Cloning, When to do it?

Hi All,

Been a while since ive been on here, but since im planning on an outdoor grow this coming season I thought it smart to get my reading on.

I have 2 questions,

1. I had a thought to start some plants indoors ASAP, so that maybe by the time sprint comes around I will be able to cut some clones and take them outdoors, for my planned grow. Is this okay / a common thing to do. I am not sure how to plant will react to the change in environments. Also in regards to acclimating the plant, how does that work?

2. If my first question is yes, then how do i know when the plants are ready to be cloned?

I want to plant for 25+ plants for the outdoor grow, how many mother plants should I plant to grow?

Thank you in advanced.

I clone side branches that are over 5 inches.

You can easily get 25 clones off a two month old mother in a 3 gallon pot. You can take clones off any plant in veg (in flower as well but that's more difficult and takes a few tricks) anytime you want from any place on the plant. Make sure the plant is healthy, and spray preemptively for pests and mildews with Dyna-Gro neem oil at 3 teaspoons per gallon (this is half of the recommended strength) and 1/2 teaspoon of Coco-Wet per gallon (surfactant, it helps oil and water mix) before you take your cuttings. When taking plants from indoors to outdoors you must slowly acclimate them to the hotter more bright environment. I usually place them in the shade the first couple of days and then move them into the sun for a couple hours at a time watching if they get too droopy. If they do move them back into the shade and make sure they don't need watered. After doing this for a week or so you'll notice you can leave them out for an entire day and they will not get droopy. If you have any more questions msg me.

Best time is after they reach sexual maturity, around 8 weeks most of the time. You want branches that are relatively starchy and 'stiff' as opposed to floppy soft branches most of the time. It is a long time to go. Get a plant going and get your cloning game up before the times comes for your actual grow.
If you use a cloning box with lower RH but STABLE temperatures, hardening off or acclimatising is no issue at all. You can just take 'em outside. The big trick to cloning indoors and moving them out is that hardening off period. Do it right, and they will just KICK man.
Where I live, I have a 2-week window to transplant outside. Each latitude will be different. If I plant before the last week of November or after the first week December, plants WILL go into flower with no vegging. You will ned to speak to growers from your latitude to figure out if this applies to you, and where your window sits.
Best and most hassle-free outdoor crops are grown off feminised seed. I have never seen a hermie outdoors. EVER. Choose a reputable breeder, and each plant will give you more weed than you can dream of with no hassle. It is an investment I have never regretted. Clones are cool, but you will always get more if grown from a good seed.

Wouldn't the time saved from cloning kinda even out yield sizes, while keeping that reputable strain and pheno?

Illegal Wonder said:

Wouldn't the time saved from cloning kinda even out yield sizes, while keeping that reputable strain and pheno?

Click to expand...

Good point, and I guess that all depends on your choice of seeds. I run both clones and from seed for my outdoor, and yes, if you get a crap pheno you get a lot of crap weed. It has happened to me once. Clones only save you time if you already have your keeper. Otherwise you are gambling having cloned a LOT of crap phenos too. So I guess if you already have a good mum then clones can be the BOMB. I ran the same Diesel cut outdoors for 5 years and she never disappointed. But never came close to from-seed yields.

But bear in mind this also has a lot to do with my personal 'planting window' I need to live with over here. With clones, I can rely on a MAXIMUM of 6 weeks veg before they hit flower. From seed I can add another 8 to 10 weeks to that time. Our days don't get quite as long as latitudes further away from the equator so our season is actually a bit shorter.