While this may sound like a Sci-Fi scenario, making you think that for obtaining cannabis clones you need a well-equipped lab, it is worth knowing that achieving such a goal is not impossible. So, in this Guide we take a close look at “How to Clone Cannabis”.
You don’t need a laboratory and you don’t have to be a mad scientist, although you will need to be dedicated and have patience. Every hard-working cannabis grower wishes to do this because it is regarded as a well-deserved bonus for their perseverance and efforts.
Also, cannabis cloning will lead you toward a harvest that is much improved and a risk-free yield. What is it needed to unroll a successful cloning process? You need to determine which plants are healthy and most productive, both male and female because this is all you need to clone cannabis without any issues.
How to Clone Cannabis: Foreword
Believe it or not, with the help of one single plant, you can grow up to 50 clones every week.
In fact, if you already have your favorite plants, those that look the best of your entire crop, it would be even easier to pick the best specimens for this process.
Even if you never did this before, you should not hesitate trying it out, because it has an elevated success rate.
So, the chances for you not to be able to clone cannabis are quite reduced.
Also, if you plan to grow your cannabis business this is one of the best methods that will help you reach this goal, allowing you to obtain high-quality plants and a great harvest. You’d better make sure to sit comfortably because you are about to find out everything you need to know about cannabis cloning.
How to Clone Cannabis: What is cloning – what are clones ?
Even if it appears like a fancy and complicated process, cannabis cloning is really not that complex or spectacular. It is all about clipping a part of your marijuana plant and moving it elsewhere, where it can develop on its own.
This is about it and this is why you need to find the best plants for this process because you are taking the vegetal matter that will turn into a new plant.
So making sure the matter is outstanding will guarantee an outstanding future plant as well.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that every cloning procedure will be a total success. There are some challenges as well, which are usually experienced by those cannabis growers that cultivate and grow their plants outdoors.
In this case, the best area to do cannabis cloning is where the growing period is longer. Thus, you allow the plant’s clones to develop and grow sufficiently.
Even so, the new plants may not reach the full size of the parent plant. Still, don’t get this wrong, because even if the plant is shorter, you can still enjoy plenty of buds in the harvesting period, the top of the plant having buds on almost all of its surface.
A Tip for Cloners
As a tip from cannabis growers that practice cloning, the parts of the plant harvested to produce clones should be the branches located at the bottom. These branches will never get enough light, therefore not managing to develop like the others do.
So, from a single cannabis plant, you can take anywhere between 2 and 4 branches at once, without putting the health of the parent plant in danger.
If all these clones survive, your harvest will be much improved if not even doubled, depending on the number of branches you decide to harvest. But, do have in mind that more than half of the clones will not make it.
Yes, there are high chances for them never to grow roots and grow into healthy cannabis plants. But, don’t allow this aspect to discourage you.
As mentioned previously, you can take several branches of each healthy plant, which means plenty of clones and a decent number of clones that manager to grow roots.
The mother plant for the cuttings
The process should always start with choosing the plants that will provide the clones. Don’t make hasty decisions in this case, because you need to find a plant that looks strong, which grew fast and nice, produces great buds, and provides great yield.
Also, do have in minding that timing is very important as well when it comes to taking plant parts for cloning.
Thus, it is not recommended at all to cut branches off your plant during the flowering period.
Branches harvested when the plant is blooming will be more prone to dying rather than to growing roots, so make sure your cannabis plants are in a vegetative state when you do this.
It means that the plant stopped growing and it is not getting ready to bloom either. It is also worth knowing that the best clones are the ones taken from regular cannabis seeds and not from seeds that have been feminized.
You see, feminized seeds are produced only when the cannabis plant goes under stress. So if you will stress them once more by harvesting branches for cloning, the stress can make them hermaphrodites.
Also, do not harvest clones from a plant that is under two months old. The minimum requirement a cannabis plant should meet in order to be suitable for cloning, besides being healthy and vigorous, is that it should be two months old, if not even more.
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Preparing the mother plant
It would be even better if you could wait for the cannabis plant to be in a vegetative state of three months because you’ll be able to take several clones in safety without compromising the health of the plant.
So, let’s say that the plants meet this requirement and you already have your eyes on several potential plants that might be just great for cloning.
Before taking the clones away, you need to prepare the plants. A week or two prior to clipping off the clones, the selected plants should receive 10% less nitrogen than usually.
Doing so will definitely increase the chances for your clones to grow roots successfully.
How to cut a Clone
Select a clone cutt of side branches to promote growth
Cut leaves to avoid evaporation clone ready to start
When selecting a clone, make sure you choose a good looking branch, which will 6 to 8 inches after it has been removed from the parent plant. The branch should have at least one pair of leaves on it, while the bottom branches of the clone should be removed, because they will never produce anything, only consuming the plant’s resources.
The cutting tool you will use should be sharp enough because you want to cut and not rip apart your plant. Also, when cutting the clone from the plant, you may want to make a diagonal cut, because the resulted area will be wider, allowing more roots to grow than in the case of a straight cut.
Once the bottom branches of the clone have been removed, you will also have to cut the remaining leaves in the top almost in half. This means to remove the tips of the leaves, leaving more than half of the leaf on the clone, in order to avoid evaporation.
Besides sharp knives or scissors, you will also need rooting gel or powder, and rock wool cubes or potting soil, depending on the method you will choose to use, to make sure that your clones have all the chances and conditions they need to grow roots.
Making Cannabis Clones in Rockwool
Soak rockwool in 5.5 pH water slant cut the clone dip clone in rooting gel
Place it in a rockwool cube put them in a propagator create ideal temperature
The method that uses rockwool cubes means having the clones prepared as mentioned earlier and dipping their bottom part in rooting gel or power, to have the root production stimulated.
Once this is done, you will have to place the lower area in a rockwool cube and put the plant under CFL light. To promote root growth, make sure the plants enjoy a humidity of 90% and temperatures between 72 and 75°F (or 22 and 24°C).
Also, soak the rockwool cube in water with a neutral pH, of 5.5, a few hours every day. Then, be patient, because it takes between 8 to 12 days for roots to emerge if everything goes according to plan.
Making Cannabis Clones in Soil
Slant cut the stem Dip it in rooting gel Stick the plant into the soil
Push a little Give the plants water Spray the plants with water
Spray the propagator Create a nice climate Put it under cfl lights
Potting soil is also good for creating clones, instead of rockwool cubes, so don’t hesitate using this method if it seems more suitable. Before putting your clone into potting soil, all the mature leaves will have to be removed first, leaving only a few leaves at the top of the stalk, which will have their tips cut.
Again, dip the cut bottom part into rooting powder or gel and put the clone into a small container that has potting soil it in. Once they were nicely placed in the soil, give the plants some water and put them under CFL lights, where they should remain until their roots will grow.
Don’t forget to spray water on the plants periodically, to keep the humidity in the air elevated. And keep in mind to water the plants with regularity.
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Making Cannabis Clones in Water
Use water with EC 5.8 cover top of cup cut small hole in cover
dip clone in rooting gel put it into the water clones will root in 5-10 days
Believe it or not, you can even make clones in water, without rockwool cubes or potting soil. Yes, this method can be successful if you follow a few rules. Again, remove all mature leaves from the stem, leaving just the top leaves.
You will need a container with water, a small bottle being most suitable because its narrow neck allows the plant to stay straight while its stem is in the water. Next, you will want to fill the container with water that has been improved with food for plants.Then take the cones and submerge their stalks in the water and leave them this way, stirring the water every few days so that algae won’t develop.
But, if you do spot algae, changing the water will solve the problem for you. Don’t place the clones under direct sunlight, providing them with indirect light or light that is a bit less intense until new leaves start forming at the top of the plant.
By the time new leaves start growing, the roots should start doing the same, a sign that the plant is kicking and ready to start developing. Still, don’t take the plant out of the water just yet, allowing it to form a nice ball of roots that will make it prepared to be placed in soil.
How to transplant Clones
Once you clones have a good amount of roots, regardless of the method you decided to use, it is time to finally transplant them. The operation is similar to the one unrolled when dealing with seedlings in the growing season, so if you did that then you’ll probably know what this is all about.
The transplanting process is pretty much the same in the case of clones that rooted in potting soil or rockwool cubes. But, when it comes to clones that developed roots in water, things change a little, and a different transplanting method should be used.
Prepare the transplanting spot by digging a hole that is large enough to fit the container and the water where the plant grew roots. Then move the plant, together with its container and water, to the location where you will transplant it. Keep in mind not to expose the roots of the plants to air, this part being extremely important to make sure that the transplanting process will be successful.
Place the plant in the hole you create it and cover it with soil. Then pat gently on the soil to make sure that the soil covers the roots firmly and that air has been removed. Finish by watering the plant with sufficient water that was mixed with quality plant food.
Take care of the clones
Clones that developed roots are very unlikely to die, so if you care for them properly, they will grow and develop and reach the flowering stage within two or three months.
It is worth knowing that the clone may end up having a different sex than the plant that provided the stem.
So you should not be stunned if something like this happens. Just make sure that until the clones develop roots, to keep them in warmer temperatures than regular room temperatures, somewhere between 72 and 77°F being ideal.
Also, it would be good to know that watering their support, like soil or rockwool, won’t help them too much because they have no roots to absorb the water. Instead, you can help them by spraying water on their leaves, as it will be absorbed this way much better.
Nutrients that are milder can also be delivered to the plant in this manner, by spraying them on the leaves, giving the plant everything it needs to thrive.
