Can you clone without hormones?

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
yes. cloning is easy. in fact most people make cloning alot harder than they need to. i'll grab a link to a killer tutorial on hassle free cloning, no misting, humidity domes or worrying about the cloning medium dampness and rooting powder/gel .

heres the guide i said i'd dig up before. all credit to the original author. i did not write it.



As easy as cloning is to the masses that use powder, liquid/gel rooting hormone, bubblers and soil, etc. There is an even less complex method of cloning that is so easy, it must have been around for decades, if not centuries. The only ingredients involved are water, light, and the cutting you would like to root. In the example I?m going to show, I?ve cut three different sizes of clone. The first with two leaves and a single growing tip (S). The next has four nodes, but still only a couple large leaves (M). The third is 6? tall, has seven nodes and several sets of good-sized leaves (L).

As with normal cloning, you immediately dip the cutting in the water for about 15 to 30 seconds, tweaking it to dislodge any air bubbles that may be present. But the biggest difference is, you won?t be removing the cutting from the water until it has roots big enough to support the foliage above. Make sure the cup, which contains the cutting, is opaque. This prevents the light from shining directly on the roots.

So far, I?ve mentioned the cuttings and the water, but the most important part is the light. I have made this method work 100% of the time simply by sitting my cuttings on a windowsill that receives no direct sunlight. In fact, slightly shaded would be even better. In the evenings (short days), I sit them on an end table over 7 feet from a ceiling mounted 100-watt incandescent bulb. At bedtime, I just turn off the lights like normal, and when I get up in the AM its back to the windowsill. During the longer daylight hours they can be left on the sill full time. Remember, no direct sunlight.

The picture shows my three cuttings in their water cups. M & L have barely an inch of water to sit in. Any more and it would cover one of the leaf stems. The smaller one stayed in the plastic because the stem was too short to sit in water and stay upright in the cup. Do what?s necessary to keep at least ½? of the stem in the water.

Notice the glass that diffuses light, an extra measure against too much light exposure.


The clones grew roots at far different speeds. S showed in seven days, with a small ¼? long root and another small protrusion.


By the time S?s roots reached this level of development (nine days), L was just putting out the first nubs that would be roots. M has shown no inclination of rooting at all. Searching for an answer, I changed the water in Ms cup, but I think it boils down too the thickness of the stem. Both M&L have the same size stem but L has far more foliage on top.


S is doing far better than the others (seen below) and M is finally starting to show.


M showed roots in 14 days and was planted on day 18.
This picture was taken just before transplant.


L showed roots on day 11 and was in soil at day 18.
This picture was taken just before transplant.


S showed roots at seven days and was in the soil at 15.
This picture was taken just before transplant.

 

Buddy Hemphill

Active Member
I did a 7th grade science project on rooting begonias.

I used rootone, plain gelatin, and water.

Thet popped roots in that order. But the gelatin wan't very far behind the rootone (hormex now?..)

The gelatin actually worked well.

Hmmm...haven't thought about that in a while. My dad taught 6th grade science. He's pretty sharp. I might try some gelatin for shits and giggles.

Michael Jackson was touring Thriller that year...lol...gettin old son...
 

Kybudz

Well-Known Member
Yeah I tried sitting on water 3 weeks later. Little (nubs) started forming on stem. So when my hormone gel made it in mail. Stuck it I'm soil. Water seems slower but it working. I think. All I could figure the nubs to be was roots.
 

Jogro

Well-Known Member
Note that rooting powder is available at any Lowes, Home Depot, or Walmart for about $6 a can/package. Its not exactly hard to find nor particularly expensive.

Rooting powder has two advantages: it contains hormones to encourage rooting, and some of them have antifungal agents in there to discourage rot.

To answer the question, sure, you can clone with nothing but ordinary water, and plenty of people do it all the time.

To simplify the above, take a razor sharp knife, make a 45 degree cut through the stem to take the clone. Pull off any lower leaves (so that they don't sit in water) and then immerse your cutting into water. You could use a simple cup of water. Some people "float" their clones through holes cut into pieces of foam or such, and then float those in a water container.

Leave the water container in a warm place (between 70-80F is perfect), and make sure it gets some light. Direct sunlight is not necessary and probably not even desirable.

Roots should develop in about two weeks, sometimes less.

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) acts as a rooting hormone, so if you have any lying around you could add some to your cloning water.
 
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