Cloning 101 with @trippyterpenes
with @trippyterpenes By @smokeeej
Growing up, whenever I heard the word cloning or thought about cloning something, I always imagined cloning myself so that I would have helpers for all of my ordinary chores. I would create a clone to do the dishes, washing clothes, or going to the grocery store if I had that capability. Unfortunately, we cannot clone humans, but luckily, we can clone various plants…including CANNABIS!!
Cloning Cannabis is important because although our seeds may have come from a specific strain of cannabis, each seed contains a different gene structure. Because every seed is a little different we pheno-hunt for the best plant. We usually clone every plant until we know for sure that we will stop growing that pheno-type of a specific strain. The main reason home growers clone is because once we find a known female strain that works, we want to run it as many times as possible. Growing from seed takes much longer than taking clones and utilizing your known genetics.
Supplies and Tools Required
You need a few supplies to get your clone on:
Propagation Tray and Dome
Seed Plugs, Rock Wool, or other media for cloning.
Scissors or Fiskars
A Razor Blade or Cutting Tool
Mycorrhizal Innoculants – Dynomyco
Clone Solution – Clonex
R/O water (Reverse Osmosis)
Solo Cup
5 gallon Bucket for soaking plugs
Cloning 101
Start with a healthy mother plant. A mother plant is the original plant of the original planted seed. You can clone from this plant, or from ANY plant that you are growing in a vegetative mode. I have taken clones from plants in week 4 of the flower cycle (some bud formation) and the clones worked, but I think that the genetics were degraded some. My advice is to take clones from a strong part of the plant. While you may lose a nice cola of cannabis, you will gain another strong plant for use in the next cycle.
Create a soaking bin for your root plugs.
Grab your 5 gallon bucket and fill it 1/3 full with R/O water (or more if you need more room for more clones).
Throw in a few pellets of Mycorrhizal (We used Dynomyco) and stir.
Throw in your root plugs and allow them to soak for 24 hours.
These need to soak in order to allow them to be fully waterlogged.
If the plugs are properly soaked, they should last a few weeks without water inside the dome.
Come back in 24 hours to start the first part of the clone process.
Grab your solo cup, your scissors, and razor blade for this next part.
Fill your solo cup halfway with R/O Water.
Cut your first clone from the mother plant:
Find a nice sturdy branch suitable to create a strong clone.
From the top, count down to the 4th node.
Make a straight cut with your scissors in between the 4th and 5th node.
Using your razor blade, make a diagonal cut just below the 4th node and place into the cup of R/O water.
The diagonal cut allows for a better uptake of water.
Finish all of your cuttings this way and allow the cuttings to sit in the water for 24 hours.
Place your root plugs into the rooting tray and arrange them in a checkerboard manner.
Give the plants room to breathe, do not place them directly next to each other unless absolutely necessary.
Keep the leaves from touching if possible.
Using the Clonex cloning solution, dip the end of the stalk into the purple solution.
Stick the stalk into the root plug up to the node.
Spray the inside of the dome with a R/O water.
We want to keep the humidity up very high inside the dome.
Only open the vents a small portion so as not to let out too much humidity.
Every few days, spray the inside of the dome with water.
Check on your clones every now and then and once the roots jump out…plant in your media of choice.
*note: If the root plugs get dry, just drizzle some R/O water on them
Cloning plants is not something that you need to master in order to grow quality cannabis; however, if you grow quality cannabis, you will want to clone your genetics so that you can continue to grow quality cannabis every time. Every seed is not equal and genetics vary from seed to seed. Happy Growing!
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