This was stolen from SivaRyan on hg420
here's the link
Cannabis and Marijuana seeds :: HomeGrown420 - Clone Via Air-layering
and here's the post:
Clone Via Air-layering
Air-layering is a cloning method that roots the cutting fully before its ever cut from the mother, allowing massive clones to be taken without any down time- they vegetate and root simultaniously. within 2 weeks you can take a cut thats a fully rooted, thick stalked, lushly vegetated, almost 12in. tall plant, stick it in dirt and grow it.
Air layering is not a new tech, it is used often to reproduce trees, shrubs, and other plants for landscaping and agriculture. But ive never known anybody to use it on ganga(i am sure many people have), partially because of the labor involved and partly because of the lack of connection with the rest of the ag world outside of ganga that most of us have.
I have been experiencing wonderfull results in my testing of this tech, every air-layer i?ve done has taken in a week- no losses yet.
So i will outline the pros and cons of this technique and give a detailed description of how you can try this for yourselves.
I?ll try to get together a day-by-day pictoral guide if enough interest develops in the information.
From here on i?ll abrieveate "air-layering" simply as "AL", for ease.
Hope somebody can use this!
Dissadvantages(lets get the unpleasantries out of the way):
the biggest dissadvantage to AL is that you could take 10 clones in the time it takes to do 1 AL, and it takes a semi-carefull hand for alot of the work, it?s not cut-and-plug simplicity.
Also, the size of mother plants and their branches must be larger than in a normal cloning system. longer vegetation is needed between time when cutting are reaped from the mother, to produce big thick branches. it also takes a bit to get the mother to where it can produce many cuts at once. you trade an endless supply of little cuttings for a few nice plants.
so, AL is far from a good idea for commercial opperators, and maybe not for the clumsy or care-lacking either.
I?m sure you will think of others.
Advantages:
for a small grower who is limited in space, and wants just a few top-health plants for there head this allows for AMAZING clones to be taken and despite the work it will save time on your cycle.
here in the states we have plant limits on Medical permits- someplaces, like Cali, go by county regulation but most go by state regs. many people can only have 7-12 plants legally to give them there medicine...you see where i?m going, right?
untill you cut the clone from the mother its still only one plant, say you have 1 mother; 3 early flower; 3 late flower; normaly you can?t have more on your permit(and timing small harvests is a BITCH), well now you can have 6 more fully rooted plants on your mother just waiting for the first to harvest. great loophole if you ask me.
so combine the time saved on your cycle with the ability to have all your cuttings ready to plant when you harvest without risking breaking the law... and you have alot more smoke, more regularly, worry free.
furthermore, after the ALs have been set-up, they are very low maintanance and you don?t need to worry about them much- they grow vigerously.
So heres how its done:
materials you need= multi perpose clear plastic sheeting(a huge roll can be bought at a wal-mart or hardware type store for about $6), scissors, cloning gel(i use Olivias that ive doctored with a little rootone, my one exception to pure organic), twist ties, scotch tape, a small paint brush(a stick/popsicle stick works fine), some Rapid-Rooter plugs(there are many other ways but ive found this the easiest), a syringe(optional), and (oh, yeah!) a healthy female ganga plant!
Directions=
1. prep. cut a number of pieces of the plastic sheeting to about 3in. by 4in.
poke small holes it the plastic for air exchange, i use an exacto and place
holes in a 1/4in grid pattern.
Take rapid rooter plugs equal to number of ALs wanted, and, placing the scissors though the top hole of the plug to the bottom of the plug, cut the plug so that there is a open slit up the side.
2. select your greenery. find strong branches that can support weight and
are in good health with plenty of nodes and leaves. i recomend trying smaller(5-6in.) cuts the first time till you get used to the feel.
3. prep the greenery. find a node grouping that is close to the main stalk of the plant, but obviuosly not the closest(if you want the branch to veg again)
and remove the leaves from that section of the branch. you shouldnt remove material from a section larger than the length of 1 of your plugs.
take your fingernail and GENTLY scrape away the thin outer layer of this section of branch, so that you expose the thin layer of slimey green just under the surface. again, don?t expose more than can be covered by your plug. NOTE: for ALs larger than 6in. i use 2 plugs and expose twice as much stem/nodes accordingly. this gives the large ones the root mass they need to transfer w/o complications.
4. using your paint brush or stick coat the exposed plant area with your cloning gel generously. don?t leave any area that you?ve scraped open for contamination, this isn?t common but better safe that sorry.
5. wet your plug completely and, opening it by the slit, wrap it around the exposed branch.
6. wrap a plastic square around the plug so its touching the plug all around, and covers back over itself a lttle(1/2in or so). take two twisties and secure the plastic around the plug at both ends, so the whole thing looks like big tootsie roll suspended on a stick.
take a small piece of tape and place it so that it holds down the plastic where it folds over itself(this prevents too much moisture from being lost at the seam).
7. every 3-4 days you may need to add a little water to your AL (if you poked too many/big holes it your plastic, or have a hot or very dry room-done right no watering is needed for at least week 1)
this is done easily by sticking a blunt-tipped syringe carefully into the ALs plug and squeezing out a little water.
8.this is the good part.
After about 2 weeks(depends on strain) your little AL should be nearly rootbound in it?s little pouch. cut it from the mother just below the pouch and cover the open wound(on the AL) with your cloning gel.
unwrap it, stick it in the dirt, and wait a few days before fertilizing.
thats it. it may look shocked the first couple days after transplant(may need to be in indirect light for this spell, depends on your lights), but by day 3 it should be happy and then.....BOOM......no more turn around, just pure uninhibited growth.
If you follow all these directions I am certain that even a cloning newbe can end the 2 weeks with a(or many) beautiful, lush 6in. tall, 7 tier, branching plants.
you just cant take a clone that big without losing time(and alot of clones), none of my freinds with pricey top-end cloning gear can. not that fast. just think about how friggin long it takes to get a seedling that big.
there is no other way to get these results. the new rootmass is fed directly by the mother-soil and the branch never stops vegging in full direct light. it?s rooting/vegging/feeding/photosynthesizing all the time. no break in continuity.....hmmmm..... that reminds me- NOTE: when selecting your branch keep in mind it may be much larger by the time you cut it off!!
well, i think that covers it. please ask questions. I hope there are people out there, particularily Med growers, who can benifit from this incredible technique.
Maholo, Sivaryan
