HerbsNBuds' First Cloning Experiment!

[herbsnbuds]

So I don't know if you guys have read the last posts from the other journal listed below in my signature, but this journal stems off of that one and is my first ever cloning experiment.

The strains: 4 clones from a mother AK-47, and 7 from an unknown bag seed (2 mothers, same strain) all taken approx 2 weeks into flowering.

The setup: A closet veg space utilizing multiple 46W CFL's hanging from the clothes bar, Rapid Rooter nursery and humidity dome and 3 other bag seed starters in the same veg space while they mature. I have a lot of room so this will be expanding to a full time veg room in the near future.

The Goal: Create the guaranteed fastest method of cloning using mothers only. I will not waste time cloning a plant unless it is female. So after these clones grow, they will all be female and I won't have to wait to flower em before cloning again. So here is the start. Hope it helps someone out there as I'm sure it will help me.

So here's the first pics I have so far...

close-up...

I have been asked previously in my other post about why I cut the leaves. My answer is as follows. I believe, as well as a few other sources, that trimming the leaves and branches of a plant that it stimulates root growth. So the theory is that by cutting the leaves half way, they will still receive light for photosynthesis to occur, but the plant will seek to the nutrients to repair these leaves. Knowing that it get's the nutes from the roots, it will grow em. Simple as that.

So I cut most of em cuz that's what I believe, but in the name of science, I left a few uncut so we have a comparison.

Its now day 4 of the clones being incubated and no roots thus far. But all clippings are still green, yet the cut ones are experiencing yellowing of the cut leaves as I was told they will do and eventually fall off, encouraging new growth.

Also, a lot of the empty spots in the Rooter will contain germinated seeds once I get em delivered next week.

Thanks for viewing!

 

[herbsnbuds]

The leaves that were cut are yellowing as expected but due to the humidity in the nursery, have not fallen off yet. My theory is that when they do eventually fall off, the new root growth will become apparent.

As you can see, the one I left uncut (top right corner of pic) is also yellowing at about the same rate as the others which can suggest that cutting the leaves makes no difference, but until the roots are visible, I cannot come to a conclusion. I should have, for experimental purposed left a few more uncut, but too late now and we'll see how she goes.

We are now 6 days into cloning.

As for the other seeded pots, here's what I got.

The bushy girl in the front started out under a 12/12 light cycle and was moved to 24\0 when this room was set up. She was apparently shocked by the transfer and will hopefully gain some growth at a faster pace soon.

I will be keeping track of these in this thread because they are in the same veg room as the clones.

AND BONUS!!! My Aurora Indica seeds arrived today along with the free 5 Afghan seeds from the bank I used. Germinating them today!!

 

[Lemon Paradise]

I'm in,,, will be interesting to see if there is a difference..

 

[herbsnbuds]

More yellowing on the clones but no leaves have fallen off yet and no visible roots on neither the clipped ones, nor the non-clipped.

And the potted plants are shooting up... must be the nutes combo from the miracle-gro soil mix, the miracle-gro perlite enriched w/nutes and the Fox Farm Big Bloom.

 

[Search]

I found this thread through your old topic, sorry I missed out on that start of that one. I got this one booked marked and am going to follow it.

There is a lot of cloning methods, I use the old: cut three nodes down with a 45d angle, trim the bottom leaves, dip in root powder and plug in dirt. I just did 8 cuttings and all rooted in 5 days.

Looks like you got a good start with your new set-up. Your last grow looked great also and I loved the hanging pots!

 

[Underground]

I just did some cloning last week. I did the exact same thing that you did with the rapid rooter. My clones looked just like yours. I went out and bought an aeroponic clone setup for $170...I could of easily built one for much less. I put 40 clones in the new setup and the results are immeasurable as far as i'm concerned. If you plan on expanding as you were saying, I'd definitely look into building or depending on your finances buying a nice little clone setup. In my opinion, its a huge difference. My new clones look soooo much healthier.

I had no roots that I could see on my rapid rooter clones....until one day..they just popped out everywhere...it was weird...lol

ALSO..one of those heating pads..may help to develop root growth

 

[herbsnbuds]

I found this thread through your old topic, sorry I missed out on that start of that one. I got this one booked marked and am going to follow it.

There is a lot of cloning methods, I use the old: cut three nodes down with a 45d angle, trim the bottom leaves, dip in root powder and plug in dirt. I just did 8 cuttings and all rooted in 5 days.

Looks like you got a good start with your new set-up. Your last grow looked great also and I loved the hanging pots!

Thanks Search!

I just did some cloning last week. I did the exact same thing that you did with the rapid rooter. My clones looked just like yours. I went out and bought an aeroponic clone setup for $170...I could of easily built one for much less. I put 40 clones in the new setup and the results are immeasurable as far as i'm concerned. If you plan on expanding as you were saying, I'd definitely look into building or depending on your finances buying a nice little clone setup. In my opinion, its a huge difference. My new clones look soooo much healthier.

I had no roots that I could see on my rapid rooter clones....until one day..they just popped out everywhere...it was weird...lol

ALSO..one of those heating pads..may help to develop root growth

I heard the heating pads are a plus but my room seems to be warm enough. Its mid 80s at night in that closet. And I just noticed some roots today as a matter of fact on my 2 experimental clones. 1 had the leaves cut, the other didn't and both have roots protruding from the clipping.

Here's the one I trimmed... They came right out of the space where I pulled off the bottom leaves. This 1 has 3 roots, the non-clipped only has 1. May be an indication. These clones were also in flower when I pulled em from the mother. Some even have small buds still growing on em. Need to revert also, but the roots are coming!

 

[herbsnbuds]

And the new setup!!!

The 3 I topped haven't moved an inch since yesterday. Good. SOG time soon. Once all of these have rooted and the seeds I planted have sprouted, I will have a total of 29 plants in this room with 11 guaranteed female. Once they are 1 foot tall they are moving into the flowering room.

Just another pic of the nursery close-up... (cleaned the dome today... it was getting dusty outside, and inside when I remove it.

And I removed the unused rapid rooters to make Zen happy!

 

[Lemon Paradise]

lol... was just stoned and curious.. is all..

looking good,,

you know,, when all those clones take root,, you are gonna have a jungle on your hands

 

[Herb Fellow]

I put my clones directly into the pot I plan to use till harvest. I put the cover from a package of blank CD-R's over the clone until it becomes well rooted. Seems to work well for me, but I'm not doing a large production as you are. I will be following your grow.

 

[herbsnbuds]

lol... was just stoned and curious.. is all..

looking good,,

you know,, when all those clones take root,, you are gonna have a jungle on your hands

Hell yeah!!! That's the plan. Jungle of pot in the attic. My plan is to grow enough good/great herb to last me a long time without having to buy any.

 

[herbsnbuds]

I put my clones directly into the pot I plan to use till harvest. I put the cover from a package of blank CD-R's over the clone until it becomes well rooted. Seems to work well for me, but I'm not doing a large production as you are. I will be following your grow.

This is definitely going to be a large production. I miscounted before a couple of posts ago. So here is the accurate count in the nursery alone.

11 clones - 4 AK, 7 unknown

17 seeds - 10 Aurora Indica, 5 Afghan, 2 bag seed (shit was good, just not sensi!)

+ the 3 plants you see in the photos also in the veg room

+ the 3 flowering currently

for a grand total of 34 plants, 5 or 6 different strains in the mix.

Its gonna be a good harvest. Planning on harvesting by Dec but we'll see. SOG method all the way. As soon as they are 1 ft. tall, into the flowering room they go.

 

[GaladrielDreams]

Thanks for popping into my journal, and I'm returning the favor! I'm curious about cloning, as I have never done it to our plant of choice. I've done it with houseplants, etc, but never used a cloning agent, or anything. Just cut, and stick in water, and it worked. So I am signing up for this one.

Also, thank you for the + Reps! I'lll be returning them asap!

 

[herbsnbuds]

Pics, pics, and more pics...

Got a sprout on the A.I.

Call this the veg cam... lol

Set up a new drip system today for the other ladies. The pump I got is perfect for 4-6 plants so I figure each container will have a self-contained hyrdo drip and aeration. Just need another timer to set this up for no more hand watering.

And just a few close-up overheads...

Spent almost all day in the attic today... so now its time to sit back, relax, and smoke some buds.

 

[herbsnbuds]

On to the smoking....

 

[herbsnbuds]

Thanks for popping into my journal, and I'm returning the favor! I'm curious about cloning, as I have never done it to our plant of choice. I've done it with houseplants, etc, but never used a cloning agent, or anything. Just cut, and stick in water, and it worked. So I am signing up for this one.

Also, thank you for the + Reps! I'lll be returning them asap!

You are quite welcome and thanks for popping in as well. I hope I can learn something from this one and maybe others will too, who knows. And I appreciate the reps!

 

[Lemon Paradise]

on the sprout

that bud looks

 

[G-Dog]

First, Thanks for the thread.

I have just started to grow again after a long hiatus and what I am growing are clones of Chronic that I got through my son. He gave me a bag of cuttings that were in water. I had to take these cuttings and keep them in my cooler for a few hour trip home.

As soon as I got home I put 4 cuttings in root hormone powder and 5 cuttings in a bubble cloner that I made of just a tupperware container with a lid, holes in the lid, and an aquarium air pump pumping air into the water.

I took an old wooden laundry hamper and lined it with white foamcore. I dangled a couple of compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in there. This cloning chamber was fairly warm and I should have left it alone for cloning, as they like the heat. However I put a computer fan for active air intake and that cooled it substantially. I should have left that fan off until the clones took root as I believe that would have sped up the process.

As I looked into the cloning chamber I would see the leaves yellowing and I would think they were dying. Originally I Only wanted 3 plants. I wanted 2 to grow and flower and 1 to maintain as a mother. I am out of practice and more of a seed grower so I thought I was not doing so good. One of the clones in soil looked dead so I pulled it out of the soil and seen all kinds of roots. The way that I jerked it out of the soil it is dead now though. I only wanted 3 so I still have 8 that are alive.

So the day before yesterday I took all the cuttings out of the cloner and put them in organic compost. They all had a root or two on them, and most had yellowing leaves. Yesterday I gave them all some very weak Miracle Grow Tomato food. Hopefully they will all start to shoot up in a day or two.

It seems to me that growing from seeds is faster. The main difference is that you know what you are getting when you plant clones.

Good luck with your grow, and thanks again for the thread. It is nice to see how this works when you get discouraged watching what looks like struggling clones. I am a pretty good grower, but my weakest point is cloning. I just need to stick with it and eventually I will get it.

 

[herbsnbuds]

First, Thanks for the tread.

I have just started to grow again after a long hiatus and what I am growing are clones of Chronic that I got through my son. He gave me a bag of cuttings that were in water. I had to take these cuttings and keep them in my cooler for a few hour trip home.

As soon as I got home I put 4 cuttings in root hormone powder and 5 cuttings in a bubble cloner that I made of just a tupperware container with a lid, holes in the lid, and an aquarium air pump pumping air into the water.

I took an old wooden laundry hamper and lined it with white foamcore. I dangled a couple of compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in there. This cloning chamber was fairly warm and I should have left it alone for cloning, as they like the heat. However I put a computer fan for active air intake and that cooled it substantially. I should have left that fan off until the clones took root as I believe that would have sped up the process.

As I looked into the cloning chamber I would see the leaves yellowing and I would think they were dying. Originally I Only wanted 3 plants. I wanted 2 to grow and flower and 1 to maintain as a mother. I am out of practice and more of a seed grower so I thought I was not doing so good. One of the clones in soil looked dead so I pulled it out of the soil and seen all kinds of roots. The way that I jerked it out of the soil it is dead now though. I only wanted 3 so I still have 8 that are alive.

So the day before yesterday I took all the cuttings out of the cloner and put them in organic compost. They all had a root or two on them, and most had yellowing leaves. Yesterday I gave them all some very weak Miracle Grow Tomato food. Hopefully they will all start to shoot up in a day or two.

It seems to me that growing from seeds is faster. The main difference is that you know what you are getting when you plant clones.

Good luck with your grow, and thanks again for the thread. It is nice to see how this works when you get discouraged watching what looks like struggling clones. I am a pretty good grower, but my weakest point is cloning. I just need to stick with it and eventually I will get it.

Thanks for joining us on this one. Your method seems pretty simple and should do the trick. I do have some roots forming on all of the clones, but I'm going to wait till the roots protrude out of the Rapid Rooter before placing them in the medium. I'm going to do half hydro I think, and the others in soil. This way I can experiment at the same time guaranteeing that some will grow perfect in the soil.

I have heard many different methods from many different people regarding cloning but I say to each his own, and do it the way you feel comfortable. This looks like it will be a success so I'm not discouraged in any way from trying it again... SOON!

 

[herbsnbuds]

We have roots protruding out of the Rapid Rooters!!!

Those little tiny white things on the side are roots... and most if not all by now have 1 or 2 visible.

And I'd definitely recommend the seed bank I used for my seeds to anyone. Fast delivery and all of em, well 14 of the 15, all but 1 Afghan has cracked and most are ready to sprout any moment!!

I completely finished the home-made drip system today by getting the timer. Oh wait, 1 more thing I need... the air stones and air pump to oxygenate the nute solution. I'm going to use 100% Perlite for the medium as you can see in the back photos for the new sprouts. Have to make more. I just made another for a friend of mine. It literally cost $50 to make without the air stones and pump. That $50 includes the submersible pump, tubing, gang box, pots, and reservoir. I need the air pump and stones still plus another gang box to expand from 4 drip tubes to 6.