Is failure of clones and seeds common in winter indoors?

[AKgramma]

I normally am able to clone without failure in Spring, Summer and Fall. But I cannot seem to keep a clone alive long enough to root this winter.

Is this common? Will I have the same problem with germinating seeds? Should I wait till it starts warming up to take more clones or to plant cannibus seed?

All this is indoors, BTW, and I am using the same methods that I had success with earlier this year.

 

[Ripples]

How old is the mother? Where are you taking the clones from... upper, middle or lower? Getting plants to root as fast as possible, it's best to take the clones off the bottom of the plant since these clones tend have more root hormones and tend to take root in less time as clones taken from the top of the plant.
If you want to flower the plant right away to determine the gender, then you'll often have better luck taking a clone from the top of the plant, which tends to be more primed to flowering. I switched from a dome style with rockwool to EZ Cloner (sprayer style) it helped a great deal. Had a similar problem, all at once my clones wouldn't take?

 

[Serpent]

ya i never like the rock wool i did soil in a clone dome and the winters in canada suck so cold hard to keep the humility up its so dry

 

[AKgramma]

I don't have a mother plant. I use the prunings from the clones in veg. These are taken mostly from lower branches that aren't ever going to get large enough to produce decent buds. I've also taken clones from growing tips and from ladies in flower. Up until November, I didn't have a problem and have rooted a lot of clones. Now I can't get anything to root. And yes, I'm using Rootone and new soil each time, with a clean dome and new containers.

 

[Ripples]

It's my understanding that cloning from clone to clone is not the ideal way although I know people who do this without any problems. I prefer to have a mother. If going from clone to clone you run the risk of transferring some deficiencies or disease you may have acquired while growing. A mother eliminates this with the original genes. If your plants remain healthy (if) then you should have no problems. Try investing in a EZ Cloner or something similar. I had a similar problem and it was resolved with this method. Not exactly sure why or how but my roots are crazy out of control now. Takes about 5-7 days to start to take off but then BOOM they explode! You PH the water and add some cloning fluid and the pump running will keep the water warm. My grow room is in the basement and it stays around 62-65 F down there and I have had great success. If you have the room try a mother you may like it? A nice 3x3 or even a 2x2 tent will work just fine with some fluorescent lighting. Hope things work out for you. Last thing i would add is try to take clones from a lady in late Veg and not Flower. Easier to clone and less time to root.... Hope this helps a little?

 

[Weaselcracker]

AK, I had this same problem. Cloning was easy for years, then it suddenly wasn't, and I couldn't clone a damn thing. The cuttings would sit for weeks and weeks looking fine but would not root, and eventually rot would set in. It went on for many months and I tried everything. I tried new methods, I built an aero cloner (never had a single rooting success no matter how perfect the conditions), tweaked every possible factor, tried it with brand new equipment, tried cloning them them at a friends house instead of mine in case my environment had hidden issues (?).

I still haven't pinpointed the cause but got on to reading about root rot/pythium and eventually stumbled on to the Cap'ns thread here- Live or Sterile? Why I choose Live
which led me to buying some bennies (Zho, Subculture, Hydroguard) and brewing compost teas. The Cap'ns posts also led me to join 420. I didn't find out till after that he'd left.
After incorporating bennies for a few weeks, the plants started looking better and clones started rooting again. I can't say for sure it was the bennies that solved the problem, but I can say that my plants got healthier because of them.
The problem may have been a combination of things, but I suspect it was mostly high levels of harmful fungi and bacteria in my grow- in the roots of my neglected mothers, and just in the air. I don't know if that theory holds water. In any case- cloning seems to be easy again.

 

[AKgramma]

Ripples: You have talked me into putting my last mature lady back into veg as a mother plant. I only switched her a few days ago, and she is large enough to handle the change. She is my last healthy plant from this strain, and I have taken 7 more cones from her this morning. I really don't want to lose this strain.