I normally just keep the rockwool cubes in a cloning tray filled with perlite for a extra week to let the roots grow out a half inch to inch out of the bottom of the cubes. Then all you gotta do is get ur net pot in ur full 5 gal with half the clay pellets taken out of the pot so you can see the water line, add a few pellets above the water line to get the cubes out of the water while keeping the roots in the water. I do it like this every time and ill have roots coming out of the bottom and sides of my 6 inch net pots within 24-48 hours. As for buying clones yeah you coulda saved urself some time but ordering online you can dang near get any strain you want online. When you go to ur local dispensary there probably only gonna have a few strains on hand and who knows what kind of bugs or mold is gonna be on the things. But yeah if you know the clones your gonna be getting are award winning top notch strains then yeah go for the clones.