How many times can a plant be cloned?

[PJ Diaz]

Loved this article man!

Thanks for article, very informative.

Sure thing. Some people laugh at this theory, but it's hard to argue with observable and documented science. Genetic mutations are much more common than many people think. It's the main reason why identical twins are not identical.

 

[Southernontariogrower]

Sure thing. Some people laugh at this theory, but it's hard to argue with observable and documented science. Genetic mutations are much more common than many people think. It's the main reason why identical twins are not identical.

Grew 7 cuts off one mother, not one was the exact same, some noticable differences

 

[mudballs]

The science is still young on all of this, but here's a fun article: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.11.430823v2.full

Nice

we called over 6 million sequence variants based on a published reference genome

We compared the variants among the samples and uncovered that nearly 600K (34%) were unique to the top while the bottom only contained 148K (12%) and middle with 77K (9%) unique variants.
Im stoned what would the math be?
10,000?
Grow xxx amount of plants, top and clone each, guaranteed a meaningful mutation.

 

[Gumdrawp]

Now I've heard of people keeping a mother plant for up to ten years, and I understand that she could make hundreds if not thousands of clones in that time. My question goes in another direction. I have a girl that seeds are no longer available for. The breeder has passed (RIP Subcool) so there is no chance of starting with new seeds. Instead of keeping a mother alive and having her get humongous I have been taking clones from plants before flipping to flower. I am now around ten "generations" into this process. So I've got a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone. Can I keep doing this forever? Will there be any loss of quality/potency over time?

I've been on a 4-5 cycle/year schedule for 8 years with my longest lasting strain now, around 6 and 3 on my other 2. So I'm somewhere around the 35th-40th generation, I can't say that I see less vigorous growth or worse flower at all at this point but I definitely lost some of the symmetrical branching that I used to see, it makes training a bit different but it's no real change to the quality of the plant in my experience.

The longer you keep a strain though the more likely you are to pick up a systemic pathogen so it's important to be clean while taking cuttings etc.

 

[Applechewer]

Sure thing. Some people laugh at this theory, but it's hard to argue with observable and documented science. Genetic mutations are much more common than many people think. It's the main reason why identical twins are not identical.

What I thought was interesting was the fact that the top of the mother clones were stronger DNA sequences than the lower sections. Makes sure I’ll be using the tops of my clones for future moms! Lots of good info in there

 

[Trippster62]

Good news (maybe)
I thInk she may have thrown a nanner. I gifted a little of my precious Vanilla Tart and he thinks he found a viable seed. He said he thinks he ground up and rolled another, and I just found a preemie .
Hopefully I'll find a few viable seeds and be better prepared for being able to keep these genetics around for a long time.

 

[xtsho]

Frontiers | Editorial: Ecoepigenetics in Clonal and Inbreeding Plants: Transgenerational Adaptation and Environmental Variation

www.frontiersin.org

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4292151/