Hello newb here! Cloning experiment.

I have no experience growing Cannabis, I stumbled into it after being an avid smoker for 20 years; I finally stuck a viable-looking seed in some dirt, and holy crap, it germinated! Things escalated, but not quickly. It was sort of a novelty in the kitchen window at first, and I neglected her for quite a while, which is another story for another day.

I have rooted exactly 1 clone, and I did it on the dirty. In soil, some soil already inhabited by another seedling previously. I cut it with scissors, stuck it in the soil, made it quite wet with tap water, put a ziplock bag over it and set it under a single 24" T5 reflector in the kitchen window for three weeks. I misted it every few days for the first two weeks. Easy Peasey Japanesey. (our tap water runs right at 7.0, every time I check it, so I wasn't flying totally blind, and I let the chlorine evaporate for a day in advance, I'm not that much of a newb)


The poor mother has been through hell because, as I said, I sort of stumbled into this in the first place. She's not likely to produce any usable bud at this point. I had some lighting mishaps, and I have no idea what else, when I went camping and left a buddy in charge last week. All the buds had rot, and the lights got left on consecutively for two days, and off for another two or maybe three! I had it on a timer but that didn't work for some reason, despite the fact that it had been running fine for me since I first set it up. Like I said, I don't know what really happened, but I came back and there was leggy vegetation growing everywhere, fungus in the buds, and my little clone was somehow overwatered, literally to death. After being pissed off for an hour or so, I decided I was going to try to start over with some new cuttings. My friend was not injured, but it was a close call.

I would like to hear experienced growers, and I know this has been beat to death, share their thoughts on cloning methods. Specifically, do you really believe there's any difference between methods, or does it come down to personal preference and experience? I have read certain strains propagate from cuttings better than others, and also that plants with Ruderalis in their pants (genes, heh) won't work for clones, I assume these things to be true. I also wonder if certain strains work better in water or soil, depending. Is there any patterns for sativa vs. indica strains that might be identifiable, as far as what cloning method seems to work best for the plants?

Regardless of all the good advice you folks probably have, I made my own little bubble cloner on the super cheap, already. I also bought some organic seedling mix by...Espoma. I have four 4 cuttings in each media, a balance of bigger and smaller ones in each. I dipped them all in Clonex gel beforehand. It appears I have embarked on a little cloning experiment. I have one 20W soft-white LED flood lamp (GE, from the grocery store, the kind you screw into a regular light socket) over each set up, which are right next to each other. That's all the light they get right now. I just set them up today, and I'm really wondering what the best lighting regimen would be for them? Perhaps if y'all have any suggestions you'd be kind enough to type them out, so I might benefit from your vast collective experience.

Thanks for reading this, I'm pretty long-winded sometimes. I have had a lot of fun with this hobby already, I can't imagine what it will be like to actually produce something, haha!

Thanks, beautiful people.

I know you wanted to hear from experienced growers and I don't think i could really call my self experienced but I thought I'd put in my two cents just because theres no harm in it but yeah I think its much more to do with the environment you give the clones rather than the method, I think it'd be a bit easier with a bubble cloner (I assume you mean aeroponic?) Just because they seem to soak up water like nobodies business and they dry out and die fast if the medium isn't wet/moist. As for the whole leaving a buddy in charge thing man I had to do the same and I came back to multiple disasters which all stemmed from, IMO, laziness. So I know exactly how you feel about that lol. Anyway I'm subbed in to see how this goes so good luck with your cloning!

Cloning isn't something that's difficult, just follow any of the established techniques and it works just fine. You need to sort out your lights, environment, and get some decent media and nutrients as a minimum rather than starting loads of clones off happily that then don't do anything.

Cool deal, kids.

Yes, I meant aeroponic @rnint. Jargon in this field may be more initially opaque and profuse than in fly fishing. I won't be leaving any buddies in charge going forward, I would have been better off letting it run unattended, I think this was a problem caused by equal parts "eager to help" and "more or less incompetent" rather than laziness, oh and alcohol. Brother loves to drink, sigh. Thanks for subbing, yo!

@beepotron, I think you made some assumptions there, but I hear what you're saying. I do have good lights, media, nutes and I have a controllable environment to work with, including separate areas for starts, veg and flower. I did not have those things at first, but I do now. My primary concern was what kind of challenges I might face with these cuttings since the mother was so deep into flower when I took them. I'm starting these clones because I don't have easy access to good seeds. I am planning on getting some seeds someday soon, but for now this is what I have to work with.

I would post my setup details, but there always seems to be some holy war waiting to erupt on internet fora when it comes to the details of someone's gear choices, and I simply do not care for that whole mess right now. I will post some pictures when I take moment to find a quick and easy way to strip exif data off of them, and when I feel like having a passionate debate, or being roundly criticized. Thanks to you both for your input.