When to clone

C

catgirl

Well-Known Member
Ok I've read the threads and need some guidance here please :-|

My (silver pearl) baby is 5.5 weeks old, only 8" tall and bushing out with about 5 nodes (3rd and 4th) alternating. I want to take some clones before flowing, but she doesn't seem big enough yet, and I read somewhere here today that alternating nodes mean that she has hit maturity - but my baby is well :roll: I think she is still not big enough to flower either (first time grow so don't really now).

Also she is only in an 8" pot, I have a 10" ready and getting more mix tomorrow so I feel the first thing I need to do is re-pot.

So what is a good size to take clones from her and can I hold off flowering until after cloning and where on her is the best place to take the clones from?

https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=5554
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C

catgirl

Well-Known Member
Hey are they all flowers in that last photo? Not sure whether it's my eye's :eyesmoke:the photo or buds but if bud then wow :mrgreen:
 
beenthere donethat

beenthere donethat

Well-Known Member
Give it another week or 2, catgirl. Your plant is looking great and it WILL take off and branch out very soon. Then you can take a bunch of cuts off of it.

If it were me, I would wait until the bottom branches are 4-5" long and then I'd take those. I'd then WAIT to see roots from those cuts...THEN I'd repot her and toss her into 12/12. (and if she's too tall...clone the top)

My rule is that I NEVER start flowering until I see that I have well-rooted clones to go on to the next cycle. That extra week or two SEEMS like a long time when you're anxious to "get on with it"...but believe me, the patience you show at this point in the grow will pay off for you big time in the future.

Jump the gun and end up with no rooted clones and a plant that's 3 weeks into flower and you will face an entirely different timetable than you would have had you waited for roots. Follow?

good luck

bt dt
 
VictorVIcious

VictorVIcious

Well-Known Member
His answer is right on. I wish I had listened to that when I started all most a year ago. Would have saved me about 6 months in getting the production line set up. The two weeks you wait now to get 4-6 clones instead of one, especailly in the case of plants that haven't been sexed yet, will save you money. Throwing out one male plant and 6 rapid rooter or rockwool cubes etc. is a lot less expensive than planting more seeds.
If I had made sure the clones I took were rooted before flowering I wouldn't have lost one of the strains I really liked. VV
 
beenthere donethat

beenthere donethat

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear that, VV...but it's a learning curve/process and it's something you will NEVER do again!

I feel that MOST folks here don't look to the FUTURE. They see that ONE plant growing and they think "BUD, MAN..BUD"...or "Dooood...I'm totally set for life now!" Then they flower it and see that it gives them, **at best**, a few weeks of smoke...certainly not even enough to get through to the next grow that they NOW MUST START FROM SCRATCH!

The "I'm not gonna clone this time" or "I don't know how to clone/don't want to spend the money (?) to clone" approach tells me that the grower has NO CLUE as to how the plant cycle repeats and how the grower MUST keep things going to have a continuous supply of weed.

Learning how to clone should be PRIORITY #1 ...and until a person gets the cloning process down they will spin their wheels time and time again. (asking "is this a female" on the board 50 times in a row/every grow!)

Tip: Clone some HOUSEPLANTS like creeping charlie..wandering jew...coleus...etc FIRST to LEARN the process and have your failures BEFORE cloning your pot plant and using it as the GUINEA PIG!

good luck all

bt dt
 
7xstall

7xstall

Well-Known Member
make your cuts from the lowest branches and cut where the outer layer feels the most soft...that will root much faster than a cutting that has a course, tough outer layer!!

it's definitely ok to take cutting from a plant that is in pre-flower but you only have a week or two before it starts going into total bud mode. :)


one other thing. going from an 8" to a 10" pot is not a long term fix. go big or go home, put it in the biggest pot you can get for her then let it run the course. 3-5 gal would be best.




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C

catgirl

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, wow thanks for all the good help. This is what I was wanting to hear and yes I am thinking about the next little batch to keep the ball rolling so to speak. I am going to the hardware store today and will start learning to clone on all the other little plants around the place (sound of plants scampering into hiding)... Also when I have some successful clones then I will try and stress one to herm so I can collect some seeds because I don't have a reliable supply and silver pearl is a cup winner so I don't want to loose the strain.
 
C

catgirl

Well-Known Member
Started practicing cloning today using different methods and plants to learn what works so hopefully I won't kill too many cuttings when the time comes...
 
VictorVIcious

VictorVIcious

Well-Known Member
I had to force myself to clone. One of my friend asked me, "If you try to clone and it doesn't take what have you lost?" I had to think for just a minute. What I would lose is a bottom branch that wasn't going to give any yield anyway. The next day I took 20 clones from my widow plants, and all are doing fine.
I have read about a lot of different cloning methods and all of them work. My mom used to just put slips in a glass of water in mild sunlight until they formed roots, some one on here does it that way and gets 100&#37; success. I use rapid rooters and cloning gel, a lot of folk use rockwool etc.
When ever I see questions about cloning now, the first thing that comes to mind is, "Early and often, and at least four / plant." After reading AL B's post, get a harvest every two weeks, the way it works became much clearer. VV
 
C

catgirl

Well-Known Member
Thanks Victor for the encouragment because yes I'm finding the thought of it a little scary, but I know I must clone...
 
paddy510

paddy510

Well-Known Member
my first clone is on its 8th day now and still looks healthy, no rooting hormones, in a jiffy pellet and it was about a week into flowering.
hardly an ideal method but its looking good.
the moms got even more hairs now and is at about 13" :)
 
C

catgirl

Well-Known Member
Yeah jiffy pellets. Hung with my friend who gave me the seeds and she told me exactly how she cloned and even drove me to get the jiffy pellets which I didn't have a glue about or where to get them, so now I'm a little more confident and totally :eyesmoke:


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C

catgirl

Well-Known Member
Did my first two cut 'n' clone from the bottom laterals and placed in rockwall cubes today. When the next two laterals are big enough then I plan to do the same until I have 4 successful clones before flowering.
 
C

catgirl

Well-Known Member
Here are the little cuttings after 19 hours. The left one is from a bottom sucker and the two right ones are from bottom laterals. They are sitting on a shelf above the light in the grow closet where it stays around 24 C in very dim indirect light.

 
beenthere donethat

beenthere donethat

Well-Known Member
Get em out of that standing water catgirl...

You want the cube moist..but not dripping wet. Too wet and you may see the stem rot off/turn to mush.

good luck

bt dt
 
S

stockrock

Active Member
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