Who can tell me about clones?

[J Obadiah]

Hey everyone, this is my first time growing clones. I've learned a lot about them and how to treat them vs regular plants, but I'm still curious...can anyone out there whose grown them tell me about their lifecycles and their nature? I'd like to know what your opinion is on yield, structure, appearance, and just a general knowledge of what they do versus the regular ones. They dont grow like from-seed plants hardly at all. They are considerably smaller at this point. Things like that, but that Ive not encountered yet.

Thanks for any help!
Obadiah

 

[Mootah]

Clones of cannabis grow just like cannabis from seed. There is a bit of time required for clones to develop a decent root structure and branching. Once it's up and growing it can get just has big. The month or more waiting for determining sex from seeds is where the clone wins. You already know it's sex, and hopefully it's cannabinoid content, so it's off to the races!

 

[MassMedMan]

Clones will also give you consistency. Once you've grown the strain and cut a few times you'll get an opportunity to grow it a little better. That's how you can increase the yield or improve on the cannabinoid profile. It's like the movie groundhog day, think of a clone like that. You can also feed clones a little more vigorously then seedlings. So, in theory they'll take off and be ready to flower sooner then a seedling. Never mind if you have to sex that seedling.

There's many advantages and very few disadvantages to clones. The quality doesn't degrade, a cut, is a cut.

 

[BuzzedOldMan]

After getting the best of the best of the sprouted fem seeds, I don't keep a mother plant per say, but keep taking clones of clones. The original plants go into flower mode when they are mature enough and I have taken cuttings.
I have done this for up to 2 years before things start to decline. Sometimes they get really weird and go into hard stems and bad stretch. But I usually swap out with fresh seedlings after a year for each strain.
One thing I notice using this method is the quick starting of roots from the nice fresh young growth from the clones. I can have roots going after about 1 week. After 2 weeks I plant into rockwool cubes and put into a veg chamber. This is where the roots get a chance to grow and establish.

A photo of the clones in veg getting strong roots

When they are about 5 or 6 inches tall, I take a 2-3 inch cutting and put in the cloning bucket to start a new clone and then put the plant into the main grow chamber still in veg mode. All of the plants get a topping.
After about 2 weeks they are ready to start my version of Screen of Green. After they begin to touch my ScroG grid, I go to 12/12 and change over to week 1 flower mix and keep pushing things under the grid as they grow.

After 2 weeks of 12/12 (or white pistils are starting to show) I take the grid off (it is a rigid rack hung from hooks on the walls) and they stretch for the next 1 or 2 weeks into a nice bed of buds.

Here are some photos of week 2.5 of 12/12. Took the grid off about 4 days ago.

Another unit here is starting week 7 of 12/12 - Chronic Widow - started from 3 to 4 generation clones of clones
These got out of hand. Some are too tall. New LED lights made a difference. Still tuning things in. This is my shortest cabinet. I will be lowering the grid to start lower.

 

[J Obadiah]

Wow you are fantastic! Great job man. I may have missed it, but when you mentioned that you dont keepa mother per se, you just clone clones, I wondered about a thing I was taught in Botany, which is that if you're cloning clones, they become unstable after a few generations. That's what I was told, but I cant verify it yet. Any observances of such a scenario in your garden? Thanks again, you're very helpful, and obviouslyhave a grewn thumb. Kudos!

Obadiah

 

[BuzzedOldMan]

I find that between 1 and 2 years that the clones of clones start to get woody and don't grow as well. Don't have a lot of experience with that as I only go about a year with a series of clones to avoid it.
Then I start new from fem seed and start all over again.

 

[J Obadiah]

Very nice!

 

[merimc9]

generally speaking from past experience you can take 7 clones after the seventh it will generally start going downhill.