Here’s a very simple technique for cloning in coco using cheap plastic cups. I’ve cloned with rockwool, oasis cubes, and peat pucks in the past and recently tried this method that people call ‘California Cups’. I get consistent, vigorous rooting in 10 days or less - far better results than any other medium I’ve tried.
The concept is simple - the clone goes into a clear plastic cup full of coco. The clear cup is then placed into an opaque cup of the same size to block light, but root progress can still be seen by looking at the clear cup. Here’s how I do these:
2 - a clear cup with holes drilled in the bottom, filled with coco and watered (I used water with Megacrop at about 400ppm), and an opaque (not see through) cup of the same size
3 - rooting hormone (I’m using stimroot powder, most powders or gels will work fine)
4 - a sharp, clean knife/razor blade (I’m using a utility knife with a fresh blade - sprayed with rubbing alcohol to sanitize)
OTHER STUFF:
scissors for making the initial cut from the plant and to trim off excess leaves - clean and sharp
a toothpick/nail to create a small hole in coco for the clone
a glass of water to keep the clone in while doing prep
a clean plate for making cuts
TIP: be sure to label the clear cup so you know which plant it came from. Don’t label the outer cup as they can get mixed up. I use masking tape and a sharpie.
I’ll make my final cut (with the razor blade) where the second circle from the top is. For now I’ll take the cutting below that point with my scissors.
Note the now stripped node at the bottom where I’ll make the final razor cut. Keep the cutting with the end in a glass of water while you prepare everything else.
Now the final cut can be made with the clean, sharp razor. I like to cut at a 45 degree angle through the node. You can take cuttings anywhere on stems, but nodes tend to root better as plant hormones are concentrated there.
You can now slide the cutting into the coco. Placing a toothpick or something similar in first helps create an easy pathway for it. Be sure to get it into the coco firmly, you can even gently push the coco down around the stem to hold it in place and ensure good contact with the stem.
Now place the cuttings into a dome under mild lighting. My dome is under two 8 watt, cool white LED bulbs with the plastic covers removed. Fluorescent lights work great also. This light should not be very intense, if you’re using a stronger light source move the dome further away from the light.
I lightly mist the inside of the dome with water. I’ll do this maybe one more time tomorrow, and won’t mist anything from that point.
Remove the lid of the dome and fan fresh air onto the clones a few times a day - every day. You want the humidity to be at 80% plus in the dome, but it shouldn’t be wet and dripping. If you see a bit of moisture on the dome then its probably humid enough!
2/5 are now showing good roots in 9 days…a bit slower than I had hoped but still much faster than my old methods. It was pretty cool in the clone area the last while (around 70 degrees), so I imagine they would have been a bit quicker in more optimal conditions.
I expect the other 3 to be showing soon as I can see they’re changing color and have perked up a bit.
The nice thing about clones done this way is they seemingly don’t need to be ‘hardened off’ at all. I’ve been just putting them right from the dome into my veg area and notice no sagging or issues with them at all.
EDIT: here’s all 5 nicely rooted in 11 days…ya i know I said 10 so sue me lol
Here’s a Jungle Spice X Black Domina cutting I did a while ago that had roots to the bottom of the cup in 7 days. This is the fastest I’ve ever seen rooting like this…coco is amazing!
I’m using ‘MoKoko’ brand coco. It’s prewashed etc and ready to go out of the bag. Its also the standard consistency, no big chunks or anything. I do add the chunky coco ‘croutons’ when the plants get put into bigger pots.
I haven’t tried any other brands yet, but will eventually switch to the much cheaper blocks and pre-rinse it myself.
Good job. I used ziplock baggies on the cups before I bought a dome. After buying the dome I started doing multiples on some larger plants. I found I needed to drop all my cuttings in water from each prospective Mom. Then label my cups/pots and get them ready before the final trim. I like them in water or in soil as quickly as possible. The stem must have moist media in contact when newly inserted. Keeping those things in mind success rates stay pretty high
