dreamyhigh
Member
Just wanted to spread a little how to with some recent success...
This was done with unknown commercial grade seeds/strains - nothing fancy or exotic about it, but it works!
Before you start, You'll want to fill up a few gallons of water and a spray bottle and let them sit out for at least 24 hours, allowing excess chlorine (and other things i'm sure) to evaporate and allowing the water to get to room temperature.
Things you'll need:
a healthy, bushy mother plant or plants
rubbing alcohol
fresh razorblade or razor sharp edge
surface (a block of scrap wood is perfect for this job)
2 containers (size is dependent on how many cuttings you want)
- 1 drainable container for the soil
- 1 container & lid for placing the other container within
water & spray bottle
rooting hormone
bowl of water
perlite
vermiculite
sphagnum peat moss
(you can pick up small bags of each of these at your local hardware/garden store)
Step 1
Take your rubbing alcohol and sanitize your hands, your razorblade, and your working surface! This is a must or you could spread disease to your very vulnerable cuttings.
Get a bowl and fill it with some water.
Next you will want to take your spray bottle and spray down your mother plant til she's is dripping wet.
Step 2
Place your perlite into a drainable container and flush it with water til it's nice and soggy. Add an equal amount of vermiculite, and a couple scoops of sphagnum peat moss and mix it all up. Place this into your container, but don't pack it too firmly. Find a pen or marker or something, and poke holes down into your wet medium. The hole should be big enough that when you place the stems in, it won't rub off your rooting hormone.
Step 3
Start at the bottom of the plant and count up a few nodes, and look for healthy branchings with 4 (3 is okay) nodes of their own. Take your razor and cut at a 45 degree angle right at the main stem, and place your cutting down on your surface. You will want to work quickly here, and take off the excess leaves by sliding your razor blade down the side of the stem, leaving only two canopy leaves at the top of the cutting. Make a second 45 degree angle cut just 1/4" below the first node, and place your stem into the bowl of water, at least 1" deep.
Step 4
Dip your cutting's stem into rooting hormone straight from the bowl of water, allowing it to really cake on - anything that is covered with the hormone will become a root system. Gently place your cutting's stem into the hole you made, and use your fingers to squeeze the wet soil over the opening of the hole til it is nicely covered.
Step 5
Mix 1/2 teaspoon of rooting hormone into 1 gallon of water that has been sitting out for 24 hours, and SHAKE WELL! When the water should look a little milky afterwards.
Place your container inside of your 2nd container and pour the hormone water into the larger container, to about 1/2" deep. Place your lid over top, and now you are ready to put your cuttings under a light source. Florescents work wonderfully - but naturally a higher powered light is going to do MUCH better for your new cuttings.
Step 6
Over the next couple of days, you will want to check on your cuttings often (4-6 hours), opening the lid for air exchange, as well as spraying them with your water bottle. This is VERY important because your new cuttings have no roots with which they can deliver water to it's leaves.. Replace the lid each time! your girls need humidity and lots of moisture to grow root systems. You shouldn't need to replace the water in the bottom, but if it does dry out, you'll want to add more water.
Notes:
It should take no more than 2 weeks for roots to be developing (like crazy, mind you)
It is safe to transplant after 2 weeks, but 3 weeks is even better - by then your cuttings should be sprouting new nodes & leaves, and your roots coming out of the container bottom!
If you are taking cuttings from unsexed plants (best results), it will be very wise to label which plants you took cuttings from, and each cutting so the mother plant and all of its cuttings co-incide. Duct tape and a marker is your best friend here! Label your mother first, then with each cutting you take from that plant, label them the same. When you move on to the next mother, make a new label! It's never a guarantee you'll get females if you;re just starting this out.. so the labeling will come in handy when you need to destroy the male clones.
I have been experimenting with giving plants a regular schedule of rooting hormone with feedings in water because it seems to have made a big difference - but be warned that it is EASY to burn your girls this way! So use in very small amounts to see how yours do.
and now for some pictures!
containers and medium
males & their root structures after 2 weeks
transplanted girls
This was done with unknown commercial grade seeds/strains - nothing fancy or exotic about it, but it works!
Before you start, You'll want to fill up a few gallons of water and a spray bottle and let them sit out for at least 24 hours, allowing excess chlorine (and other things i'm sure) to evaporate and allowing the water to get to room temperature.
Things you'll need:
a healthy, bushy mother plant or plants
rubbing alcohol
fresh razorblade or razor sharp edge
surface (a block of scrap wood is perfect for this job)
2 containers (size is dependent on how many cuttings you want)
- 1 drainable container for the soil
- 1 container & lid for placing the other container within
water & spray bottle
rooting hormone
bowl of water
perlite
vermiculite
sphagnum peat moss
(you can pick up small bags of each of these at your local hardware/garden store)
Step 1
Take your rubbing alcohol and sanitize your hands, your razorblade, and your working surface! This is a must or you could spread disease to your very vulnerable cuttings.
Get a bowl and fill it with some water.
Next you will want to take your spray bottle and spray down your mother plant til she's is dripping wet.
Step 2
Place your perlite into a drainable container and flush it with water til it's nice and soggy. Add an equal amount of vermiculite, and a couple scoops of sphagnum peat moss and mix it all up. Place this into your container, but don't pack it too firmly. Find a pen or marker or something, and poke holes down into your wet medium. The hole should be big enough that when you place the stems in, it won't rub off your rooting hormone.
Step 3
Start at the bottom of the plant and count up a few nodes, and look for healthy branchings with 4 (3 is okay) nodes of their own. Take your razor and cut at a 45 degree angle right at the main stem, and place your cutting down on your surface. You will want to work quickly here, and take off the excess leaves by sliding your razor blade down the side of the stem, leaving only two canopy leaves at the top of the cutting. Make a second 45 degree angle cut just 1/4" below the first node, and place your stem into the bowl of water, at least 1" deep.
Step 4
Dip your cutting's stem into rooting hormone straight from the bowl of water, allowing it to really cake on - anything that is covered with the hormone will become a root system. Gently place your cutting's stem into the hole you made, and use your fingers to squeeze the wet soil over the opening of the hole til it is nicely covered.
Step 5
Mix 1/2 teaspoon of rooting hormone into 1 gallon of water that has been sitting out for 24 hours, and SHAKE WELL! When the water should look a little milky afterwards.
Place your container inside of your 2nd container and pour the hormone water into the larger container, to about 1/2" deep. Place your lid over top, and now you are ready to put your cuttings under a light source. Florescents work wonderfully - but naturally a higher powered light is going to do MUCH better for your new cuttings.
Step 6
Over the next couple of days, you will want to check on your cuttings often (4-6 hours), opening the lid for air exchange, as well as spraying them with your water bottle. This is VERY important because your new cuttings have no roots with which they can deliver water to it's leaves.. Replace the lid each time! your girls need humidity and lots of moisture to grow root systems. You shouldn't need to replace the water in the bottom, but if it does dry out, you'll want to add more water.
Notes:
It should take no more than 2 weeks for roots to be developing (like crazy, mind you)
It is safe to transplant after 2 weeks, but 3 weeks is even better - by then your cuttings should be sprouting new nodes & leaves, and your roots coming out of the container bottom!
If you are taking cuttings from unsexed plants (best results), it will be very wise to label which plants you took cuttings from, and each cutting so the mother plant and all of its cuttings co-incide. Duct tape and a marker is your best friend here! Label your mother first, then with each cutting you take from that plant, label them the same. When you move on to the next mother, make a new label! It's never a guarantee you'll get females if you;re just starting this out.. so the labeling will come in handy when you need to destroy the male clones.
I have been experimenting with giving plants a regular schedule of rooting hormone with feedings in water because it seems to have made a big difference - but be warned that it is EASY to burn your girls this way! So use in very small amounts to see how yours do.
and now for some pictures!
containers and medium
males & their root structures after 2 weeks
transplanted girls
