Special Project: Cloning Autoflowers!!! (pics inside!)

Hey RIU!

I started a funky project about 48 days ago where I took a big 20 gallon pot of FFOF and planted 7 different autoflower strains. You can check out more of the back story on the thread I started for that grow last week titled, "7 autoflowers in one 20 gallon pot".

Anyhow, those plants grew into a canopy on top and there was a bunch of bottom growth that was not getting much light. So, I decided to do it like a scrog and cut off much of that under-growth. When I did though I couldn't help but feel like I was throwing away good cuttings.... So I decided to take a razor and treat a bunch of them like clones. I DO NOT EXPECT THESE TO GROW INTO A NEW PLANT LIKE A REAL CLONE, I'm just having a fun experiment and also figured that if I can get any of them to do what those ones did in the 1st pic attached, it would be far better than just throwing them away. (the 1st pic I found online to show an example of what I'm going for)

I currently have 5 (non-autoflowering) seedlings going (all within 14 days from seed) in four 7 gallon smart pots. I have 14 cuttings (not all pictured) that I planted in those pots as well. They were not all cut on the same day, but all within a 4 day span with the first cut happening about 1 week ago. I didn't plan this particular project so I didn't have any rooting hormone or cloning gel on hand, I just used a razor to cut part of the stem to expose more of those internal parts that root and stuck them in most soil. I've been keeping them moist ever since. Some look ok, others not so much.

I figured that likely they would all die and it would just be my little secret. BUT TODAY one of them that was leaning on its leaf started standing up on its own!(unnamed 15) I'm hoping that 4 out of the 14 (one in each pot) will take and turn itself into a nice little bud right away since it was taken from an autoflower. I JUST FIGURE THAT IF I CAN GET FOUR OR MORE TO TAKE AND GET AT LEAST AN 8TH OR MORE OUT OF IT, THEN IT WILL BE WELL WORTH IT.

Thoughts??

this is so strange I am not sure if it is real. but I have berry rider and blue kush autos that got to big because I only have small space so I had to cut them and could not get my self to throw them away. so I put them in plastic cup with perlite and hole for hempy. thout they would die but in only few days berry rider was full of roots thru cup. blue cush not as fast but did same. both are doing very good

JT1 said:

this is so strange I am not sure if it is real. but I have berry rider and blue kush autos that got to big because I only have small space so I had to cut them and could not get my self to throw them away. so I put them in plastic cup with perlite and hole for hempy. thout they would die but in only few days berry rider was full of roots thru cup. blue cush not as fast but did same. both are doing very good

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JT1 that is pretty coincidental. How long ago were those pics taken?

The only time i tried to clone an auto it didnt make it. Perhaps i should try again. What do u expect from them since they are already flowering?

I think may be week ago but bad with time and they are seeming very good and buds. weirdest si I think they rooted so fast only 1 leave died and no other even yellow and for some reason all even regular foto small clones I do almost all turn all yellow but still most make it but not as good at all as berry rider and blue kush auto did from now on I am going to try to remember to only do clone with little hempy because may be that is why they did so good

ebcrew said:

The only time i tried to clone an auto it didnt make it. Perhaps i should try again. What do u expect from them since they are already flowering?

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I just hope that they grow into nice smokeable bud. I'm really hoping to get at least an extra 3.5 grams out of the ones that do take. This is my first time trying to clone an autoflower and I didn't have any rooting hormone or cloning gel. So I guess I'll be happy with whatever production the give. I was originally planning on just throwing all the cuttings away, but I couldn't bring myself to do when they still seemed so viable.

JT1 did you use any hormone or gels on your cuttings?

What up guys! Just an update here. I now have several autoflower cuttings that seem to have rooted because they're standing up on their own! Looks like we'll have some mini nuggs.

Right on, why not give it a try!? I'll enjoy seeing what you get at the end. Good luck!

Thanks @paranoid4areason! I'll keep it updated.

Looking good, very cool experiment!

What stage did you take the cuttings? ive got some autoflowers id like to try this on.

Thanks @budLIFE60 ! The plants had already started to flower when I took them. They were not all at the exact same stage so some were a little more into flower than the others. I would say on average, about day 30.
Many of them seem to be doing well and of the 14 cuttings I wouldn't be surprised to have 8 or more make it.

Hello RIU,

Wanted to add an update for you lovely people at home. There hasn't been a whole lot of development in the past few days. A lot of the cuttings seem to be doing well and standing up straighter, but they haven't started displaying any new growth yet. But they're not dying......... not yet!

The only way to do this right is immediately top the plant super early at week 1.5 and as those shoots that come off you need to cut and clone quickly within the first 2 weeks. You should start getting good growth at week 3.5-4 with those new clones but the time they flower is quick so be diligent and you could have 5-10 extra plants firing off all at the same time for a nice little garden.

I am also cloning an auto flower. Critical jack. I have 3 clones right now waiting for tje roots to pop so i cam transplant. ...good luck guys

I am growing 5 auto flowers. I cloned them may 1 and they took 3 weeks to root. I kept the under a CFCs until June 15 when my grow room was ready. Now under veg. They have been growing for 7 weeks and are now 12 inches tall with many pre flowers. Can I continue to veg? They are now in 10 inch pots. 2 C 99 and 3 Kush