Like limota said, cannabis is best cloned from a node, on a non-lignified, youngish stem.
As far as devices, there’s a few out there, most built around aero-cloning techs. A search should bring up a ton of info. I personally found them to only be practicable for hydroponic production environments, otherwise too much complication - pumps, emitters, etc. - to shave a couple of days off of root set for a dozen cuts, and they produce water roots which adapt poorly to soil mixes, so what is gained in early root set is often lost in a stall upon planting in non-hydro setups. Others may have difference experiences, but that was mine.
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Hi Justin and lotus 710, I have always grown Aloe plants and have a large one now. How would I use the gel as a cloning gel? Just coat the stem and plant? If requiring a soak, how is this accomplished? Thank you
What i do is blend an aloe leaf in some water. Pour into glass jar. Soak the cuttings in that for a day. Also soak rooting plugs, soil, whatever eith the water. Then take another aloe leaf and stick the cuttings inside of it to get the gel all over the place.
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sterile razor An cut a 90 angle in the base An let the cutting soak for three to four mins in a sultion of aloe an ph’d water An then dip the cutting in the aloe gell An plant in a growdan cube An within four days u will see roots also use a clone dome if u don’t have one use a plastic bag over the clone not sure if ur in hydro like I am but I can put the cutting directly in the hydro kit if ur in soil use a bag or a cloning dome I usually use a sterile razor An cut a 90 angle in the base An let the cutting soak for three to four mins in a sultion of aloe an ph’d water An then dip the cutting in the aloe gell An plant in a growdan cube An within four days u will see roots also use a clone dome if u don’t have one use a plastic bag over the clone not sure if ur in hydro like I am but I can put the cutting directly in the hydro kit if ur in soil use a bag or a cloning dome
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Thanks lotus 710 and Justin, This is great! Nice and simple. I am just about out of Olivia’s Cloning Gel, so will use the aloe gel from my plants to make the cuttings for this year’s outside grow. Justin I use the small foam plugs and get great results. Wonder if you’ve used them? Reason for asking is I have some grodan rockwool cubes just sitting around, don’t even remember where they came from. Would you say the speed of cloning is similar between the plugs and the rockwool, or is one faster?
i find the plugs are faster. plus they are made of organic material instead of insulation
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Makes sense. Before going to the foam plugs I had used potting soil watered down with perlite/sand. The plugs root much faster than the pots had done.
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I use a mix of peat and ewc now. Cheaper. Faster. Then plugs
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bubble cloner … plastic margarine container airstone fish pump cutting above water line roots in under a week…
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ive only used growdan thats no to say the plugs are not the same
i gen stick with what wrks lol but im suure rapid rooters are the same as growdan and plugs
its becuse the roots are not used to havein to support it or search fr nutrients
I’ve had success with rockwool, aerocloners, rapid rooter plugs and loose mixes of perlite/vermiculite (not peat, too wet and acidic to my mind). But I’ve had the best success (survival rate, rooting rate) with Oasis foam cubes. I’d rate cloning mediums this way, in descending order of effectiveness.
- Oasis cubes
- Rapid Rooter plugs
- Perlite/verm mix
- Aerocloner
- Rockwool cubes
All will work well. That’s just my order of preference.
-b420
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I’m gonna try some oasis cubes… A long time ago I was trying oasis floral bricks for cloning… Yeah, that didn’t work so well.
In a way I copy typical california cloning methods at the dispensary. almost everything is sold in rockwool, there must be a reason for that.
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If you sell clones rooted in rockwool anybody can buy them. It doesn’t matter if you drop them in hydro or soil.
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Yeah thats another reason I use the rock… I’m not too familiar with oasis in other mediums, but I think it will be similar to rockwool right?.
I have never used them. I don’t know anything about them. I used rockwool when i made clones for dispensaries. I use upside down rapid rooters now for myself.
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The owner asked for rockwool and would not accept anything else.
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Oasis works just like rockwool in that it can go directly to hydro or soil, comes in pre-cubed slabs, and can support the clone in a tray. What I prefer about Oasis is it holds a better air/moisture ratio. Rockwool can hold too much water. It can also need pH correction. Oasis doesn’t have those issues. But they’ll all work, and rockwool is definitely the more popular choice in the California dispensaries it seems.
-b420
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Oh I agree, RW can and does hold too much water if not treated correctly.
Speaking of oasis cubes, since they maintain correct air/water ratio, could you auto irrigate a tray in a timer and would the oasis cubes naturally drain off?..
I kinda have to stick with the cube format, like ryasco said, some places wont take anything but rockwool, I think I have a little wiggle room with oasis cubes.
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If you are talking about dripping or spraying into a clone tray on a timer, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work well. If you are talking about a production-size flood and drain table, I think so but don’t have any experience with that setup. I think the operating factor is the maximum saturation point of Oasis vs. rockwool. Oasis just doesn’t get as soggy to begin with. It does wick well though, so as long as the irrigation reaches every cube in the tray it should work well. I find that I by the time I’m worrying about watering my clones they are ready to plant.
-b420
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