PermaClone™ Manual for Perfect & Predictable Cloning -- Includes Cloning Techniques

At PermaClone we have developed cloning techniques for consistent, perpetual success with your cloning systems.

The PermaClone Method

1. Fill your cloner with tap water, add 3-5 mL/gal (0.5 - 1 tsp/gal) bleach with PermaClone collars in place and let circulate 8 - 12 hours or overnight. This lower dose of oxidizer, but longer exposure time is more effective than 20 min of high dose sterilizer.
   
   
2. Next, rinse your PermaClone™ collars in tap water. Our collars’ open shape allows exposure of all surfaces with a quick dunk-based rinse in 5 gallon buckets or larger. We offer Dunk-Base™ bags to make this more convenient & efficient. 
   
   
3. Last, choose ONE of the following sterilization techniques:
   
   Microwave: Add 6 – 180 PermaClone collars in a loosely closed microwave-safe container or turkey bag, pour in ½ - 1 cup of water, and microwave at 1000 watts for 15 min. Whatever container is used must be closed enough to circulate steam, but loose enough to allow excess steam to escape. Ensure the bag or container DOES NOT touch the top or sides of the microwave. ALSO, turkey ties may not be microwavable! ...while tying off the bag is not recommended to allow steam to escape. 
   
   Dry heat sterilization: 300 °F (150 °C) for 1 - 2 hours. DO NOT go over 300 °F (150 °C). The collars can handle higher temps, but the food-grade dyes cannot and will slightly darken. The Collar must NOT BE EXPOSED TO DIRECT HEAT  within an oven-safe container 4 - 6 inches (10 - 15 cm) away from the heating element.
   
   Chemical Sterilization: PermaClone chemical resistance and open shape allow ALL surfaces to be exposed during dunk-based chemical sterilization. Many large-scale producers prefer this function because it is easy to scale. We recommend complete submersion in water containing 0.10mL/gal (2 drop/gal) concentrated dish soap and 5 mL/gal bleach. Soak for 8 – 12 hours, or overnight, dunk rinse and store in a turkey bag for future use.
   
   Pressure cook: Ideally done in a loosely closed Chicken or Turkey bag at 15 psi for 30 minutes, following your pressure cooker’s guidelines. Start your 30-minute timer when the pressure cooker reaches full pressure. DO NOT rapidly cool or depressurize the system; this may cause the collars to shrink. 
   
   Autoclave: Dry Mode, 15 psi, 121°C, 30 min following your system’s manual
   
   
4. While your collars are sterilizing, fill your sterilized cloner with water below 200 ppm. It’s important you DO NOT add nutrients or additives to this water until Step 7. Choose one of the oxidizers listed in the table below and treat your water at the exact concentration listed. These oxidizers and dosages are safe for unrooted cuttings and for general water treatment. 
   

   TABLE 1: Cutting Safe Oxidizers & Dosages (Choose 1)
   8.25% Sodium Hypochorite (Bleach)	0.1 mL/gal (2 drops/gal)
   Hypochlorous Acid (e.g. UC Roots™)	5 mL/gal
   29-30% Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)	1.5 mL/gal
   Peroxyacetic acid (Zerotol® 2.0)	1.9 mL/gal

5. Next, Install the collars with gloved hands, remember to circulate the treated water while you add your cuttings.
   
   
6. Once the cloner is filled with your cuttings, boost your oxidizer of choice at the rate outlined in Table 1 and circulate for a few minutes before continuing to step 7. You're performing a second water treatment after all the interaction with the system. 
   
   
7. Pick one Hormone Product from Table 2, and one Mineral Nutrient from Table 3 based on what you have access to. **Dipping cuttings in gels or powders is inefficient. Water-soluble hormones produce the best results with less work!**

TIPS & CONSIDERATIONS WHEN CLONING:

Water Source: Clone with water under 200 ppm (500 scale; or 0.4 mS) TDS. Well water can contain pathogens and excess mineral content. If you use well water, water treatment (discussed below) is required, and if the mineral content is too high, it is crucial that you add a reverse osmosis system based on your water needs. 

Water Treatment: Upon filling your system (but absolutely before ANY additives, nutrients, or clones) add 0.10 – 0.20 mL/gal of 8.25% Bleach® (that equivalent to 2 - 4 drops/gal). This yields 2 - 4 ppm free chlorine, doses used in water treatment or swimming pools. It is very important that oxidizers are added BEFORE pH adjustment or additives because oxidizers react and become ineffective when exposed to additives. The goal is to focus their low doses on surface sterilizing your system and cuts. If you're weary of this, keep in mind most municipal water suppliers treat potable water at 4 ppm free chlorine. 2 – 4 ppm hypochlorite is safe for non-rooted cuttings. NOTE:  Once callous or root tissue forms, use 0.5 – 2 ppm free chlorine (0.5 - 2 drops per gallon 8.25% Bleach®.

Hypochlorous Acid Products: Products like UC Roots™, Clear Rez™, or Watermax™ are effective at 10x – 100x lower chlorine concentrations than hypochlorite salts such as Pool Shock (calcium Hypochlorite) or Bleach® (Sodium Hypochlorite). Hypochlorite cannot be dosed the same as Hypochlorous acid products. Hypochlorite products (such as Bleach® or Pool Shock) require 0.5 – 2 ppm free chlorine in hydroponic water culture, while Hypochlorous acid is effective at 0.05 – 0.5 ppm. Pool test strips are a convenient way to verify free chlorine when using Hypochlorite salts. The most important rule for all oxidizers is that they should be added BEFORE nutrients or additives to focus their oxidation on the system and cut before reacting with mineral nutrients or additives.

Cloner Nutrients: Adding low-strength bloom nutrients (200 – 600 ppm or 0.4 – 1.2 mS) improves rooting in speed and volume. We recommend nutrients intended for water culture. Avoid products that will inoculate or feed bacteria/fungi, such as amino acids/protein hydrolysate, sugars/carbohydrates, or “teas”. Do not add beneficial bacteria/fungi. There may be “safe” strains of beneficials, but we haven’t found anything offering long-term effectiveness.

Hormone products: Auxins improve rooting time and volume, but gels and powders wash off and are time-consuming to apply. Water-soluble hormones such as Hormex Liquid Concentrate, Rhizopon AA Salts, and KLN Cloning Solution each ensure adequate exposure times and eliminate the workload of dips.

Water Temperature. In cloning, warmer temperatures speed cell divisions with diminishing returns at 87 °F (30 °C). However, this also speeds growth of bacteria and fungi. For aeroponics we recommend 75 - 85 °F (24 - 29 °C). Deep Water Culture (DWC) systems use lower temperatures to improve oxygenation. The convention is currently 65 - 68 °F (18 - 20 °C), but for DWC cloners, we recommend 75 – 77 °F (24 - 25 °C). Use an IR Thermometer to quickly measure the temperature from outside your cloners. This is fast and prevents contamination. External IR readings will be 0 – 2 degrees below the actual internal temperature, and this offset depends on the ambient room temperature. If your ambient temperature is 75 °F and your cloner is at 85 °F, IR readings may be 83 °F. Alternatively, at ambient temperature 75 °F with your cloner at 77 °F, your IR readings will be relatively precise.

Pump Cycle Times: Cycle timing of water pumps is primarily used for temperature because pumps put off heat. Through extensive testing we have found faster rooting at warmer temperatures with diminishing return above 87 ° F (31 °C). We suggest 75 – 85 °F (24 – 30 °C). Changing how long your pump is on vs off will help manage your temps. 45 min on/15 min off = 25% reduction in pump on time. 30 on/30 off would be 50% less pump time. Find the ratio that work for your cloner.

More Nodes & Shoot Apices: Every shoot apex produces hormones that signal rooting (auxins). The more nodes left untrimmed from the cutting, the more natural (endogenous) auxins will be produced and sent to the basal (bottom) end of the cuttings. The goal is 3 – 6 nodes left uncut. Another effective trick is to remove the top two leaves attached to the top apex of the cuttings with the remaining leaves intact on each of the lower nodes.

Avoid removing leaves: Cutting fan leaves has traditionally been intended to decrease transpiration, but that’s not a concern in water culture. Only trim leaves to avoid shading neighboring clones. 

Light & Spectrum: The general suggestion is minimal lighting. People often place a couple T5 fluorescent 1 – 2 feet above the cloner canopy. Once roots form, ramp up lighting to 4 bulb T5 fluorescent fixtures at 4” (10 cm) from the cloner canopy. Recently we found a 4000K LED shop light more effective than our 6000K T5. This may be explained by research showing that more red light (650-700 nm) is needed for cutting propagation, as seen in the 4000K spectrum.

Callus Tissue: Non-specific plant tissue that may become different tissue types based on environmental factors or plant growth regulators. If you achieve extensive callusing, but root initiation lags, change the water, add your oxidizer according to Table 1 (let circulate for 1 min), then add your mineral nutrient alone according to Table 2. AND DO NOT add hormone products. Prolific roots should initiate within 24 - 48 hours. AND at the next cycle lower your hormone dosage.

Mother Plants: Maintain mother plants on a constant low strength nutrient (TDS: 300 – 400; EC: 0.6 – 0.8 mS of base nutrients) while maintaining normal doses of Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg). Potassium Silicate (or Silicic acid), amino acid/protein hydrolysates, kelp-based products or etiolated seedling extract products are great additives. Aim for a total TDS of 500 – 600 ppm (EC 1.0 – 1.2 mS) with additives. The goal is to minimizes nitrogen to levels that focus the plant on root generation and carbohydrate (sugar) storage in the stem. Foliar applications of kelp-based products 4 – 12 hours before taking cutting boost natural auxins, improving rooting speed and volume. Foliar auxins travel downwards for shoot apices, towards the root system at rates of cm/hr. This 4 – 12 hour timing ensures they are at their highest levels upon taking cuttings.

Water softeners swap random minerals for sodium ions. This is because sodium salts are highly water soluble and will not leave deposit on home appliances. Calcium and magnesium salts will leave deposits. Meanwhile, sodium (Na) is not needed in hydroponics and will antagonize essential plant nutrients such as potassium (K). If you use a softener, take note of the TDS/EC of Sodium.  Reverse osmosis (RO) filtration is the most cost-effective way to decrease mineral levels. If mineral content is high, your RO system (within a few uses) will only be able to reduce mineral content by 90%, leaving 10% residual minerals. For example, if your water source is at 500 ppm, you may end up with 50 ppm residual mineral content. And if a water softener is employed, that is 50 ppm of sodium ions. In this situation, we recommend switching to potassium salts so this "flow-through" will be potassium (K) instead of sodium (Na). Potassium softeners are often sold where Sodium salts are found.

Regenerating a Failing Cloner

For starters, the following two changes will make sterilization between cloning cycles simple:

1. 1. Eliminate air stones and air-lines: they’re not needed for aeroponic cloning and are challenging to sterilize; while aeroponic nutrients fly through air spaces containing 20% oxygen.
      
      
   2. Remove the back plate of your cloners’ pumps, found where the power cord enters the pump. It may require a flathead screwdriver to pop it off. Once removed, you will discover an orifice where enough liquid enters for pathogens to fester, but minimally accessible to sterilizers; remove permanently!

Next, since your cloner has a biofilm or pathogen problem, you need to break down and thoroughly clean your system. With your parts disassembled, mix up a solution of 5 mL/gal 8.25% Bleach® (or 10 mL/gal 5.25% Bleach® solution) with 0.1 mL/gal (2 drops/gal) concentrated dish soap. Wearing latex or nitrile gloves, gently scrub and expose each part of your systems to bleach, knocking away biofilms. Consider all parts that may harbor pathogens: reservoir caps, bulk heads, grommets, rubber gaskets and seals.

This should include disassembling and cleaning your water pump and pump housing. You may find replacing the pump more convenient, just remember to remove the back plate on the new one!

Once reassembled, fill with PIPING HOT tap water and circulate until cool enough to add 5 mL/gal Bleach and 2 drops/gal soap. Circulate for 24 hours, dump, and do not rinse the system. This should be the last time this much work is spent sterilizing the system if you follow the PermaClone methods.

Also, check out my following articles to expand your knowledge base:

Hydoponics Water Quality and Water Treatment--A MUST READ!

The 3 Reasons Cloners Fail

Advanced Aeroponic Cloning -- THE SECRETS!

Contact US

Please reach out anytime for technical support on all aspects of growing through our contact form. 

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PermaClone™ 5-Year Warranty

PermaClone™ (a trademark of PhenoSelex, Inc.) is backed by a five-year warranty covering all non-aesthetic functional performance when the product is used according to official PermaClone instructions and publications.

This warranty does not cover damage caused by misuse, abuse, modification, or failure to follow the documented cleaning and handling guidelines.

If a warranty claim is needed, PhenoSelex, Inc. will—at our discretion—replace any qualifying PermaClone collars after completing the following steps:

1. Initiate a support request through our contact form.

2. Provide either:

   • A digital copy of your original receipt, or

   • The email receipt you received at purchase.

For purchases made through authorized third-party retailers, the warranty must be processed directly through that retailer.
The official purchase date is determined by the original sales receipt. In certain cases, PhenoSelex, Inc. may accept the purchase date as verified by a reputable third-party seller in good standing with our company.

Updated: November 29, 2025 -- for better clarity, fixed links, and updated content.