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When To Clone?


tooldini

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I try and take clones 2 weeks before flower. that way I'm sure its backed up. you can take clones from blooming plants but you'll have to be patient. they'll take a lot longer to root and may be stunted for awhile. I use this method to stash a strain back w/o loosing her while I grow out others

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Since I know I have a female, I clone before putting them in to flower - this is when I crop the plant to lollipop it.

 

since you said you see the sex, you can clone anytime now. I would not wait more than 3 - 4 weeks in to flower - as the hormones are working to flower not grow vegetation. It is true that cloning can be harder and longer as the plant is confused what it should be doing. I also notice that when the plant gets older - the small stems get woody - this makes it hard to clone too. I try to find fresh green sprouts.

 

Relative humidity is important - I can clone with 100% success rate during spring and summer. But as the humidity drops in the fall and winter - it seems I need the humidity dome longer. This means I have to watch for wet rot.

 

I also use "Thrive Alive RED" to soak the cube prior to using. I use Olivia's gel. Spray once with Thrive Alive GREEN" - as per Technaflora's instructions. heating pad separated by 1/2" plywood warms the dome so humidity is not from spraying it all the time (helps prevent wet rot!)

 

DN

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Do you have a cloner Tool?? I did not have to have a humidity dome on my girls, they rooted without it, but I did spray them with ph'd water about a million times a day so that they didn't dry out.

 

My plants were only about 9 inches tall and Knucklehead Bob told me that I could cut clones off my plants. The only problem that I see with that is that you will have two plants that are ready to go into flower at almost the same time and if you have limited space like I do you could have a problem you could have more plants than you have room. Don't buy two clones at the same time either otherwise you could end up with the same problem like I did. I have four plants ready for flower and only room for three...lol Oh well I will keep the other in veg and just keep cutting clones from it. Maybe I will start trying to train it. After all it was sick and is a lot smaller than the other plants.

 

Whenever you decide to cut clones, good luck. It's really easy just don't over think it. As soon as you cut you branch off your plant put it in a glass of ph'd water so you don't get an embolism in the stem bcause that will cause it to die because it can't take up any water.

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Do you have a cloner Tool?? I did not have to have a humidity dome on my girls, they rooted without it, but I did spray them with ph'd water about a million times a day so that they didn't dry out.

 

My plants were only about 9 inches tall and Knucklehead Bob told me that I could cut clones off my plants. The only problem that I see with that is that you will have two plants that are ready to go into flower at almost the same time and if you have limited space like I do you could have a problem you could have more plants than you have room. Don't buy two clones at the same time either otherwise you could end up with the same problem like I did. I have four plants ready for flower and only room for three...lol Oh well I will keep the other in veg and just keep cutting clones from it. Maybe I will start trying to train it. After all it was sick and is a lot smaller than the other plants.

 

Whenever you decide to cut clones, good luck. It's really easy just don't over think it. As soon as you cut you branch off your plant put it in a glass of ph'd water so you don't get an embolism in the stem bcause that will cause it to die because it can't take up any water.

 

I found that a humidity dome is better than spraying (you don't have to spray a million times a day!) You actually do not want to soak the leaves, that causes wet rot. with a dome, the humidity is the atmosphere, not water on the leaves. You can now set up a dome and leave it alone for three days!!

 

I use low powered CFLs in the clone/veg room. Using two bulbs with the different Kelvins - 2800K and 6500K and only 28 watts each - the lower lumens makes the plant grow SLOWER. This is how I try to keep plants 'instasis'. cooler temps in the veg room also chill the pot a little, again - trying to slow growth. Once I put these plants under the 600watt lights - growth explodes!

 

Good luck

 

DN

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Do you have a cloner Tool?? I did not have to have a humidity dome on my girls, they rooted without it, but I did spray them with ph'd water about a million times a day so that they didn't dry out.

 

My plants were only about 9 inches tall and Knucklehead Bob told me that I could cut clones off my plants. The only problem that I see with that is that you will have two plants that are ready to go into flower at almost the same time and if you have limited space like I do you could have a problem you could have more plants than you have room. Don't buy two clones at the same time either otherwise you could end up with the same problem like I did. I have four plants ready for flower and only room for three...lol Oh well I will keep the other in veg and just keep cutting clones from it. Maybe I will start trying to train it. After all it was sick and is a lot smaller than the other plants.

 

Whenever you decide to cut clones, good luck. It's really easy just don't over think it. As soon as you cut you branch off your plant put it in a glass of ph'd water so you don't get an embolism in the stem bcause that will cause it to die because it can't take up any water.

 

I found that a humidity dome is better than spraying (you don't have to spray a million times a day!) You actually do not want to soak the leaves, that causes wet rot. with a dome, the humidity is the atmosphere, not water on the leaves. You can now set up a dome and leave it alone for three days!!

 

I use low powered CFLs in the clone/veg room. Using two bulbs with the different Kelvins - 2800K and 6500K and only 28 watts each - the lower lumens makes the plant grow SLOWER. This is how I try to keep plants 'instasis'. cooler temps in the veg room also chill the pot a little, again - trying to slow growth. Once I put these plants under the 600watt lights - growth explodes!

 

Other tips - I use a scalpel to cut the clones, the clone has to have three nodes of leaves on it. Cut the leaves 1/2 way to reduce transpiration. Cubes are kept wet because the dixie cup has soil in it too. I am experimenting - soil has nutes - can it could leach in to the cube and effect the rooting process...I might have to find a neutral soil or just use promix or coco peat. This solves the problem of cubes drying out.

 

Good luck

 

DN

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A friend got me a couple clones that a friend gave her. Well I have never grown from clones so they gave me these in a pitch and just cut them and put them in dirt from outside LOL I noticed later these clones had buds on them. I put the 3 cuttings in a container I had when I tried to grow some peanuts. It was a humidity dome pot. I watered them once and put them under the Power Compact lights. Soon they looked dead I threw one away and I just kinda forgot about the other 2 for over 3 weeks. I then decided to throw them away and noticed a couple of bright green leaves on both plants. I took them out of the dixie cups and they had a bunch of roots :) along with earth worms LOL So almost everything was wrong about that but they are still alive, very small and still growing. This time I wanna do it the more correct way. My next question was gonna be were to clip the clones from so thanks for the answer in advance :thumbsu:

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I am sure the previous advice is wonderful but anyone can do this with only rooting hormone , side light and ph adjusted water left out over night to be room temp or about 70 . I have nearly 100% success as long as I do not over-water , use a sterilized blade allowed to cool properly , with as much hormone as will stick to the stem well up passed the area the top layer has been scraped off leading into the cut . You should have about a inch or so . For me the key in soil seems to be watering gently by dipping my hand in water and letting the droplets flow into the soil around the plant off the tips of the fingers keeping it damp at all times for the first two weeks . If your doing hydro just start in a 12 oz Dixie cup with a hole 1 inch from the bottom for overflow or equivalent in soil and don't use fertilizer the water and dirt has enough nutrients . Do not use distilled water for this reason . Anyone can do this you don't need cloning machines or special additives beyond the root hormone thats under $10 I am sure they may help but you don't' have to make it complex . I like the powder dip in your water then the powder you can easily see it then put in your pre made planting hole , gently pack the predampened soil and keep it damp by dipping your hand in water and letting the droplets fall around your cutting . Don't peek just be patient and in two weeks you should have roots enough to put into your hydro medium again using nutrients in water only then as you see growth occurring very slowly start to add nutrients always half of what is recommended by the maker .

 

make seeds when possible by brushing known male pollen with known females , recording and labeling everything . If you have a card seeds are the way to go . Do not effect weight or plant counts . Do not transmit pests . Very easy to transport without causing problems . Costs nothing but time . Fit in your wallet for when you meet a patient in need depending on your local law and comfort .

 

You can do this very simpley without allot of expense or you can spend your as much money as you have making it as complex as you desire . The more complex the more chances of failure come with the opertunity to make marginal improvement . I am one of the worst growers in Michigan with a true hillbilly room of used stuff but I have seen people do wonderful grows with less . I keep trying to work with my disabillity not against it and thats the hardest part for me . Experience is better then throwing dollars at this . Don't get stopped by not having a cloning machine special area or lamps . The advice above was so spot on but you can get by with less if you have too .

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...

Relative humidity is important - I can clone with 100% success rate during spring and summer. But as the humidity drops in the fall and winter - it seems I need the humidity dome longer. This means I have to watch for wet rot.

...

 

DN

 

Hey DN: What do you do when you see wet rot? Or the start of it?

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I'm not DN, but I just pinch the rotting leaf off if I see it.

 

My system is simple... I just smear CloneX on the cutting, push it into a rockwool cube that was soaked for 24 hours in pH 5.8 water... (RO water + 1-5-4, it's about 200ppm) then I put it in a beer cup and drop the cup into a gallon ziplock bag and seal. Vent every few days... easy... has the added advantage that you can hyperventilate into the bag to get the CO2 levels high, put it in a dark space for a few hours to gas pests...

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They don't have to be all that big if you ask me they just have to be big enough for the top to stick up out of the dirt and for part of the stem to be burried under the dirt. I have some in the daisy cloner right now that I cut at about an inch and a half maybe two inches tall.

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I thought I would post my experience with cloning, as its a critical part of my grow setup.

 

My cloning is done without any hormones or gels. Just plain RO water and a home-made aeroponic cloner.

 

In my experience how good your clones are depend on so many things, and the biggest one is genetics. Some strains love to be cloned (ak-48), and some just dont like it as much (Aurora Indica).

 

pretty much you just clip off a nice branch, trim it up so it only has a few leaves on top, and stick it in the cloner. I dont spray them with anything, and dont put them under a dome. Smaller clones root faster, big fat branches take longer, but do work. I have easily taken clones in the 5th week of flowering with buds on the plants.

 

 

Also a side note that could improve my cloning, but I dont have a definitive decision on this, is the fact that all my clones come from mothers that use mother plant nutrients. This nutrients claims to produce better cuttings, still testing that one.

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thanks guys I looked earlier today since I was repotting(white widow was totally root bounde :( got them into 2 gallon pots for now and will probably stay there. I noticed some nice 3" or so branches that were pretty fresh looking and had 3 or more small branches off that. I think by weekend I will clip one.

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  • 1 month later...

I am gonna clip some this week. I have not gel or rooting stuff so I am gonna hope for the best. I think most clipping have some small buds on them, but I am not worried about that since I have a small plant that came from a budded clone and it is doing better than my other 2 plants from seed.I will put them under some CFL's for a few weeks if they root.

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