Did you find what you're looking for?
Cloning
Cloning
For best practice of cloning our plants we always want to work with sterile equipment. Please use a sharp, sterile pair of scissors or surgical scalpel, pruning shears, etc. when cutting clones as we do not want to infect our vegging or mother plants by using any equipment that can introduce pathogen’s into the plants life cycle. You can use any percentage (over 30%) of rubbing alcohol to sterilize your scissors or scalpel, etc. Cuttings must be roughly 4” in length to be viable for the cloning process.
Once the clones (branches of your plant) are clipped off of the plant, at a 90 degree (perpendicular) angle, please place all cuttings that you are to use in a glass of water one by one, as quickly as possible after cutting each branch. This will aid in keeping any air-bubbles out of the cutting and thus the rooting process which would cause a hindrance in the cloning success rates.
Pre-prepare your Rockwool cubes per the instructions on the retail packaging. Soak to a PH range of between 5.5-6.0 and place the desired amount of cubes that you would like to use, into the corrugated plastic tray. Then take the tray and drain most of the water until the cubes reach field capacity. (Please see footnotes for definition).
(***If using a clone machine, please load the cuttings into the rockwool cubes as described and then place into the bottoms of each net cup basket once completed with steps 1-4).
Take your bouquet of cuttings and then one by one take them out of water and then make a new 45 degree angle cut at the very bottom of the plant stem. We want to then quickly dip the cutting into cloning gel and then insert it into the rockwool cube as quickly as possible to avoid contamination and air bubbles which will lower your success rates if not done swiftly.
Please do this (step #3) to the rest of the cuttings until they are all complete.
Please take a screwdriver or pen (or anything that is sterile and similar) and close the pre-fabricated hole in the top of the rockwool cubes that we previously inserted the cuttings into. This will provide a seal at the base of the cube and stalk of the cutting and keep all light out of the hole where the cutting is for optimal rooting performance.
Please use the clear plastic dome to put the dome over the tray *as soon as you have filled your tray to your desired capacity of rockwool cubes*. If we do not add this dome, the plants will wither and die due to a lack of humidity. We want to use this dome to harness and create humidity for the first week roughly, venting after about 4-5 days as described in step #8.
Place the tray on top of the heat mat, if you are using one, (highly suggested and sold ojn our website here https://supercloset.com/product/equipment/total-germination-kit/) to where you can barely tell if it is “ON” to the touch. This desired temperature is in the range of anywhere from 74-77 degrees Fahrenheit (which is optimal).
After about 4-5 days of the plants being in the black corrugated plastic tray, with the dome on, please use the top vents on the dome and the side vents and crack them open so as to let air flow through the dome and to slightly reduce the humidity.
We want to do this so as to avoid the entire tray developing mold.
After about day 7-8, we can safely pull the dome in its entirety and let the plants finish the rooting process sans dome under your 18/6 or 24 hour light schedule (either is fine). You should start to see roots develop out of the bottom side of the cube in about 7-14 days on average depending on the genetics that you have chosen. Some strains root sooner and some take a few days longer. This is dependent upon their genetic abilities.
***Field Capacity is the amount of moisture or water content held in the rockwool after excess water has drained away and the rate of downward movement has decreased. We want to see a tiny amount of water when gently squeezed and a large amount of water run out when squeezed with pressure. We now have field capacity!
Still Need Help?
If you have more questions regarding this matter or if you require additional support,
open a case with our Grow Strong Support Technicians and we will reach out to you within 24 hours!