Anybody ever try cloning their young “tops”?

Feel free to haze, I’ve nothing to lose with this experiment, haha.
Semi-noob, but I do my research. I think the desired outcome may be impossible but would like to hear any evidence, bro-science bs, or anecdotes you know of pertaining cloning and the feasibility of. All comments welcome, though.
Re-posting this from my grow-journal to try and get some feedback- skip the details for the pictures if you’re bored.

“
previously I topped 3 of 5 of the DP{Durban Poison} (and fimmed one, and left one alone).
Cut clean at base of 5th node w/6th starting, careful to leave node-leaves. On one, I first cut off the 6th-start, before the 5th...
Just for a fun experiment I had prepped some warm water (well-sourced then filtered through Brita, then boiled; pH ~5.5 - 6), and some sanitized items for cloning...
Here you’ll see I quickly dropped my cut tops into the warm water and let them sit for about 10 minutes before transferring to rapid rooter pellets I had lightly boiled and cooled. I had tore about half an inch off the top of each rooter to decrease the depth of center hole, and placed those pieces on the bottom of a shallow wide mouth jar, and the adjusted pieces on top. Then I poured warm water in up to the top of the bottom sponges, let it absorb up some, then filled up to that level again.
The cuttings went in after, then I remembered to put a (alcohol sanitized) coozy around the jar to insulate and keep hopeful-root-area darkened.
Then put into sanitized (washed, alcohol, then distilled vinegar) wide-mouth plastic jar lid and screwed the sanitized jar on upside-down over the top. Placed this snug in with the vegging starts near heat rod, and about 10 inches, from leaf-to-light, under 2 “Sun Blaze” 54watt T5 lamps strung together.
Decided to put a folded paper towel I had handy (used for alcohol sani; evaporated) over the jar so as not to stress the “plants” inside with too much light.
The rest of the crew gets to enjoy a 42-hour (edit light period with the cuttings now, unless I read it is severely detrimental and/or utterly pointless (I have until midnight to research).”

Not reason to haze that mate, it can be done, they take a bit longer to root in my experience, but worth doing it for sure...

Mellow old School said:

Not reason to haze that mate, it can be done, they take a bit longer to root in my experience, but worth doing it for sure...

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Rad. Thank you for the hope! I plan on being especially patient with these, and also change out the water after a few days?
My original plan was to occasionally stick a straw down into the water area and blow to help oxygenate the water. Not so sure mouth germs or mouthwash would be good for the clean medium though.

If your conditions are right, it's not a problem. I find that cuts which have hardened up a bit more first are generally less temperamental.

lower brances are faster to root for the auxins concentation in them should be higher than tops or higher branches still your method is absolutely viable!

PJ Diaz said:

If your conditions are right, it's not a problem. I find that cuts which have hardened up a bit more first are generally less temperamental.

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Not sure what you mean- you mean the cut area hardens (I always drop in water immediately after cut to stop air bubbles), or you mean cut where the plant has matured or hardened up a bit?
Either of those things go against what I’ve researched and experienced. Maybe I misunderstood or your conditions have been a lot different?

CBDbear said:

lower brances are faster to root for the auxins concentation in them should be higher than tops or higher branches still your method is absolutely viable!

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Thanks, and I’m aware to typically go for lower branches and new starts, but I was topping them anyway and decided to experiment. You may already realize that.

Keep us updated bro.

My personal belief is I get roots faster in lower light conditions
Tried it all and thats my best advice
I run a 60 slot ez cloner under a 15 watt LED

ÒÒlegilizeitÒÒ said:

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Great share, thank you.
The lab tech supposes that the way we’ve cultivated strains over years perhaps has affected the conditions it could clone in- the strain I cut is Durban Poison from Dutch Passion Seeds, which is a “land-race” strain, though I’m not sure how that is still true as it’s been cultivated over decades... -is there any evidence to suggest that landrace genetics clone differently or more easily than heavily cultivated genetics?
Also, it seems from the video that they just left the fresh cut sealed in medium, in biome container for 2 weeks under T5-like lighting (and presumably kept comfortably warm)-
anyone reading have any thoughts on leaving my sterile, moist, Rapid Rooter medium and cuts sealed for a couple weeks (meaning no water change or nutes added- plain water, atm)?

Herb & Suds said:

My personal belief is I get roots faster in lower light conditions
Tried it all and thats my best advice
I run a 60 slot ez cloner under a 15 watt LED

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I have a King Cloner (which worked great for germinating my seeds in old (1st generation??) Rapid Rooter plugs I found in my folks old gardening stuff, haha. Not wanting to run it just for three little guys.
I did put a folded towel over top to reduce light- it doesn’t seem very intense in person.

If I can, I prefer to use that first topping as my go to clone. I just like the fact that it keeps its uniform growth longer and makes it easier for training when I move them outside after some growth. Only did a couple and gave most away because of wanting to start different strains from seed. This summer I plan to do the above for half my outdoor girls, when I start my outdoor summer 2021 grow. Hoping to this with Crystal METH, Cinderella 99 and maybe a Malawi. Last one might not happen because of my southern Ontario location and potential early November finishing flowering time for the strain.

They will take longer to get vegging and growing than a 6" cut but it works.
Why you boiling everything? A bit of h202 works just fine for sterilizing
I put an airstone in my dome to keep air flowing through.

I almost always use my tops for clones, mostly because I hate wasting them. As others have mentioned they typically take a bit longer but the will still root eventually.

I don't see anything wrong with tops. I have noticed no difference in rooting between tops and [lower] tops.

Only problem I see, is there's not much stem below the node to root. I would worry that the stems will turn to mush before those 1/4" stubs root. Then not really have a way to transplant.
All I'm saying, is I like having at least an inch for roots.

EhCndGrower said:

If I can, I prefer to use that first topping as my go to clone. I just like the fact that it keeps its uniform growth longer and makes it easier for training when I move them outside after some growth. Only did a couple and gave most away because of wanting to start different strains from seed. This summer I plan to do the above for half my outdoor girls, when I start my outdoor summer 2021 grow. Hoping to this with Crystal METH, Cinderella 99 and maybe a Malawi. Last one might not happen because of my southern Ontario location and potential early November finishing flowering time for the strain.

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That’s awesome. I was thinking about how the clones would still be young with a whole life of growing ahead of them... Seems like a good way to ensure you have time to work with them. I looked at both Malawi and Meth too as I’m into more stimulating strains that help me work and get creative. Chose Durban Poison because the breeder- Dutch Passion- said it does okay in milder climates (I’m coastal Northern California- rarely full-freeze, and never too hot outside) and I’m hoping to move to greenhouse, then full outdoor by summer start. Going to clone from some of the hardiest ones and keep pheno going if they do well. Also got a S. African Kwazulu Sativa as it sounds similar and I’ve never tried it.
Have my first autoflowers going to get some quick medicine while waiting for the others. Banana Kush.
Hope to see your plants when they get going!

Jjgrow420 said:

They will take longer to get vegging and growing than a 6" cut but it works.
Why you boiling everything? A bit of h202 works just fine for sterilizing
I put an airstone in my dome to keep air flowing through.

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Well, I was already warming up filtered well-water (as opposed to using water from hot-water heater) to soak my rooters in and also wanted to warm up my jar, so went ahead and sterilized with it, too. Used alcohol and/or vinegar at work station.
Airstone is a good idea. Would use my aerocloner if had more I was currently cloning.

PizzaMan5000 said:

I don't see anything wrong with tops. I have noticed no difference in rooting between tops and [lower] tops.

Only problem I see, is there's not much stem below the node to root. I would worry that the stems will turn to mush before those 1/4" stubs root. Then not really have a way to transplant.
All I'm saying, is I like having at least an inch for roots.

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The length of stem was honestly my biggest worry and why I thought it may be impossible. I tore my rooter plugs down to where the hole is just a little shallow one.
1/4”?- hehe- maybe if I put them end to end...
Thanks for the input!

Update:
2/15/‘21
I poured out old water, and warmed some more Brita filtered well-water (ph: 5.5-6) on stove, and dipped the “dry” jar with cuttings into it while the water was comfortably warm (I’d guess around 98F; usually pretty accurate- I make a lot of dough ) for just long enough to warm the jar.
This time I added a tsp. of old 3% H2O2 (into about 14-16oz water- the stuff I warmed). The stuff seemed to reacte a little bit to an old scrape on my hand, so figured it might still be reactive.
I had temped the warm water with a digital thermometer before pouring into the jar, but I’m writing this 3d afterward, so I’ll say it was slightly less than body temp., maybe 96f.
Sooo, another experiment, kinda funny, and pretty sure I’ve heard this kinda thing mocked before but I care not amigxs, haha-
I thoroughly brushed my teeth, then rinsed and gargled with the 3% H2O2 (supposed to dilute! I did not), and thoroughly rinsed again with water.
Then I stuck a sterilized reusable metal straw into the into the jar between the rooter plugs, and blew bubbles. Moved to various in-between-plug spots and repeated for maybe 4 minutes. Then I breathed a few full hot breaths into the jar-dome, tightly capped the start-jar back into place underneath, and put them back into warm area. They are now in with tomato start in second dome on a heat mat since I moved the parents outside.
They look about the same. Had a picture of me bubbling it but must have deleted.
Wait some more.