cheap and easy DIY cloner and what to do with the results

[SimonSaysSmoke]

Im going to be attempting to build one of these for a friend, great thread. Let me try to get this straight though please :jointsmile: ... I get his cuttings, dip them in the (dip n grow if i want to), stick them in the pipe insulation, do a drop of superthrive, fire the box up w/ the airstones and just wait for roots?? Easy as that? I was just wondering the best process step by step so i dont mess his stuff up when we try to attempt this .. Also, what have you all experienced is the best light for the clones? Do you leave them in the dark for a few days then maybe a CFL or T12 flourescent? Im sure it's somewhere but i'd really like to know what is best to be done. Thank you guys very much :thumbsup:

[ombudsman]

What do you use to hold your air stones down? My airstones have a habbit of flying all over the place inside the reservoir. I've thought about plumbers putty, but I'm afraid of the chemicals leaching into the res water. Two sided tape didn't seem to work either. Just curious. Great thread by the way. I just wasted so much time duct taping my res... If only I'd bought a black tub from the get go. LOL.

[McDanger]

What do you use to hold your air stones down? My airstones have a habbit of flying all over the place inside the reservoir. I've thought about plumbers putty, but I'm afraid of the chemicals leaching into the res water. Two sided tape didn't seem to work either. Just curious. Great thread by the way. I just wasted so much time duct taping my res... If only I'd bought a black tub from the get go. LOL.

I used silicone caulk. Just let it dry before you start it up. Works great.

[hudson88]

Im going to be attempting to build one of these for a friend, great thread. Let me try to get this straight though please :jointsmile: ... I get his cuttings, dip them in the (dip n grow if i want to), stick them in the pipe insulation, do a drop of superthrive, fire the box up w/ the airstones and just wait for roots?? Easy as that? I was just wondering the best process step by step so i dont mess his stuff up when we try to attempt this .. Also, what have you all experienced is the best light for the clones? Do you leave them in the dark for a few days then maybe a CFL or T12 flourescent? Im sure it's somewhere but i'd really like to know what is best to be done. Thank you guys very much :thumbsup:

Hey SSS,

Yeah that's pretty much it, don't worry too much about adding stuff, bozo and I don't bother dipping them in anything, bozo has a couple of things he likes to add to his water and i like a little bit of formulex in mine but i'm sure they'd root without it, just make sure you don't overdo it and you're stems ain't too far away from the water and you'll be good.

As for the light while they're rooting you shouldn't give them too strong a light, i like to keep mine about 8" away from a 125w enviro (cfl) and that seems to be about right. Personally i have them under it 18/6 but i'm pretty sure stinky advises 24/0 for clones and i'm not gonna argue with the stinkster :asskick:

Can't say i've heard much about leaving them in the dark for a few days, i guess the thought is lack of light will make them concentrate on rooting? Mine go straight under the light, but i do cut the ends of any big leaves (that encourages them to root).

[SimonSaysSmoke]

Thank you very much guys :jointsmile: . This has been a very helpful thread :thumbsup:

[jordas]

Yes, very informative......thanks!

[elskeetro]

Bozo,

I'm really glad i found this thread.

I've been thinking about doing a perpetual SOG but i've been worried about having constant clones. Currently i use rapid rooter plugs and have only about a 50% success rate. I built a cloner like this once but it didn't work well at all...this thread inspired me to try it again.

Do you have some pics you could post of a fresh cutting when it's cut, how big it is when you put it into flower, then towards the end of flowering. I'm not clear on how big of clones i should be taking to give me a decent yield in flower. The clones i take now are kinda small. A lot of people say to put them in 12/12 as soon as they are rooted...but if i put these lil' girls into flower as soon as they root, i don't think it would work out that well...

hopefully that made sense...thanks bozo. great thread

Skeet.

[danlboy]

I read this through this morning and decided I needed to take the next step and clone! Thanks for the great plan, best I have seen so far. I ran up to Lowes and got the same 2 gallon bin. I will be using 31 gallon bin for a "chamber" placing the 2 gal bin in the 31 gal. Im pretty small scale and would only have 4-6 clones at a time, my grow cab is pretty small (homegrown hydroponics mini-stealth) but Ive had great luck, just too many males. I wanted to ask about lighting for my setup, I have a 12 5/8 inch T5 florescent would that be enough or should I add a second? I attached a photo of probable set up, would suspend the mini T5 from the top of the 31 gal bin. also plan on lining bin with reflective material.
Thanks

[elskeetro]

That should be enough light for clones. If you are planning on vegging and flowering in that tub i would highly suggest getting some more of those T5s or some CFLs.

Bozo - Thanks for the idea of using pipe insulation. I was gonna buy a load of rubber gardening mats and cut the plugs out of those. But instead i bought $2 worth of pipe insulation and in 10 minutes i had 150 plugs. GENIUS!

Thanks
Skeet

[hudson88]

Bozo,

I'm really glad i found this thread.

I've been thinking about doing a perpetual SOG but i've been worried about having constant clones.................................
Do you have some pics you could post of a fresh cutting when it's cut, how big it is when you put it into flower, then towards the end of flowering. I'm not clear on how big of clones i should be taking to give me a decent yield in flower. The clones i take now are kinda small. A lot of people say to put them in 12/12 as soon as they are rooted...but if i put these lil' girls into flower as soon as they root, i don't think it would work out that well...

Skeet.

Hey skeet, i've not seen bozo around for a while so thought i'd try to help out.

I find pretty small cuttings root ok, most of the cuttings I take are between 2-3" i guess so don't worry about waiting for shoots to get big before cutting, the smallest cuttings can turn into monsters with a little veg

The size of the clone when you put it into flower will determine it's yield, as you say some growers will put them into flower as soon as they root (they'll probably be packing them in pretty tight say 4 to a sq ft) while others will give a couple weeks veg and will only be able to get 1 plant per sq foot. It all depends on how you want to grow.

Hope that helps. :rastasmoke:

I wanted to ask about lighting for my setup, I have a 12 5/8 inch T5 florescent would that be enough or should I add a second? I attached a photo of probable set up, would suspend the mini T5 from the top of the 31 gal bin. also plan on lining bin with reflective material.
Thanks

You don't need much light to clone so you should be ok with what you've got, however i must add i've no experience with that particular type of light.

Bozo - Thanks for the idea of using pipe insulation. I was gonna buy a load of rubber gardening mats and cut the plugs out of those. But instead i bought $2 worth of pipe insulation and in 10 minutes i had 150 plugs. GENIUS!

Thanks
Skeet

I'm sure bozo will be happy he's helped all us lot with our cloning, cheers bozo, hope all is well with you and we see you around here soon :thumbsup: