How many times can you clone?

Helmut79

Helmut79

Well-Known Member
How many times can you clone a cloned plant without having a mother plant?

How is this called? Generations of same genetics?

1) grow from seed
2) clone at switching to 12/12
3) grow from cuttings
4) clone 2nd time at 12/12
5) grow out
6) clone 3rd time at 12/12
.. and so on..

How many times before quality/quantity of the plants start decreasing?
 
GroErr

GroErr

Well-Known Member
For your personal garden you can clone almost indefinitely imo. There's some camps that say genetic drift can deteriorate the clones but unless you're cloning hundreds of clones constantly like in a commercial operation I don't believe there's any affects to quality or health of the plants. I have a few that are 3+ years old and if anything they get better because I've grown them so many times I know what they need/when.

Lately I have so many strains/phenos going and can't be constantly expanding space so I grow them for a while in party cups, then clone them and start again. The one on the far right in the party cups is 2 1/2 years old and has been cloned many times over. The second pic is the latest clone of that one that I flowered and probably the best yield and quality I've had off that one since I started it from seed.

Clone-the-clones1.jpg BlueRipper-Day66-Harvest-1.JPG
 
somebody1701

somebody1701

Well-Known Member
I've never understood the claim that cloning clones will cause genetic drift. Cloning the same plant or a clone of that plant doesn't increase the probability of mutation in any way I can understand. So why would a clone from an old mother be any more/less subject to mutation than a clone of a clone of a clone?
 
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tusseltussel

tusseltussel

Well-Known Member
somebody1701 said:
I've never understood the claim that cloning clones will cause genetic drift. Cloning the same plant or a clone of that plant doesn't increase the probably of mutation in any way I can understand. So why would a clone from an old mother be any more/less subject to mutation then a clone of a clone of a clone?
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A female can hermie under stress though right. the way I understand it is if the mother is under stress mutations can present themselves in the clone. I could be wrong bit it makes sense to me.
 
tusseltussel

tusseltussel

Well-Known Member
I'm with you, I had one for about 5 years I screwed around and lost it though, wish I coif have it back. it was a bag seed that smelled like parmigian cheese or stinky socks and ball cheese. it was amazing.
 
tusseltussel

tusseltussel

Well-Known Member
GroErr said:
For your personal garden you can clone almost indefinitely imo. There's some camps that say genetic drift can deteriorate the clones but unless you're cloning hundreds of clones constantly like in a commercial operation I don't believe there's any affects to quality or health of the plants. I have a few that are 3+ years old and if anything they get better because I've grown them so many times I know what they need/when.

Lately I have so many strains/phenos going and can't be constantly expanding space so I grow them for a while in party cups, then clone them and start again. The one on the far right in the party cups is 2 1/2 years old and has been cloned many times over. The second pic is the latest clone of that one that I flowered and probably the best yield and quality I've had off that one since I started it from seed.

View attachment 3815860 View attachment 3815862
Click to expand...
Good deal on the cups. I keep mine in 1 gallon containers and replace them with a clone every 6 months if its something I want to keep around, if it gets to tall I cut it in half. I also make S1 fem seeds now just in case I lose it for some reason. I don't want to loose the funk. it's like insurance although I wouldn't breed with those seeds it would preserve what I got
 
Maxman and Fiddler

Maxman and Fiddler

Well-Known Member
GroErr

GroErr

Well-Known Member
tusseltussel said:
Good deal on the cups. I keep mine in 1 gallon containers and replace them with a clone every 6 months if its something I want to keep around, if it gets to tall I cut it in half. I also make S1 fem seeds now just in case I lose it for some reason. I don't want to loose the funk. it's like insurance although I wouldn't breed with those seeds it would preserve what I got
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Yeah I was doing the 1 gal's and still do some but as I tried to keep more strains/phenos going it got out of hand. The cups work well and save a lot of space. When I keep them going longer there's a lot of roots and minimal medium so I feed them low ppm and they stay healthy long enough to get some cuts. If I get a pheno that doesn't like being constrained in a cup I'll up pot it to 1gal, I've kept them for months in 1gal too. I use the fabric pots, they can hold a lot of roots,
 
jason mccormack

jason mccormack

Member
Maxman and Fiddler said:
Theoretically, this could be done forever. However, all biological processes are subject to genetic shifts and mutations based upon their environmental conditions. Sometimes these changes are for the good, sometimes for the bad. Seeds rock!
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so true, experience shows eventually they can mutate or just fuck out and lose their sting, 26years or clone from a clone on an original afghan skunk, with no issues, quality spot on year after year, then it contracted botrysis must be like aids to a plant because the mother was infected but didn't exibit any signs by the time we worked out there was an issue, we only had infected stock left, and if your in NZ and have only grown clones for the last 26years , was like losing a lover
they got sick and never got better, and all the prodginy, and so on
 
Serrated_

Serrated_

Well-Known Member
Maxman and Fiddler said:
Theoretically, this could be done forever. However, all biological processes are subject to genetic shifts and mutations based upon their environmental conditions. Sometimes these changes are for the good, sometimes for the bad. Seeds rock!
Click to expand...
I have such bad luck with seeds. I always get the weird f1 runt. And I end up spending a year stabilizing that strain
 
somebody1701

somebody1701

Well-Known Member
I suspect the problem with clones no matter whether you have an ancient mother or clones of clones of clones... is eventually you get a viral infection (or several) that don't kill the plant but eventually make it weak and unproductive.
 
rob333

rob333

Well-Known Member
Helmut79 said:
How many times can you clone a cloned plant without having a mother plant?

How is this called? Generations of same genetics?

1) grow from seed
2) clone at switching to 12/12
3) grow from cuttings
4) clone 2nd time at 12/12
5) grow out
6) clone 3rd time at 12/12
.. and so on..

How many times before quality/quantity of the plants start decreasing?
Click to expand...
i have been cloneing the same clones now for about 9 years the guy before me had her for about 6 i cut clones from clones in veg and have not noticed any diff is size taste or affect
 
B

bryan oconner

Well-Known Member
i see a difference right a way. plant your see, .d clone from it . put the clone right next to the see., d and have both of them tested . who will win ? the clone will test slight less . and yield less think i am full of shit try it have them tested . i know its an a copy of the mother for some reason clones pull less and test slightlyyyyyyyyyyyyyy less strong . go ahead and bash me unless you have tried this and had them tested you will have no idea .
 
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