Cloning can be a difficult and tricky procedure; however this little guide should help eliminate some of your hurdles. To start, take a clone from a mother plant while still in the vegetative phase. Use a sharp knife or razor blade and cut a 3inch or so branch from the base of the mother plant at a 45 degree angle. Make sure there are a few leaves on the new clone so it can absorb enough light to take root.

Now at this point, you can take the cut end of your new clone or stick it directly into the 2inch neoprene plug so that the stem of the plant fits snuggly in the small hole in the middle and is deep enough that the cut portion of the stem is at least ½ ways down the length of the netpot. Make sure the hydroponic fogger unit is on and the area under the netpot is filled with a heavy fog. This will aid in faster root development.

Propagating plant clones, or cuttings, is not a new concept but the process of aeroponic cloning is not always well known.  In aeroponic propagation, the cultivation of sibling or cloned plants is done using an aeroponic system instead of the more traditional soil-potting.

When setting up an in home garden, aeronponic propgation might sound like something you may be interested in.  Here are some basic steps to follow to start your own aeroponic cloning operation:

• Select a healthy branch from the parent plant with several clusters of leaves.
• Cut off a piece of the branch leaving at least 2 leaf nodes intact.
• Remove the largest few leaves as they can be hard for a rootless plant to maintain in the early stages.
• Then remove all branches and leaves apart from the top 2 sets. Make sure they are within close proximity to the aeroponic fogger and aeroponic mister.
• You are now well on your way to procuring your first crop of cloned plants.

When setting up your hydroponic indoor garden and once you’ve decided on the growing medium you will use, you will need to decide how you will feed your plants.  In a passive technique, the water and nutrients wick up through the medium to deliver the nutrients to the roots.  In an active system, you will need a small pump to keep the water and nutrients circulating.

The nutrients vary but most people using hydroponics agree they should be in ionic or inorganic form.  Most of the nutrient products involve dihydrogen phosphate sulfate, nitrate, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Some people feel that hydroponics also calls for the addition of nickel, chlorine, boron, zinc, copper, manganese, and iron, among others. You should know, however, that the plants themselves will use one or more of these specific nutrients faster than others. The Ph may be changed by the plant making it more alkaline or acidic.

Misting systems allow plant propagators to keep the cuttings moist, but not overly wet, and save considerable time. Cuttings are usually placed out in the open or an open enclosure, not under a sealed enclosure, which allows the circulation of fresh air.  The plants require this for respiration, cooling, drying, and watering requirements. Because of the automation, many more cuttings can be done at one time.

Mist kits for plant propagaton have the same basic components:

* A timer to turn the system on and off daily.
* A timer to control the misting duration and frequency.
* A transformer to reduce the voltage to the voltage the solenoid requires. Please note that transformers and solenoids are AC voltage and others are DC voltage! Voltage for the solenoid and transformer MUST be the same!
* A solenoid valve that controls the flow of the water to the mist heads.
* A reliable water supply.
* A reliable electrical supply.
* A manifold to carry the water to the misting heads
* Mist heads to spray a fine mist over the cuttings