Storing Clones?

I cut my clones a couple of nodes longer than usual, seal them into freezer bags, stick them in a plastic lunch box, bag the box and write the date on top, stick it in the crisper draw (7C) for up to 8 weeks. Personally, I haven't gone further than 8 weeks.

When it's time for cloning I let the lunch box acclimatise to room temperature before opening, mist the foliage, recut the stems, and then it's the same process as cutting fresh material.

Takes a few days longer to root and a few days longer to acclimatise to lower humidity, but it's a mighty useful way of making sure you always have clone stock.

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Originally Posted by skooozer

that sounds great. I plan to travel overseas and I would like to clone my plant and store them until I get back which could be 2 or 3 months. So if I stor them in the fridge like with your method will I need to do anything like water them each week etc? The reason I ask is that I won't have anyone in my house to do this while I'm away so I need a method where I can leave them stored for a few months without any caring.

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Sorry I did not give you an answer sooner.

You need to do nothing to them, they are vacum sealed. Water has been forced into the cutting from the cut end. Just be carefull not too pull too much vacum or the internal cells may be damaged.
BTW: propagated some at 195 days (6 1/2 months) 95% success rate.

SarahLouise's tip to cutting a little longer first and re-trim the cut is excellent advice too.

:D

I'm going to uy one of those vacuum sealers today and try it out this afternoon! I can't wait! I have 40 m39's that have started the 12/12 today, and are due for a trim on the bottom. (They're under 4 1000w hortiluxes)

They're about 16 inches tall, with anywhere between 6-12 heads each. So, I'm going to cut the lower stems and remove all the little leaves and budding shoots so as to leave about 6-8 stems with 7-8 nodes on each.


I figure that should leave me with about 100 cuttings, more or less. I'd like to keep these for at least two months, and then start to root them for spring. This vacuum sealer idea seems great! I'll come back on and let you guys know how it works for me.

Oldmac, do you have any idea what that would be in degrees? I tried to figure it out but its making my brain hurt too much. I'm going to experiment here pretty soon, and I'll post my results. I'll be using a foodsaver jar attachment and a brake bleeding pump that has a vacuum gauge, cheap, simple, and might just be really effective. I'd like to try 1/30th atmosphere to start with if only I could figure out where thats at on the gauge.

any updates on this thread?

what kind of updates you looking for??

Well anyone get past 6 months preserving clones? When storing in the jar, does it need to be vacuum sealed? and the jars that are vacuum sealed with a bit of water they dont get opened at all for fresh air right?