Husband is gone - need help carrying on

Hello Gent's,
I am hoping one of you fellows could perhaps help me out.
Some background first. I recently kicked my husband out (he attempted to solicit a neighbors daughter for sex (piece of garbage he is). Regardless, he will never step foot in the neighborhood or my home again. He setup 2 -400watt lights in our shed (shed is aprox 10 X 20 - 2 rooms partitioned) with a number of plants (14 currently). I told him I have destroyed it all (only him and I know it was there). But I did not. He is a deadbeat, I will never get any support from him. At present, I am quite strapped for cash and I am thinking of making a go of it (growing and selling it myself).
The plants have been on a 12 - 12 flowering cycle for about 3 weeks. I can see the female pistels quite cleary. My dilema is this, do I let them flower and package and sell it (and then purchase more seeds). Or perhpas would I be better off cloning them (I can purchase 400w lights with ballast for $90 here with bulb - I know an electrician that builds them).
I have limited funds but was thinking with some help (I have recently picked up George Cervantes Marijuana Horticulture book and I am currently reading through it), I could perhaps clone them and grow a bigger crop and make a go of it. I fear though I may mess up the cloning process and kill them all. I have his rooting gel but no propogation machine. I am aware of the risks. I have family in Newfoundland that would purchase it at $2,000/lb no questions asked.
Can I clone without a propogation machine. If I turn the lights back to 18hr will that mess the plants up. Is cloning possible with limited funds. I am rather torn here. I am commited to learning and making a go of it. Some advice, guidance would be much appreciated. You guy's seem like a decent group of guy's that help each other out. My head is inudated by reading through all the threads..I know this is normally a guy thing but the times they are changing..your help, thoughts would be of great assitance. I will start a new grow journal if you guy's think you could help me through.
My dilema - do I clone and how with no propogation machine or do I let flower (how much can expect with 14 plants - varied breed - northern lights, skunk and mango)
Sincerely,
Sharon

14 plants should give you a nice yield assuming most are female. If the plants have been flowering for 3 weeks i dont think its a good idea to switch back to 18/6 or clone. Northern Lights, Skunk, and Mango is a nice variety, and i would say let the flowering cycle finish. No reason to risk ruining what is already going. Use this grow as a learning experience and then maybe try some new things on the next go around. Good luck

-iDrops

if you have rooting gel your cloning process is 10x easier than normal. you can make yourself a clone dome, to maintain a certain humidity for the clones.

when you clone make sure you cut atleast a 5 inch long branch, and cut any branches and leaves off the first inch and a half. and scratch it slightly with a sterile razor blade in a down sweeping fashion, not to destroy the outer layer but damage it slightly to stimulate root growth.

the inch and a half you stimulated with the razor blade is now ready to go into rooting gel, and then into soil. once that's all finished with you need to get it in the clone dome. it'll survive without but you'll see faster improvement and faster growth in a dome.

well that's my 2c on cloning.

you can take clones from your lower branches right now if you want. i've taken clones as far as 5 weeks into flower.

1st off welcome to the site, and 2nd sorry about your piece of shit husband. yes you can switch back to veg stage but i would run 24/0 light cycle to vert back. figure on at least 3 oz per plant dry this way you will not be disappointed if you get less. my wife i9s about tired of me and my growing maybe we should get together and grow the BIG and the DANK LOL good luck with the grow and with your delima

Sharon1970 said:

Hello Gent's,
Can I clone without a propogation machine. If I turn the lights back to 18hr will that mess the plants up. Is cloning possible with limited funds.

Sincerely,
Sharon

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1. Yes, you can easily clone without a propagation machine.

2. Yes, turning the plants back to 18 hours of lights after 3 weeks of flowering will freak them out, with a strong chance of turning them into hermaphrodites.

Those plants are about halfway through flowering. If I were you I'd see them through to harvest. If you take clones from them now, those clones will be in the same state as the mother; i.e., flowering.

You can always try to re-veg the plants after harvest if you leave the rootball potted and a few leaves on the stem so it can get going again. If it works, it's a lot faster than growing from seed - if not, nothing lost.

Good luck, and be careful about posting tidbits of personal information. A lot of people read these forums...

Mose said:

1. Yes, you can easily clone without a propagation machine.

2. Yes, turning the plants back to 18 hours of lights after 3 weeks of flowering will freak them out, with a strong chance of turning them into hermaphrodites.

Those plants are about halfway through flowering. If I were you I'd see them through to harvest. If you take clones from them now, those clones will be in the same state as the mother; i.e., flowering.

You can always try to re-veg the plants after harvest if you leave the rootball potted and a few leaves on the stem so it can get going again. If it works, it's a lot faster than growing from seed - if not, nothing lost.

Good luck, and be careful about posting tidbits of personal information. A lot of people read these forums...

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its not going to hurt anything. i have switched back after almost a month b4 and no hurmies

mygirls said:

its not going to hurt anything. i have switched back after almost a month b4 and no hurmies

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Really? I'd be worried.

Then again, I've never tried it so I'm speaking from what I've read, and you're talking from experience.... so, cool!

If you can tale clones as it will save you a ton of time. Take twice as many as you want plants for failure and then take the best of the best for next round and keep 2or 3 for moms. Don; turn the lights back to veg times. As fdd said take lower clones that dont show budding. I am taking some clone shortly from3 week flowering plants as I got behind and didnt do it when I should have but they will clones. You dont need a clone machine. Just some gel,razorblade, $3 plant tray with dome top rockwool cubes and a sparay bottle to mist. A seedling heat mat is nice but not needed.Cost $20-40 in the US. Us\a simple florescent shop light T8 bulbs is fine right above the dome on the tray and open twice a day and exchange the air in the dome and lightly mist.if all goes good 3-14 days rooted clones ready to go

and for mygirls post. You can switch back but its never a good thing it should be avoided at all cost. You cant get streesed hermies but you will hurt yield and potency and you add months to the grow

Thanks Guy's,
The 14 plants are all female. I am leaning towards cloning I think because I can perhaps triple the number.. some are quite large about 5ft+ we grew from seed starting Feb 2nd. Though how many cutting can I take from a plant and how often (i.e. everyday, every other day etc). I understand that take a cutting is stressful on the plant. Would it be wise to simply pilage the plants and take all the cuttings at once or stager them. I have a seperate closet with 2-40 wat flourecents. Though I am considering taking all clones at once so that I could keep them all under the 400-watt-hps..and grow one large crop..adding more 400-watts lights as they grow. That would mean though basically killing the 14 females to keep all the babies..thoughts??

Clones and seedlings should not be started under HID lights they must be rooted and established or you can poison them with to strong of UV rays. You can take as many clones as you can find. Some people take large clones. I take smaller 2-3 inch clones. On a 3 foot mom I can usually get 20 or so clones per plant. Take them all at once nice clean sterile blades

I think I am going to revert them back to the vegetative state. Though should I go 18 or 24 hr lighting. I apologize if I am not posting this properly in the thread a little new..not sure how the thread sequence goe. I want to thank you guy's for helping me..much appreciated.
Sharon

Just a thought from a newbie.
Take the clones you wont be killing the moms.
I the survive and reveg you will have it going on
for sure. I not you will have benefitted from the
experience and have some good buds from your
harvest.
Best of luck

mygirls said:

its not going to hurt anything. i have switched back after almost a month b4 and no hurmies

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But it sounds like she thinks they need to be in veg to clone, but they don't. I've found clones from plants that are flowering (up to 4 weeks for myself) tend to root faster than clones taken from vegging plants (maybe that was just a couple of fluke experiences), never-the-less, there is no problem with cloning from a flowering plant (it will have to change from the flowering phase back to vegging stage, which will take some time).

Otherwise, I don't see any reason why she should revert back to the vegging stage for all these half flowered plants. That would be a waste of time (and pot and money)!

Sharon1970 said:

I think I am going to revert them back to the vegetative state. Though should I go 18 or 24 hr lighting. I apologize if I am not posting this properly in the thread a little new..not sure how the thread sequence goe. I want to thank you guy's for helping me..much appreciated.
Sharon

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Could you explain why you want to do that?

I hope you mean reverting the clones to veg. Please don't try to revert those flowering femmes. If you're determined to take clones, spend some time selecting the exact clone sites. Mark them with twist ties. Read up on it, watch videos, and get the right supplies and lighting and grow space set up before you do any cutting.

The main thing I would do is make sure NOT to mess up the 14 females that are already flowering. You only have a month or so to go with those. I wouldn't go taking 20 clones off one like it was a mother in veg, for instance.

The clones will be great if they work out, just don't ruin a huge harvest that's so close to get them.

Also, keep in mind that your lie about destroying everything might not have been believed. If you can relocate your growing, I would STRONGLY advise it. Someone who is not very happy with you right now knows you probably still have all that equipment, and a lot of female flowering plants.

It would not be a shock for someone like that to try to rob you, or to alert authorities. Do not take security lightly, EVER - especially if even ONE other person knows what you are doing. And especially especially if that other person hates you.

Do what someone else here said... if you took 4 clones from each plant, assuming a 50% failure rate, you'd double the amount of plant you had for next time. Take 6 or 8 clones from each plant and you will triple or quadruple the amount of plants. I wouldn't take much more than that though or you 'might' stress them too much.

mismos00 said:

Could you explain why you want to do that?

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I had thought in order to take clones I would need to revert it back to the veg state. Though If I can keep it flowering and place the clones in a seperate room thats even better.

Sharon1970 said:

I had thought in order to take clones I would need to revert it back to the veg state. Though If I can keep it flowering and place the clones in a seperate room thats even better.

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Yes, yes, yes!



I was under the same impression as you were when I first started (until I got the funniest looking clone from a friend one day).