First cloning attempt; please help :)

[Greengroove]

Ok so tonight is the night! My first attempt at cloning.

This is one of my plants for learning. It's a bit over 1 month old and it has suffered from some nutrient overdose roughly 2 weeks ago.
I know I'm learning slowly... She recovered pretty well tho so I am optimistic.

What do you think. Is it ok to go ahead with cloning?
Where should I make the incisions? Here's some pics. Any advice will be much appreciated.

I am going to do a cut on 5 or 6 of them. Like I said this is supposed to be a test to get some practice at it.



Have a good one everybody

 

[Sand4x105]

This is how I do it… Others do it different…


However…when you find a way that gives you 100% Use it…




My Cloning Technique:


First Wash my hands with rubbing alcohol…


I then select a great little branch, between 2” and 6” [long], with at least two nodes to go under medium…


My Medium is: 50% MG Seedling Soil/20% Vermiculite/30% Perilite…Percentage may vary…


Cups-Dixie or equal I like the 12-16 oz kind, holes in bottom…


I cut branch off with a very sharp razor blade or equal…


I re-trim cut to a 45 degree just below the node to be under medium…between the two nodes to go under medium, I pull off growth, and shred it carefully…from one node to another…




If you use snips of any kind you may experience clone loss [scissors or snips will crush the part to be cloned, so you must use razor to cut off]…If you loose one-two out of ten, and you use snips, that is why… Spring/Summer/Fall I loose zero %, even with one node under, and trying to clone an ugly stick, it still roots… This technique is idiot proof, cause at times… am an idiot…




I remove any extra leaves, and trim remaining leaves to fit the inside of my clear Dixie [party] cup top…


I take my medium, and use a fine spray bottle with water and Super Thrive and mist my medium [mist medium, not clone]…My medium stays moist for the first week…


I then take a wood skewer and make a hole in middle of my medium for clone cut, hole is just slightly larger than clone shaft…


I then mist/spray the soil mix a few times again…


My cuttings have been ‘soaking’ in a mixture of Water and Super thrive [Super Thrive has been proven to add to rapid root growth…and that’s about all]


I now take cutting and Dip it in my [active ingredient] Indole-3-Butyric Acid powder, covering up to where I plan on putting it under soil…[dry rooting powder]


The hole in soil is just larger than the cuttings to be put in soil…


The clone is then inserted into hole, and medium/soil is compressed against the inserted branch…and I continue to compress the medium around inside of Dixie cup as to not let there be any air bubbles between soil and Clone powder/clone gel…


Sometimes I do 3 or 4 at a time, I’ve done up to ten clones at a time…


The clone in soil is now watered again, with the water super thrive mix they were soaking in before insertion…


I now take a clear 10 oz plastic ‘party’ cup and notch bottom [you do not want air tight] and use it as a clear lid on top of my clone cup…


I now put them on my clone rack two inches from under Aquarium grow lights, with some 22 watt CFL’s 4-6” in front of them…


Day one- Mist soil 1-2 more times, some times clone droops, I use skewers and tooth picks to prop up…if it happens


Day two through seven- Mist two to three times the soil only, not the plant!


Clear dome stays on for one week/seven days only off for spraying soil…


Day Eight- they are put under brighter/higher wattage CFL’s and watered/mist soil daily [twice if dry] with a nice water soluble fert at 25% strength…


Days 8-14 Water as needed…


Day 14-20 ready for trans plant…






Good Luck everyone, like I said, fool and idiot proof... cause well, at times I am....


Oh yea… cheap also…Ha!

 

[Sand4x105]

As soon as your little plant gets a branch with at least 3 sets of nodes, two sets above, and one set [two] under medium...

 

[Greengroove]

Is the top of the pic considered 1 or 2 nodes?
I have to cut just under a node... For the bonsai mother this is considered a topping right? so should remove the inter node below the clone cut?

ps
I have all the proper tools but I wont be using any rooting agent.

THANKS

 

[Grandmah]

From the looks of your picture it looks like you can only take one clone at the moment, from the top. The secondary branching is just starting to come in. Just work with the top until the secondary branches are ready. I prefer to clone using root riot cubes turned upside down, a dome, and a heating mat. Good luck

 

[Greengroove]

Actually I have noticed that I have a lot of perfect side branches on some of the other ladies.
I'll be doing 8 clones.

Thanks guys!

 

[dubcoastOGs]

If you wanted to, you could easily pull 6 clones from that first plant no problem.

I think cloning is really easy. Not that I'm all mighty cloner, but I think the biggest mistakes I see people make are over-complicating things. There's all that fancy stuff out there, cleverly marketed, and strongly pushed from hydro stores. Natures been doing this stuff for a long time. It never needed anything fancy. Niether should you.

Keep things simple. stay as sterile as possible. Mind what you touch with your bare fingers. Use brand new uncoated razor blades everytime. Take your time, you don't have to rush. It's important to minimize air exposure to the cut to be as short as possible. Just get a cup, filled with ph adjusted water. After you take each cut, just place it in the cup immediately. Once you have all your cuttings taken, and sitting in the cup of water. then you can start dipping them in some rooting gel (just get it, it's worth it, and lasts forever if you store it right, and don't contaminate it) and place them gently into your medium. I stay way from rockwool, that stuff is garbage. The little schultz peat pucks from home depot aren't that great either in my experience. not horrible, but not great. Go to your local hydro store, and pick up some Root Riot cloning cubes, or something like it. These things kick ass. I soak them in RO water, they seem to keep a stable ph, and I only use a little rooting gel (it really doesn't matter which kind). I dome them in a tray, inside of a larger plastic bin (light proof), with a CFL at the top. I leave them alone for 4 days, and come back to some healthy white roots.

After a while, you can just start to clone anything. The more you stop caring, the higher your success rates get.

You should only ever need to purchase 1 or 2 of a strain in clone, as you'll just grow it and clone the shit out of it yourself. People paying $15/clone and buying 30-50 are fucking retarded.

I got some raw cuts they other day, $10 bucks for 3 cuts/3 different strains. I took them home, and pulled 9 of my own cuts from what they would have rooted.

teach a man to clone, right? or something like that

Goodluck man! give those plants hell!

 

[Greengroove]

Nothing but love for the plants!

Will update and maybe post some more pics in a few days. I made 9 clones. Fingers xed!
Thank you all. I'll get some rooting agent for the next time.

 

[dubcoastOGs]

looking good man, proper, healthy looking cuts. Now just leave em alone for a while and dont poke and prod them looking for roots. Let them build their environment inside their dome, and just let them do their thing. I think you'll do pretty good this first time. It may take a bit longer without a rooting agent. But they'll get there.

*remove all that excess water that they're sitting in. Until there's roots, the plants will absorb moisture through their leaves. You cut the tips of your leaves cause leaves lose most their moisture at the tips. Those cubes will stay moist enough from the humidity inside the dome. Just stop opening the dome

 

[bigsteve]

I don't see any of those plants successively give up clones for weeks. You could top each plant by taking the main cola. But that just slows down your timeline. Using side branches as clones wait until the cutting's are at least a good 1/8 inch diameter. If you wait until the clone is big enough to have a hole running through the main stem your odds of success go way up. I like donor moms to be close to 6 weeks in dirt or older before I use them to donate. The phenotype you show reflects a tall, skinny plant. I would have topped or FIM'd her during week 2-3 in dirt -- as soon as I could detect the tall, scrawny phenotype. BigSteve.

 

[Greengroove]

The main purpose here for me is to learn how to clone. Never done it before. The next batch is the one that really matters. I am only interested in a true medical marihuana and this strain is not.
So this time its just a lesson in cloning. My other babies "CBD Nordle" are now about 2 weeks old.

Thanks for all the help

 

[Jack Harer]

There are no viable clone sites that I can see. In the second pic, 3 nodes down from the top, there are 2 tiny branches forming in the axillary area. THESE will become viable clones when they have a couple nodes on them. It's way too early for this plant.

I use Jiffy peat pellets, expanded with a very dilute solution of Miracle Gro Rooting and Starter Plus (Like 1/8th strength) I also use Greenlight rooting powder. Once you have cut the clone, dip the stem in water about 3 in, then dip it in the rooting powder and put it in the expanded pellet. Do this for all your clones, then put the humidity dome on and LEAVE THEM ALONE! Put the tray under a low wattage floro or a couple of low wattage CFLS on 24/7. If temps are cool, get a reptile heat mat or better still a proper propagation heat mat. Also, many garden supply stores sell a 6" high humidity dome. I suggest you get one. If you do this, keep 'em warm, mist them every couple of days, you'll get almost 100% success rate, Roots within 10 days or less.

 

[Clankie]

Yeah, I'll throw in my vote for no clones w/ less than three nodes on the branch. You can use smaller ones, but your strike rate will go way down. One handy alternative to expensive cloning options is the Aloe Vera plant, the gel from the leaves can be a very successful rooting agent. And don't expect to see roots in less than a week. Some strains take a loooong time to clone, as long as the leaves are green and the stem is firm to the touch (not brown or grey or squishy) then you can just leave 'em in the cubes. Some of the pure indica strains I have run in the past have taken 20+ days to put roots down when first grown from seed.

 

[spek9]

I'm too with the no sites crowd. If at all, the top could be cropped as a single clone, but then you're just stunting the growth for the proper clone sites.

However, it's worth the learning experience; you'll find this out yourself quickly

-spek

 

[blowincherrypie]

If you wanted to, you could easily pull 6 clones from that first plant no problem.

Shullbit..

 

[Greengroove]

Will let you know what happens in a few days

I realize the plants were immature but this was just a learning experiment for me. Besides there was quite a few side branches on the other plants (not on pics).

 

[Sand4x105]

What you are going to tell us, is either BS.... or that you failed...
Running clones on a plant that can not give you more than one clone and for you to practice on it...
What are you going to practice? How to FAIL at cloning?
You say, you have never cloned before....
Really.... and you are or have cloned this little plant 6 times? Now? You trying to clone a leaf?
You are BS'ing... Or just practicing failure...
I'd say good luck, however, luck will not fix what you need....
Which is it?

 

[Greengroove]

@Sand4x105: Please don't be a dick.

I said I will report what happened after 10-14 days.

Now please read:
The plant on the picture in the 1st post is just one plant and it's the smallest of the bunch. In total I have 6 plants!
I took 6 tops. I wanted to top them anyway. And I took 3 clones from some of the side branches on some other plants that are not on the picture.
I need to learn the procedure so I will be ready when my other plants mature in about 2 months.
My goal here is not getting the biggest possible crop because the strain is not medical.
I want to be ready for the game when my CBD Nordle plants mature.

capisch?

 

[Sand4x105]

I am being a realist....
If ten people with experience tell you to wait to clone, and you go on ahead and do what you want anyway against the ideas and wishes/judgement of the RIU community, then sir, I say you are the one being a dick... Have a nice day, I doubt you will report on your failed attempt...
If ten peeps in your mini van tell you turn right, and your GPS tells you to turn right, and you turn left....
You sir have the problem, not us....
I hate to see anyone waste their time...
Good Luck in your trying to clone...
I mean it... GOOD LUCK!

 

[dubcoastOGs]

Shullbit..

Lol, really. Each of those nodes could be a clone. You don't have to cut secondary growth. You are allowed to kill a plant to get clones. You don't have to do this non-destructively. It's all circumstantial, but I guarantee at least 6 clones, I make those cuts all the time. There are no rules, no size limitations, or required node counts. Get real. It's not cloning monkeys.