cloning help

[Gruntus]

G'day all .. I've been snipping branches from a well established outdoor plant (grew throo' Winter) and trying to get them to root. I read an article on the Overgrow FAQ years ago that advocated water cloning. I'm not having much luck with it. Can anyone recommend simple ways to get cuttings to shoot that doesn't require aftificial light, rockwool and so on. I can propogate basil just by plonking it in a glass on my kitchen bench - why is cannabis harder ? Or am I missing something obvious ? I've seen rooting hormones at the local hardware - how do these work ? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

[Guest weekprik]

the water method will work fine for MJ,

 

get a container full of water, put cling wrap on the top to support the cutting, and just put the cut end in the water, only difference is make sure you have an airstone in the water, and it will clone ok,

 

Otherwise just stick ya cuts in to a rooting compound (powder is cheapest), and then stick in to ya soil or whatever it will grow in,

put a coke bottle with a hole in the top, over the clone for 3 days, removing twice a day to spray lightly with fresh water, or spritz water.

 

OH and always iff possible take the cutts from the lowest point that you can on the plant, but make sure it has a growth tip on it.

Edited November 7, 2003 by weekprik

[Guest Wilderbud]

Its pretty easy to clone. Use 1:1 peat:perlite or vermiculture:perlite or else aerated water. Buy some clonex from a hydroponics or garden store, cut a 4-6" branch tip off [cut it through a node as it roots easier at this point], dip it into some clonex [not straight into the clonex bottle though to avoid polluting it] then put the cutting 1" into the soil. After youve done this you can either cut the bottom leaves off or cut half of their tips off. Mist them daily and cover them with something [upside down fishtank with a gap for air is perfect] to promote humidity and wait for a week until roots start growing - give the cuttings 2 weeks to root then call them plantlets.

[pipeman]

If you are trying to get them to root outside I would apply some cloning gel to the bottom inch of the stem, wack em in moist soil and put a humidity dome (plastic container) over the top you might also put some shadecloth or something else over the humidity dome to keep direct sunlight out. Unless you can visit them fairly regularly they'll dry out pretty quick outside in the sun I reckon. Rockwool cubes in soil probably isn't a bad idea.

[Guest weekprik]

not that this is true or anything but,

I gave my dad a clone I started in a rockwool cube, he put it in soil and it died,

Now he reakoned that by looking at the root system and cube that the cube had somehow prevented the roots growing in to the soil from the cube??

 

Umm is that BS or what?? Iam asking cause Dad was a stoner that grew his own supply for years, he also has beautiful gardens full of all sorts of plants that grow really well,

 

ya know these old timers can grow bloody well, alot better than us youngins

[Luke Skywalker]

It may have been early days for rockwool, and he wasn't aware of the particulars of the media. Growool transfers great into soil, done it lots of times and they don't look back. The trick is to make sure the soil is well draining, (as growool around the base of the plant may cause some waterlogging otherwise) and to trim any aerial roots to about 2-5mm from the edges of the cube before transferring.

 

Course, it coulda been all kinds of things, may not have soaked the cubes, causeing a massive nutrient lockout early for the clone... without food, it may have just not had the energy to get growing to the soil area. Can't really tell without talking to your old man, ya know?

 

Anyway, yeah, growool is very easy to clone and transfer into any media or system, be it soil, hydroponics, or even soilless mixes, (some are made with growool flock as a component.) I'd say if you haven't cloned in rockwool, give it a go. Might not be your cup of tea, but do your reasearch, learn what you can, experiment a bit and I'm sure you'll be happy with the results.

 

I absolutely agree with you that old timers are more valuable than all the buds they've grown over their lives.... However, dogmatism can breed ignorance. I'm not saying that all old timers are dogmatic, not in the least, but there is more than one way to grow a bud, and the horticulture industry has come a loooooong way in the last 10-20 years. I'd be facinated to sit down and have a good long chat about outdoor organic growing with a few tho, and the methods they've employed over the years. Would be a most facinating addition to the book I think... maybe a "Elder Growers" section?

 

Enough from me... tooooo waaaasted... hee hee.

[Valley Villain]

Clones are pretty easy: you just need to take them at the right time. Make sure that the plant that you take them from is: not in a flowering or pre-flowering stage, vigorous and healthy and take long shoots from the base of the plant. Cut stalks to a length of approx. 10 cm along the diagonal, and trim off any large leaves. With the top two leaves, cut off the tips, so that all is remaining is a stalk with a bit of vegetation at the top. Then you can either dip the end in cutting hormone, or just plant without it.

It doesn't make a big difference whether you use it or not. Plant directly into pots w. potting mix/chook shit.

 

Then spray the baby girls with a spraypack every day with a weak nutrient solution, while keeping them in a greenhouse (plastic sheet over a broccoli box in the shade is good enough.

[Gruntus]

Ta for the feedback people .. lots of ideas to try out. Might start with the simplest (scissors & soil) and work my way up.

 

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is rockwool ?

[Spurious]

http://bestbudsgreenhousesupplies.com/rw110abb.jpg

[Luke Skywalker]

Growool is a granite stone which is melted and spun into a fibrous slab. It offers great water retention, but also has a fantastic air holding capacity as well. Growool is inert, neutral to slightly alkaline, (this can be changed to the optimum 5.5 - 6 by soaking for 24 hrs in an acidic solution of 5.0 or so.) and only weighs 80kg per sq meter when dry.

 

It's great stuff, and it's used in many ways, and there are even a few different kinds of the stuff. It can come as slabs, (anywhere from 750x 750mm l x 300 w x 75 d to 1600mm long or even longer depending on the supply... of course, you can always put slabs side by side too... or cut them down to size.... ) which allows for a very simple, drip fed media with great properties for growth hydroponically. Cubes, of various sizes and shapes depending on the manufacturer, they usually come in 1 inch small propogation cubes for clones or seedlings, to 3 and 5 inch cubes. The small cubes are used to raise clones or seedlings, which are then "potted up" into the next size cubes, and then the large cubes are placed onto the surface of a slab, or even used in another media sys.

Lots of growers use growool because of this versatility. There is also another type, called flocwool... or granulated growool. This is a byproduct of the manufacturing process which is essentially the same stuff, just loose. This can be used as a water retentive for media mixes or even just as a media on it's own, although it can be a little soggy. The granulated stuff is essentially just reeeeeely small cubes, it's much better than the floc, but I can't find a supply for it anymore. My orchids loved it when I could get it tho...

 

Well, there's a speil on G-wool, hope that helps you gruntus...