them, and it was around 43°F. Freezing them will compromise their cellular structure and you’ll just end up with mush. Seeds are good in the freezer because they evolved to survive a winter cycle. If you perpetually keep them in the freezer, it thinks it’s just been one long winter. 
I just snip em and trim off excess leaves. Then into a ziplock, not stacked together very tightly, and in a bubble mailer, and into the fridge.
They will root easily after a few months if stored correctly. It’s basically keeping them in stasis. Hope that clears some stuff up for you @Krayz305
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For hard to clone strains, one successful strategy is to let them complete the first stage of the cloning process (i.e. develop calluses) in the fridge, so that they don’t lose their race against time. I apply hormone to the cuts and then they go in a bag into the fridge for two or three days. At that time multiple visible calluses have formed, and they are ready to go into Jiffy pucks… they root in about seven days.
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General cloning question here: Is there any reason not to “reset“ the strain mother every so often by cloning a branch?
My first mother is getting to be a year old and looking pretty rugged.
Can’t think of a downside to it, but I’m not a scientist 
like is there such thing as “drifting genetics“ or something lol
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