Can I sustain grow cycles by taking clones from plants near the end of flowering?

[jnt62]

The reason I ask is that I don't have room for both a veg and flower tent. I figure that I can harvest the flowering plants and reset the tent for the clones by the time they have grown roots in the cloner. I will only be taking 9 clones from 6 plants to ensure that I have, at least, 6 successful plants to restart.

Please point out any flaws with this thought. Any ideas you have are most appreciated.

 

[Carcass]

Not sure how successful the clones would be,you'd have to reveg them at the same time you're trying to get them to root-might be too much for them-I imagine a few of them would make it...
Re-vegging is going to add about a month to your schedule,so keep that in mind when you're you're figuring the timing of your grows.

 

[Weaselcracker]

It’s very difficult to get clones from late in flowering to root. Early in flowering they root ok, it just takes longer. By the harvest stage - I really wouldn’t count on them rooting.
At that stage you’re better off to reveg the entire remaining plant after harvest. That’s definitely not a guaranteed outcome either though. Either way the reveg process it goes through takes a month or so before they’re vegging normally again. Sometimes longer.

 

[jnt62]

Not sure how successful the clones would be,you'd have to reveg them at the same time you're trying to get them to root-might be too much for them-I imagine a few of them would make it...
Re-vegging is going to add about a month to your schedule,so keep that in mind when you're you're figuring the timing of your grows.

Thanks,
carcass Weaselcracker

I thought I read about a technique called "Monster Cropping" that started by re-vegging a flowering clone. I didn't realize that it would be more difficult to grow roots the further along in flower the clone was from. I don't have room for separate veg and flower tents. Do y'all have any suggestions that might work better for my situation?

Thanks for reading my post and your responses

 

[Camaro1691]

Not sure how successful the clones would be,you'd have to reveg them at the same time you're trying to get them to root-might be too much for them-I imagine a few of them would make it...
Re-vegging is going to add about a month to your schedule,so keep that in mind when you're you're figuring the timing of your grows.

It’s very difficult to get clones from late in flowering to root. Early in flowering they root ok, it just takes longer. By the harvest stage - I really wouldn’t count on them rooting.
At that stage you’re better off to reveg the entire remaining plant after harvest. That’s definitely not a guaranteed outcome either though. Either way the reveg process it goes through takes a month or so before they’re vegging normally again. Sometimes longer.

While I do agree with both of these gentleman to an extent I must show my experience, the cuts that are in the cloner in the center have been in the cloner for a mere 10 days and have not only rooted, but have roots that are bushy and already 6-8 inches long, these were taken at roughly week 2 of flower, the ones in the solo cups were just taken tonight and we are nearing week 4 of flower, those I don’t care about as much as I was thinning the bottom sections of the plants in flower and just couldn’t throw them out completely lol. If they root they root if not ohh well. But you can get plants to take root pretty late into flower, it’s a matter of the method you use and being patient

 

[jnt62]

Camaro1691
Thanks for your input! Those clones look nice. I like the idea of being patient. I'd like to be able to harvest the mothers and reset before I move the clones to the 4 x 4. I don't have room for a veg AND flower tent. That is why I am thinking along these lines.
Perhaps you can share methods so I will have a better chance of success (if they aren't industry secrets)

 

[Weaselcracker]

Within the first two or three weeks I find it easy enough, and they usually don’t go through much of a reveg thing after rooting. Later on they’re more flower than leaves and they’re slow cause have to do some serious re-thinking, over and above the task of growing roots out their sides. I find that when they sit there for a month or six weeks before rooting I’m more likely to have some mortality.
By the end of flowering- which is at around 10-16 weeks for me- my plants are mostly mature flowers with very little leaf anywhere, and any cuttings take a long long time to root and then reveg, so I find it makes more sense to put the whole plant into veg mode - it already has roots after all- all it has to do is reveg.

Sometimes at my place for whatever reason I run into cloning issues and have low success getting roots. Nowadays I really avoid putting a strain into flower unless I have clones first, cause it only gets harder to root them after that- and soon enough it becomes a situation where I betting the strain on a successful reveg. I’ve lost that bet a few times now and lost the strains.

But yeah - as for what you should do. I think your plan is ok. You might want to take your cuttings as early as possible. This will push you towards eventually getting some sort of veg space. You’re going to end up needing some sort of separate space with a light for your cloning anyway. You can just as well call that a ‘veg space’ for now I mean - it’s a space with a light, and if you have to veg some cuttings there for a week or more while the flowers in the other finish -they’ll probably survive.

 

[Camaro1691]

Within the first two or three weeks I find it easy enough, and they usually don’t go through much of a reveg thing after rooting. Later on they’re more flower than leaves and they’re slow cause have to do some serious re-thinking, over and above the task of growing roots out their sides. I find that when they sit there for a month or six weeks before rooting I’m more likely to have some mortality.
By the end of flowering- which is at around 10-16 weeks for me- my plants are mostly mature flowers with very little leaf anywhere, and any cuttings take a long long time to root and then reveg, so I find it makes more sense to put the whole plant into veg mode - it already has roots after all- all it has to do is reveg.

Sometimes at my place for whatever reason I run into cloning issues and have low success getting roots. Nowadays I really avoid putting a strain into flower unless I have clones first, cause it only gets harder to root them after that- and soon enough it becomes a situation where I betting the strain on a successful reveg. I’ve lost that bet a few times now and lost the strains.

But yeah - as for what you should do. I think your plan is ok. You might want to take your cuttings as early as possible. This will push you towards eventually getting some sort of veg space. You’re going to end up needing some sort of separate space with a light for your cloning anyway. You can just as well call that a ‘veg space’ for now I mean - it’s a space with a light, and if you have to veg some cuttings there for a week or more while the flowers in the other finish -they’ll probably survive.

What do you have for a cloner WC? Hopefully I can be of some assistance getting your success rate up, to date I have had a 100% success rate, knock on wood lol.. I always make sure to run a tiny bit of bleach as cloners can run on the warm side, which isn’t necessarily bad for the clones but promotes mold and algae, and be sterile when taking your cuts, I have a link with some cloning stuff in my signature, I haven’t gotten a complete walkthrough done yet but a basic idea of what’s going on. I’m due for an update to it actually.

Camaro1691
Thanks for your input! Those clones look nice. I like the idea of being patient. I'd like to be able to harvest the mothers and reset before I move the clones to the 4 x 4. I don't have room for a veg AND flower tent. That is why I am thinking along these lines.
Perhaps you can share methods so I will have a better chance of success (if they aren't industry secrets)

No secrets here mate, there’s a link in my signature to my cloner box I have, you could build one easy enough and cheap, you don’t need to spend hundreds on an actual ez cloner, I came across mine used on FB market page dirt cheap and the guy included the rest of the clonex he had with it which got me sold on the stuff, it hasn’t let me down yet. Feel free to check out my cloner box, it’s easy for anyone to build, even the wiring up isn’t too bad, I don’t have a walkthrough to that part yet but I will at some point down the road

 

[jnt62]

Weaselcracker
This will be my very 1st grow. I'm trying to think the whole thing through. It would really suck to go through all the cloning process and have little to nothing to show for it, (forget about losing a strain) My clone area is only 50cm x 50cm. I would like to figure out some way to veg 6 plants until I can transplant them into the grow tent with ebb & flow hydroton buckets. You all have been so kind and patient with a novice. That means so much to me. Please keep your thoughts and ideas flowing!

 

[Camaro1691]

Weaselcracker
This will be my very 1st grow. I'm trying to think the whole thing through. It would really suck to go through all the cloning process and have little to nothing to show for it, (forget about losing a strain) My clone area is only 50cm x 50cm. I would like to figure out some way to veg 6 plants until I can transplant them into the grow tent with ebb & flow hydroton buckets. You all have been so kind and patient with a novice. That means so much to me. Please keep your thoughts and ideas flowing!

Do you have enough space next to your 4X4 that you could build a cabinet that’s say, 2X4? That would give you enough space for vegging your plants as veg does not require much room at all, 6 plants can be vegged in a large tote hydroponically with care to prevent roots from tangling, or (6) 3 gallon buckets, and the cloner could be placed on a shelf above the plants vegging, maximize the use out of your space. When your plants are ready to switch to flower take cuts, let those root in the cloner for a couple weeks, switch those to veg till your flowering plants are ready for harvest, then repeat the cycle by cloning those plants going from veg to flower when you harvest

 

[Weaselcracker]

It’s funny- 8 years ago it more when I first started cloning stuff I always had 100% success and it was easy. The last few years has had more ups and downs. When cloning fails it really puts a hiccup in the operation. For me what happens is my veg gets more and more overcrowded cause there are strains I don’t have clones of- and they grow big while I’m trying.

I’ve cloned a whole bunch of different ways, including with rock wool, DIY aerocloner, in water, perlite, coco.... All methods work well when they work , and none work when they don’t ha ha ha.
Currently I’m chalking the issues up to invisible problem fungi and bacteria. It seems like it happens to everyone once in a while.

This round I’m running some Z7 in the cloners - which as far as I can figure out (since they won’t tell me the ingredients) is a combo of a surfactant and a beneficial bacteria. So far so good and I’m not seeing any slime or issues so hopefully should be seeing roots soon in the next few days.

 

[Camaro1691]

It’s funny- 8 years ago it more when I first started cloning stuff I always had 100% success and it was easy. The last few years has had more ups and downs. When cloning fails it really puts a hiccup in the operation. For me what happens is my veg gets more and more overcrowded cause there are strains I don’t have clones of- and they grow big while I’m trying.

I’ve cloned a whole bunch of different ways, including with rock wool, DIY aerocloner, in water, perlite, coco.... All methods work well when they work , and none work when they don’t ha ha ha.
Currently I’m chalking the issues up to invisible problem fungi and bacteria. It seems like it happens to everyone once in a while.

This round I’m running some Z7 in the cloners - which as far as I can figure out (since they won’t tell me the ingredients) is a combo of a surfactant and a beneficial bacteria. So far so good and I’m not seeing any slime or issues so hopefully should be seeing roots soon in the next few days.

Honestly no need for the expense of the z7 for the clones my man, 6-10 drops of Clorox does the trick, I’ve seen home built ez-cloners do amazing jobs as well, just as well as the real deals for fractions of the cost of new units

 

[Weaselcracker]

I also bought an EZ cloner in desperation to see if it worked any better than my DIY version. It didn’t - cause it is basically the exact same thing.
I’ve tried bleach multiple times. Both to the water in small amounts- and between rounds when I’ve thoroughly and completely sterilized the cloner with bleach each time. Tried H2O2 as well. Basically close to zero success and only the clones in perlite, dosed with Recharge, have had any roots at all for the last six months.

I agree with what you said about a small veg area for the OP.
Veg is easy and you don’t need as much space. Less tends to go wrong in veg and you have lots more wriggle room. They don’t smell and don’t even need a sealed environment with a timer, vents, etc. Plants that get too big can be chopped smaller or stunted in various ways. So the needs for veg are not as demanding as a flower space and you can probably squeeze them in somewhere.

 

[Camaro1691]

That’s unfortunate of the issues you had been having, if that’s what you’ve come to then stick with the z7 if it’s working for ya. And while I need to get my next batch of plants into my 4x6, the 4 I have in flower now are currently in a closet space 2x9 with the plants only using 5 feet of that space, they’re crowded but doing amazing

 

[jnt62]

@Camaro1691 Weaselcracker

I have a 5-gallon bucket with a DIY manifold Activ aqua pump and century small increment cycle timer Clon-x gel and liquid. net pots and collars. Enough space to do 9 -14 depending on how I lay out the top. I haven't assembled everything yet.
I guess you can tell that I like to do my homework! I am leaving for vacation and then a surgical procedure So I'll still be researching for a while longer. I've had the 4 X 4 up and the ebb & flow system cycling so that I feel comfortable everything is working as it should. I emptied out the reservoir and cleaned it with bleach so it will be ready. when I finally am.

I have to see if I can switch the 50cm x 50cm from clone to veg.. if you think it will be big enough to get me through the flowering in the 4 X 4.

I might be able to eek out a little more room but it will be tight if I am even able to.

I didn't want you to think I deserted the thread, but I' won't be posting for about a week, then sporadically after that for a month or two until I've recovered. I appreciate all your help and thoughts. I need all the help I can get!!!

 

[Weaselcracker]

Sure jn -you’ll get lots of help from folks here. I’ll be around too. By the way, don’t take my personal cloning issues I mentioned as anything to worry about for now. Cloning is simple and most of the time it goes just fine.