EagleEyeHamThrust
Active Member
I was typing this up for another thread, and then after writing a huge post about cloning, I realized that I had kind of drifted off topic. Still, I figured maybe someone might find this information useful. This is a list of the stuff I've learned about cloning and increasing clone success rates. I'm not listing aerocloning because I've never read anything on it, and if you're aerocloning, you're probably experienced enough to become an autodidact on the subject.
What Is Cloning?
When I first heard that plants could be cloned, I thought that was something reserved for white coats in some gene splicing lab at MIT. Actually, cloning has been used a lot in the last century (and possibly before then, but I got tired of googling "history of cloning"...) Cloning is a way of taking a small cutting from a "mother" plant, and getting it to grow into an entire other plant with the same genetic material as the original.
<--An ideal rooted clone, typically takes about 2-3 weeks to look like this.
Why Cloning Is Important.
Female plants are the only ones worth harvesting for smokability. Males are great for breeding, but if you have males in the mix, then the females get pollinated. Once that happens, the females stop putting energy into growing buds and diverts it into creating seeds. That means that you get seeds and smaller buds on your females. Sinsemilla is buds without seeds, and can only be accomplished if you isolate females from males. Sinsemilla is the sign of a savvy grower with higher potency, better taste and no tedious picking out seeds.
It leads to self-sufficiency. No more worrisome ordering of seeds, and no more having to seed a plant to propagate your crop. Most of us start our first plant from a seed unless we're lucky enough to know a grower who can throw us a clone or two. Be it bagseed, which is hit or miss on quality, or form ordering seeds via mail, which is nerve racking, once you find a good strain, you can keep producing identical buds indefinately. Every crop you harvest will be just as good if you're consistent with your growing habits.
Thirdly, you can use it to find out the sex of your plant. There's no way to find out the sex of your plant before you set it to flower. Cloning a flowering plant is a bitch, so instead of setting the whole plant to flower, let it veg and take a few clones off of it. Once the clones are rooted, set them to flower immediately and in 1-2 weeks you'll see what you've got.
View attachment 994564<--At 2 weeks you should be able to easily see forming flowers or pollen sacs.
You can grow from the same plant forever. That's right, you can clone a plant, then take a clone of the plant that clone grew into, and so on until the end of time. There have been confirmed grows coming from 40 generations of the same plant! Not having to order seeds or make your own saves you time, and time is money. Clones also grow faster than plants from seed, even when you take into account the rooting time.
Stuff You'll Need:
Rooting Hormone - Gel, powder, they all work pretty well. This is essential!
Sharp Razor Blades - Exacto knives and box-cutters are fine. 4" scraper blades, found in the flooring section at Home Depot, are easy to hold and very sharp. Either way you go, you want them to be sharp!
Sharp Pruning Shears or Scissors - The sharper, the cleaner the cut and the less trauma for mothers and clones alike.
Glass of Clean Water - for storing cuttings until you're ready to plant them. Also handy for rinsing off shavings from your cuttings and blades.
A Medium to Grow In - Rock wool is great, but it's expensive and really not worth the money. Jiffy Pots however are just as good and can be picked up at Walmart at $3 for 36 of them)
A Cloning Chamber - You want one with a solid, non-perforated, bottom that can hold water, preferably with a tall 8"-12" dome. You typically have to find these at actual grow stores, or online. In a pinch, a plastic cake tray. The chamber should also include plant holders that you can fit your medium into.
A Heat Source - Garden stores often sell heating pads specially made for cloning. DO NOT use a regular heating pad. Other Good sources of heat include an incandescent bulb wired to a dimmer in a box underneath your chamber. I've seen a 250W MH bulb for mothers mounted to the underside of the shelf the cloning chamber sits on. If it gets too hot, regulate with the dimmer, or just insulate the shelf with a cloth or cardboard until the desired temp is reached. 90F-95F is an ideal range for the type of cloning I'm talking about.
A Light Source - Fluorescent is preferable, and really as little as possible. A single 14W CFL generates all the light you'll need.
Procedure:
Have a good mother plant. You don't want to take clones from a sickly plant with problems. You want a healthy mother that's at least 2 months old.
Withhold Nitrogen from your mother the week before taking clones. This keeps the clones from trying to grow in the chamber and burning out.
Mist your mothers 3-4 days with fresh water. Misting a few times a day helps remove carbohydrates and other nutrients from the leaves. This helps in the same way withholding nitrogen does and helps prevent burnout.
Prep your grow medium. Jiffy pots, for example, have to be set in water to expand first. With Jiffy Pots, you shouldn't totally soak them. When they're about half their potential full size, pull them out and go with about that level of moisture.
Know how to find a good cutting. Cut one from the plant at a 45 degree angle to the branch you're cutting. You're looking for something that's 3-6 millimeters in diameter. The thicker the stem, the faster it will root as a general rule. You want a cutting with 3-4 sets of leaves (a set being a fan of 5-7 individual leaves.) If your cutting has more leaf sets, feel free to prune off a few sets as close to the main stem as possible. Too many leaves can cause your clone to try and grow too fast, and they'll burn themselves out. You are also looking for a base stem of at least 2", preferably 3"-4". If you need to, you can trim off a low set of leaves to make a stem effectively longer, just make sure you cut it right along the stem and that you still have 3-4 sets in the end. Any excess stem without leaves on it can die and start to rot. Rotting leads to mold, and mold is a real problem.
On Storing Cuttings: Once you've got your cutting, you can then store it in a glass of water for quite a long time (hour or two) without issue, so you can take all your cuttings at once.
Review: Key Points of Cutting Selection:
1. 45 degree cut
2. 3-4 sets of leaves
3. Trim right up to the main stem
4. Main stem should be 3"-4" long, and 3-6 millimeters in diameter
5. Mothers should be 2 months old
6. The lower, older branches have better hormones for cloning
<--Good illustration of what's going on here.
Optional: Cut the leaves in half to help the clones fit into the chamber better, slow light intake and lower transpiration (the losing of water through the leaves.)
Strip the lining of the base of the clone about 3/4" to 1" up the shaft. Using a razor blade, lightly scrape away the out skin until the outside of the base is the light green plant material. If you get to the quick, you've gone too far, and should start over higher up or toss the cutting.
Optional: Cut the stripped base in half down the middle to increase the surface area of where roots will form. This is recommended in the Grower's Bible, and I've had great success with it.
Dip the stripped stem in cloning hormone. It takes your chances from 20% average to about 80% if you know what you're doing. Success rates of 90%+ are pretty common for the experienced even with difficult strains.
Plant your clones in your medium and arrange them in your clone chamber. Sometimes you need to create a hole with a nail or piece of wire into the medium. You want the bottom of the stem to be about 3/4 of the way through the medium.
Optional: Neem Oil can be lightly sprayed to prevent mites and mold from killing your clones. You should always have Neem in your arsenal. Get it at any gardening store.
Maintenance
Keep water in the pan. There should always be a millimeter or two of standing water in the bottom of the pan. If you don't see water dripping off the side walls of the chamber, your chamber is either too cool, or not moist enough. Don't add too much water or the water will absorb too much heat and not evaporate quickly enough.
Give them air every day. If your chamber is completely sealed, be sure to exchange the air at least twice a day by lifting the lid up. This is a good time to look for any problems. Remove any necrotic (dead) tissue from the clones during this time with clean pruning shears.
Keep an eye out for mold. Typically it will look like your standard mold that forms on fruit and veggies when they sit around too long in the fridge, like thick white cobwebs. Mold and mildew love cloning chambers. It's a warm humid environment with moderate light, and any dead leaves or branches become mold food. Remove anything brown from your clone chamber whenever you see it, and don't be afraid to cut off a dying branch early.
Keep Neem Oil handy. It won't hurt clones when sprayed on lightly, but it will stop mites and surface mold in their tracks.
Final Thoughts
Periodically grow new mothers! If you over-harvest a mother, you end up with a lot of tiny, new growth, branches coming off of old thick branches, and these small branches aren't cloning rock stars. If you take clones every few weeks, you'll end up with one mangled mama! Keep several mothers, and you'll end up with more branches to choose from. Know when to hold em, and know when to shred em.
Give your clones more time than you think they need. Yeah, roots can show up in the first week, but giving them 20 days usually gives them a greater chance of not just wilting and dying upon transplant. Planning ahead will pay off big time, and give the slow girls a chance to catch up.
Make about 30% more clones than you think you need. You can always throw out a nasty looking clone, but you can't just order up a new one. Figure you'll lose at least 10-20% to the clones just not taking. Nothing is a guarantee. The other extra clones are so that you can pick and choose your best, healthiest looking clones. A bad clone takes extra time to start growing, and can stay puny for up to a couple of weeks, whereas a great clone can roid out almost immediately.
I will revise this a bit more later, but hopefully this update is more clear than the original post
What Is Cloning?
When I first heard that plants could be cloned, I thought that was something reserved for white coats in some gene splicing lab at MIT. Actually, cloning has been used a lot in the last century (and possibly before then, but I got tired of googling "history of cloning"...) Cloning is a way of taking a small cutting from a "mother" plant, and getting it to grow into an entire other plant with the same genetic material as the original.
<--An ideal rooted clone, typically takes about 2-3 weeks to look like this.Why Cloning Is Important.
Female plants are the only ones worth harvesting for smokability. Males are great for breeding, but if you have males in the mix, then the females get pollinated. Once that happens, the females stop putting energy into growing buds and diverts it into creating seeds. That means that you get seeds and smaller buds on your females. Sinsemilla is buds without seeds, and can only be accomplished if you isolate females from males. Sinsemilla is the sign of a savvy grower with higher potency, better taste and no tedious picking out seeds.
It leads to self-sufficiency. No more worrisome ordering of seeds, and no more having to seed a plant to propagate your crop. Most of us start our first plant from a seed unless we're lucky enough to know a grower who can throw us a clone or two. Be it bagseed, which is hit or miss on quality, or form ordering seeds via mail, which is nerve racking, once you find a good strain, you can keep producing identical buds indefinately. Every crop you harvest will be just as good if you're consistent with your growing habits.
Thirdly, you can use it to find out the sex of your plant. There's no way to find out the sex of your plant before you set it to flower. Cloning a flowering plant is a bitch, so instead of setting the whole plant to flower, let it veg and take a few clones off of it. Once the clones are rooted, set them to flower immediately and in 1-2 weeks you'll see what you've got.
View attachment 994564<--At 2 weeks you should be able to easily see forming flowers or pollen sacs.
You can grow from the same plant forever. That's right, you can clone a plant, then take a clone of the plant that clone grew into, and so on until the end of time. There have been confirmed grows coming from 40 generations of the same plant! Not having to order seeds or make your own saves you time, and time is money. Clones also grow faster than plants from seed, even when you take into account the rooting time.
Stuff You'll Need:
Rooting Hormone - Gel, powder, they all work pretty well. This is essential!
Sharp Razor Blades - Exacto knives and box-cutters are fine. 4" scraper blades, found in the flooring section at Home Depot, are easy to hold and very sharp. Either way you go, you want them to be sharp!
Sharp Pruning Shears or Scissors - The sharper, the cleaner the cut and the less trauma for mothers and clones alike.
Glass of Clean Water - for storing cuttings until you're ready to plant them. Also handy for rinsing off shavings from your cuttings and blades.
A Medium to Grow In - Rock wool is great, but it's expensive and really not worth the money. Jiffy Pots however are just as good and can be picked up at Walmart at $3 for 36 of them)
A Cloning Chamber - You want one with a solid, non-perforated, bottom that can hold water, preferably with a tall 8"-12" dome. You typically have to find these at actual grow stores, or online. In a pinch, a plastic cake tray. The chamber should also include plant holders that you can fit your medium into.
A Heat Source - Garden stores often sell heating pads specially made for cloning. DO NOT use a regular heating pad. Other Good sources of heat include an incandescent bulb wired to a dimmer in a box underneath your chamber. I've seen a 250W MH bulb for mothers mounted to the underside of the shelf the cloning chamber sits on. If it gets too hot, regulate with the dimmer, or just insulate the shelf with a cloth or cardboard until the desired temp is reached. 90F-95F is an ideal range for the type of cloning I'm talking about.
A Light Source - Fluorescent is preferable, and really as little as possible. A single 14W CFL generates all the light you'll need.
Procedure:
Have a good mother plant. You don't want to take clones from a sickly plant with problems. You want a healthy mother that's at least 2 months old.
Withhold Nitrogen from your mother the week before taking clones. This keeps the clones from trying to grow in the chamber and burning out.
Mist your mothers 3-4 days with fresh water. Misting a few times a day helps remove carbohydrates and other nutrients from the leaves. This helps in the same way withholding nitrogen does and helps prevent burnout.
Prep your grow medium. Jiffy pots, for example, have to be set in water to expand first. With Jiffy Pots, you shouldn't totally soak them. When they're about half their potential full size, pull them out and go with about that level of moisture.
Know how to find a good cutting. Cut one from the plant at a 45 degree angle to the branch you're cutting. You're looking for something that's 3-6 millimeters in diameter. The thicker the stem, the faster it will root as a general rule. You want a cutting with 3-4 sets of leaves (a set being a fan of 5-7 individual leaves.) If your cutting has more leaf sets, feel free to prune off a few sets as close to the main stem as possible. Too many leaves can cause your clone to try and grow too fast, and they'll burn themselves out. You are also looking for a base stem of at least 2", preferably 3"-4". If you need to, you can trim off a low set of leaves to make a stem effectively longer, just make sure you cut it right along the stem and that you still have 3-4 sets in the end. Any excess stem without leaves on it can die and start to rot. Rotting leads to mold, and mold is a real problem.
On Storing Cuttings: Once you've got your cutting, you can then store it in a glass of water for quite a long time (hour or two) without issue, so you can take all your cuttings at once.
Review: Key Points of Cutting Selection:
1. 45 degree cut
2. 3-4 sets of leaves
3. Trim right up to the main stem
4. Main stem should be 3"-4" long, and 3-6 millimeters in diameter
5. Mothers should be 2 months old
6. The lower, older branches have better hormones for cloning
<--Good illustration of what's going on here. Optional: Cut the leaves in half to help the clones fit into the chamber better, slow light intake and lower transpiration (the losing of water through the leaves.)
Strip the lining of the base of the clone about 3/4" to 1" up the shaft. Using a razor blade, lightly scrape away the out skin until the outside of the base is the light green plant material. If you get to the quick, you've gone too far, and should start over higher up or toss the cutting.
Optional: Cut the stripped base in half down the middle to increase the surface area of where roots will form. This is recommended in the Grower's Bible, and I've had great success with it.
Dip the stripped stem in cloning hormone. It takes your chances from 20% average to about 80% if you know what you're doing. Success rates of 90%+ are pretty common for the experienced even with difficult strains.
Plant your clones in your medium and arrange them in your clone chamber. Sometimes you need to create a hole with a nail or piece of wire into the medium. You want the bottom of the stem to be about 3/4 of the way through the medium.
Optional: Neem Oil can be lightly sprayed to prevent mites and mold from killing your clones. You should always have Neem in your arsenal. Get it at any gardening store.
Maintenance
Keep water in the pan. There should always be a millimeter or two of standing water in the bottom of the pan. If you don't see water dripping off the side walls of the chamber, your chamber is either too cool, or not moist enough. Don't add too much water or the water will absorb too much heat and not evaporate quickly enough.
Give them air every day. If your chamber is completely sealed, be sure to exchange the air at least twice a day by lifting the lid up. This is a good time to look for any problems. Remove any necrotic (dead) tissue from the clones during this time with clean pruning shears.
Keep an eye out for mold. Typically it will look like your standard mold that forms on fruit and veggies when they sit around too long in the fridge, like thick white cobwebs. Mold and mildew love cloning chambers. It's a warm humid environment with moderate light, and any dead leaves or branches become mold food. Remove anything brown from your clone chamber whenever you see it, and don't be afraid to cut off a dying branch early.
Keep Neem Oil handy. It won't hurt clones when sprayed on lightly, but it will stop mites and surface mold in their tracks.
Final Thoughts
Periodically grow new mothers! If you over-harvest a mother, you end up with a lot of tiny, new growth, branches coming off of old thick branches, and these small branches aren't cloning rock stars. If you take clones every few weeks, you'll end up with one mangled mama! Keep several mothers, and you'll end up with more branches to choose from. Know when to hold em, and know when to shred em.
Give your clones more time than you think they need. Yeah, roots can show up in the first week, but giving them 20 days usually gives them a greater chance of not just wilting and dying upon transplant. Planning ahead will pay off big time, and give the slow girls a chance to catch up.
Make about 30% more clones than you think you need. You can always throw out a nasty looking clone, but you can't just order up a new one. Figure you'll lose at least 10-20% to the clones just not taking. Nothing is a guarantee. The other extra clones are so that you can pick and choose your best, healthiest looking clones. A bad clone takes extra time to start growing, and can stay puny for up to a couple of weeks, whereas a great clone can roid out almost immediately.
I will revise this a bit more later, but hopefully this update is more clear than the original post
