The 3 Reasons Cloners Fail

Being the founder of PermaClone has allowed me to tour and stay in touch with many hydroponic cloners, big and small! Through those relationships, it has become clear that failure generally happens for 1 of 3 reasons.

Real quick! ...before I tell you the real issues, let's knock out some variables that make for refinements of cloning but don't make-or-break you. Throw out your concerns about water temps, pH, nutrients, hormones, lighting, humidity, vapor pressure deficit, the list goes on! NONE. OF. THESE. PREDICT. FAILURE. These variables are refinements that produce better-quality results or faster clones, but not the analog result — success or failure.

#1 A STERILE CLONER

Ask anyone with cloner problems how their first run with the cloner was. 99% will say the first round was great! … but as they added cloning cycles, the results diminished. Now this isn’t the case for everyone. When I created PermaClone, I lived in Austin, TX, and a hydro store in Dallas was far less familiar with this issue. You will discover why later in this article (this pertains to one of the three reasons cloners fail). 

So, generally, 99% of failed cloner stories start with a functioning cloner that slowly fails after each cycle. Then that sad decision to shelf their system for good, with an emboldened determination that rockwool or plugs are the way to go. I knew one commercial grower in Colorado who literally threw away cloners and replaced them with new ones when they reached complete failure rates. One of his theories was that the cloners leached plastic as they aged. This wasn't the worst hypothesis, but I graciously proved to this grower that the problem was sterilization by regenerating one of his cloners for him. He immediately upgraded to PermaClone and began using PermaClone techniques.

But if Acom’s Razor is to be followed, then a cloner succeeding round one and slowly failing over time does allow for one primary (at least starting) hypothesis: sterility? For me, that was an obvious and strong hypothesis. But eliminating all the sources was challenging, and sterility involves attention to several variables. I won't go into them here. You’ll have to read my article on How to Sterilize Your Cloner...AND KNOW IT! and How to Sterilize PermaClone Collars with Confidence! For the details.

#2 Water Quality

Once you’ve established solid system sterilization, it is time for proper, regular water treatment. Remember my mention of the Dallas hydro store not being as worried about cloner failure? Well, in 2014, I was visiting a Dallas suburb and had chlorine test strips and a pH/TDS meter. As a grower, I am always interested in a city’s water quality. For this Dallas suburb, GUESS WHAT? Chlorine levels out of the tap were a SOLID 4 ppm free chlorine. That is one ppm ABOVE pool strengths. Immediately, I understood why that Dallas hydrostore was less wary of cloning failure. In retrospect, this was obvious, but I hadn’t teased through all the variables. By that time, I had managed six different grows, four on municipal water (treated) and two rural water wells, and the hindsight was EUREKA! The rural areas were the most problematic! ...lots of cycle timing, concerns about temps, brown stems, tedious/redundant sterilizations with hit-or-miss results.

The Dallas eureka moment was paramount because my 7th grow was (again) on rural well water and I could now deploy this new piece to the puzzle. Collars Sterilized (Check!), Cloner Sterilized (Check!) ...but water treatment? The new frontier! I had two 60-site EZ-Clones by that point, and the experiment was clear as day. Chlorine-spiked vs untreated. Untreated FAILED with this well water, offering the worst results--the horrid slime in the cloner! At that time, Clear Rez was available, but neither UC Roots (now Clear Line 5x) nor Watermax was. So I used 0.2 mL/gal bleach (4 drops/gal; 1 drop/liter) and chlorine test strips from local pool supply stores to ensure free chlorine levels were 3-5 ppm.

Take-home message: for predictable results, treat your water after system fill. Through experimentation, I learned that a second spike AFTER cuttings are in place, but before the additive, is key! This surface sterilizes your cuts and any surfaces you touched during set-up and clone insertion. 

There are several great products for water treatment in Hydroponics, such as Clear Line 5x, Watermax™, Clear Rez™, and 29% Hydrogen Peroxide. I, personally, still use 0.2 mL/gal Bleach® (4 drops/gal; 1 drop per liter) and check the results with chlorine test strips from my local pool supply store. The same can be done with these other products.

For a detailed discussion on water quality and treatment, read Hydoponics Water Quality and Water Treatment--A MUST READ!

#3 PUMP FAILURE

I HAVE SOME GREAT NEWS! I have relied on water pumps for years to automate my grows, and pump malfunctions have been rare! The single time I can think of, I recovered from. The bad news is there’s another form of pump failure, and it’s not due to the pump...it’s called “I didn’t plug in the pump” failure. Luckily, I’m all about counteracting my deficits in attention and found the solution--CYCLE TIMERS!

Here's how it goes. Your pump is ALWAYS plugged in. PERIOD. Your cycle timer is set to long “on times” and  5 - 30 min “off times”. When you want to inspect the cloner? Spin the Cycle Timer “on time” to its minimum time, the pump shuts off, and you IMMEDIATELY dial it back to the desired "on time", while your off time is initiated (5 - 30 min off). You now have 5 - 30 minutes to check on the status of your clones.  This minor adjustment has eliminated the most common form of pump failure — forgetting to plug the pump in —100%. 

For good measure, I must address another cause of pump failure. The clogged pump. It can happen at the intake or misters. Do not let clones grow past your manifold, and certainly avoid vegging clones in a high-throughput cloning situation. When clones achieve prolific roots in the 1 - 4 inches (2.5 - 10 cm) range, moving to your next stage of growing is a good rule of thumb. Vegging them is fun (and makes for great shots on social media), but it is not good practice!