[pipeman]

Cloning is commonly used because it saves the time and space involved in growing from seed and weeding out males every crop. Once you have a plant you know is a good female you clone it and keep the clone in perpetual veg. as a mother plant taking clones from it to grow out and flower as necessary.

 

Clones can be taken in flower, but are best taken when your plant is in veg. Its also a good idea to wait until your plant is at least a foot tall before you try to clone from it.

 

To clone you need a branch with a grow tip at least 10cm long. Neatly cut the branch with a sharp knife or scissors trying not to damage the stem. Your clones are then placed in a moist medium to root. This can be a cup of water, some rockwool, soil, or perlite. Dipping the clone in rooting gel or powder will help to root quicker.

 

After cutting your clone and trimming off the lower branches, cutting a further 10mm off the bottom of the main stem while being held underwater can be of benefit as it helps guard against any air in the stem, which you don't want. Also, some say putting clones in the moist medium immediately after the underwater cut is important for the same reason.

 

Clones like weak light, like one or two compact fluoros not too close to the plants. If cloning under a HID keep it at least a metre away. Yellowing clones can be a sign of too much light. Light is best kept on 24/0 when rooting clones.

 

Clones like a warm, humid environment. Say 24-27 degrees and 60-80% humidity. Most clones that die do so due to loss of moisture. This is why people mist clones and/or use a humidity dome, which can simply be a clear plastic container with a couple of small ventilation holes placed over the clones. A clean, sterile environment and cutting implements is said to help success rates. Adding a little H2O2 solution (oxyplus or similar) to your water can help keep things sterile as well, although is by no means essential.

 

Clones should root within a couple of weeks, when they do put them into their growing medium if they aren’t already and start feeding weak nutes.

 

Related Topics:

whats the best way to clone, I'm new at this

Edited September 1, 2003 by pipeman

[wassily]

Here is a quick guide to making and keeping bonsai mother plants.

1. Take a batch of cuttings from the strain you want to keep.

2. Select the strongest cutting after they root. I've found this is usually the one with the thickest stem.

3. When it has 3 sets of proper leaves, cut the top set off. You will have 4 shoots. Wait for the top 2 shoots to grow 3 nodes, then cut them back to just above the first node, and trim the other 2 lower shoots back to level with the top 2 shoots' first node. Leave all other shoots alone for now.

4. After about 3 weeks you'll have about 8 - 10 shoots. Trim these back to

1 or 2 nodes, and start clearing little shoots and leaves out of the centre of the plant. This allows light to the centre of the plant for even growth.

5. After another 3 weeks you'll have a lot of shoots. Always cut them back to 2 nodes, definately no less than 1. And keep clearing the centre out. You should end up with a ring of shoots.

6. From here, keep them on moderate nutes - 3/4 strength grow. Put them under flouros on 24 hour light. You will need to take cuttings every 21 days ruffly to keep the plant regenerating. If you don't do this it will die off or grow too big. Give them a shot of bloom nutes a week before you are going to take cuttings that you want to keep. Root prune and give a proper trim back every 6 months. This isn't the greatest pic, it's one just before a cutting, but you can see the hole in the centre.

[nouseforaname]

Air layering or cloning on the plant

 

You will need a few pipe cleaner ties, twist the tie around a branch stem until it crimps it you will hear a slight cracking sound this is where to stop. Leave the tie attached to the plant for 4-7 days, it will start to think it is dieing from that tie upwards. The plant will support the stressed growth while at the same time trying to root around this area... Choices are once you see the white root bumps to cut it off.

Alternatively wrap 1/4" rockwool cube around the rooting stem area and then tape with electrical tape keep the rockwool damp.. within 7 days the tape will begin to expand this is the rootsystem starting to grow.. Cut the whole branch off below this area and pot up into new system.. This not only saves a bit of stress but also alot of space and also plant numbers.... This is also useful for cloning apical tips... Havent got any pics at present