Can I take cuttings/clones after switching to 12/12?

It takes about 2 weeks to start flowering after switching to 12/12 to my understanding. Within this time, is it a good time to take cuttings or should it be done definitely before swtiching to 12/12 in order to not having to re-veg them from flowering stage?

What if I don't know yet if my plants are male or female? I want to take cuttings from a female plant.

Yes you can & some say they root faster when they have been put into 12/12. I have taken cuts that started budding but it was one of the lower branches that would have gotten trimmed regardless. When it rooted it took about week 1/2 to 2 weeks to revert back to veg growth & stop flowering.

Takes a bit more time but now a days I clone 1st so I dont lose potential keepers.

You're better to take them before they start flowering but in a pinch to save a strain/pheno you can certainly take the cuts at 2 weeks. Regardless even after a week they will have started the transition to flower. That means they'll take longer to root, they'll go through 2-3 weeks of reverting back and looking like mutants. Then they'll start to veg normally.

There have been claims of these "monster crop" clones (clones in flowering) generating more branches and yield. I say they can do that (generate more side branching) but overall they tend to be weaker plants and not worth the extra time to revert to veg. If I cut some of these clones to save a pheno I'll root it, grow it out enough to generate some normal branches and clone it again, then flower out those clones.

GroErr said:

You're better to take them before they start flowering but in a pinch to save a strain/pheno you can certainly take the cuts at 2 weeks. Regardless even after a week they will have started the transition to flower. That means they'll take longer to root, they'll go through 2-3 weeks of reverting back and looking like mutants. Then they'll start to veg normally.

There have been claims of these "monster crop" clones (clones in flowering) generating more branches and yield. I say they can do that (generate more side branching) but overall they tend to be weaker plants and not worth the extra time to revert to veg. If I cut some of these clones to save a pheno I'll root it, grow it out enough to generate some normal branches and clone it again, then flower out those clones.

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@Helmut79 I hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread for a moment but I have a related question and @GroErr seems to be the chap to ask.
I have a 3x2x3 prop tent and a 3x3 flower tent. I have some good genetics I'm about to run. All regs. I can flower 3 plants at a time in 3g pots. I plan to drop 6 seeds.
What is the best time to clone and what is the best way to sex/flower and keep potential mothers depending on results? What do you flower, cloned or seeded plant?

Yep they'll root but sometimes ya have to reveg...

Yes you can , but you really want to do it before the flip, and what does it matter male, female just cut the clones of it out of it shows male

A week or two really is not that big of a deal. Just takes longer for the cuttings to root and reveg, that's all. The farther into bloom you go, the longer it takes to turn them around, and it's not a bad idea to take extras in case some don't make it. A friend of mine had some outdoor plants that he wanted to clone, so I took some cuts for him last month. They were about 6 or 7 weeks in, and I lost 5 of the 7 clones. 2 of them are doing well, but 1 of those 2 took almost 3 weeks to develop healthy roots.

In order to save space, I'll often wait until seedlings show sex before cloning them. I can usually have the clones turned around in time to take more cuts off of them for the next run.

I have taken clones up to nearly 3 weeks into 12/12, with no ill effects.

Chef420 said:

@Helmut79 I hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread for a moment but I have a related question and @GroErr seems to be the chap to ask.
I have a 3x2x3 prop tent and a 3x3 flower tent. I have some good genetics I'm about to run. All regs. I can flower 3 plants at a time in 3g pots. I plan to drop 6 seeds.
What is the best time to clone and what is the best way to sex/flower and keep potential mothers depending on results? What do you flower, cloned or seeded plant?

Click to expand...

I clone them as soon as they get enough nodes if it's a new strain/seed, some sex early enough in party cups, some take longer so I'll typically up-pot them to 1gal's and they'll stay in there until I can sex them, then grow them out enough to cut 2-3 clones.

I don't keep mothers, my aero cloner is pretty well 100% success so I just take cuts before I flip. The odd time that those haven't rooted I'll take flowering clones at 2-3 weeks to save it. I had a pump go once while I was away and had to re-clone all of what I had in flowering, in the spring I had a power failure for 2 days and lost a couple so cut them from the flowering clones. Barring exceptions though, I can't justify the extra space needed to keep mothers.

I grow both, seeds to eventually find keepers, clones from my keepers. Like right now I'm flowering 3 new seedlings and 1 clone.

For clones, I've recently been cloning some of my clones while they're still in party cups to save space and up-potting. I super-crop them while they're still in the cups, wait a week or so for new shoots to pop and clone them. I have about 20 strains/phenos going at any one time so mothers are not an option with the space I have available.

Here's 4x super-cropped party cup clones ready to clone-the-clone

Thanks for the answers.

But where is the line between flowering and vegging after switching to 12/12?

If I don't want to re-veg them, when is the last chance?

Is it few days after switching or is it a week or something?

Helmut79 said:

Thanks for the answers.

But where is the line between flowering and vegging after switching to 12/12?

If I don't want to re-veg them, when is the last chance?

Is it few days after switching or is it a week or something?

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There is no line. It just gradually gets harder and harder to do as you get later into flower. Week 1 - easy. Week 12 - really difficult.

You don't really have a "last chance." Theoretically, you could clone a branch from a plant that you're harvesting. It'd just be really difficult. Anything within the first couple of weeks should be really easy, and it just gradually gets harder.

Thank you for a nice explanation. That's clear now.

One more thing though. Is it okay if I take cuttings from the shady bottom as I'm lollipopping? Will they root and grow as well as taken from the higher branches?

Helmut79 said:

Thank you for a nice explanation. That's clear now.

One more thing though. Is it okay if I take cuttings from the shady bottom as I'm lollipopping? Will they root and grow as well as taken from the higher branches?

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I find that the thicker branches usually clone better, but I don't think it makes a significant difference. I always do exactly the same thing - use lower branches. In some ways, that may even be better, because the leaves are smaller. I clip larger leaves anyway, but still.

Again, thanks for the response.

One more thing.

What if I'd take cuttings like 3 weeks into 12/12. As I understand it would take them 2-3 weeks to start vegging again. Does the same go with rooting? How long does it take for them to root in this case? Does rooting mean they've started vegging again?

Usually they would be taken out in about a week and first few days the tray would be totally closed - only fanning and misting once or twice a day. When should they get out of the tray in this case when they have to be re-vegged and how long for should tray be completely closed?

No, the rooting and vegging are independent processes - at least for the purposes of this discussion. They may root more slowly if they were already in bloom, but they'll start revegging within a week or so of you bumping 'em back up to 20/4. Just take them out of the tray when they're rooted, and put them in a veg chamber to finish the transition. Just treat them exactly like a normal clone that takes longer to root than most other clones.