So I have been using a cloner with aquastone to root for two seasons now. I also use other methods. As I have said many times, nothing is perfect. Here is something new I learned: sometimes I will put a cutting in the cloner and it will just sit there and do nothing. Sometimes, they rot, even when I make sure not to dip them deeper than above the surface of the water. These 2 cuttings just sat around almost a month and did nothing, one in the cloner and one in perlite. I had to trim both at the bottom a little, but that was ok since both were very long cuttings, live and non-dormant, a mix of old and new wood. I am no fan of water rooting. I put the cuttings in water in cups. Within a few days I had initials and even a bud breaking where there was just dormant wood. Now I can place them both in the cloner and roots will shoot out quickly. Of course I change the water in the cup daily and I put a dilution of rapid-start in the water.

Hi rafael,
Rooting in water this time of the year is really efficient. 3 weeks in water and then in a gallon pot with dirt from the nurseries.
Like you, in water, I only get root initial, I never get roots. But those initials are enough to help the cutting for a good start in the dirt. The dirt has to stay moist for some more weeks of course. I keep those pots in the tomato greenhouse for 3 weeks to help them with moisture in the air.
My results in water are sufficient and I don't "root enough" to start a cloner.

JD we say "if it ain't broke don't fix it." You stick with what works of course. My greenhouse is 40C with the vents open right now so I will stick with indoor rooting for the time being. Cloner rooting has its perils, but it works more often than it fails, so I stick with it.

Thanks for sharing that Rafael!

JD, help me understand why cuttings in a coarse mixture of perlite/promix will often stay wet and rot the cutting and yet cuttings in wet compost/soil many times grow very well? 
Is there something in the compost/black soil that is preventing the cutting from rotting even though it stays wet longer? 

Pino

Perlite cup in a humidity chamber will do that. I think JD is referring to natural summer environment, so the humidity is different, more natural.

Hi Pino,
I don't use perlite . Just dirt from the nurseries and my local clay dirt when rooting direct in ground.
The method I described works in the summer; it may fail in the winter when humidity will stay longer in the dirt. In summer the humidity gets pumped out because of the heat.
In summer, if you don't water enough, the cuttings may wrinkle and dry out.
Of course even in summer if you keep the cuttings full shade in a fresh area, like a cave, you still can rot them from too much water.

Thanks Rafael and JD. 
This souns like an important point.
I spend a lot of effort controlling the r.h. in the air around the rooting cuttings but I didn't consider the humidity level below the surface.  I guess that is where a cloner helps?