Cloning... the hard way

I haven't got any pic's of this as my gf has informed me the memory cards are in the shop and not getting collected till wednesday.

Anyway, I took a pair of scissors and topped my mother plant, quite a rough looking, very straight cut that I didn't tidy up. I haven't used rooting gel either, just stuck it straight into a 2" rockwool cube and then into a too large propagator. I've also left her with too much leaf (which I may remedy in a mo', might be asking just that bit too much).

The rockwool cubes were soaked for well over 24 hours in 5.5 lukewarm water. I'm also using the same water the cubes soaked in in my spray bottle. I've always been careful with my clones, now I'm going to find out how careful I really need to be.

You go Skunk trim that time see JUst how much, or how little work they REALLY need.

I guesse they do need the work if he didn't glote after 2 weeks with those clones too bad but we do need to work for that high

You will prolly be fine. Just let the rockwool nearly dry out before watering.

skunkushybrid said:

I haven't got any pic's of this as my gf has informed me the memory cards are in the shop and not getting collected till wednesday.

Anyway, I took a pair of scissors and topped my mother plant, quite a rough looking, very straight cut that I didn't tidy up. I haven't used rooting gel either, just stuck it straight into a 2" rockwool cube and then into a too large propagator. I've also left her with too much leaf (which I may remedy in a mo', might be asking just that bit too much).

The rockwool cubes were soaked for well over 24 hours in 5.5 lukewarm water. I'm also using the same water the cubes soaked in in my spray bottle. I've always been careful with my clones, now I'm going to find out how careful I really need to be.

Click to expand...

This feels personal mr skunk hybrid j/k

Have I spurred you on to try this out?

I suppose yes. our recent chat ngt has got me thinking about how easy it is to clone. I've had success in soil with cling film... without rooting gel... now I'm not making the 45 degree cut along with everything else. I am propagating this time.

I suppose I should have used plain old tap water as well, no ph. I'll keep this thread updated with pic's as soon as I get the camera back.

i have successfully rooted slips that were torn, not cut, no rooting agent, straight into the ground outside. only half made it, but hey! half made it... clones are hardier than most think...

Yes, i've cloned a few leaves too. Done the garden thing and it was going quite well till we had freak snow that lasted for about three days.

So long as their environment is ok they should take root regardless.

Ok here she is. You might note that she is in a heated propagator but is not plugged in. This is for the simple reason that i don't like them. all my other propagators are at the other grow so I've got to make do with this one for the time being.

Apart from having to dip (resoak the rockwool) her more often than usual, maybe once every two days rather than 3-5, she is doing ok.

anyway here's a pic.

skb, cubes have a bit of limestone dust in them which must be flushed out before soaking. The pH 5.0 water that you soak your cubes in for 24h before plugging in the cuttings should be discarded.

Misting cuttings is usually only necessary if you have low-humidity induced wilt. I don't like to mist as it can promote fungi like powdery mildew on leaves. There's usually other causes for wilt than low humidity, like the stem cut rotting, preventing water uptake from the media. As you know, sterility is everything. Dipping your scalpel in alcohol both before and between cuts is smart.

Correcting tapwater to 5.0 for the pre-soak and to 5.5 for daily watering does make a difference in speed and vigour of root formation. Getting the watering right is much more important. A 40mm cube weighs 5g dry and 25-30g when properly damp. Heavier than that is oversaturated and will slow rooting dramatically.

I think there's something to the ragged cut theory; the plant evolved to have this ability to replace a root system when a damaged stem comes in constant contact with moist soil- that's in the DNA, we're just exploiting it. However, I think there's a more replicatable way of achieving the 'rough cut.' I've both split lengthwise the last 1/4" of an angle cut stem (bit of a camel-toe thing) and also have scraped the stem in a few places in the media contact area (last inch) with the back of the scalpel blade, just to achieve a little tissue disruption, but in a way that doesn't leave raggedy bits of stem to rot in the damp media. Disrupted or damaged stem cells more easily mutate into root nodes.

I simulated it with a very undelicate cut with a large pair of scissors.

Thing is al b', not to seem disrespectful, but I have successfully brought through many hundreds of clones using this method with the misting. I also always use the water the rockwool cubes soaked in for the first 3 days.

I'm not sure that after having so much success (my clones are good enough to sell, no yellowing leaves and fully rooted in about 9 days) that it's hard for me to consider changing. Although I will take your advice and experiment to see if there is a discernable difference in rooting time.

I'm waiting a while for the 1st set of clones from my new mother as she has suffered a little overnuting (you can probably tell from her topped clone above). But I will try this experiment within the next week.

Can't argue with nice green leaves and well developed roots in 9 days, no matter how you slice it.

When my cloning is up and running again (as Im outgrowing the grapefruit and concentrating on this new strain la conf' x mystery haze) I will make a thread dedicated to it...

I'm quite proud of my cloning capabilities as I was taught by a master, although my using the pre-soaked water was not taught by him, it's more down to my general laziness, plus the fact the water is ready to go, already at room temp' etc.

If it isnt broken, dont fix it.

heres my first attempt at a clone. ive got a plant thats in its first week of flowering and i found a jiffy pot in the cupboard so i figured id take a cutting and stick it in the jiffy and see what happens as i was going to cut this branch off anyway.
this pic was taken 24hrs after cutting.
its got an 11w CFL on it.
it seems to be standing up more now than it was a few hours after cutting it.
if it survives ill stick it outside and let it bud as we`re on 10.5hrs daylight atm.

skunkushybrid said:

I'm quite proud of my cloning capabilities as I was taught by a master, although my using the pre-soaked water was not taught by him, it's more down to my general laziness, plus the fact the water is ready to go, already at room temp' etc.

Click to expand...

Slack is as good a reason as anything else! I value slack enough to have built in some performance compromises in my op just so I can leave it unattended a few days in a row if I wanna.

Al B. Fuct said:

Slack is as good a reason as anything else! I value slack enough to have built in some performance compromises in my op just so I can leave it unattended a few days in a row if I wanna.

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True al b.
I think over carring can be worse than neglect sometimes with these trees.

Oh yeah I am diggin the thread.
I am about to start clonning in another week or two.

Looking forward to progress reports on your clone(s).

midgrade

hello people

I'm pretty new in the my little garden thing ,but having fun doing it.
I've got few big buds couple of some sort of thai plants and few from habash (somwhere in africa ,I think) they all came from seeds and they are 2 weeks old,and they all look Good, I'll try those cutting techniques you talkrd about next week and will let you know.(these I grow on ph6)

olso got few big buds fllowring right now on plane water only filterd and boild ph about 8 and they are fine.

Al B. Fuct said:

Slack is as good a reason as anything else! I value slack enough to have built in some performance compromises in my op just so I can leave it unattended a few days in a row if I wanna.

Click to expand...

I'm such a slacker I'm supposed to be growing DWC but sometimes it's more like aero with the amount of water left in the bins. Leave this for too long and the roots start rotting and falling off. Doesn't seem to hurt the plants either. Although I have only had this happen to my first dwc, she has budded with hardly any light. Just these past 2 weeks she has sat under a 400w all to herself.

She also didn't have any light during veg', stuck in a corner and I bent and bashed her. Yet she still gave me up to 2" of topward growth at least every other day. Her usual was an inch daily.

I've also achieved all this without a truncheon, and using liquid litmus for ph. Here's another dwc grow of mine, same way 5 weeks flower. I also have a larger one that I was meant to take pic's of last night but I forgot my camera.

Anyway in the pic's below I have 3 plants sharing an 18litre dwc reservoir. Very small space for 3 plants, just 6litres each. I have 6 plants altogether like this.

The last pic is of a lower branch.