mold on clones in diy bubble cloner

eyemthatguy

I built a bubble-cloner and i have had 1` successful clone out of about 35 cuttings.

in the past, its been black leaves and stems (rot ?)

This morning I opened the cloner to see mold on the bottoms of the cuttings.

plants the cuttings came from are healthy. (funny thing is I figured the clones were going to tell me what the sex was, having so many failures at cloning, my "mothers" which are on 18/6 already showed me their sex.

I just changed the water and completely washed the inside of the tub the day before yesterday (monday, today is wednesday). I used clorox tub and tile cleaner with cold faucet water. rinsed the container and lid for about 4 minutes straight to try and make sure all the cleaner was off.

temps have been mid to upper 80's with low humidity. (san jose, ca)

what can I do ? Im considering going back to trying rockwool cubes since I seem to have a black thumb.

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ISO2BWELL

Eye,

Any idea what the temp of the water in the cloner is? A air pump sucking in hot air is going to pump that hot air right into the airstone, and in turn heating the hell out of your cloner water.

Take the waters temp, and if over 75, add a frozen water bottle to the res and see if it cools it down enough, as you want it from 77 (max, IMO) down to about 70.

Are the stems partially sitting in the water, or about 1/2" above it?

ISO

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eyemthatguy

ISO,

no clue right now. Im guessing it was probably about air tempurature since I was not running A/C. The veg room temp was 84 when I got home, so Im guessing it was pretty high.

lol shit..sposed to be 89 today 92 tomorrow and 93 friday.

lol maybe I need to transfer my flower room to the server room at work. 63 degrees all day and night. Of course then fresh air (co2) becomes the issue.

The stems were always wet and above the water. Id be guessing (bullshitting) if I said a distance.

Seriously though, with temps like this and no a/c, maybe I should go buy some 2" rockwool cubes and save the bubbles for cooler days.

I will give the ice bottle a try but with this heat, im not very hopeful.

etg

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kennkenniff

can you describe what the mold looks like, the base of the clone will swell and get weird bumps just b4 the roots sprout (with my strain) Ive never heard of leaves turning black,also are u using any nutes?

some strains just don't clone at all and some clone amazingly and if you handle the stem of the clones they wont root due to contamination i have had huge healthy clones grow for 1 month and look exactally like the rest of the batch, but because i touched the base of the stem it never rooted and eventually died. By the sounds of it your very clean but all it takes is one dirty finger and it can overpower all the work spent keeping every thing clean, and like Iso you should try to keep the water and air at lower temps ,if you check the diy section there are a bunch of threads on how to build a mister cloner ,theres one that uses an ultrasonic fogger, i,m going to try building one of those as soon as i get a fogger of ebay for about 30$. anyway i hope i helped you ,ive never had any luck with bubble cloners mister cloners are the best!

kennkenniff

oh ya keeping a humidity dome over them for the first week will help big time,good luck bro

eyemthatguy

Thanks Ken for the info.

The best way I can describe it is if you took that fake spiderweb crap (from halloween stores) and stretched it from the bottom of the foam insert to almost all the way down the stem. Its white or light grey, reminded me of cotton or the beginnings of a cacoon.

I just saw you added the humidity dome post, I used one in the beginning, but when I kept getting dead tissue on the leaves and new growth, I got rid of it. Funny thing is the death went away from the top and now its on the bottom.

\mechangesnametoBlackThumb...

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kennkenniff

thats some weird mold! i,ve never had a mold problem (knock on wood) but i hope they live dude! like you said the good ol rockwool method always works i try not to soak the rockwool once they actually root so that the roots have to grow longer and faster to get the water just letting it get a little damp to the touch. Check out this ghetto mister cloner i built if i remember it cost me about 40$ it was really loud though because the pump. www.greenpassion.org/f39/cooler-cloner-5421/ there are so many different ways you can build something like it and i had 99% success

eyemthatguy

Well, I just got back from the hydro shop by my work.

I invested in the 1.5" rockwool cubes, a new cloning tray and dome.

The guy really wanted me to buy a warming mat, but at $29.95, I had to pass. I believe the mat is paramount in creating humidity, I just want a cheaper one.

After talking with the guys at the shop, Ive decided to go back to rw and work out the bubbler issues later when the weather is cooler.

man there is so much to focus on being a noob... and its easy to get over-whlemed... the funny thing is, my gf is encouraging me not to give up.

Shes looking forward to less expensive smoke Im guessing, in addition to considering the amounts of money, apartment space and time Ive already invested in this project.

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ISO2BWELL

Eye,

The best thing to do as a new grower is to take your time, be patient with yourself and the plants, and have fun. Don't go taking on technical stuff you are not sure you're ready for...just take it as it comes, and when you are ready it will be there waiting for you.

Heater is major important in winter if your clones are somewhere susceptible to cold. Along with the heat mat is the thermostat...for me a "must have" as well.

I've made bubble cloners, hydro cloners (3 of 'em) and eventually went back to good old Rapid rooters and the dome. Works every time..and low tech is not always bad tech...

ISO

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eyemthatguy

ISO,

Hey thanks for the words. Its nice to know Im not alone, just feels like taking a step backwards. Which I guess isnt so miserable.

I agree, eventually I will spring for a heater/thermostat/timer. I just didnt want to drop the cash today.

Back to work...

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