Cloning Tops

Hi guys, after topping can these cuts be successfuly grown as clones, I’ve tried and failed!

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Yes for sure, they can definitely be cloned.

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They will root, they will just take longer to root than branches from the lower portion of the plant. However, in my experience, I always got the biggest best mothers off of tops.

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I thought that was the case but apparently alot more difficult. Mine didnt die or turn yellow but wilted badly without recovering, they did have hollow stems so maybe an air bubble?

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What was your humidity level at?

Tops make some of the strongest, most vigorous clones. I’ve yet to see them take any longer than the bottoms. The bigger larger cuts usually end up with beastly roots.

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It was 60 to 70rh and I tried 20 to 28 deg.C, I used Clonex purple and Jiffy7 starter plugs and gave up after 14days.

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60 might be too slow for clones, especially if they did not root yet. It would be hard to diagnose them any better without pictures… could be dapping-off for example. (By the sounds of it, low humidity could have been the issue. Coupled with low temps, 20C is cold for roots development.)

Keep it at 24-26C. And if your cuts start to wilt, the humidity is too low.

I’ve had clones take more than twenty + days. I leave them in the dome until they either root or die.
I take clones from any source, top or bottom. Tops are better IMO because they have fatter branches, and make the best mothers.

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Make sure you pest pellet isn’t completely water logged, I squeeze them till there’s just a little bit of water dripping out, then stick them in a container or a dome. If there’s not enough cuttings to humidify the dome, mist the dome to provide the humidity. Then give the cuttings low levels of light, too much light and the cuttings make take longer to root. Once a day, I open up the container/dome for a min to let them breath and loose some of the built up humidity, then replace dome. If it’s a smaller container, I wipe the condensation off and place the top back on.
Some strains take longer to root, also plants with deficiencies will produce cuttings that are harder to root also.

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Im with ya on that one they can either root or die , had some root in as little as four days and I have had some take up to 20 or more like you say , depends on a lot of factors but the average for me is about a 7-9 days.
If you trim all the leaf you would while cloning the day before you take the cuts it realy helps with them wanting to droop over, it’s just enough time to allow the cuts in the leaf to heal and not lose moisture , makes a big difference actually.

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Yeah, make sure to trim off like 2/3 of your leafs length. My cloning success went way up when I started going at them with scissors.

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Agreed with what others said make sure you trim most of the growth and leaves, leaving 1-2 leaves and a few nodes. The plant can’t maintain turgor pressure to support those leaves because it lost its roots, so it wilts and dies.

It can take a while; up to 3 weeks in some cases. I do not use domes but it may be a good idea if you live somewhere dry. If it survives the night without wilting, it’s probably gonna root if you leave it alone. Give it soft light. A rooting hormone can help it root faster, but it isn’t necessary.

Keep them moist but not sopping wet. Cuts that are too wet don’t want to develop roots. Pure fine perlite is a perfect rooting media.

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Cloning tops is how you get dem fatty roots :call_me_hand:t4:

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Great info guys, thanks a lot its now obvious the mistakes I made so next grow I’ll trim leaves more and mist them less, my peat plugs were way too wet.
I used my twin 24w cfl light I use for seedlings they’re 6500k so maybe too much light also.
Learning from the experts here really gives me confidence to keep trying.

Wow I’ve only seen roots that fat on old potatoes lol :grin:

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@vernal you nailed it about the not to wet part, most issues I see are from over watering or to intense of light , i wet the medium before taking cuts and then not again until it dries almost completely out unless they show signs of thirst. I’ve also seen people water every day with Rockwool to allow fresh oxygenated water to rinse them out, I always say tinker around and do what works best in your environment, what is perfect for one persons grow won’t be for yours, unless your neighbors growing the same strain under the same conditions, same soil , watering schedule etc

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This was a top

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Amazing Syn theres another root system to strive for👍

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Cannabis is totipotent so theoretically you can clone any cell from the plant and get something identical.

Doing stem propagation you’ll typically see a higher auxin concentration in part of the plant while other parts have less auxin and higher cytokinin concentrations.

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