Air layering - an easy peasy means of asexual reproduction

pineappleman420 said:

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?cat=2,47236&p=46938 Hope this link helps someone out. I found it useful.

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Budley Doright said:

It's a great technique for field grows, we used to do it quite a bit back in the day. Oh and yup we used dirt lol. Pretty sure the moss would have been easier to work with though, Great post UB, just another reminder of how old I am .

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BobCajun said:

You could also root several stem sections along one branch, meaning make cuts just above each node until you get to the tip. The new clones would have nice thick stems to start with so they may develop faster. I wouldn't use a bunch of peat though, just too bulky. I would just put some wet paper towel around it and wrap that with aluminum foil or dark plastic to keep light out, poke a few needle holes for air, and after probably 7 days root tips will have started appearing. That's when I would cut them off and place them in pots of medium and cover them with a humidity dome until the roots actually grow out. It's the lag time between applying the rooting hormone and the roots actually emerging from the stem which is when they still need to be attached. No point leaving them on there growing long roots into a ball of peat really. Might speed things up by a day or two but that's about the only benefit.

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a senile fungus said:

It works!

Scrape the stem a bit, apply a bit of cloning gel, wrap in peat plug, wrap with plastic, wait 2wks... I would've had more roots if I hadn't completely forgotten about it and let the peat plug dry out completely.

But, it did work, and the clone has been transplanted! That's GG4, in case someone cares

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Skunk Baxter said:

I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this with plants that are deep into flower. I did it tonight with 3 White Rhinos that are now hitting Week 9. I figure they have a solid 2 weeks to go, so that should be time to develop roots. I used the lower branches on all three plants - trimmed the leaves and larf buds from the node closest to the stem, applied rooting gel, enclosed them with a rooting plug split down the middle, and wrapped them in saran wrap. 2 clones each on 2 of the plants, 3 clones on the third.

I'm really curious to see how it plays out in terms of bud development - will this cause hormonal changes that will affect bud development in those branches? I'll be watching for that. I'm also curious how it will work if I harvest the buds before the roots fully develop. Or, conversely, if the roots develop before the buds are ready, should I cut the clones off, pot them, and see whether the buds continue to ripen?

There seem to be a lot of possible ways for this to go, and I'll play it by ear as I go along. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I'll settle for just getting some clones that I can reveg and save the genetics, but if any opportunities arise to play mad scientist, I'ma fer shur gonna jump all over it.

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Skunk Baxter said:

I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this with plants that are deep into flower. I did it tonight with 3 White Rhinos that are now hitting Week 9. I figure they have a solid 2 weeks to go, so that should be time to develop roots. I used the lower branches on all three plants - trimmed the leaves and larf buds from the node closest to the stem, applied rooting gel, enclosed them with a rooting plug split down the middle, and wrapped them in saran wrap. 2 clones each on 2 of the plants, 3 clones on the third.

I'm really curious to see how it plays out in terms of bud development - will this cause hormonal changes that will affect bud development in those branches? I'll be watching for that. I'm also curious how it will work if I harvest the buds before the roots fully develop. Or, conversely, if the roots develop before the buds are ready, should I cut the clones off, pot them, and see whether the buds continue to ripen?

There seem to be a lot of possible ways for this to go, and I'll play it by ear as I go along. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I'll settle for just getting some clones that I can reveg and save the genetics, but if any opportunities arise to play mad scientist, I'ma fer shur gonna jump all over it.

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Skunk Baxter said:

No, it has not worked so far. 2 weeks in, and I unwrapped 5 of the 7 today. Of the 3 plants, the 1 that has 3 attempted clones on it show no activity at all, 1 of the plants that has 2 rooting plugs on it has formed thick nodules at the wrapped nodes but no roots yet, and the 3rd I really can't get at very well. I'm going to try to make some room later to get in there and unwrap the plugs, but having come up empty on the first 5 plugs, my hopes aren't too high. I think I did everything right; they're just not taking. Maybe 9 weeks into flower is too late, at least with this strain.

I'll post a couple of pics of how I did it. I left one end of each plug exposed to discourage bacteria and promote oxygen exchange, and watered each of them once or twice a day by using a hypodermic needle to inject ph water directly into the plug. I let them dry out some between waterings, but none of them ever became fully dry.

Looks like reveg is the next step, because today is the beginning of Week 11, and they're probably coming down next week. Probably won't be time now to try to develop the clones, even if they do sprout roots in the next few days. But take one look at the top bud in the 3rd pic, and you'll understand why I want to save these genetics.

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Uncle Ben said:

Might as well share this ditty I wrote at the very first cannabis forum years ago.
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Air Layering is an almost foolproof means of doing asexual propagation. There is no stress to the mother plant, no humidity tents to fool with, easy and cheap. Gotta to luv it!

PLANT PROPAGATION by AIR LAYERING TECHNIQUE

1. While the plant is in its vegetative stage, select a location at the top of the plant, or any terminal growing location in which you would like to take a clone. Identify a node below this terminal growth to be used for the production of roots, and pinch or snip off the leaf petioles as close to the node as possible, leave alone until the next day to give the petiole wounds a chance to heal. This will be your future rooting site.

2. We will now trick this terminal area to redirect its food resources towards the making of new roots at our future rooting site, which will speed up the cloning process. There are two ways of fooling Mama Natur:

a. Slit the stem just *below* the rooting node site. Pry the slit open with a small piece of a toothpick, leaving the toothpick in place, or,

b. Here's a more efficient method. Using a single-edge razor blade make a cut all the way around the stem just below the node, and through the "bark" into the next layer which is called the phloem. You'll feel a little resistance when you hit it. The phloem is the tissue that conducts food from the leaves downward. Your goal is to cut off this flow of food just *below* your rooting site. Don't worry, you have not affected any growth below this area. Moving right along... make another cut about 1/2" or so below the first cut, and again guide the razor blade all the way around the stem. Join the two cuts with a vertical cut so that it looks like an < I >. The "bark" will now slip or peel off the stem all the way around. Using your fingernail, peel the "bark" off the stem, and lightly scrape the phloem tissue off the 1/2" or so of exposed stem. Don't overdue it or you will get into the xylem, which is the conduit that conducts water and nutes upward. This second method interrupts the transmission of food more efficiently than the first.

You have just created a condition in which the top terminal part is still receiving water and nutes, and the food manufactured by the upper leaves is being retained at and above the future rooting site. Neat huh!!!?

3. Dust the node site (located above the cut bark/phloem tissue) with Rootone F or anyone of your favorite cloning agents. Don't overdue it, this is powerful stuff, even if it *is* diluted with a carrier.

4. Wet a handful of spaghnum moss until it is saturated with water, tap water is fine, and wring out the excess. Wrap the moss around the node site. This is where your roots will show. Hold the moss in place and wrap CLEAR plastic (baggie plastic is fine) or Saran Wrap around the spaghnum moss several times and tightly secure it (wrap it) with masking tape at the top and at the bottom. This seal should be such that excess water can escape but moisture will be retained. Place the plant into your grow room under normal lighting conditions.

5. Roots will form quickly. When you see a flush of roots show up within the confines of the plastic wrap, clip it off just below the bottom of the plastic wrap, and bingo, you have a new addition to the household! Pass the cigars please.

6. Needless to say, carefully unwrap the plastic, cut off your new plant and pot it up.

Good luck and happy gardening!
Uncle Ben

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Rahz said:

Are there any potential contamination issues with this technique?

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