JAMESMH1970
420 Member
I have success growing high performance cannabis. But clones, lets just say my track record is less than stellar. I think i know how, but it aint workin!
I have success growing high performance cannabis, but clones, let's just say my track record is less than stellar: I think I know how but maybe not!
- Thread starter JAMESMH1970
- Start date
Practice makes perfect
Without any kind of specific information from you, we'd be forced to make guesses.
I never really understood the difficulty in rooting cannabis cuttings, to be honest. There are probably 100 threads here - and on every other cannabis-related forum in this universe - about how to root cannabis cuttings. And the thing is, just about every method that has ever been mentioned... works just fine.
Not so much because all the people who posted were grand master level gardeners, lol, but because it's a pretty simple process. It's like telling someone how to successfully hit the ground after they've already fallen off a ladder - whatever you tell them to do, the odds are pretty good that they'll manage to find the ground.
Therefore, instead of posting a method - or a dozen methods - of rooting plant cuttings, I'll just go ahead and state that you're either doing something fundamentally wrong... or there is something having to do with your environment that's ruining your chances. I could play 20,000 Questions, but it might be more helpful - and considerably faster - if you'd describe, as accurately as possible, what you're doing, along with environmental and other conditions. Hopefully, it'll be something obvious that one of us will spot.
It really IS easy, though. But if you want to make it even easier, do a search for "air layering." Kind of a pain, but you'll be sure that your clones are viable - because you won't even cut them free from the mother plant until after they have already rooted! Or you can read about how some outdoor growers have observed that branches that come into semi-permanent contact with the ground will sometimes grow roots, and try mimicking the same process inside (perhaps with a separate container, maybe just with one really large one, IDK).
Or you could just whack off a random tip at a nice angle, stick it into a cup of soil, place it on your kitchen window, give it a good drink of water every time it "lays down," and wait for it to start growing. That works, too, and has for thousands of years.
Fresh cuttings are best, but I've gotten interrupted with a dozen laid out already, so I just wrapped them up in a damp paper towel and threw them into the refrigerator until the next day. It's no big deal (although it's annoying, because those cuttings will be wilted like wet noodles after spending the day in cold storage, lol).
I never really understood the difficulty in rooting cannabis cuttings, to be honest. There are probably 100 threads here - and on every other cannabis-related forum in this universe - about how to root cannabis cuttings. And the thing is, just about every method that has ever been mentioned... works just fine.
Not so much because all the people who posted were grand master level gardeners, lol, but because it's a pretty simple process. It's like telling someone how to successfully hit the ground after they've already fallen off a ladder - whatever you tell them to do, the odds are pretty good that they'll manage to find the ground.
Therefore, instead of posting a method - or a dozen methods - of rooting plant cuttings, I'll just go ahead and state that you're either doing something fundamentally wrong... or there is something having to do with your environment that's ruining your chances. I could play 20,000 Questions, but it might be more helpful - and considerably faster - if you'd describe, as accurately as possible, what you're doing, along with environmental and other conditions. Hopefully, it'll be something obvious that one of us will spot.
It really IS easy, though. But if you want to make it even easier, do a search for "air layering." Kind of a pain, but you'll be sure that your clones are viable - because you won't even cut them free from the mother plant until after they have already rooted! Or you can read about how some outdoor growers have observed that branches that come into semi-permanent contact with the ground will sometimes grow roots, and try mimicking the same process inside (perhaps with a separate container, maybe just with one really large one, IDK).
Or you could just whack off a random tip at a nice angle, stick it into a cup of soil, place it on your kitchen window, give it a good drink of water every time it "lays down," and wait for it to start growing. That works, too, and has for thousands of years.
Fresh cuttings are best, but I've gotten interrupted with a dozen laid out already, so I just wrapped them up in a damp paper towel and threw them into the refrigerator until the next day. It's no big deal (although it's annoying, because those cuttings will be wilted like wet noodles after spending the day in cold storage, lol).
- Thread starter
- #4
JAMESMH1970
420 Member
OK, here goes, first, I choose a cutting from a healthy flourishing girl, yeah I cut the angle ( I read too lol) use clonex gel, put cutting in a plug, under propagation dome, heated.
Get one of these:
1. Put this tray into your clone tray.
2. Presoak RW cube(s) in 5.5pH water with some myco, squeeze some (not all) moisture out of the cube.
3. Put the RW cubes into this tray.
4. Pour that same water you soaked the cubes in into the bottom of clone tray (just below the bottom of the orange tray).
5. Cut clone at 90 angle below a node, clip off node growth just above cut, dip in gel, put in RW cube.
6. Cut all fan leaves in half.
7. Place on heating mat and leave covered for several days (more condensation the better).
Cut clones like this and dip all lacerations everything below blue in gel and put into RW. Low level lights T5 type light ~20” above dome. Look no further, your clone troubles are over.
1. Put this tray into your clone tray.
2. Presoak RW cube(s) in 5.5pH water with some myco, squeeze some (not all) moisture out of the cube.
3. Put the RW cubes into this tray.
4. Pour that same water you soaked the cubes in into the bottom of clone tray (just below the bottom of the orange tray).
5. Cut clone at 90 angle below a node, clip off node growth just above cut, dip in gel, put in RW cube.
6. Cut all fan leaves in half.
7. Place on heating mat and leave covered for several days (more condensation the better).
Cut clones like this and dip all lacerations everything below blue in gel and put into RW. Low level lights T5 type light ~20” above dome. Look no further, your clone troubles are over.
And what is your failure point, exactly? Are the cuttings rotting before they manage to produce roots, or...?
Is your heat mat thermostatically controlled? Might it be causing an overheat condition? Are the cuttings receiving any nutrients or just whatever is in the cloning gel (if any)? Are you also using the Clonex Clone Solution? Is the relative humidity in your home really low (is that why you are using a dome)?
Do you proceed immediately after making the cut, or is there a period of time between then and the "planting" of your cutting? If the latter, are you cutting a fresh end when you do?
Average size of cutting?
What kind of lighting setup do you have for your attempts at producing viable clones? Constant (or nearly so) light is good, but the intensity should be relatively low. Envision driving on ice, lol - you can do it, but everything you do should be gentle. Unrooted cuttings have very few resources. They can and do replenish those over time, but at a very slow pace, generally speaking. Intense light can cause the cutting to use up its store of internal resources faster than it can recover them through the cut stem end.
Some folks foliar feed. As far as that goes, some folks spray their cuttings with plain water. I do neither. I prefer (if the cutting is not sitting in water, either "cup in the window" style or in actively aerated water) to be able to observe the cutting wilt when it runs low on moisture - and stand back up when I water it. Why? Because that tells me the thing is still alive, and that it is capable of taking up moisture (and that it is actually doing so). The past several years, I'm just as happy to use a cup of perlite, vermiculite, a mixture of the two, or those two with a little bit of soil thrown in for sh!ts and giggles.
I only use any kind of dome "deep in Winter," and then only because my home's RH drops like a stone and because it might be 50F in here everywhere other than the grow room, lol. They interfere with the plant's ability to transpire moisture, IMHO - and this is a crucial step in the rooting process (again, "IMHO"). Too fast, of course, and you have a wilted, crunchy, dead cutting. But too slow is not good, either.
Is the mother plant in the vegetative-growth phase when you take the cuttings, or in flower? The latter might cause some delay (but should not be a big deal), probably because there are multiple things going on at the same time in that scenario.
At the risk of being a smart-@ss, have you tried sticking one into a glass of water, and then changing the water every day or two? That works, too, but it's pretty slow (a tiny amount of nutrient can help with that, a little).
Try this: Go cut a tip off, three or four inches. Leave it on the counter for a little while until it becomes a "wet noodle." Cut a fresh end and stick it into a room-temperature glass of unchlorinated water, and set it under some kind of relatively gentle light (but not a candle, lol - a CFL or two, something like that, but not so close as to heat the cutting up). Wait an hour. Has the cutting stood back up? If so, it should be capable of eventually rooting, because it is still alive and because it has proven its ability to take up moisture via its stem (end). Ignore it for a day or two, then change the water. Rinse/lather/repeat (up to 20 days - it's an experiment
). If you're feeling froggy, do this twice - and add just one or two Osmocote Plus "prills" to the glass, or mix up a "seedling-strength" dose of your regular nutrient formulation, cut it in half (dilute it), then cut it in half again... and put a small amount of it in the water every second or third time you change the water in the glass. Want to get fancy? Throw in an airstone and you won't need to change the water (you don't really have to, regardless, as Mom has proven countless times over the years - not with cannabis, but with every other type of plant that she's ever walked past and <OOPS>ed a piece off of, lol).
I'm guessing that the cutting will root just fine, albeit somewhat slowly.
Is your heat mat thermostatically controlled? Might it be causing an overheat condition? Are the cuttings receiving any nutrients or just whatever is in the cloning gel (if any)? Are you also using the Clonex Clone Solution? Is the relative humidity in your home really low (is that why you are using a dome)?
Do you proceed immediately after making the cut, or is there a period of time between then and the "planting" of your cutting? If the latter, are you cutting a fresh end when you do?
Average size of cutting?
What kind of lighting setup do you have for your attempts at producing viable clones? Constant (or nearly so) light is good, but the intensity should be relatively low. Envision driving on ice, lol - you can do it, but everything you do should be gentle. Unrooted cuttings have very few resources. They can and do replenish those over time, but at a very slow pace, generally speaking. Intense light can cause the cutting to use up its store of internal resources faster than it can recover them through the cut stem end.
Some folks foliar feed. As far as that goes, some folks spray their cuttings with plain water. I do neither. I prefer (if the cutting is not sitting in water, either "cup in the window" style or in actively aerated water) to be able to observe the cutting wilt when it runs low on moisture - and stand back up when I water it. Why? Because that tells me the thing is still alive, and that it is capable of taking up moisture (and that it is actually doing so). The past several years, I'm just as happy to use a cup of perlite, vermiculite, a mixture of the two, or those two with a little bit of soil thrown in for sh!ts and giggles.
I only use any kind of dome "deep in Winter," and then only because my home's RH drops like a stone and because it might be 50F in here everywhere other than the grow room, lol. They interfere with the plant's ability to transpire moisture, IMHO - and this is a crucial step in the rooting process (again, "IMHO"). Too fast, of course, and you have a wilted, crunchy, dead cutting. But too slow is not good, either.
Is the mother plant in the vegetative-growth phase when you take the cuttings, or in flower? The latter might cause some delay (but should not be a big deal), probably because there are multiple things going on at the same time in that scenario.
At the risk of being a smart-@ss, have you tried sticking one into a glass of water, and then changing the water every day or two? That works, too, but it's pretty slow (a tiny amount of nutrient can help with that, a little).
Try this: Go cut a tip off, three or four inches. Leave it on the counter for a little while until it becomes a "wet noodle." Cut a fresh end and stick it into a room-temperature glass of unchlorinated water, and set it under some kind of relatively gentle light (but not a candle, lol - a CFL or two, something like that, but not so close as to heat the cutting up). Wait an hour. Has the cutting stood back up? If so, it should be capable of eventually rooting, because it is still alive and because it has proven its ability to take up moisture via its stem (end). Ignore it for a day or two, then change the water. Rinse/lather/repeat (up to 20 days - it's an experiment
). If you're feeling froggy, do this twice - and add just one or two Osmocote Plus "prills" to the glass, or mix up a "seedling-strength" dose of your regular nutrient formulation, cut it in half (dilute it), then cut it in half again... and put a small amount of it in the water every second or third time you change the water in the glass. Want to get fancy? Throw in an airstone and you won't need to change the water (you don't really have to, regardless, as Mom has proven countless times over the years - not with cannabis, but with every other type of plant that she's ever walked past and <OOPS>ed a piece off of, lol).I'm guessing that the cutting will root just fine, albeit somewhat slowly.
Barney86
Well-Known Member
Yeah I've just recently started playing with cuttings. Just chop a top off, gel it, stick it in a root riot and iether leave them in the dark or put them under a light. Inside a humidity dome or not in one, I even just chucked a few straight into a 10L pot and it seems pretty difficult to not get them to root up. Most of them survive no matter what I do.
Just took some from week 5 of flower though so we'll see if my luck is about to run out. It s not looking great so far lol.
Just took some from week 5 of flower though so we'll see if my luck is about to run out. It s not looking great so far lol.
- Thread starter
- #8
JAMESMH1970
420 Member
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Try this... I have tried many many methods of cloning, and this by far is the one that gives me the most reliability... I would easily guess that using this method I so far have a 98% success rate.
10 Minute DIY Tupperware Bubble Cloner
I have made several of these over the years, and I am pretty sure I remember giving my last one away. Today I had a need to reliably produce a large number of clones, and the easiest and most reliable method I have found is the bubble cloner. After finding the suitable plastic tub to destroy...
www.420magazine.com
- Thread starter
- #10
JAMESMH1970
420 Member
I know this reply is very late 
but as far as environment, it's controlled indoor, try to keep temp around 75F during light cycle, humidity at least 50%. I choose a healthy plant still in veg for a cutting. I make sure the branch looks healthy and still tender. Cut below the node at an angle and all that, coat the cut stem with clonex and into a starter plug immediately, use both rapid rooter and rockwool then into a seed starter tray with water and a little clonex solution arranged so the bottom of the plug just touches the water, use clonex mist. Same place I start my seedlings. Thanks to Tortured and all.
but as far as environment, it's controlled indoor, try to keep temp around 75F during light cycle, humidity at least 50%. I choose a healthy plant still in veg for a cutting. I make sure the branch looks healthy and still tender. Cut below the node at an angle and all that, coat the cut stem with clonex and into a starter plug immediately, use both rapid rooter and rockwool then into a seed starter tray with water and a little clonex solution arranged so the bottom of the plug just touches the water, use clonex mist. Same place I start my seedlings. Thanks to Tortured and all.Similar threads
