Cloning in soil

[BaronS]

So OK, someone mentioned taking clones for a soil grow and I opened m' big mouth.

 

AFAICS this can be used for soil under lights or cloning in soil under lights with intent for outside maturity. I haven't tried inside then outside though.

 

If you want consistent times, consistent high success rates, if you're worried that during the process the babies will look wilted and maybe even lose leaves, this thread ain't for you. If you're almost as slack as I, read on.

 

I don't currently have stock to show the cuts, will do so in a couple of days. Which sortta fits in with my whole attitude to the grow, it all starts with planning. You don't have inflexible plans, but you do need plans.

 

SO, before I clone, I do a couple of things.

 

Give the parent plenty of water. I foliar spray with plain water, PH adjusted is best but I run out of PH test kits too much and often just leave water settling in a bucket in the laundry for a few days.

I somewhere heard many years ago that morning was the best time to take clones, so I always schedule to do so shortly after 'lights on'. Sometimes I miss that and do it out of time, doesn't seem to hurt much. SO, in general, when I'm looking for clones I'll have a look just before 'lights out' and see if I'm ready to roll tomorrow.

 

I use the trays in the attached pic to take them from clone to near end of veg (transplant a few days before flower), but I'm doing a compact grow, people with larger space coud use similar but transplant earlier/more. The bottom half of each tray is Yates Pro potting mix with an additional handful of dynamic lifter mixed in, then topped up with pure potting mix. The trays are 'water well' style things but I regularly dump the runoff.

 

Once filled with media the pots are put under the shower until the mix is saturated and water is flowing through. They are then left to drain and the 'well' emptied. Good time to test your PH but if it's not far off leave it alone. If you do need to adjust the PH, for pete's sake let the soil sette before proceeding. At the time of actually cutting clones my target soil is wet, rather than damp, and if it's ~20C that's even better.

 

OK, can't go further until I have some stock to take pics of, couple of days and I'll sacrifice a branch to science :-)

 

Meanwhile the pic is 3 trays, 22, 14, and 4 days. In each case 8 cuttings taken.

22's) Note 3 runts? and 5 healthy plants.

14's) 8 healthy plants? some healthier than others.

4's) 2 are limp but looked worse yesterday. I think I'm on for 8/8 here too.

[BaronS]

While looking at one of my younger ladies I spotted what I consider perfect cloning material.

 

Why is it perfect?

The two nodes at the bottom are close together but were a fair distance from a lower pair of close nodes (which should now branch and grow). The initial cut to remove from the mother is made just above the previous node(s). Additional material is removed later. These two nodes go below soil.

There's then a reasonable size gap to the next node, which will sit above the soil line but will be pinched and not allowed to grow.

The next two nodes will be left intact but leaves trimmed.

and I pinch out the growing tip.

Giving my final clone.

 

The last cut I make on the clone is a diagonal cut opposite the lowest node. Speed is essential here, you don't want an airlock forming in the transport system, so immediately this cut is made the 'stick gets poked into dirt'.

 

This process could be improved by dipping the root end in cloning gel/powder but in decent conditions I get near 100% strike rate anyway, it would only (quite probably) speed up the root growth, speeding up overall rate of growth.

 

The set clones are then watered in well. This means the soil is quite wet, relying on proper drainage. But it's the last good lot of water they get, from here until they've taken frequent _light_ misting of water is all it gets. if I need to go out for a longer period of time I'll spray a little extra on 'em.