The steps to success in Hydroponics propagation and plant cloning start with having supplies and equipment ready, clean, and a plant cloning area as sterile as possible. A grow room that has existing mold, bacteria, or bug infestation, will doom your plant clones before they have a chance to root.
Most Hydroponics gardeners prefer the ease of using rockwool growing medium for propagation and plant cuttings. Rockwool is available in bulk, precut slabs, blocks and cubes to make the insertion of cuttings extremely easy. It also retains liquid and air, which will then require less maintenance during the plant cloning process.
Soak the rockwool growing medium in half strength plant nutrient solution, with 4 drops of root zone accelerant, such as H&G Roots Excelurator, and 5 drops of anti-stress nutrient added, for 10 hours the night before cloning. Discard the plant nutrient soaking solution and rinse rockwool again with half strength solution, warmed. Adjust the rockwool pH level if required. Insert thermometer into rockwool and allow temperature to reach the green zone, 70 to 80 degrees, before you place any plant cuttings in growing medium. If the rockwool growing medium is below 70 degrees, place a heat mat under your bottom container.
Select plant cuttings from new growth on the mother plant if possible, however, cuttings can be taken from anywhere provided the stem is of the correct thickness. Stem thickness should be between 1/8" and 1/4" diameter. Take cuttings with about four sets of well developed leaves and approximately 3 1/2" to 6" in length. The topmost growing shoots make excellent cuttings, however, make sure the wood is of the correct thickness and not too green or too woody.
Snip off the cutting from the plant at a 45 degree angle. Carefully cut the leaf stems 1/8" to 1/4" away from the node. Allow at least one node to remain on the main stem of the cutting. Gently scrape the cut area around the bottom of the stem to disrupt the cells on the stem surface, to help them change into root cells. Take a number of cuttings at one time, and immerse them in a container filled with tepid water, with a few drops of anti-stress formula added.
Using the cutting scalpel, begin trimming your plant cuttings. Take cuttings one at a time from tepid water and trim bottom two sets of leaves flush with stem. Trim approximately 50% of remaining leaves by cutting across the leaf surface. It is hard for the plant clones to keep large leaves alive and they usually wilt and fall off if not cut in half.
Submerge the plant cutting stem and nodes into your rooting compound gel, such as Olivia's Cloning Gel, for five (5) seconds.
TIP: Do not dip plant cuttings directly into rooting hormone bottle. Pour a small amount into a small container, and discard what is not used to prevent introducing any bacteria or disease into the main container. Store the bottle of rooting hormone in the refrigerator after opening.
Spray the top and bottom of the plant cutting's leaf surface with an anti-wilt formula, such as Vita Grow Anti-Wilt, before you insert it into the rockwool growing medium to ward off initial shock wilt and put less stress on your plant cuttings.
Gently insert the stem into the rockwool, making sure the stem does not protrude out of the bottom of the cube. After all of the Hydroponics plant clones have been dipped and placed in the growing medium, water the rockwool again with half strength nutrient solution, anti-stress nutrient, and root zone accelerant until nutrient freely runs from the rockwool. Allow to drain for a few minutes, then place inside a cloning machine, such as an E-Z Clone, and place over the heating pad, if necessary. The optimum temperature range for successful Hydroponics plant clones is 70 to 75 degrees, and should be maintained day and night.

Close the vents on the cloning machine dome for the first 3 days. Place cloning machine under a fluorescent grow light with two tubes for 16 - 18 hours per day. Check moisture and temperature for the first couple of days. Mist Hydroponics plant clones morning and night with water and a couple drops of anti-stress nutrient.
After 3 days, open the vent on the cloning machine dome. Monitor progress of plant clones for another 4 to 5 days. By this stage it should be time to take the dome off the cloning machine and expose plant clones to normal air. Continue misting morning and evening, and monitor plant nutrient and moisture levels in the rockwool growing medium. Humidity should be 80-85%. If air in cloning room is dry, mist more often. Black leaf edges, black spots on leaves and mushy stems (damping off disease) are all indications of too much moisture and poor airflow.
By the end of 6 to 10 days you should be able to see root hairs protruding from the rockwool growing medium. Healthy roots look thick, white and hairy. Sickly roots look thin, yellowish or brown, and hairless.
When your Hydroponics plant clones are well rooted and beginning to shoot, transplant them into your growing system. Slowly introduce them to full strength plant nutrient and place under a Hydroponics grow light. I recommend a 175 - 400 watt metal halide light while the plants are small and tender. Exposing the plant clones to a full strength metal halide grow light, after the fluorescent grow lights, would be a shock. If you are cloning small plants, such as lettuce or non-blooming plants, you may be able to continue using just the fluorescent grow light.
TIP: Care should be taken to acclimatize your new tender Hydroponics plant clones to the brighter light. Start by raising the grow light approximately 3 feet above the plant clones for the first few days. Slowly lower the light over the next week until the grow light is at the correct height of 12"-18". This will ensure a smooth, stress-free transition to growing under metal halide grow lights.
I would like to stress again that it is imperative to have all of your plant cloning supplies ready before you start your plant cuttings, and to have your grow room clean and sterile. Review the list of supplies needed, and purchase any items missing. Once you start the process, it is too late to clean or to buy the Hydroponics supplies that you are missing.
Hydroponics propagation and plant cloning is a vital part of gardening. Not only do you know that the plants you are growing came from good, healthy stock and you had no need to spend money on store-bought plants, you have the pleasure of knowing that you did it yourself.