Why do these clones look like this?

Water is Ph’d to 6 with the same nutes as mom. Dipped in Clone X and it still takes two weeks to get a single root. And then they have all the white barnacle looking things which I don’t know if those are the beginning of roots or what. Why does it take so long for roots and why do all the leaves turn yellow and die when cloned? Is this normal?

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First question: independent of the roots why do they look so craggly?

Looks like you have a root or two poking out there.

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They look terrible because they have had no way to feed themselves. The barnacle looking things will all be roots also. Be patient grasshopper soon they will have a lot of roots and a nutrient supply once again. They will grow out of that ugly…….

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I sometimes get the same. I figure the mass is roots trying to grow up top. You will lose leaves as there is nothing to feed the cutting. It might be better if you pare back the number of leaves.

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I mean they always come out fine, but I’ve seen clones that don’t go thru a phase where everything dies before they begin new growth. It’s weird. I’m feeding them the same nutes they had on the mom plant and it seems to make no difference whether I use nuted water or plain :man_shrugging:

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What are your res Temps. I find the warmer the faster to root( I always keep it under 80). The cultivar make a difference as well, have you tried another cultivar. I have some that root in 6 days and one that won’t root in less than 14 days.

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I’m not using a res right now but I suspect it may be a hydro thing because I don’t seem to have this issue going straight to dirt

What are the clones sitting in? What’s that water temp?

Truthfully never checked my res temp lol

I didn’t used to. Temps were about 68-70 and took much longer to root. Picked up a heating pad and controller for like 30$. Set to 78 and can now root in 6 days(certain cuts). Also when my clones get hungry they don’t look like that usually yellowing leaves. What concentration are you putting in with them? Give them half strength than what’s listed on bottle.

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I’ve tried strait distilled water aswell as the same strength nutes I give my mothers. It’s a lot of stuff lol but my big plants are fine

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Those huge girls will take way more food than the tiny clones. Maybe your light is too strong as well.

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@BlazeUno423 I would also recommend doing some type of light foliar feeding, this is the only way the plant can survive until it has proper roots! They don’t look too bad though.
As others have suggested, the barnacle looking part is the root callous starting to form… next step is the roots shooting outwards.

☆DJSF

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They will uptake nutes through the water as well.

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I got lazy on my clones really I used to put a humidity dome over them and a heating pad and really I saw no difference with just giving them the bare minimum lol

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Warm, distilled water with a light veg nute mix. I also like to use a humidity dome until roots show then remove the dome. It seems counter intuitive but I turn my lights to half power until the roots show and dome is removed. Just some tips and tricks

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@BlazeUno423 lol! I’m with ya… I try to toughen up my plants a bit too! Different times of the year require subtle changes to my setup too… when it is dry (dead winter) I typically use a humidity dome… and foliar spray every other day or so. :v::sunglasses:

☆DJSF

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No dome ever with a bubble cloner. They don’t need it. Just an aerator and heating pad.

My humidity never gets under 50(dehu cranked)

Looks like too low humidity and too high of a light level. I would put the hood back on for at least the first few days after taking the clones and give them a 1/4 strength nutrient solution in the clone water. My plants veg at ~500 ppfd and my clones sit on the floor next to the veg tray and get ~120 ppfd so they get really low light levels. Using this methodology I can root tiny cuttings without yellowing nor loss and even reveg tiny buds with 100% success

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hi you are giving an unrooted clone the same strength feed as an adult plant?if so this will slow/possibly stop rooting,halve the strength of your clone feed and err on the side of caution also ensure no fans or wind untill new growth shows on top,good luck

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