cloning question..

Hey!

So I'm about ready to take some clones.. I have 3 plants, and my nicest one just showed female preflowers. Now, the reason I have to take cuttings is beacuse my grow space is a 1x1x2 foot box in my closet and these plants have been pretty much taking up every cubic inch available for a while now. I tied them all down pretty nice, but theyre still touching the light (and have been for a while) (My light is one of those coiled compact fluorescent bulbs, i think its like 50w). I'm planning on taking cuttings, rooting them, and then flowering the nicest one (meanwhile getting rid of my original plants).. so by the time it's done flowering it just fills up the box nicely.
I got some rockwool cubes and I have a tray to keep them in. I'm planning on putting the tray with the cuttings inside a small fish tank with about an inch and a half of water in it... the tray will float on top of the water (the cubes will not be touching the water.. ill keep the cubes moist by wetting them every day) The reason I thought of this set up is because I'm going to keep a small fish tank heater in the water to keep it at about 75 degrees. This way the roots will stay warm, and the evaporating water will keep the environment very humid (there will be a clear cover on the tank, and 2 small fluorescent bulbs on top). I hope you guys can picture this.. what do you think?
The main reason I'm writing is because I've read that clones should be taken from near the bottom of the plant, as this is where most of the rooting hormones are stored. I will definately take a few from that area, but I was wondering if I could cut off approximately the top 3 or 4 inches of my female plant, and use that as a clone. The growth there is much more vigorous than on lower branches.. if I could get that to root, wouldn't it make a much better plant to start with?
Also, I have read that the rockwool cubes used for rooting clones should be soaked in a 5.5-6.0pH solution for 24 hrs. Is this absolutely necessary? If it is I'll definately go get some acid solution from the hydro store near my house. Which brings up another question.. After soaking the rockwool for 24hrs, should I continue to water the cuttings with the same acidic water, or should I just use my normal, neutral pH water?
I hope I described my set-up pretty well, but if you guys need any clarification whatsoever please just ask.. I can't wait to take these cuttings and get them rooted so I could start flowering. Any input or comments would be greatly appreciated, and if anybody that could help could answer those 2 question I'd be so thankful.

Thanks a lot,
I'll try to post pictures as soon as I could figure out how to take these cuttings without fucking things up

The first and most important step in making clones is to learn how to spot a female plant with extra special qualities. There is little point in making clones of inferior quality plants, since then you will end up with an inferior quality garden – and who wants that? By keeping your standards high you will eventually be rewarded with a generously-yielding growing patch. It is also important in that since we can easily take cuttings, we can also very easily make clones of seed plants and by doing so determine whether these are male or female, because we can make these clones bloom.

A cutting is a side branch or a part of a branch of an existing plant. A good cutting is between 10 - 15 cm long and possesses several leaves. We cut the cutting off at an angle with a knife or razor blade between two leaf nodes.

After having cut our first clones, we have to remove the excess leaves. We make sure that we are left with leaves at the bottom on the lowest 2 cm of the cut clone. This is because the roots develop best at this point; on the wounds where leaves once were, roots most rapidly develop.

Especially when dealing with outdoor plants, it can be the case that the branches have developed a hardened stem. In order to accelerate the formation of roots we can scrape away a thin layer from the lower-most 2 cm with a knife. By doing so we can ensure that the root stimulator we are going to use can more easily penetrate the cutting and do its work.

There are many different sorts of root stimulator available that will help our clones take root. The most frequently used methods are those that involve dunking the ends of the cuttings into liquid root stimulator that has been diluted. After waiting ten seconds or so, the absorption by the clones should be complete. Or on the other hand, you could use the old-fashioned technique of just dipping the end of the cutting in cutting powder. The lower-most centimetres are covered with cutting powder, making sure that only the sides of the cutting are covered with powder and not the whole cutting, since this risks suffocating the clone. A thin layer of powder is sufficient; too much can be damaging. These days rooting hormones in gel form are also popular and they are getting better all the time. I use a combined method whereby I first dip the clone in liquid root stimulator and after, dip it in cutting powder too.

As the last step we have to put the clones into a medium, and one of the very best for letting clones take root in are cutting blocks made of stone wool. These blocks or plugs let lots of air in, which is just what the cuttings need for making roots quickly. We simply make a small hole in the block and place the cutting into this, without losing too much powder off it while doing so.

We have now arrived at the final stage, in which we will finally get the cuttings to try and develop roots. In order to speed up the process we can place the clones in a humidity dome. We can easily maintain a high humidity in this, and doing so is important to ensure the clones do not dry out in their first few days. The important factors during the making of clones are warmth and even more so, a warm undersoil. Root temperature is of enormous importance, since warmth stimulates the roots to develop much more rapidly. A warming mat will prove its usefulness. The second factor is air moisture content, and usually the problem of having too much moisture in the air. You have to try and see it from the point of view of a freshly cut clone, which from now on has to supply itself with its own moisture but in order to do so has to first develop its root system.

Only during the very first days do we have to support the clone with a high air moisture content, after which no more. Precisely by allowing the air moisture to fall, we force the plants to send out more roots. Should we not do this then the process will take longer. It so happens that a plant can extract moisture out of the air in order to survive and by doing so hang on for weeks without making any new roots. In the first few days we give the plant a chance to set the whole process in motion. Give it a good (spray) watering just once at the beginning, and after this give the plant no more spraying, as this will only serve to retard the whole process. When you spray it with moisture, make sure to add a root stimulator or some other product that will help the plant in its root production. The plants really will not dry out and they will be much stronger than you think. You then place the plants in to a growth regime of 18 hours light and 6 hours night, or continuous light, achieved by placing them under lights, in sunlight or under sodium lamps. Eventually after one or two weeks you will be able to see tiny white roots growing out of the stone wool blocks, if everything has proceeded smoothly.

The best way of learning how to make clones is to allow a plant to grow up outdoors in the Spring or Summer months. Thanks to its strong growth you will be able to take many cuttings during the season and make lots of practice attempts. In such a way, one single plant can deliver up hundreds of ‘test clones’. Do this, and it is guaranteed that by the end of the summer you will have the art of plant cloning firmly under your belt!

Thanks a lot for that info videoman40!

I've been doing a lot more reading up on cloning today, but I can't seem to find answers to my questions anywhere! pretty much..

1. Is it possible to root the main top of my female plant if I use it as a clone? Because it seems to be the fastest growing part of my plant.. if I use a lower branch instead will the clone grow just as fast?

2. What's the deal with soaking rockwool in an acidic solution before planting clones in it? What is the purpose if you're going to squeeze out the water and replace with regular water before inserting the cuttings?

Thanks again

IronMaiden said:

Thanks a lot for that info videoman40!

I've been doing a lot more reading up on cloning today, but I can't seem to find answers to my questions anywhere! pretty much..

1. Is it possible to root the main top of my female plant if I use it as a clone? Because it seems to be the fastest growing part of my plant.. if I use a lower branch instead will the clone grow just as fast?

2. What's the deal with soaking rockwool in an acidic solution before planting clones in it? What is the purpose if you're going to squeeze out the water and replace with regular water before inserting the cuttings?

Thanks again

Click to expand...

sure as hell you can use the fresh top too clone, as long it wasn't flowered, or even then still which i would do

and the acidic water because rockwool has a pH of about 7, depends on how much glass it contains since this will lower the pH a tinny bit after some time if the rockwool is leaf moisted. tab water is normally in the range from 7-8.5 pH and with that not suitable for growing untreated since cannabis likes a pH between about 5.8-6.5pH best if i'm not totally off...

that is the reason

and video, cutting with scissors, that is torger, can't you use just plain clean and fresh razer blade or at least a cutter knife? that will cause contusions for sure video, which have to be cut off the too and that will shorten some cloning aspirants really a bit to much

also are scissors harder to get clean really...

Ah sweet, thanks!

I guess I'll go get some of that pH down stuff tomorrow and let them soak overnight.. then squeeze it out and re-moisten with my tap water when I plant them. I'm pretty sure my tap water is around 6.5 .. (keeping fish all my life haha)

Just took some pics by the way..

01 --> The one on the right is my definite female, for now I'll probably take 3 from her (including the top) and 2 from the left one.

03--> This is a close-up of my definite female.

04--> Here is a pic of all 3 of them... poor RockStar.. lol I named him like a week after they sprouted, he was the best.. all downhill from then.. I dropped him when he was a baby lmao (seriously tho, I did)

Also, any idea about if these are indica or sativa or what? I just planted some random seeds I had laying around, and there's a good chance they're different varieties (kept a shitload of seeds, hoping they would come in handy some time).. I think the one on the right (the definite female) is indica and the one on the right sativa.. its hard to tell now, but when they were younger one definately had broader leaves than the other.

laters

Damn dude what did you do to those plants? You cut almost every new growth off lol Im surprised it still grows lol