Cloning question

Is there any problem with cutting a plant down after just a few weeks of growth (at least 3 nodes tho) then putting it in a aeroponic system? This would be just like cloning in a way except the plant never got a chance to get big. Will it have enough energy to live? What if I wait til 6 nodes or greater? I'm curious if this will work and if anybody has experience with this.

My aeroponic setup is not seed friendly at all, I cannot use seeds and it has to be clones. I'm trying to avoid waiting for a bunch of soil plants to get big just to clone them, as I'll end up tossing the soil plants anyway.

it might be better to let the plant get quite tall and strong then take clones

once you cut the plant it tries to re-establish its root system. This requires the plant to stop putting energy into growing and directing it to producing roots again. The bigger the plant gets, the further it has to move nutrients up and down the stem. which also lesses its chance for survival.

What set up is the plant in now? Why not transfer it now?

i cut clones off of plants that are 3 weeks old many times,

my whole last grow came from clones i cut from a plant that was only 3 weeks old

I generally wait until the plant starts to alternate nodes (usually node 4-5) before taking clones from a known female.

They're not in anything now, new seeds/strains are on the way tho. When they arrive, I'll have to start them from soil because I can't start seeds in my aeroponic/NFT units. I had to start from soil on my current setup and it seemed like it took foooorevveerrr for them to get big to take clones from, plus soil is a pain in the ass and messy. I'm probably going to end up cutting them down when they get to be the size of a typical clone and we'll see what happens. Hopefully they'll survive, I'm more confident about it now knowing the whole nutrient-stem length business. Thanks.

ryannaylorcatherwood said:

it might be better to let the plant get quite tall and strong then take clones

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I really can't stand growing in soil and I'm weighing the risk factor in on my decision. I made this thread to see if there were any "don't do it!"'s or "they will not survive!" posts, I'm glad to see there's not. I'm think I'm going to go for it, wish my ladies luck (when they get here... then sprout...then grow a lil bit. Yeah it'll be a while lol).

Little Tommy said:

I generally wait until the plant starts to alternate nodes (usually node 4-5) before taking clones from a known female.

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I'm not talking about taking clones here, I'm talking about chopping the baby plant down when it's the size of a clone. My concern was that it may not survive since it never got a chance to get big, but it sounds like they should be ok.

Is it really that bad to keep a soil mother?
I am keeping a bonsai mom in soil for my DWC.

As for the original question, it should work, but you shouldn't need to cut the stalk.

How I transfer from soil to hydro:
Pull the root system from the soil, then get a cup of your nutrient water, then dunk the root system gently over and over, until they are satisfactorily soil free for you.
place your neoprene collar in position, and let it spray!

There you go! Much less stress, no worry about re-rooting, and I know it works from experience!
I have done this with foot tall plants, so that my personal knowledge about how tall it works to.

moneygrowsonbushes said:

Is it really that bad to keep a soil mother?
I am keeping a bonsai mom in soil for my DWC.

As for the original question, it should work, but you shouldn't need to cut the stalk.

How I transfer from soil to hydro:
Pull the root system from the soil, then get a cup of your nutrient water, then dunk the root system gently over and over, until they are satisfactorily soil free for you.
place your neoprene collar in position, and let it spray!

There you go! Much less stress, no worry about re-rooting, and I know it works from experience!
I have done this with foot tall plants, so that my personal knowledge about how tall it works to.

Click to expand...

Soil requires alot of attention IMO and it's harder to control. Water is easy. And I take clones off my vegging plants after 3 weeks of growth, I've only had 2 not root in my lifetime which ain't bad so no need for a mother. I'll have 5 strains total too once the new seeds arrive, so that'd be 5 mothers and I don't have room for that anyway in my vegging space.

I also really appreciate the advice, I am going to try that. I actually did something similar on my very first grow ever, except not with soil. I started from seed in flexiplugs (which are designed for hydro use) and used those in my aero setup. After a while I was pretty sure they were starting to mold/rot so I pulled the plants out of the flexiplug and only one root remained on every plant, the thicker one down the middle. Every single plant I had then died... except for one! So at least I ended harvesting something on my first grow. Flexiplugs don't crumble like soil and are somewhat firm tho.

Germinate and stick them in perlite filled solo cups, once they have roots established its easy to rinse them off.

I root clones using fogponics in STG medium and from there into 20 oz cups with 80/20 perlite/vermiculite.

Little Tommy said:

I root clones using fogponics in STG medium and from there into 20 oz cups with 80/20 perlite/vermiculite.

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Wait a sec, fogponics???? I googled that and it sounds awesome! I read your replay days ago and it didn't register apparently. You have any pics? or link? homeade? I'm probably not going to buy or build one but it sounds very interesting.

moneygrowsonbushes said:

Is it really that bad to keep a soil mother?
I am keeping a bonsai mom in soil for my DWC.

As for the original question, it should work, but you shouldn't need to cut the stalk.

How I transfer from soil to hydro:
Pull the root system from the soil, then get a cup of your nutrient water, then dunk the root system gently over and over, until they are satisfactorily soil free for you.
place your neoprene collar in position, and let it spray!

There you go! Much less stress, no worry about re-rooting, and I know it works from experience!
I have done this with foot tall plants, so that my personal knowledge about how tall it works to.

Click to expand...

Hey, do you germinate in soil too? Got any tips for germinating in soil if so? I have a tray w/ dome and heating pad. I got my seeds tonight and I think I'm going to use soil instead of flexiplugs this time for germination.

LVsFINEST said:

Wait a sec, fogponics???? I googled that and it sounds awesome! I read your replay days ago and it didn't register apparently. You have any pics? or link? homeade? I'm probably not going to buy or build one but it sounds very interesting.

Click to expand...

I bought a unit for about 80 bucks from Stealth Hydro. It has about 18 sites. Here is the link.

http://www.stealthhydroponics.com/section.php?xSec=22&jssCart=1a8bf9828b62ab41b8537544af4ab297

It is called The Mistic Cloner

I hack the top off every new seedling that goes into my 12/12hr op as soon as it's big enough to take a clone off it. This is a very delicate situation as potplants that are less than one year old(on average) are still hollow in the middle. If you put your plant in a mixture of lava rock and clay gravel you can water 2-3 times daily(1/6 ferts recommended for dirt). Use 360w coolwhite flouresent(24hr) and a 400w/mv(murcery vapor)(18/6). Your plant will shoot off like a rocket ship. If you choose to use mg bloomin fert it's 1 teaspoon for every six gallons of water. Make sure you airate your water and just use a gallon jug to water with. I usually dump a couple gallons through every seven or eight hours when I'm cloning. You can use a timer and a pump to do the same. I use pilferated aluminum pieplates to be sure the water drains through the pot evenly when using a pump. To start you are probably better to water by hand.

Tip for germinating in soil:

1. Plant seed
2. water

Yay plants.

moneygrowsonbushes said:

Tip for germinating in soil:

1. Plant seed
2. water

Yay plants.

Click to expand...

I actually found another resource containing tips for soil germination and it has both your suggestions, just not in that order:

Place seeds in bowl of water for 12-15 hours
Water soil
Plant seed
Cover seed
Put in dark for 6 hours
Turn on light

I just planted all the seeds, they're sitting in the dark now. After they sprout tho, how big do they have to get before I can safely pull them and put them in aero?