Cloning for independence!

Everything starts with seed… erm… clone. :slight_smile:

I would say cloning is absolutely critical thing for any serious grower. It is way to be independent on others and makes everything easier. You can get your genetics in time just when you need it prepared for other phases. Of course, you need to have separate grow chamber with mothers and possibly also cloning area.

But this doesn’t need to be large. In times when I had to “tighten my belt” and become modest I had lived with area this small:

New mothers growing under Metal Halid lamp and clones above on the shelf under fluorescent tubes 10000°K

Note: Camera white balance has been calibrated so that HPS in flowering room (left) looks white and MH and fluoros look very bluish & violet (right).

You can take cuttings from mother plants which you keep just for this purpose, or you can cut side branches off the plants in vegetative stage (or just after the switch) before they show flowers. It is said that clones from top branches are better, but if you need some vast amounts of them, don’t be afraid to use also side branches (but not the lowest weakest ones).

What tools do you need?

  • Scissors to cut branches
  • Fresh razor (I use everytime new one) to cut off leaves and finally stem diagonally
  • Gloves (I use one time latex gloves)
  • Cloning hormones (your favourite brand, I’ve used pretty much every brand, but prefer liquid ones)
  • Rockwool cubes

How to create cuttings?

Warning: Absolute must is sterile environment. You can’t do this half-way. You have to use gloves and keep everything clean. For this reason I use fresh sharp razor everytime and don’t reuse them.

After making diagonal cut on stem with razor, I dip it into cloning hormone and insert it into predrilled rockwool cube.

Rockwool has to be pH “buffered”, because it naturally has higher pH than we need. For this I use water adjusted to pH 4 and soak RW cubes in it for 24 hours.

How to maintain cuttings?

I’ve got best results with rockwool cubes 3,5 x 3,5 x 4 cm. But still I think they hold slightly more water than I need. After every watering with pH adjusted water I swing plateau from side to side to displace excessive water. It is kind of manual centrifuge. Then I put all separated water back into watering bucket. This way I feel I’ve got ideal mix of water and air inside mineral wool cubes.

I keep RW plateaus inside small plastic hotbeds. First days they are fully closed to maintain proper humidity. Then I gradually open them to let them suck more fresh air from outside, lower the humidity and to promote root initiation.

But that is not enough still… Every 24 hours (no excuses) I go, open every hotbed, water it, centrifuge it and ventilate it manually.
Every hotbed is placed on shelf which has its own heater or is heated with another fluorescent tube which is placed on the bottom side of the shelf. Shelving is very advantageous as each fluorescent light heats shelf above it. Temps around 25°C are recommended.

Clones do like warm and humid environment. But for fast and proper rooting they also need some air. Allowing air in makes them root faster. My results in years of cloning and improving this technique were rooted clones in 14 days (some obviously faster but generally in this period). You can’t speed this up. Also I do replant them only when they have rooted completely through the cube, so they have pretty developed root system.

Mother plants

When available I’m using Plagron Startup also for mother plants occasionally as it promotes branching. I’ve been also very satisfied with Mum8 from Metrop.

You can see my flowering room here.

7 Likes

Cloning Gallery

Cutted branches are constantly kept wet with spraying water.

When transporting clones to others or if they just arrived but you don’t have time to take care of them immediately, never leave them in the dark without light (they might try to start flowering and that would cause problems later).

Never underestimate clones… Proper clones need to be completely rooted through rockwool cube (check that many roots protrude out of the cube)… Only then apply fertilizer to clones…

Clones are single most important factor to get your grow right, have uniform canopy and succeed with your grow…!

Have you got any questions to my cloning tutorial? Any disagreements? :slight_smile: Any tips to share?

2 Likes

great guide dude:) might i recommend using aloe vera. use the gel as your cloning solution, soak your cubes in aloe water, and use it as a foliar. i keep a few aloe plants around for this and feeding my soil

2 Likes

Its a good tutorial, it covers cloning nicely.

I have a few suggestions that have helped me.

  1. Sterile conditions are important, when taking clones and when they are in the dome. You can add disinfectants to the water to help prevent stem rot, you can use something as simple as chlorine or specialized disinfectants. A little goes a long way. The point is to keep the cube free of contaminants until the plant can fend for itself.

  2. Clone formulas vary, and some plants react better than others, but I agree with using liquid formulas. I can drop it directly to the cube without contaminating the entire bottle.

I cant say what is the best formula but I prefer liquid formulas that have a mix of IBA and NAA. I’m trying some more concentrated .3% IBA But the IBA/NAA mix seems to work better. If you can find a rooting powder that has a fungicide along with hormones it works better. Cannabis does not need hormones to root, but I’m trying to speed up the process.

You are correct in not feeding the plant until roots show, the concept is “starter fertilizer” now the plant has a proper rooting system we can stimulate growth with fertilizer.

3 Likes

As others have pointed out clones can be taken from clones without deterioration, contrary to a popular myth.

I’m cutting bottom branches from my veg plants everytime just before I switch them to flower. Some say that lower branches are weak, bud look above how nice and strong ~15cm clones I take usually.

This way I get a lot of clones “for free” additional to what I’d get from a mother plant. It also helps to make proper airy environment in lower layers in grow tent. Bare stems allow air flow just above soil (coco) level. This helps to prevent from mold later in flowering.

This is how it looks when I cut lower branches.

1 Like

Have you try cloning plant from feminized seeds? one time… not repeat

Will increase any risk? Aside from that every single seed is little “different”

i cloned from fem bean plants many times. its fine. have had any problems at all

2 Likes

LOL this is like the Ford vs Chevy argument

1 Like

cept both ford and chevy are horribleXD

1 Like

Hi great workflow!

you said, that you are using 10k fluorescent tubes.

Did you observed better rooting or growing than with 6500k or other tubes?

Thanks, I don’t think it affects rooting speed anyhow.

I don’t have any scientific proof, but I “feel” that it branches and grows better.

1 Like

One day ill get cloning down, until then I can keep looking at everyones plant numbers in awe, thanks for the how to @metaphysical

1 Like