 Mister Cloner Cloning
This month, I did something entirely different. Well, actually I did a lot of things entirely different this month, but specifically I tried my hand at cloning using a MISTER, to be specific, the MYSTIC Cloner from StealthHydro.
My wife told me we had enough basil and herbs for the next three years, and a stash that will last until next summer, so it was time for me to grow something different. I had tomato plants in the outdoor summer garden, wilting from the summer heat and about to die. I thought a winter home grown tomato would be delicious. My good friends at StealthHydro.com had asked me to experiment someday with the MYSTIC CLONER and try cloning the "space age" way, so I said OK, I'd try it someday .
My grandmother cloned different flowers in wet sand, and later in Vigaro or Vermiculite. I bet your grandmother did too. Sometimes it worked successfully for her, and sometimes it did not. She called it "rooting" and rightfully so, because all you are really doing is rooting a part of a plant, to get a duplicate plant. You want a duplicate to obtain a certain color or species or gender. Sometimes it worked for her and sometimes it did not. Success or failure, she accredited it to the "signs" or the placement of the moon and planets as determined by the Farmer's Almanac. She also blamed the location and amount of water and light if she failed. You needed just the right shade and light and her method was always use the kitchen window.
I decided to read up on it, and it is like reading about politics or religion. No one agrees and there are ten dozen different ways to do it. One common thing I noticed that I want you to remember is I often read the words "10 to 14 days" related to seeing results or seeing roots appear. I read about using soil, water, sand, and commercial mediums. I read about using (and not using) jells and powders. I saw a recommendation of dipping the stem tip in honey first to prevent root rot. I saw spraying with "leaf gloss" and all sorts of conditioners. . I saw "total darkness" and "some light and some shade" and no one agreed on anything or any procedure. Confused? I certainly was! Then I remembered my friends at StelthHydro and their Mystic Cloner.
So I received my Mystic Cloner. It is a small reservoir tank, with an electrical gadget in it called a Mister. It creates a MIST. It is actually a FOGGER or a "fog making" device like you see used in ghost movies. They told me that the fogging device comes in different wattages or strengths or sizes and that they had already experimented to see which worked the best. The lid had a dozen small holes filled with a round neoprene plug with a slit in each plug. The tank is half full of water an half full of fog or mist.
Let me tell you some definite steps and procedures to follow when you try this. It is possible but much more difficult to clone a small single leaf, or small branch or stem compared to rooting a top. I had to try it anyway, but I learned that fact fast. Try to root tops with at least two nodes or 2 nodules and you will get much better, faster results. Besides, the larger the clone, the shorter the growing time later. Make a clean straight cut of the stem. As soon as you slice it, dip it in water for 20 seconds and then squeeze the tip very gently to rid it of any air bubbles. That is it! That is all you need to know, except do not make the foolish mistake I made. Remember how I told you everything I studied said 10 to 14 days to see roots. I figured I would start the plants rooting and in 10 to 14 days I would prepare to grow the clones. My big mistake as you will see.
I started with two tops, one from a cherry tomato and one from a regular normal tomato. Both had two or three nodes or nodules. I also tried a small single leaf on a short stem, a single branch and a single end of a branch. From start to finish, the two tops never looked anything but very healthy. The other three cuttings, the leaf, the stem and the branch wilted within a day. I used one red spectrum 85 watt CFL but I did not place it close, I put it a foot above the plants.
Look at the first photo from the first day and the next photo from two days later. Note the date of 8-26-07 as the very first day. Now look at the photo from two days later. I have one inch long roots already. IN TWO DAYS!
Two Days!
Now look at the next two pics from 8-30-07. The roots are five or six inches long and ready to be transplanted into my Bubbleponics tank. I did mist or spray the plants daily with plain water. If I had not had out of town company visiting, I could have transplanted the clones on the 3rd or 4th day!
Why would anyone want to wait 14 days, when you can do it in three or four days?
I moved my clones into the Grow Tank today, 9-3-07 and I went outside and cut two more tops for cloning, so I can have 4 tomato plants. They will
get transferred in 3 or 4 days to the Grow Tank.
This was just too easy, just too simple, fast and easy!
__________________ Roseman When you grow with Mother Nature, you Grow with God. May Peace and Joy Be Your Companions. 
Last edited by THE Roseman; 09-29-2007 at 01:27 PM.
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