Taking Clones - Is It Too Late???

Greetings!
Newbie here, first I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone on this forum for sharing their vast knowledge so freely, I truly appreciate it!

In my excitement to start my own plants, I started seeds before taking the time to read about the process from start to finish. I love gardening so didn't think it would be any different from growing other flowers/veggies, etc.

They sprouted June 6th, (Qrazy Quake, Cheese Surprise and White WidowXRoyal Hash seeds from a friend) so they're about 14-18 inches tall now. Two weeks ago I spotted a male Cheese Surprise so moved him to another room to mature so I could save the pollen. Since then I've spotted tiny, tiny dinglebops on 4 out of 5 Qrazy Quake now too but I'm not really seeing any signs of females on any of the other plants yet.

Looking on youtube this past weekend, I saw more than one video saying not to take clones from plants already showing sex so now I'm concerned that it's too late to take clones from the ones I think are female now. I see new growth in the elbows but I can't tell if that's a female forming or just new growth from pinching back. I haven't taken clones yet becuz the side shoots are really thin so I was waiting for them to grow larger.

Is it really too late for taking clones and why do you not take clones once they show sex? Haven't heard the reason why you shouldn't yet. Any help/info is appreciated!

If I understand your sources correctly, cloning should only be done before sexing?
That can't be right. You might end up cloning males. OK, if that's what you want but most don't. Amirite?

Taking clones from a Gal already Flowering can be a good thing.
Here is a pic of some clones I took after tiny buds were forming.

They are now a week and a half into flowering and each of the 2 has MANY chutes starting to stretch.
Gonna be a handful to keep happy !!!

I can't really remember where I read it or how legit it is. But it said you can take clones up to I think two weeks after showing sex or somewhere around the time that it's stretching? I mean the only real downside I can see to it is that your clone dies and your plant will slow it's growth for a tad bit. (absolute worse case it herms...)

As for Lo Budget, people take clones BEFORE sexing b/c they want to know if that plant is male or female. Clones have the same exact genetics as the plant you took it from. So if you're not sure if you wanna waste time with males and what not just take a cutting, throw it into a 12/12 and during that time, your plant will be vegging while waiting to hear back from your cutting.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help

You're absolutely right treegoesmoo. I'd forgotten about that.

Thank you all for replying!

Yodazherb, your babies are gorgeous!

Lo Budget, what treegoesmoo said is basically what I recall from the videos, to take a cutting and put it under 12/12 and they'd show their sex even before any roots appeared. Then you can remove the males and take cuttings from the females before they flower. But I don't have the equipment to keep a separate grow space to do this at the moment.

Ok, am I misinterpreting flowering and showing their sex as the same thing? Does it mean 2 different phases?

HaloKittyKitty said:

Thank you all for replying!

Yodazherb, your babies are gorgeous!

Lo Budget, what treegoesmoo said is basically what I recall from the videos, to take a cutting and put it under 12/12 and they'd show their sex even before any roots appeared. Then you can remove the males and take cuttings from the females before they flower. But I don't have the equipment to keep a separate grow space to do this at the moment.

Ok, am I misinterpreting flowering and showing their sex as the same thing? Does it mean 2 different phases?

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I believe showing sex means just either you start to see white pistils or you see balls. Female/male respectively. Flowering is when the plant is actually starting to bloom? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. So your plant can show sex after you flip to 12/12. But after it shows sex, it might push out more and more budsites before it actually starts to flower and buds start forming from those tops. In a nutshell from what I learned lol... Good luck.

Don't take my word for it, google!

Thank you, Tree! Even though I do a lot of gardening, this is kinda new to me. I've taken cuttings, split plants, etc. with other plants before but I've never really had to keep an eye out for male/female plants and make sure to separate them before. It's all good, learning something new everyday

I just recently took clones from plants that were 5 weeks into flower. They took about 3 weeks to root, but are now beautiful 12" plants. Anyone who says u cant clone once a plant is in flower is full of shit!

Take your clones, they will b just fine!

Showing sex and flowering are 2 different things. Plants can start showing sex before you switch to flowering, and these are great to take clones from. Also If you are cloning from a clone, the sex shows very early and this is still fine.

You can take clones any time really, but it is best to take clones before they start flowering, or no more than 2-3 weeks into flowering max. You can still get viable clones later, but it may take longer to root and your success rate will likely drop.

Thank ya Sweets, that's what I wanted to hear!

amgprb said:

I just recently took clones from plants that were 5 weeks into flower. They took about 3 weeks to root, but are now beautiful 12" plants. Anyone who says u cant clone once a plant is in flower is full of shit!

Take your clones, they will b just fine!

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Thank you, hbbum for the clarification. My babies are at the point I'm fairly sure of their sex with just a couple of them being shy and refusing to show me anything yet. Side branches are getting stronger day by day so I should be ready to take clones next week.

hbbum said:

Showing sex and flowering are 2 different things. Plants can start showing sex before you switch to flowering, and these are great to take clones from. Also If you are cloning from a clone, the sex shows very early and this is still fine.

You can take clones any time really, but it is best to take clones before they start flowering, or no more than 2-3 weeks into flowering max. You can still get viable clones later, but it may take longer to root and your success rate will likely drop.

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Much thanks to everyone that replied, appreciate you taking the time to do so. Hope everyone has a blessed and awesome weekend!