Cloning for beginners

Do I need a big ass mother plant to do this? tried so many times with cuttings in rockwool and they just die straight away. what is the success rate if your doing it write. I flowering my plants when they're 9-12 inches so they're way to small for a good clone.

you can take clones when your plants are smaller, your not going to get very many tho. maybe its the may you clone. i can tell you that heat is key(using a heat mat), keeping a dome over them for humidity and always remembering to spray them down so that the area is moist Not soaking wet. i use 2- t-5's for this.
i dont use rockwool, i use plugs, and any clonning gel is fine too.

Well, if done right, the success rate is 100%. As the pacfanx said, cloning agent, dont soak the soil, humidity dome and spraying are key. At 9-12 inches, you probably on have the cutting frOm topping it to work with( if you do top).

toping? you mean take the clone from the very top of the plant...

Why are you people using hormones and substrate?

here is how you clone take a glass of water with a very light nute solution, place cutting into solution and change the water every couple days, this is how my granny taught me, and she has run two nurseries and was host of a gardening radio show in the late 70s into early 80s. YOU DONT NEED ROOT HORMON OR SUBSTRATE, however the dome and misting will increase your overall success rate, also make sure you have 2-3 nodes on the cutting, its cut cleanly at a 45 degree angle and you lightly roughen the bottom 1/2 inch of the stem.

Myself, I use the rooting hormones cause I have since my first to guarantee (or increase) the odds of success. I still use it cause a little goes a long way. I'm sure I don't need it, but still have alot left so continue with it. It's cheap assurance, paid like 3 bucks for a 4 ounce bottle, and have done more than enough clone to make it worth the added assurance.

so can I take the clone from the top? or it has to be 3 nodes from the top. on a veg plant you only have the fan leaves...No?

You can clone from a fan leaf if you wanted to I'm pretty sure. Wouldn't be that great of a plant but I do believe it would root. Don't do that, I'm just saying, it's a lot easier than people make it out to be. I have 99% success rate, I've never lost one but I don't say 100% because that's when I will lose one.

I don't use heat pads.

I don't use domes.

I don't spray.

I have little soil cylinder type things that are probably about 1 inch tall, or so and have a hole in them (I buy these from the local hydro shop because I'm not a cheap ass). I cut the plant at whatever branch I want, the top or the bottom, from the end of the branch or a cutting off the branch (at the node). Sometimes at an angle, but sometimes it's not the best angle but it always does fine. I then dip into rooting powder (recently switched to Clonex gel to try it). Put underneath fluros until I see roots coming out of the soil things then I put into soil and begin to use a half strength nutrients (or not if you already have nutes in your soil). Seriously, it's not as hard as people try to make it.

This is how I clone, works 95% of the time or better...

take cutlings from any female plant normally in early flowering, I take them from lower branches, sometime later in flower I take cuts from a plant a little higher if I notice it wont be budding much etc... I cut the branch off entirely, I then cut the clone to size I like, 3-6", at a 45 degree angle, I then skin the bottom inch of the stem taking just a layer or two off all the way around, then I slit the stem about 1/4" or less. I then dip the stem in cloning gel and insert into small rockwool cubes and put them in a humidity dome. Usually within 2 weeks I see roots protruding from either sides or bottom of rockwool and I then plant them in designated pots and put them in the veg room.

lol and your done