Cloning Cannabis For Newbies

firstly, dont confuse "cloning" with "breeding". they are two separate things.

OK, lets delve into cannabis cloning.

firstly, why do we clone or why would we WANT to clone marijuana?

thats a real simple one. Cloning is a guaranteed way to know up front what you have as far as strains go, and your GUARANTEED a female plant from the very beginning. A cloned cannabis plant is essentially a genetically identical â??carbon copyâ? of the plant the cuttings were originally taken from. Cloning has bee used in lew of seeds by some for many many years to keep hard to find strains going, and to ensure that you get the highest quality smoke. Also, when you grow from a clone, you can pretty much bud it at anytime as it ( the clone) most likely came from a fully mature female , meaning the clone is also fully mature. Ive grown clones and budded them at 4â?, and also grown clones and budded them at 15-20ft tall. Also, clones generally in my experience start to bud in quite a bit shorter time than seed grown cannabis plants, and you know that the quality of what your getting will (most of the time) be along the same lines as the original female â??mother plantâ? you took the cutting from. I know guys who have gotten a hold of a really good plant, and have kept the mother vegetating literally for several years, taking clones and growing crops, all the while keeping the mother plant at 100%. I know of one guy who had a really good strain of humbolt greenbud back in the day that he kept vegetating for several years. He decided to take the family on vacation, and asked a good friend of ours to pop in a couple of times a day and tend to it while he was away. Well the guy ended up going to JAIL, and in the two weeks they were gone on vacation, the mother plant and her children died. It was a good thing he gave several cuttings of this mother to a good friend of his ( namely me) or that specific stain and quality of bud would have been gone forever.

Anyway, enough storytelling.

The following process can be used to clone a cannabis plant once it has been determined to be a female. The female pistils will be clearly visible on the plant, so there shouldnâ??t be any problem identifying the plants sex.

It is EXTREMELY important to make sure that everything is CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN when getting ready to start cloning. Its important to make sure to wash everything your planning on using in your endeavor with either bleach or alcohol, and also to make sure your hands are CLEAN. I cant emphasize this enough. Ive seen whole â??cropsâ? of clones lost because this little bit of info wasnâ??t followed. Some guys use latex or nitril gloves to ensure they donâ??t contaminate their cuttings. Personally, I donâ??t, but to each his own.

These are the items youll need:

Rooting hormone gel or rooting hormone powder. (This comes in many different brands and configurations. I use rootone powder and megagrow hormone liquid)

NEW single edge razor blades

Medium to start your clones in ( rockwool, starter cubes,ect)

Small seed starter â??greenhouseâ? ( if you dont have one they are VERY easy to make)

Depending on conditions, weather,and the area you live, a small heating mat for keeping your clones warm.

Go to your mother plant ( preferably from a VEGATATIVE MOTHER. While you CAN clone from a flowering female, it is MUCH harder, and generally the success rate is very low) and select your â??cloneâ? what your looking for is nice new growth that hasnâ??t hardened off yet. Make sure to be gentle with our sprout and cut it clean at an angle. Also, I always keep a small bowl with a little alcohol in it, and let my razor blades â??soakâ? in it prior to and while im working. This will ensure that your razor is as germ free as possible. Do not â??saw â?? the shoot off, try to cut it off in a nice clean motion, once you have your sprout, its tme to start getting it ready to transplant. Start by removing any larger leaves around the bottom. By doing that youll be promoting more and better root growth from those areas. Some people at this point submerge their cuttings under water and cut them low again and at a slant. They say this keeps any air from getting up into the stem of the cutting, but personally, I find that doing that is an unnecessary step. To each his own I guess. Ive also personally found that if you split the cutting either in half or four ways at the bottom, it promotes faster and more root growth. Its time now to put your rooting hormone on your cutting. If your using a rooting gel, remove some of it from the container, and place it in a separate clean container. NEVER put used rooting hormone gel back into the container it came from. Take out a little at a time, use it and when your completely done, discard any left over gel. Coat your cutting all the way up to the point you removed the larger leaves. If your using a rooting powder, dampen your cuttings stalk and dust it well.

Now your ready to put your cutting into your growing medium. If you use soil, make sure and pre-make your hole, put your cutting in, and just lightly place the dirt around it as you donâ??t want to rub off any of your rooting compound!...when you water it, it will settle the soil around your cuttings base. When using rockwool, I put a small hole in the top,place the cutting in and gently â??pushâ? around the cutting, forcing the rockwool around the point that the cutting enters the block.

Place your newly created clones into your mini â??greenhouseâ? and water well. I generally drain all the water that settles to the bottom out when using soil, and place the lid on. When using rockwool, I leave about 1/2/â? of water in the bottom of the greenhouse and let the RW blocks â??wick upâ? the moisture. Place the lid on your clones and your all done!

Make sure and keep your clones in a well lit but indirectly lighted area. Each day, I take the lid off of my makeshift â??greenhouseâ? and tap out any accumulated moisture I may have inside the top. This not only helps prevent mould and other harmful crap, but also gives your clones the opportunity to breath and get some fresh air.

Ive had clones root anywere from 4 days to 2 weeks, depending on strain, conditions,ect. After about 4-5 days, when you remove your lid, start checking for roots that are developing and growing out of your growing medium. Once you start seeing quite a few roots, start popping the lid off in a warm shady area with indirect light, so your new girls will start to â??harden offâ? a bit. During this time, make sure that your growing medium does not dry out, or you might as well pitch the whole batch and start over, as at this point the roots are very fine and tender and are easly killed by drying out. When you think your clones are hardened off and have plenty of roots to sustain them, instead of planting them in your favorite soil wait another 3 to 4 days. Iâ??ve seen many a clone die or shock out because they were transplanted to fast. Cannabis plants are generally VERY hearty, and can take a lot of abuse, but even so, you can kill them at the snap of the fingers!

Also remember, if your green thumb isnâ??t as green as youd like everyone to believe, you can always bud your mother plant out, harvest her, and then BRING HER BACK TO A VEGETATIVE STATE.

Another thing you can do if your not into cloning like that is the poor mans cloning method.iv e used it several times over the years. Once you harvest your plants, select some larger side shoots and cut them. These can be anywere from a few inches to a couple of feet. Trim any large leaves off of the bottom 1/3rd of the â??switchâ? ( as I like to call it, thanks to my mom and from when I was just a little tyke, picking them once in awhile so she could tan my hide!...mom telling ya to go pick her a switch to whoop your ass with is MUCH MUCH worse than the actual asswhoopin!)..now, I use several different methods at this point. You can split the lower 1â? or so of the stem and just stick it in a vase full of water on the windowsill. Keep the water fresh and watch it daily for roots to form. Make sure you keep your vase in an indirectly lit warm location.before long, youll see roots developing. Make sure your root system is fairly well developed before transplanting. Another thing I have been known to do if im trying to root quickly is to mix a weak solution of a plant growth hormone called â??megagrowâ? ( The Good Shit, also great for soaking and sprouting your seeds) that contains â??gibberellic acidâ? ( which is derived from seaweed,powerful stuff) . I mix it about 1 tablespoon +/- per 1 gallon of water, and use it in place of regular water in my vase. Roots generally are going strong within 5-7 days. Once your â??switchâ? is growing well, plant it in your favorite medium.depending on how big of a switch you started with, veg it for a couple of weeks and reflower

Hope this has helped some of you newbies out. Ive tried to keep it as simple as possible, cause it IS simple to do.its not rocket science or algebra.

(mods, if youd like to pin this, feel free.......i have other how tos i will post in the future of everyone likes this one)