DIY bubbler cloner

Shopping list:
Clippings, cut above the 3rd from the top node, trimmed
1) large plastic storage container with lid
1) powerful air pump, preferably the TOPFIN 60 (make sure it has two outputs)
1) 8 foot length of air tubing
2) long airstones, or bubble curtains, long enough to cover the bottom
1) piece of styrofoam slightly larger than the container
1) very sharp knife or razor blade for cutting and scraping the clippings and for cutting the styrofoam down to size
1) bag of rinsed fish bowl gravel
1) 14 inch (or similar sized) flourescent light (cool white if you can)
1)hole poking device... pencils work fine

optional- 1 bottle of olivias clone solution (NO HORMONES FOO!)



Hey there, this is my first time doing this exact method (have tried other similar things with poor results..)
I started the plant I'm cloning in May of 07, I let it grow outside.. well.. I let it survive outside, it grew about 3 inches from june till september... I put it inside and within a month it grew to about waist height and about 4-5 square feet of foliage.
I took 8 clippings, each right above the... 3rd node from the top node.. apical meristem for those bio geeks basically, for each clipping, you have a the apical meristem, one node under it with a one or more big fan leaves, and a 1 inch (depending on the internodal length) of stem. The big fan leaves help hold it up in the hole.
On the bigger leaves, cut about half of the leaflet off to prevent wilting, and trim the other leaves, they don't have to be perfect, just don't cut off the growing tip.
I have tried splitting the stem to allow more root growth, but that doesn't really seem to help.. actually, if not done correctly, it could kill the cutting! I simply did my best to cut at a 45 degree angle with a razor (NOT SCISSORS, they crush the stem) and then scraped a little bit of the epidermis (the outsidemost waxy layer of cells on the stem) off, to reveal a thick, slightly pale green line (if you get to white, STOP) about 3/4 of the way up the bottom stem. This is not necessary but I've found that it greatly reduces the rooting time.

I took a big tupperware type container (15-20 bucks from wal-mart) and filled it about half of the way with water and added some of the Olivia's cloning solution (not gel or any hormone thing, just light nutrients, the plants will provide the hormones, TRUST ME) you could even add that later when the roots are growing. Then, I bought some high quality (and pricey) styrofoam, I found it at JoAnne Fabrics. It's green but not the florafoam or whatever that wierd stuff is that they shove fake plants into, it had normal styrofoam sized cells (read: bubbles) but unlike styrofoam, I think it's open celled, rather than being composed of a bunch of foam beads like normal white styrofoam. I cut it to size (just make a cut where you want it to break and snap it off away from the side you cut) and then poked 8 pencil sized holes.. using a pencil of course.. Oh, when you cut it to size, leave room for it to move around in the container, don't make it snug.

Finally I got a powerful little air pump from petsmart, I think it was a Topfin 60 (not sure on the number, if they go by Hz, then it's a 60) I really liked it because it had two outputs, so you can hook up two long air curtain/stones under each row of cuttings. MAKE SURE to grab some gravel to weigh down the stones, you don't need much, just a smaller bag a little bigger than your hand (well I've got big hands, but basically just not a 20 pound bag)

Some people say that the bubble curtains are better but I don't notice any difference other than larger bubbles, which I dislike because smaller bubbles allow more O2 into the water.

I've tried using the lid of containers to hold the cutting and it really doesn't work for me, mainly because the water level lowers with time and I'm a lazy stoner.. and forgetful (actually I don't smoke much, very rarely, like once a month) but nonetheless, I just don't want to adjust the water level daily! So, I took to the ancient chinese method of just letting it float ON the water.

I put a flourescent light from a 20 gallon aquarium (nothing much, just enough so that they don't flower, DO NOT use an incandescent lamp of any sort, they get WAY too hot, even if it's a "plant light")

I get excited and check the clones way too much, but I was forced to stay away for a week while I was on christmas vacation. I started them 5 days before I left for 6 days, and when I came back, all of them had roots (the pictures are on day.. 13, a few days after i got back.

I highly recommend this method, 8 out of 8 isn't bad.
I do apologize for the overdetailed explanation, but it's better than just pictures right?

You're complicating things a bit too much. I recently built the cloner detailed here GROWFAQ and it works great, you don't even need to paint it. My air pump is one suited for 10-30 gallon tanks and only has one outlet this is strong enough if you put the water level high enough, all I did was glue a piece of aquarium air pump tubing to connect both pieces of the bubble wand. I didn't get a heater either and it works just fine. I haven't gotten round to figuring out a system to hold the cuttings very well yet though.

Just how do you intend to transplant them? Are you planning that styrofoam into the whole grow?
I only ask cause, my first issue with my bubble cloner was insuring I could pull out the root system with no harm to the roots. That looks like your gonna have a tough time on transplanting.
Fantastic idea though with the floating island. It has just given me a few ideas Thanks.

id think sytrafoam may get mould or grungy if you transplanted it into soil...or you could probly exacto knife the strafoam away since it doest look like the roots are growing in the actual foam

For the first comment on his apparently awesome bubbler... I didn't paint mine, it was easier to just cut the airtube into 2 4foot sections and connect each one to its own airstone, that way it would be evenly distributed, even with low water levels. Oh, and I didn't say anything about a heater, ALTHOUGH this used to be (and still can be) a shroom incubator, there are two containers stacked inside one another, the bottom one has a few inches of water and an aquarium heater... that isn't even plugged in. I suggest you read the whole post before accusing me of having a bad design. So, in that spirit, I'll call you a fascist/communist pig (your choice) because I know nothing about you!

To the second about transplanting... I'm just going to cut them out... it's styrofoam, not steel, it's pretty easy to do. I worked at a nursery and I can guarantee you that about 90% of all nursery plants come bare root, employees pot them on site, and that's what I'm planning on doing. (oh and I use Fox Farm's Ocean Forest, might be twice as expensive but it's well worth it)

Klondike bar-2 things, love the avatar and you're exactly right about the styrofoam, the roots will not grow in it and I'll just cut them out.

1. you NEED to make the water reservoir area lightproof, or algae will be a problem 2. you NEED an aquarium heater, mine is a real 'cheapie', pre-set at 75-80, perfect :thumbsup:

thanks for the avatar love. hope you have a happy grow

the image reaper, :wtf:
The Styrofoam blocks out most of the light from the flouro, so it's not a problem. I do not need an aquarium heater obviously, I have crazy root growth as it is. Roots like about 50-60 degree water (about the temperature in that room), bacteria on the other hand like it about 75-80, I'd rather wait an extra day to see roots than throw away all of my clones because of bacteria. And wouldn't having an aquarium heater invite algae? it doesn't like to grow in colder temps, especially very well aerated water... So I think that if I got an aquarium heater, I'd have to lightproof the shit out of the reservoir.. or i could just not follow your advice and not go through all of that headache, because as you see, my method works, 8 out of 8 have roots, big, white, healthy roots...

OH and another thing that loves warm, moist environments, MOLD! I probably would have lost all of my clones if they had been warm because when I got back from vacation, I could see some of the older leaves had died and they were molding quickly, but just taking them out has solved that problem. So... I'm going to stick with this method because it works and I don't have to worry about mold/bacteria, and algae isn't a problem...
:jointsmile:

Hey Z, roots really prefer res temps in the 70 F - 75 F range. Look in Cervantes grow book and some others too. Not criticizing you or your grow, but I think you should check it out and get even BETTER results.... give it a look

MVP :jointsmile:

Well i've tried it with and without the Aquarium heater and clones root well with or without it. I've never really had an algae problem since i began using Tetra Easy Balance. Everyone has there own methods and they all work really well. I'm not gonna say my method because there are already enough good ones shown here. Bubble cloners are awesome but what is your success rate when transplanting them to soil? At first i had a couple wilt and die but now i'm batting 1000 after transplant into soil. I'm thinking of going aero for the next grow though!

Ah, true true, sorry, I thought I remembered reading that but I guess I'm wrong. I looked through the Bible and you were right, my bad.
As for transplanting, I'm planning on hardening them off by gradually opening the top

another example of how cannabis is a WEED, it'll grow no matter how we do it :D ... same reason they'll never be able to stamp it out :jointsmile:

Was reading this in curiosity. I think all you'd have to do to solve the root pulling problem, is put support tubes in, or simplisticly, cut wider holes in the styrofoam... It's not like clones aren't brances... cause they are.... with branches to hold themselves up around the hole.... just a thought.

yeah dude, your avatar fits lol, completely stoned.. I'm pretty sure I wrote that I just cut them out of the styrofoam... not a big deal

this is going to come in handy, thanks mucho. oh and a couple drops to 5ml of tea tree oil will prevent mold and bacteria. I keep my babys organic.:rastasmoke:

Wow, good thinking! Thank you! Same here with the organic! I can always tell hydro from it's plain, empty smell and taste, organic (by that I mean soil.. I'm not bashing organic hydro, just never done it) just tastes so much more complex, it's like the difference between hershey's and expensive dark chocolate ya know?

how do you harden the rooted clones before putting them in soil? and whats been your success rate with transpanting into soil?