Contributed by:
OOgleBird
Submitted: 12-08-2003
A wick cloner is a two
part system that uses both a reservoir container and a
container for medium. The two containers are nested
together and a wick runs from the lower reservoir
container to the upper medium container.
Why
a wick cloner? Its low maintenance. I only add
water to mine every few days. But using a larger bottom
reservoir would allow no required maintenance for a week
or longer if any at all.
If the reservoir is
maintained with water the medium stays consistently
moist, with almost no effort...
It can be made
out of household materials. I use 2 two liter bottles,
some string and some vermiculite at minimum.
Can I use different mediums? Sure so
far people have used vermiculite, perlite, rockwool, and
Rapid Rooters. These medium can also be used in
combinations.
Does it work? When I
first began using the wick cloner I had immediate
success.. My first run of clones resulted in about 70%
success and I was delighted.. More recently I have been
having 100% success with the first 20 clones using a
specific method that will be documented here...
Materials needed:
Cloning gel (I use purple clonex)
A small container to pour the clonex in ( do not use
the clonex container to dip the plants in. It can
contaminate the clonex.)
I used a piece of 1/2 inch
plastic pipe and 1/2 x 3/4 connector for the base.
I
inserted some plastic wrap into the 1/2 inch plastic
pipe to form the dipping container.
Scissors
Something to poke a hole in the Vermiculite.
Building the cloner (first 4 pics) 
The cloner requires two 2 liter bottles.
I normally cut the bottom from the bottle top at about
the bottom of the label.
The second picture shows the top portion
of the cloner. The pencil demonstrates the approximate
size of the hole required for the wick to pass thru...
Next to that is the string used for the wick. It
is nylon seine string I bought from Wal-Mart. I use 5
pieces of string about 10 inches in length. Simply
gather all the pieces together and tie them in the
middle. The knot will be too large to pass thru the
pencil sized hole.... I don?t make the knot too tight,
just firm.
The third picture shows both parts of
the wick cloner. One end of the wick has been inserted
thru the hole. The wick strings have been spread over
the top container (The cloner part).
The fourth picture shows the bottom
container (reservoir part)with water. The top
container(cloner part) has about the same amount of
vermiculite in the top as there is water in the
reservoir part...
Cloning
procedure
Have the small container of
clonex, and the wick cloner ready for use... Wash your
hands carefully.
Once the cutting is made I use
wounding or scarification. All that?s required is to lay
the stem flat on something and scrape opposite sides
with a razor blade... We only want to remove a small
amount of the outer stem.
Usually I scrape in
about 3 or 4 passes on each side... care should be taken
not to remove too much of the outer tissue (This is very
important). There is no question based on how the plants
form roots that the wounding and/or hormones have a
distinct and favorable effect.
Dip the cutting
in the clonex count to 5 and insert the stem into the
hole you made vermiculite.
I find I can fit
about 15 clones around the outside of the cloner.. Then
several more inside that. 20 clones in this thing is not
unreasonable or overcrowded... Make sure that all plants
have access to light....
You could also use
about 5 or 6 whole rapid rooter plugs and larger
clones....
Cloning notes:
My
clones are made based mostly on size... If I see
prospect that has a nice piece of stem and a couple
leaves I see a good cutting.
Lighting - I use
indirect lighting. The light is not directly over my
plants... Make sure the light is well away from the
cuttings if the light is over the plants or is low
lumens.
Some cloning myths:
You
must make the final cut under water or an embolism could
kill your plant.. I did not find this...You must have at
least one node that you strip under the medium: I did
not find this. I suspect that the node thing is a method
of wounding/scarification, which I believe is
helpful.You need a humidity dome to root the cuttings; I
have rooted many without one, but they may work better
with a dome. Cutting the stem at a 45 degree angle; this
doesn?t seem to matter much either.
