Hey Dan...Thanks so much for the Info! This is my very first time using my Cloner. I have been rooting the old way for a couple of years, so this is totally new to me!

Thanks, so much, that answered the question for me! Good Luck to you too! : )

Frank from Bama

I was just wondering if anybody is using Clear Rez in their cloning machines.  I received an EZ Cloner for Christmas ( family enabling my addiction) and it included this product with it. Also when I researched it on line there was one site that said HTH Pool Shock non buffered is the same exact product and much cheaper in price.

If it came with your cloner, then go ahead and use it.  Essentially the Clear Res is just adding chlorine.  I use liquid chlorine in my cloner for the same effect.  Over time the liquid chlorine will add salt to the water, but I change the water every month or between batches of cuttings.  I believe the Clear Res adds some calcium which is fine for the cuttings so you would not need to change the water as often.

Personally I like to clean and sterilize the cloner between batches of cuttings anyway so changing the water is no problem.

What ever you do I would recommend testing the water for both chlorine level and PH since both liquid chlorine and pool shock will change the PH of the water.

Oh, and if you are on city water you probably already have more chlorine than you need or is good for the plants.  The desired chlorine levels are pretty low, about 0.5 ppm.  So you would not add Clear Res until the chlorine levels drop below the desired 0.5 ppm.

Dan: Thanks for the feed back. I wasn't sure about adding it since most of the info on the net comes from growing pot sites and not figs. 

I've been doing some research on the EZ Clone Clear Rez and there is a lot of discussion on the herbal cloning boards. Clear Rez which is included with the EZ Clone unit is basically chlorine.
In a nutshell, to make the solution, you use 1 gram of HTH Pool Shock per gallon of water. 
To use the solution, you add one ounce per gallon of water in your cloner every 3 days or so. 
Chlorine seems to be a real friend in your cloner. Makes a lot of sense.
I'm going to give it a shot.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
I have not tried or trialed using this mixture. Make your own decision on this, there is ample information on the subject on the web.

http://www.rollitup.org/t/make-2200-worth-of-clear-rez-for-4.423650/

https://forum.grasscity.com/advanced-growing-techniques/685546-ez-clone-experiencesand-breakthrough.html

Ok, all you guys and gals who either built a cloner or bought one have it up and running the past few months....How fast did it take your cuttings to root? 

I'll start.  For me, I had cuttings ready to be potted up in 17 days.

Bluemalibu,

Is it possible that 82 is too hot?  I seem to recall 72-74 being the 'right' temp (but I could easily be wrong).

I set my cloner up in mid December.  This cutting - an LSU Purple - is the current winner for rooting by a long shot:

 

The rest of the bunch are somewhere between small white roots and bumps with a few seemingly doing nothing at all - including my RdB from Marcus.


Andrew

  I think that you may have pegged it Andrew...

 Per the online EZclone manual:

    "When I was creating and first started using the EZ-CLONE, I noticed that if my water temperature was getting over 80 degrees in the reservoir, the cuttings were prone to developing harmful bacteria. This was usually in the form of a grayish-brown slime, and if not treated quickly, would kill all of my cuttings. That being said, it didn’t take me very long to figure out that during warm periods of the year, I had to keep the unit in an air-conditioned room or find another way of keeping my water at a suitable temperature. My focus was keeping my water as close to 70 degrees as possible. This is where I was seeing the best results and as long as I was cleaning the unit properly in between uses, my results were very good, usually between 95-100%."

  Well,   time to roll up the sleeves...   Blue

Blue, I am sorry for your lost! Your water was too hot. You cooked your cutings. Hang in there and try again. It happened to me using a 5gal bucket 2 yrs ago.

I'd give it a try. Couldn't hurt.

  Thanks, Dennis.  I was leaning that way, but if other's knew for certain that it would be a lost cause, then I'd bow to their expertise...

  Blue

This is after about 4 weeks.  I also have a couple of cuttings put into the cloner at the exact same time, that still have nothing after about 6 weeks.  And some that were in between.  It seems to be somewhat variety dependent, but I have seen a lot of variation within one variety.  I think temperature control is pretty important.  Too cool and nothing happens, too hot and things rot.  From what I have read, keeping the water sterile is very important at the warmer temperatures.  I run mine at 75 degrees and use chlorine.  I have read about people going as hot as 85 with religious sanitation and chemistry control.

Bluemalibu, do you check your chlorine levels?  I have a feeling if you don't, then you started with city water that is too high in chlorine, but over time it has dropped to zero and the warm temps you are running led to nasties (technical term) growing.  You have to periodically add chlorine or sanitizer.  Also depending on the type of chlorine you probably should adjust the PH.  Since you have chlorine in your city water, you could also change out a portion of your water every week to keep the optimum chlorine levels.  I have read that 0.25 to 0.5 PPM is a good target.  This is considerably lest than most treated city water and swimming pools, but my pool test kit has a 0.5 ppm window so I use that.

If you are going to try again in the cloner, I would thoroughly clean the cloner with some water and bleach.  Be sure to run it through the pump and sprayers. and dunk your net pots and collars.

Personally, I would trim off the rotting part and try again with cooler temps.  Depending on how many cuttings you have of each variety, you might hedge your bets and also try some other rooting methods.

I personally want to try http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/bag-rooting-techniques-7848105?highlight=bag+rooting&pid=1290243673 since it seems so hands off once started and Mai has great success with it.

Personally I am sold on the cloner, and I think it will be great for propagating other types of plants from soft green cuttings.  With the figs we have lots of options it seems.  Less so for things like tomatoes or peppers and herbs.

Dennis,
I have two options - buy the 40 cloner or 120, but you mentioned somewhere about 5 gallon having an issue with overheating. My question is should I got for 40 or 120(which is very expensive ) the 40 cloner only hold Upto 15 litre of water , and 120 holds about 23. Please find attached picture which will give you an idea of their size. When you said 5 gallon did you meant 5 gallon water holding capacity or is it just the size of the box?.
Thanks

Vinny,

I'm the least mechanically competent person around. The only tool I'm proficient with is a checkbook. That being said, I built a cloner with my son as a project and completely over-engineered it (we used 2 ten foot sticks of PVC).

Why buy one? A big rubber tote, 400 GPH aquarium pump, PVC, mister heads and net pots and plugs are really all you need. The PVC and tote are from HD or Lowes and the rest is from Amazon.

You'll need a 2" hole cutter and a small drill bit for the mister heads.

Depending upon the tote, you'll have a 40+ cuttings cloner quite quickly.

But for my incompetence, it's really a short afternoon project.

Pardon all the typos, I'm typing on my phone.


Andrew

  Well,    ...here's the update on Operation Ficus Salvage:


       Over the course of last evening,  I built yet another cloner;  (I'm getting pretty proficient at it, if you'd like me to put one together for you Vinny...   LOL!! )   as I wanted to remove as many avenues for failure as I could, and that included the re-inoculation of the water with any bacteria that I may have missed by simply cleaning the old system.

     The cuttings were then clipped well above the neoprene collar to amputate the rotted portion; the lower winding of grafting tape was removed to expose the area to the cloner spray, and the ends were sanitized in 10% dilution chlorine before being inserted into new collars and new cups.  The heater is now set to maintain 70*.

     Hopefully, some of these cuttings will respond to the revised growing parameters, and I'll yet realize trees from the endeavor...

   Thanks again, for the assistance with solving the puzzle...   Blue

This thread has a lot of information and I have some observations and questions.

My status: I bought supplies over the weekend and began construction.  First thing I did wrong was I bought a 4 way PVC connector and assembled the pipes with the inlet to one end of the container.  This caused the hose to bend and kink so I will be buying new connectors and changing configuration so the hose is fed from a 90 degree angle (bottom up).  Second, I ran out and bought a tap and die set at Harbor Freight.  I thought I needed it and it seemed like something every man should own.  The misters I bought came with a drill bit and they snap into the hole instead of being screwed.  Seems to work OK.  Lastly, I expected a finer mist coming from the misters.  A better description would be sprayers.  They spray fine streams in all directions.

Here are my questions:
1) Do your sprayers/misters actually mist or are they more of a fine spray?  I was expecting something akin to what you see in the vegetable isle in the grocery store.
2) How far below the top are your sprayers located?
3) What is the purpose of adding H2O2 (hydrogen Peroxide)?
4) What is the proper PH level to keep the water?
5) What steps did you take to clean the system before using?

There was great information regarding water temperature in the 70's and Dan's info that is outside temp is 40-50 which is exactly where I plan to be.  Thanks to all!

Andrew
Thanks, i agree with you. Making one myself would be more economical and more fun as this is all about having some fun isint , we ain't selling them after all . But the trouble is I will have to find equivalent parts here in Britain and the 40 cloner is only £70, but I think it might get over heated due to its 15 litre water holding capacity . Anyway i have my new setup up and running so this can wait for a bit as I'm still learning .

Blue
That would be nice mate haha lol. I'm sure you'll be ok . I am really interested in this cloner after seeing what Dennis have achieved . Ofcourse he is very experienced and is a long time member and I wouldn't hesitate to try his meathod. However we all live in different zones and countries in my case. So we need to think about Ph , chlorine content , temperature etc .

I can send few cuttings from trees growing around London boroughs if you guys want to play around .
Thanks

Vinny,

70 euro is presently about $75.
My Rubbermaid tote was $22 and the pump $25. I could have bought a 35 cutting size tote for $9.

I think the collars and net pots and misters were probably another $25.

My cloner, though is set for 70+ cuttings and could easily have been cut more closely to hold even more.

The overheating issue usually applies to US 5 gallon paint bucket size cloners. These are pails which hold 5 gallons of liquid when full. People have used this size with external pumps, but heating is a problem, nonetheless. They also hold very few cuttings at a time, so they are useless, in my opinion.

The pump is the most expensive piece of equipment and will service any size tote. So I bought both the biggest I could find and one the pot growers stated didn't leak - it did anyway, but I fixed that as we all have.

You could also get by with homemade inserts and without netpots. Misters (sprayers as most have noted) are the other "required" purchase.


Andrew

Hi Vinny,
Go for the EZ Cloner 40. It's the perfect size in my opinion .

For me, the 5 bucket cloner didn't work. I could not keep the water cool enough and I tried using it twice. The 5 gal bucket cloner holds less than 5 gals of water.....it's really holds around 3 gallons.


Hope this helps. Good luck!

 
   Well Vinney, we're like extended family then...   one of my daughters and four grand-kids live in Merseyside, Liverpool.  We alternate years, flying them back to California one year, and then my wife and I over there the next.

Here are my answers:
1) Do your sprayers/misters actually mist or are they more of a fine spray?  I was expecting something akin to what you see in the vegetable isle in the grocery store.

  Spray, and rather coarse at that. It bounces off the sides and top and goes everywhere

2) How far below the top are your sprayers located?

  5 1/2 inches below the top of the 5 Gallon Bucket, 4 1/4 inches below the bottom of the neoprene collars.

3) What is the purpose of adding H2O2 (hydrogen Peroxide)?

  I don't do it, I use chlorine

4) What is the proper PH level to keep the water?

  I target a PH of 6.0  I am not sure how important this is since the PH strongly effects how the plants absorb nutrients, and I am just using water.  But I have read several places this is optimum and if you let it stray too far it can damage the plants.

5) What steps did you take to clean the system before using?

  Flush out the chips from drilling and taping the PVC before you install the spray heads so they don't clog.  I let the PVC cement cure for a day and then filled the cloner with water and ran it for 24 hours.  Next I changed the water and loaded it up with cuttings and started rooting.

Here is a picture of my cloner wrapped in insulation to keep the water temperature up.

As I alluded to before, I think the over heating issue completely depends on the temperature of your room.  Clearly I have no problem with overheating since my room is so much cooler than the desired water temperature.

If your room is warmer than the desired water temperature, then I don't care how large the reservoir is, you are going to need cooling.

It is true that there is a small range of room temperatures, slightly less than the desired water temperature, where a large cloner with greater surface area will shed the heat from the pump, where a smaller one like a 5 gallon bucket will not.  This is offset somewhat, since a larger cloner requires a larger pump that dumps more heat into the water.

Yes the 5 gallon bucket cloner is small.  Mine only has 12 sites, 11 if you consider I run the cord for the pump out one of them.  For me at this stage the size is perfect, and I find it extremely useful as evidenced by the fact that all my cuttings seem to be rooting just fine.  I think my wife would kill me if I was rooting 64 cuttings.



Here is a picture with the lid off showing the manifold and spray nozzles
  


Here is a picture showing the pump and manifold
  


I used the ECO plus 390 GPH pump and it cost $22.42 I measured the power consumption when running in the cloner and it is drawing around 11 watts.

I spent $11.99 for 50 spray nozzles and used 9, so I have a few spares.

I spent $10.99 for 25 net-pots and collars and used 12, so again some spares.

I also spent probably $10 or $15 on PVC pipe and fittings.

I already had the 10-24 tap and hole saw required to complete the cloner.  You are probably looking at $25 more if you need to purchase those items.

I don't think you should build the cloner to save money.  If you add up the parts / tools, and pay yourself anything for your time, you can buy one cheaper.  You should build one if it sounds like fun, and you like having stuff you built!

Dan

Dan, you are indeed the man!  Thank you for the information.  I was concerned my sprayers were faulty, now I will spray with confidence.  I bought PVC glue, but I don't think I need to use it as all parts seem to fit snugly without leaks. PH and cleaning data was great help.

Also, thank you to all who mentioned 70-75 degree target for root development.  I assumed humidity was key and the more heat, the more humidity.  My greenhouse fluctuates in degrees between 75 (night) to 95 (sunny day).  The figs have noticeable growth almost daily.  I assumed the same would hold for cuttings.  Now I know better than to assume anything!

Thank you,
Andrew

Dan,

I think the math works out in favor of building your own.  Given what you spent and have, your second cloner would need:

1.  $5/$0 -5 gallon bucket - $5 if you actually had to go buy one or free if you already had one lying around.  Lids are $2 if you didn't have one.
2.  $22.42 for a second pump
3.  $10 for PVC pipe/fittings

You already have all the pots, collars and misters you'd need.

So for $37 you'd have a second cloner up and running.

Given the number of spray heads which come in a packet, your 3rd and 4th cloners (for friends) would run an extra $5 each for more netpots and collars.  The 'big' investment on these is the pump - which is also why I went as big as possible for my first unit on the tote.

I think most of us have a friend/neighbor who has a 2" hole saw and likely has the tap set (although a properly sized wood screw can also be used which is virtually free).

Not arguing in any way with you - I just think that you do save money by building yourself and there isn't a whole lot of 'tech' that goes into the design or usage.  Leakage is the biggest issue and that can be solved with plastic sheeting or some other method.

If I were more precise with my drilling and alignment I could have fit a much more dense layout of holes in my cloner - as a first attempt I was very generous with the spacing.  Aside from the initial buy of plugs and pots there would be no extra costs - same running cost just a lot more space for blueberries or lots more figs <g>.

I'm hoping my cloner is successful - it was fun to build with my 10 year old and I can pull each plug out and look at my results every few days and dream about Spring.

I've gotten a few requests (denied!) for rooting alternative crops already when I discuss it over drinks or lunch.

Andrew