Making marijuana clones is a grower skill that’s hard for some people to master.
I know long-time marijuana growers who still struggle with production of healthy, happy cuttings.
Most growers use motherplants to take cuttings from, but the method I teach doesn’t require motherplants to be kept, and so it’s extra important to have good results when taking cuttings under such circumstances.
Please note that BigBudsMag.com has many articles on choosing candidates to turn into motherplants, and for taking care of motherplants properly. Read this article, and look at the bottom of that article to see more articles on motherplants.
The reason I avoid having marijuana mother plants is they’re counted as part of your total allowable plant numbers in states with legal limits on plant numbers. Having too many plants can get you in big trouble!
They require you to provide electricity in the vegetative state for many months or even years, and as they get bigger they take up valuable space.
Long ago, we figured out how to make marijuana clones without having mother plants.
Since we have multiple areas to grow cannabis in, we make marijuana clones while our plants are still in the 18/6 vegetative lighting phase.
Cuts are taken and rooted from these mature plants before they’re put into budding phase.
This gives us small, healthy duplicate marijuana clones ready for vigorous growth instead of older bark-like cuttings from old motherplants, which are tougher to root.
Some marijuana growers are very concerned about “genetic shift” but I have read up on the concept and I simply believe it does not apply when taking cuttings from healthy plants.
Sure, if you clone some old, tired, rootbound marijuana mother plant with woody stems, who knows what could happen?
As long as the cutting is made up of healthy cells, we have never encountered a problem with genetic drift.
This method can be easier said than done however, because many growers struggle with cloning.
When I first started growing cannabis, it was the one aspect of marijuana cultivation that eluded me.
I went through almost every cloning device and product on the market until I figured out it really comes down to two basic conditions: temperature and humidity!
These are the main factors that determine marijuana cutting rooting time.
If these factors are controlled, marijuana clones will root very fast and be completely healthy and ready to transplant.
If these factors are not controlled, rooting can take longer and the cuttings can become stunted and never really take off even after they finally root.
Aim for a constant temperature between 74-78 degrees. While some people successfully root clones outside these parameters, we have the best success using this range.
The first thing to know is that you should take only fresh green shoots to make clones.
Older parts of the plant will have a thin bark and cuts taken from this area will not root as easily.
They also may not contain 100% healthy cells.
I prepare all my materials first before I take any cuttings.
Make sure you cut the clone at a sharp angle, like a spear. While a new clean razor blades works best, sometimes I use clean sharp trimming scissors.
Cut off the long fan leaves about half way to prevent water loss.
I use a plastic pen to make a hole in the rooter and hold it open as I pull out the pen.
I stick the strain and cutting data label in at this point before inserting the marijuana cutting.
I gently find the hole and slide the cutting in, never forcing it.
Be careful not to squeeze the cutting as you press it into the Rapid Rooter.
I keep repeating these steps as part of a written marijuana cloning checklist.
Lists are important since they keep us from forgetting, so take the time to write things down.
I see people wasting money on all kinds of cloning contraptions only really designed to take your hard earned dollars out of your pocket. Marijuana cloning should be a simple, easy process.
And when you’re in the business of producing connoisseur marijuana seeds like I do with TGA Subcool Seed company, you want your cloning to work 99.9% of the time, because your genetics are worth gold.
You think cloning is important? You can bet on it that it is. It’s the key to mastering the art of fine cannabis production.
And remember that TGA Genetics is always working hard on new strains so you have the strongest and best genetics to choose from, whether you’re cloning or not!
