Cloning technics

Ganja Geek

Active Member
Hey Jumbo did you water them when you planted and how much of a branch should I cut? Will taking a cut essentially top that branch?
 

jumboSWISHER

Well-Known Member
yes i keep the soil damp the entire time (not drenched tho)
and you want to have atleast 1 1/2 inch of stem to put in the soil. remember that the bigger it is (more stem, and leaves) the more water (humidity) you will have to sustain it with(more misting).
and yes it will top that branch. remember to take the clone from a branch that has characteristics you would like that plant to have.
like a branch with big gaps inbetween nodes, will grow a plant with big spaces also(most likely).
 

jumboSWISHER

Well-Known Member
something i think first time cloners should know,
you dont want the clones under intense light(darkness promotes root growth. reason for 18/6 veg cycle)
and after 3-4 days after taking the cutting, take them out of the dome for a while each day. if you support the clone with all the water,light it needs, it will never learn to support itself. it needs to realize that it is a cutting with no roots. but not to dramaticlly. you still want to baby them.
 
something i think first time cloners should know,
you dont want the clones under intense light(darkness promotes root growth. reason for 18/6 veg cycle)
and after 3-4 days after taking the cutting, take them out of the dome for a while each day. if you support the clone with all the water,light it needs, it will never learn to support itself. it needs to realize that it is a cutting with no roots. but not to dramaticlly. you still want to baby them.
Great insight Jumbo! That's exactly what I want to in this thread. Rep
 

Unclepauly

Active Member
I just cut the complete branch off the mother, then cut the top 4-6" end off to clone and throw the rest of the branch in the garbage. Since I take the branches from the bottom they are nearly worthless anyway(woulda been popcorn bud). I take about an inch of skin off the bottom of the stem and make a 1/2" slice right up the middle then dip into clone gel and swish it around in the gel for about 20-30 seconds then straight into the pellets. The pellets then go into 2 liter bottles with the tops cut off and filled with FF Light Warrior. Keep humidity at 90-100% for about a week with a dome and usually they are all rooted. My last time I took 8 clones and they all rooted but one was severely stunted and coming along slowly.. I took it from a sickly mother though so it was not a huge surprise.
 

jumboSWISHER

Well-Known Member
I just cut the complete branch off the mother, then cut the top 4-6" end off to clone and throw the rest of the branch in the garbage. Since I take the branches from the bottom they are nearly worthless anyway(woulda been popcorn bud). I take about an inch of skin off the bottom of the stem and make a 1/2" slice right up the middle then dip into clone gel and swish it around in the gel for about 20-30 seconds then straight into the pellets. The pellets then go into 2 liter bottles with the tops cut off and filled with FF Light Warrior. Keep humidity at 90-100% for about a week with a dome and usually they are all rooted. My last time I took 8 clones and they all rooted but one was severely stunted and coming along slowly.. I took it from a sickly mother though so it was not a huge surprise.
sounds like a good method =]
tho from my experience( doubt if any one has proved it?) if you take a clone from a more dominant branch from the top of the plant, instead of a smaller slower growing branch from the bottom, the clone is more vigerous during its entire life span.
 

glaive

Member
Hey guys,

I've been glued to this site for the past few days - I'm looking into getting a grow on the go and so far this forum has proved to be a wealth of knowledge.

Quick question regarding cloning; does anyone have any advice for how to keep and properly maintain a mother (is there a seperate thread on this anywhere?) - specifically the extra care (if any) required to keep the mother happy after taking clones?

And how long do people reckon the mother plant should be grown for before clones are taken from it?

Hope to be around a lot more!

Cheers!
 

super2200

Well-Known Member
Hey guys,

I've been glued to this site for the past few days - I'm looking into getting a grow on the go and so far this forum has proved to be a wealth of knowledge.

Quick question regarding cloning; does anyone have any advice for how to keep and properly maintain a mother (is there a seperate thread on this anywhere?) - specifically the extra care (if any) required to keep the mother happy after taking clones?

And how long do people reckon the mother plant should be grown for before clones are taken from it?

Hope to be around a lot more!

Cheers!
There are a few posts here for sure, basically the Mother plant needs to be in less light than the rest of the grow room, less meaning indirect not under the light directly or it will grow too fast and be hard to maintain. Also its a good idea to not feed before taking clones this way the cuttins are hungry and root faster. I feed my mother plants the same mixture as my clones and seedlings and bump it up if it yellows at all. If you keep the mother long enough to get rootbound then you can transplant into the same pot by trimming some of the rootball and placing back in same pot with fresh soil. I quit keeping a mother plant as I noticed I was constantly tossing branches when i lolipop going into the flower room so now I just make clones out of these bottom branches and end up with each plant giving me 4-6 clones anyway so its about the same. As long as your vegging for 4-5 weeks the plants should be mature and ready to pass along genes correctly, you dont want to take cuttings from immature plants as you are not getting the full plant genetics as they are not even matured yet or puberty has not hit and there are changes that occur the same as with humans after and during puberty. Let them grow old before cloning and you will be all set, pre flowers and alternating nodes are good signs the plant has matured.
 

super2200

Well-Known Member
also I noticed a couple of the clones in pics are stretching, one good way to keep them from stretching is to keep them on top of the potted plants so the canopy is same height of the recently transplanted cups into pots, also its easy to water the cups and allow them to drain down into the pot below before I increase the nutes. This way I can keep the ones in the cup from stretching if I dont have the space or pots to include them into my "flow"
 

mr.mike

Active Member
some pix on how i root all my plants, not just buds. sorry its Lilly of the valley rooting now but you should get the idea. the set up is a foam brick with holes wrapped in a lightproof bag in 1 of my aquariums (with fish) the top gets the light bottom gets warmth, darkness, fish poo and bubbles. when i first tried it, it drifted over to the filter and stays there rotating in a circle collecting bubbles through the open bottom. might not be good for you but ive used it for a few months already no problems works every time. no root pix yet only been 2 days, maybe later... what do you think?
 

Attachments

Hey guys,

I've been glued to this site for the past few days - I'm looking into getting a grow on the go and so far this forum has proved to be a wealth of knowledge.

Quick question regarding cloning; does anyone have any advice for how to keep and properly maintain a mother (is there a seperate thread on this anywhere?) - specifically the extra care (if any) required to keep the mother happy after taking clones?
Glaive, Thanks for stopping by!

Typically you want to chose a mother with the characteristics that you like, then chop her top off. She will then start to bush out with little clones all over. The more you cut her the more she will bush out. Also you want to make sure that you have the mother in a large pot as she will need the extra space for her root zone. keep her well fed and healthy so the clones you take from will also be healthy.
Time it will take to produce clones will vary depending on your environment, but you can start taking clones a soon as she produces them for you.

Hope this helps, Happy Growing!

And how long do people reckon the mother plant should be grown for before clones are taken from it?

Hope to be around a lot more!
 
There are a few posts here for sure, basically the Mother plant needs to be in less light than the rest of the grow room, less meaning indirect not under the light directly or it will grow too fast and be hard to maintain. Also its a good idea to not feed before taking clones this way the cuttins are hungry and root faster. I feed my mother plants the same mixture as my clones and seedlings and bump it up if it yellows at all. If you keep the mother long enough to get rootbound then you can transplant into the same pot by trimming some of the rootball and placing back in same pot with fresh soil. I quit keeping a mother plant as I noticed I was constantly tossing branches when i lolipop going into the flower room so now I just make clones out of these bottom branches and end up with each plant giving me 4-6 clones anyway so its about the same. As long as your vegging for 4-5 weeks the plants should be mature and ready to pass along genes correctly, you dont want to take cuttings from immature plants as you are not getting the full plant genetics as they are not even matured yet or puberty has not hit and there are changes that occur the same as with humans after and during puberty. Let them grow old before cloning and you will be all set, pre flowers and alternating nodes are good signs the plant has matured.
Great info Super! Thanks for helping out this thread.
 

Ganja Geek

Active Member
sounds like a good method =]
tho from my experience( doubt if any one has proved it?) if you take a clone from a more dominant branch from the top of the plant, instead of a smaller slower growing branch from the bottom, the clone is more vigerous during its entire life span.
Sweet I was gonna top each of my plants and clone what I cut off. I'm just afraid it will damage or kill the plant. My plants are about 8 or 9 nodes high and I want to top the last 2 or 3. Anyway I was just gonna snip dip and stick into some soil. Then place into dome and under my 1000watt and spray with water once or twice a day. Dose this sound like it might work? Should I try it another way?

Thanks for the awsome info Jumbo +REP!
 

i.NeeD.A.LiGhTeR

Well-Known Member
Sweet I was gonna top each of my plants and clone what I cut off. I'm just afraid it will damage or kill the plant. My plants are about 8 or 9 nodes high and I want to top the last 2 or 3. Anyway I was just gonna snip dip and stick into some soil. Then place into dome and under my 1000watt and spray with water once or twice a day. Dose this sound like it might work? Should I try it another way?

Thanks for the awsome info Jumbo +REP!
Yes it'll work... Thats alot of light though CFLs are ideal for cloning, but if you must I'd suggest keeping them a few feet away from the HPS or in the shade under their mother if you have one.

Too much light will cause the clones to try and grow instead of make roots which will cause them to basically eat themself alive trying to use all the energy stored in their leaves.

Also remember to cut the end of the clones at a 45* angle and you're good.
 

Ganja Geek

Active Member
Ok maybe I'll go and pick one up. Do I want to get it as close as possible to the cutting? If I choose to just put them in my closet under the mother plants do you think a temp of 80/85 would be to hot?
 
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