cloning at 100% the easy way, best for coco and soil. less than $5....

This is a method that works 100% if you follow the instructions 100%. You will need... Coco coir, scissors, CLEAR plastic drinking cups (disposable), a handfuls of hydroton, rhizotonic, base coco nutrients, cloning gel (optional, you will get about 80% without the gel), bti mosquito dunks, some sort of clear plastic container large enough to set over cups with a couple inches of clearance, or. Humid dome.

Use the photos as a guide if my words confuse you.
1. Take the two clear plastic cups. Cut tiny holes around the edge of the bottom of one, put 5 or so hydroton in the other cup and put the one with holes in it on top of the hydroton. You have a pot and a drain pan essentially.
2. Use clean coco (canna coir is best), or clean it yourself by sifting it through clean water several times. Fill the cup with coco coir.
3.sprinkle bti crumbles on top of the cup, do it! I had clones failing and finally noticed the issue was one tiny gnat flew into my room laid eggs on all the tops of the cups, the larvae hatched and started eating the moist stem then tunneled inside and actually killed the clones. Avoid them with a few sprinkles on top of every cup, I cannot stress this enough, once you have an infestation it is almost impossible to save infested plants.

4. Mix up a weak solution (25% strength) of rhizotonic, base coco coir nutrients, and a drop of superthrive. Set this aside for later.
5. The coco should be pretty dry, if not wring it out by hand. (Should have mentioned this earlier). Poke a hole in top of the coco in the cup with a pen or marker.
6. Take cuttings from any part of plant you wish to clone, make sure to cut at a 45 degree angle. Dip the clone asap into water for a few seconds and then cloning gel or just water if not using gel. Put the clone into the hole and push sides in. Make sure to get at least an inch and a half of the stem under the coco.
7. Water slowly with the mix from earlier until cup starts to drip into the bottom cup. After it stops dripping, pour the drain cup out. AlwAys over water, but don't water until the top layer turns light Brown (dried out). Always keep the bottom drain cup empty or you might get root rot.

8. Spray the clones with water, or mix rhizotonic and superthrive into a spray bottle. Just a tiny dab or supeethrive and 1/4 strength rhizo.
9. Put any type of clear container over the clone for about 5 days with a CFL providing light.

After five days you can remove the dome and treat them like normal plants. Some plants require longer under the dome, if you pull it out and see wilting within a hour, spray it and put it back. DO NOT PULL THE PLANT OUT OF THE COCO TO CHECK FOR ROOTS!!!!!! this will kill the clone, don't ask me why, but it does. You will see roots wrapping around the cup within two or three weeks at the longest. You may need to spray the plants daily, just let the plants tell you what they want. This method will work for you if you do exactly as I said. It is very easy to care for dozens of clones with this method. Very low maintanance.

Nice guide. I think coco is hard to beat for cloning. Good tip on the mosquito dunks.

Anyone interested in coco cloning should check these out.



I love these because you don't have to worry about watering as often and they're big enough that you can leave the plants in for awhile if you need to. I also scruff up the bottom of the clone -- this really seems to help with water uptake. I use Rapid Rooters too and put them in the tray slots surrounded by coco. I had 100% on my last batch in less than 2 weeks -- actually had to just throw away 4 because I was planning on some failing. I've found that good (well-chosen and cut) clones don't need a humidity dome, but my room is usually at 50% RH. They are usually back up (if they wilted at all) within 24 hours.

There are countless ways to clone and everyone does ot differently. I use this method because it is easy, low maintanance and has a high success rate. There are things that could be modified to fit other grow styles, I use this to clone trees from my yard vines shrubs, it works on anything, I just put the cutting in the window and even the most woody tree branch will root after a month. I struggled.with learning to clone, so my intent was to teach others who may be struggling also. Spreading knowledge is the name of the game.

Cloning is as easy or as complicated as you want to make it. The easiest possible method is to just put your cuttings right into a glass of water and change that water every day or every other day. Right now that is what I do and I have enjoyed a 99% success rate with clones taking root anywhere from 7-9 days on average.

The benefit for me over the water method is that my plant is already in my chosen growing medium as soon as I put it in the cup. As soon as the roots form it is getting a weak solution of the nutrients it will use for all stages of growth, it's as smooth a transition as any for coco.

I've tried the water method (because I like simple) but it didn't work for me. I wasn't as good at taking cuttings as I am now so maybe it would work for me. Do you do anything else or you literally just cut and stick them in water?

Hey, nice guide Guts

I've used it for rooting honeysuckle d English ivy. But yes, you just stick the cutting into the water. You change it daily so it doesn't get any bad stuff growing with the cutting. Fungus, algae, bacteria. If you change it frequently it will stay clean and it should root eventually. I am just absent minded sometimes and forget to change it for a few days and get some funk in it, but hydrogen peroxide will remedy the problem if it's not too bad.

AzCannaMan said:

Hey, nice guide Guts

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Tyvm. I just hope it helps someone.

upinthemguts said:

The benefit for me over the water method is that my plant is already in my chosen growing medium as soon as I put it in the cup. As soon as the roots form it is getting a weak solution of the nutrients it will use for all stages of growth, it's as smooth a transition as any for coco.

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Whatever is easy and works for you. It really is a matter of preference and individual. For me the 30 seconds it takes to replant into a container after it is rooted out weighs all the other steps. You could also add very very very low amounts of nutes to the water your clone is in if getting them used to the nutrients was a factor. For me that isn't the case.

Also, I take tons of clones without caring how many take root because I take too many. So i can be nonchalant about my cloning. For anyone with limited space that absolutely needs their one or two clippings to take root I can see where trying to be as careful as possible is a big deal.

somebody1701 said:

I've tried the water method (because I like simple) but it didn't work for me. I wasn't as good at taking cuttings as I am now so maybe it would work for me. Do you do anything else or you literally just cut and stick them in water?

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I literally cut my clone and put it in PH'd water. Sometimes I'll put saran wrap on the top and poke a hole in it so the cutting stands uprights. Other than that. That is all. I also keep them in low lighting and under a humidity dome for a week or so. But all that means is I put another larger cup over my clone and put it in my veg tent, in a corner.

Just a note... I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is directly misting their clones. You want your clones to take root so don't mist them. If they're getting what they need via foliar spray then they aren't rooting around for it themselves...

I guess we Seperate on the point, I don't like droopy clones so I spray them every so often, especially the first day. I think spraying them with rhizotonic actually tells the plant to root faster. That's what the product is advertised for and specifically says that. I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I disagree, I've been wrong before. I see roots much faster when I spray rhizo and my plants look much healthier overall. Rhizotonic (much like seaweed extract) will also address almost any defficiency immediately and give you time to adjust your nutrients (hydro, soil, coco, etc).

I have taken clones before that stood up on their own and didn't need spray or a dome and it still worked, I also didn't use rooting gel on said clones. Every plant and every situation is different. Something as simple as not feeding your plants before you clone, or cloning at different times in a light cycle or having a fan on your clones can change the outcome of using any method. I am flexible and I watch my plants and let them tell me what they need, if they look great, I leave them alone, if they get droopy, I mist them or adjust the humidity or the fan or all three. I'm just not an always or never guy.

I like to put my cuts in my mouth and carry them around for 2 weeks. Works every time! 100%

Sencha said:

I like to put my cuts in my mouth and carry them around for 2 weeks. Works every time! 100%

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Lol. Love to see some pictures of this method.

Amaximus said:

Also, I take tons of clones without caring how many take root because I take too many. So i can be nonchalant about my cloning. For anyone with limited space that absolutely needs their one or two clippings to take root I can see where trying to be as careful as possible is a big deal.

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It's funny you mention that. When I was first trying to clone, I was worried about cutting too much off the plant, lol. Now, I'm cutting so much off the bottom my plants and just throwing it away, I should just try the water method for kicks and see how it turns out. My ladies are too far into flower now but I'm going to do this next time I'm trimming a mother.

I've adopted the culling strategy at all stages of my grows now. I always try to have 50% more plants than I need and then just pick the best ones to move on to the next stage. But when you're on that first grow and things aren't going so well, every little plant seems precious.

I stuck a few clones into some cups of water just to see what happens. So I am running three sets now. One set was left on the dark for 36 hours, suggestion from another grow journal, just to see if it accelerates rooting, they are in root riots and in a humid dome. I got rid of my ghetto "domes" today and bought two more regular humid domes. I put the coco clones inside the real domes, they were kinda sad looking. I normally dip my clones in water before I put them into the clone gel, looks like it may have had an effect of them after alll. I am putting the finishing touches on my aero cloned, just in case my normal methods don't work.