Hey BID
I was looking at the clone pics and I couldn't get a thought out of my head that I am compelled to share...
First, I see nothing wrong at all with your methods or results. My clones look(ed) exactly like that.
This last batch of clones, I did a little experiment. I started taking bigger clones. By the 3rd mom, I was taking HUGE clones. My conclusion is, bigger clones are better. They rooted faster, and it should save veg time. They didn't just root faster, they seemed to start actively growing again sooner, and seem less stressed by the whole process in general.
Here is the explanation I came up with...
Clones use resources stored in the leaves and stems to build the roots. A bigger clone, has more of these resources. This larger buffer allows them to recover from this, the ultimate stress we can put on a plant, much easier.
I'm bringing this up for 2 reasons. First, if you have the room for larger mothers, you might benefit from taking larger clones.
Second, this observation has made me question my old practice of clipping the leaves. I used to do it too, but now my thinking is this makes them root/recover slower as I'm reducing that storehouse of reserve energy/materials. My solution is to rebuild my cloner for next round. I want to spread them out more. I still think trimming to reduce shading is good, but there is probably a balance to be had there.
Again, this is not criticism! I honestly read this without commenting, but my stupid OCD brain wouldn't let it go. Hopefully sharing my recent experiments' results will be useful knowledge. If not, well then I apologize for wasting your time reading this.
whew... I feel better. Thanks for letting me quiet one of the voices in my head.