Cloning and Flowering dilemma.

Well just a brief introduction, since I'm new to this forum. I am growing in a 4'x5 ' closet, using a 600w switchable ballast (currently running MH) Nothing to special about the setup, I'm using a mix of soil that I mixed up (MG Organic, Hyponex, MG Seed Starter, and Perlite) I germinated 5 Nirvana Blue Mystic Feminized about 5 weeks ago. Barely any nutrients have been added however I have used Advanced Nutrients NoShock in very small doses for the past 2 weeks.

My question is; I recently purchased all of my cloning supplies and they should be arriving any day now, but I'm wondering if my plants have enough growth to take clones from? All the videos I see online for cloning show large mother plants. I really want to get a sort of SOG thing going where I take clones from each batch right before flowering (eventually ill have a mother once I have the space).

Does anyone have any ideas or info on cloning from younger plants?

Thanks, C&W

I forgot pics sorry...Here you go.



Thanks again, C&W

They do look a little too small to take cuttings from just yet. I usually wait until the lower branches are at least 3" long.

if you supercrop your plants your lower branches will stretch and the plant will fill out more. That should give you more to work with for cloning. Your plants look very healthy im surprised there not bigger for 5 weeks. I started this dec 1st and this pictures from a few days ago

Definately top or fim that and you should be able to take some clones in a week or 2. Will also make them fill out your grow area a bit more and make every bit of use of that light.

heywhatsthatsmell said:

if you supercrop your plants your lower branches will stretch and the plant will fill out more. That should give you more to work with for cloning. Your plants look very healthy im surprised there not bigger for 5 weeks. I started this dec 1st and this pictures from a few days ago View attachment 1965889

Click to expand...

I did have an issue around week 2 where they pretty much had no growth. Some of the first sets of leaves on a couple of them got burnt it seemed. I used the 600w from the start and should have used a lower powered light. I have a cfl rig I'll be using for clones now.

Ill have to look into super cropping . I'm not to familiar with topping, fimming and other techniques. I'd ideally like to flower starting on the 10th of Jan at the latest will I be able to switch to flowering immediately after taking clones?

Ive heard you can cut clones from a plant up to 3 weeks into flower. Your plants in the pictures still look pretty young to be cutting clones from. You could potentially cut one clone per plant. Usually around the 6-7th node, you can top, meaning cut off the top off the plant, and you can turn the cut off top into a clone. Your mothers will then grow two tops instead of one. Most mother plants I have seen have been "supercropped" or topped multiple times, I do suggest checking out the forum on topping, I believe there is good write up on it called uncle bens topping.

Well I think I wanna FIM them.... Or top I dunno....I'm afraid of fucking them up. Anybody got a worst case scenario for me? I feel like there's a reason it's called Fuck I Missed. Is it gonna shock them. Or anything?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FmXHhKFA5U

thats a how to for super cropping. I like it because it doesnt ruin the main top and just gives the lower branches a chance to catch up. If your planning on cuttting lower branches off to clone and still flowering the plant you might wanna save that top.

heywhatsthatsmell said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FmXHhKFA5U

thats a how to for super cropping. I like it because it doesnt ruin the main top and just gives the lower branches a chance to catch up. If your planning on cuttting lower branches off to clone and still flowering the plant you might wanna save that top.

Click to expand...

Thats a good video. Thanks man. I'm just afraid I don't even have enough growth to super crop I'm not sure what I could bend. All the videos on it or instructionals seem to be way bigger.

Its actually got me thinking about how slow these girls have been growing, I wonder why? The only thing I can think of is the temp is a bit on the high side and the humidity is somewhat low. Averaging 90degrees and 15-19 % humidity. I don't know how to make it cooler in there. I don't wanna put a hole in the door cause I'm a renter....

I guess we hit a bit of a wall here. I'm not sure if I want to top them or not. They're getting bigger fast now. I watered with some Advanced Nutrients NoShock (its the only nute i have now) and when I came back that night I had to raise the light.

I wanna flip them into flowering cause I'm afraid of them getting to big during flowering, but I ordered the cloning supplies online and with New Years and all probably wont get here till next week. I've heard you can still take clones up to 2 weeks into flowering...Is this true? If so I'll probably switch to HPS and start flowering soon if not today.

I'm thinking that topping them would be ideal to slow it down...for a bit and fill out the room. Im just scared of fucking them up. Is that weird? Please someone convince me what to do.

I've taken clones 4 weeks into flowering before, but the longer you wait the longer the clones take to veg out. A clone with a popcorn bud could take 4-6 weeks to start veg. (I've done some Kandy Kush that way, and they are wayyyy behind veg cut clones around the same time)

If those were mine, I'd either top or fim and let them bush out a week or 2 before flipping.

Ok so I topped the 2 biggest out of the 5, and let the others kick it traditional. Now, I ordered a lot of stuff online because I didn't know Of any hydro stores around. And I ordered Advanced Nutrients Big Bud. My buddy then reminded me that it's sort of a 2 part thing where you use Overdrive for the last 2 feeding weeks. Well I forgot to order it and figured I'd wait to order it till a week or 2 before I needed it. All fine and dandy until...I went out of town today about an hour south and found a hydro store, I'd never been to one and figured I'd check it out. When I went in I was like a kid in a candy store ...I saw everything I'd heard of talked about on here and much much more. In my excitement I decided to see if they had overdrive so I could save some shipping cost. Well they did not carry advanced nutrients because of the labeling (i guess depicting buds with Big Bud label? IDK) So I asked the kind gentleman what the best replacement for it was to sub in. He informed me of KoolBloom Liquid by General Hydroponics. I thought nothing of it and picked it up . When I got back home a little bit ago I researched it and found that apparently KoolBloom Liquid is intended to be used throughout flowering and the KoolBloom Powder is the ripening/hardening supplement.

I guess my question is... When it comes time, should I use the BigBud as i intended for the first 4 weeks (following the first week of flowering), and then switch to KoolBloom Liquid for the last 2-3 weeks before flush? Or, should I just take the loss on the KoolBloom investment and buy the Overdrive? Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks, C&W

Coming along quite well. As you can see 2 of them are topped. I ended up topping all four clones that I got as well so the next batch should be pretty even. The bottom sets of leaves on all of them are kind of yellowing. But I hear that is to be expected.

Nutrients I am using are Botanicare Pure Blend Pro Bloom w/ Advanced Nutrients Big Bud. I just gave my last feeding with big bud, all future feedings I will switch to General Hydroponics Liquid Kool Bloom to supplement my base nutrient. I'll keep you updated when harvest time comes. Thanks for the help.

-C&W

I know, I'm coming in here late but I thought I'd share some thoughts of mine. Earlier on slow growth was a concern and you were in a dilemma over when you could clone and even topping or not, etc. Firstly, I suspect the initial slow growth due to an over-saturation of Nutrients. The soil mixture you described is quite plentiful and would substantiate a Full Vegetative Cycle depending on the maximum height wanted to achieve as long as the amount of its volume and size could keep up with the growth and root mass. Once you added Nutrients, the mix was too rich causing a "lock-up" and thus a matching reduction in growth as a defense to poisoning. Remember, this is a weed capable of surviving the harshest of conditions but messing with the "elements" causes a certain amount of risk and the plant will show you what's wrong. There are excellent posts here; sorry I don't have a link, but there's a guy who posted, about a month ago, a GREAT, well thought out and written post showing Nutrient overdose/deficiency and Pest problems with corresponding pictures. AWESOME READ!
I wouldn't worry about the ladies getting too big in their flowering lurch of growth. Isn't that the reason we grow? Rarely does a plant double in growth under artificial light. Again this is also strain dependent.
Topping is about the most severe thing you can do. A plant can only produce the genetically pre-determined maximum bud sites and topping only splits this. You cannot get more bud sites than the plant is pre-disposed to. Topping should only be utilized when height is a great concern, like in a closet/cabinet grow. By the way a suggestion: I always put a dab of roofing cement at the cut because the opening is usually as large as a pencil and invites disease and/or pest infiltration. Seals the hole, looks like shit, doesn't harm her at all and most of all, it seals her up good and tight.
I clone after I have Veg'd. my healthy, rooted cuttings about 3-4 weeks; looking for +/-18" tall with at least 4 nodes, preferably 6-7 nodes, again, strain dependent of course. I then let the pre-flower "mothers" settle back while flushing 3-4 days after taking the cuttings, for 2-3 days, then they go into the flowering room where they switch over to the infamous 11/13, on/off cycle of HPS. I end up with a plant that is close to 24" when entering flowering. This way I don't have to keep "mothers", saving valuable space and more responsibility. It does require me to be at least 80% successful with cloning. Got it covered.
The maximum potential amount of bud sites, the potency, the overall genetics are exactly a result of that. Given the best environment, with each and every factor of growing covered p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y, absolutely 100% done to perfection from beginning to harvest, the outcome has a genetically pre-determined, maximum potential that the plant will produce. What we are attempting to do, is to get as much of these factors addressed and to the best that we are capable of fulfilling in producing these specifically...
Best of luck to you. Looks like you got another 4 weeks? or is this strain faster? Hope it's great!