Cloning marijuana is the most efficient way to propagate marijuana, which is an asexual method compared to seed cultivation. For the beginner gardener, there are three methods for plant cloning – layering, cutting and grafting.
You have to produce new marijuana from the parent marijuana. Layering means growing new roots from parent stems before removal. Cutting involves cutting off the leaf, the leaf bud, the stem or the root and then sticking it into the medium. Grafting requires fusing two marijuana – the stock and the scion – to create one new marijuana.
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Complete Guide to Cloning Cannabis
Cloning Benefits
Despite the negative connotations that marijuana cloning has in the eyes of the uninitiated who equate it with animal and human cloning, marijuana cloning poses many benefits to the gardener in particular and humanity in general. Let’s just say that marijuana cloning allows for survival of the fittest in plants albeit in a non-violent way.
With cannabis cloning, you can choose the healthiest, strongest and most productive parent marijuana. In turn, you are more likely to produce only the healthiest, strongest and most productive clones. (Or whatever genetic characteristics you want your marijuana to possess) And so the cycle continues.
Another benefit with marijuana cloning is that you have almost full-grown marijuana in a short span of time like a month because you have already allowed the roots to develop.
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Now, contrast that with growing from seeds that take the time to grow to become a mere seedling. Then there is also the issue of the seedlings’ characteristics being left to chance. You never know if the marijuana you will have with seed growing will be healthy and strong even after you have done everything possible to ensure that it will be so.
Materials Necessary
Now, if you are ready for plant cloning, you need to gather the necessary materials. These include the following:
The parent marijuana must exhibit the desired characteristics for the new marijuana, which can include healthy foliage, bright colors, and sufficient productivity. Plus, the parent marijuana must be at least two months old. Creating a plant from an existing one can be very gratifying as well as economical. Commercial nurseries, farmers and gardeners alike have been using this process for centuries.
The process involves cutting the actively growing portion of a plant and planting it so that it ‘propagates’ its roots. Thus the term ‘Cutting Propagation’ also known as cloning.
Step by step
Items You’ll Need A sharp pair of garden shears, potting soil, a pot or 4″ tray, several 8oz. Foam cups, rooting hormone, The plant you want to duplicate, rubber gloves and a plastic cover for your pot or tray.
Cutting Propagation:
One you have decided which plant to duplicate, look for the actively growing leaves (Usually at the extremities). The ideal marijuana for this process are the extremities with three to four tightly spaced buds or nodes. Cut right below the densely spaced nodes. The scale is usually between one to five inches in length.
Dip the cut stem opening into the rooting hormone and plant into the potting soil about one inch deep. Loosely pack the soil evenly around the stem. If you’re planting more than one cutting space them three to four inches apart. The objective here is to propagate (Generate) new roots to support the new plant. Dipping the cuttings in a rooting hormone gives a higher percentage of success and speeds up the rooting time.
Maintain humidity level with a transparent plastic cover which will contain the humidity as well as protect the fragile plant. Should you be having a single plant, you can cut a plastic coke bottle in half and use the bottom half to cover the plant. Should you be having a batch of cuttings, then you can use a plastic bin as a temporary greenhouse. Be sure to check the humidity level of the soil.
These plants require consistent moisture to survive this stage. Within three to five weeks the new roots should be at a length of two to four inches in length. If you have planted more than one cutting, at this stage the individual marijuana should be placed into separate larger pots. Consider it their permanent home.
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Notes:
When transplanting marijuana, using as much of the contact soil around the root system will benefit the marijuana by reducing the trauma of displacement. The rooting hormone can be purchased as a solution, powder or gel. When using the solution, dip the freshly cut nodes from the existing marijuana into the solution for three seconds before you plant into the potting soil.
Many popular solutions are concentrated, so it’s important to read the instructions on the bottle. This is an important part of the process. To avoid cross contamination, use a small container in which to dip the cuttings for each species of marijuana. This will eliminate the possibility of unexpected results. The marijuana that you take the cuttings from should be healthy and should have been watered the day before.
The optimum temperature for rooting is a range between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Benefits of Cloning
Cloning marijuana can be beneficial in many ways. First, you get a plant that you know exactly how it responds and how to treat it. Secondly, you will never need to purchase that plant ever again. Most people think it is very difficult to clone marijuana and they are completely wrong.
There is just a lot of misunderstanding out in the world on methods of cloning marijuana. Most people consider plant cuttings very fragile which are the farthest thing from the truth. There are many products out there from rooting gels to humidity domes and starter cubes out there that you just don’t need.
I do my cloning indoors and use a small fluorescent light to use as a grow light. Leaving the light on 24 hours a day, so there is no need for a timer. You will also need to purchase a small Rubbermaid container which is a bit deeper than a pencil length, same width, and about a foot long.
You can use bigger containers if you want to make a lot of clones. Also stop by your local aquarium store and purchase a small air pump, an air wand that will fit bottom of your container and aquarium glue. You can purchase all of this for 20-30 dollars.
Now take the air wand and fix it to bottom of your container with the aquarium glue. You can try other types of glue, but I have found that aquarium glue holds the best. Now drill a small hole in the corner of the Rubbermaid lid to run an air line from the air pump to the air wand. Drill four holes in the lid above the air wand to stick in the cuttings. Now fill the container up full with water and place the lid back on.
Marijuana Cutting
Take a cut of a branch of your plant that is young but has developed mature leaves. Should be about 2/3 the size of a pen. When you take the cut, use a sterile pair of scissors. You can due this by placing a flame to your blade. Also, make sure it is a sharp pair that makes a quick, easy cut.
Now just place the cutting through the holes that you drilled and make sure the top of the plant stays out of the water. Now leave it alone, in about a week you should see white roots coming from the cutting. Wait until there are multiple shootings of roots that are at least an inch long to use the cutting. Some plants will take up to 3 weeks to show roots. Once your cutting is ready to place it in best medium you have prepared for use. Just take it easy and let it adapt to its new surroundings for the first week and then treat it as normal.
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Parent Plant
The “parent” marijuana ought to be no less than 2 months and solid. To begin a clone cut a short bit of a developing stem with a couple branch focuses on it or what is known as a terminal developing point. A terminal developing point is the place a leaf is joined to a stem. A few people advocate taking the cutting to begin with, then making a 45 degree cut submerged consummation at the terminal point. Evacuate the lower takes off.
Presently at this progression there are a few ways you can take in light of the sort of marijuana you are proliferating. You will require different cloning powder/gel/liquid relying upon what sort of marijuana you are cloning and what strategies you utilize. From what I have seen, the significant differences are the convergence of hormone which advances root development and the strategy for cloning.
Try not to utilize a retentive sort of froth to hold the cuttings as this can and will advance ailment and ought to be set around 1/2″ somewhere down in your developing medium. You will get about 90 percent success ratings with this method. You will always take one or two more clones than you will need and throw out the ones that don’t look as healthy. There are many of other ways to produce clones, but I have tried plenty, and this works best for marijuana.
Cloning marijuana by hydroponics method
Using hydroponics cloning systems is regarded as being the most efficient way to propagate marijuana cuttings for transplant into any growing substrate that you desire to grow marijuana in.
You can buy cloning machines, and these machines make use of an aeroponic mist application that ensures aeration and rooting to give you the healthiest possible plants.
The basics of how to use hydroponics cloning systems are universally applicable.Let’s assume that your system includes a one-gallon container, which is fairly standard.
Water
Fill this container with fresh water and, following the manufacturer’s guidelines, add B1 growth hormone. You’ll need some rock wool cubes. These you will soak overnight in the B1-water solution.After you soak them overnight, mix your B1-water solution and then add in a nutrient solution to the mix. Just follow the instructions that come with these hydroponics cloning supplies. In the basin of the machine, there will be a fogger unit.
Pour your mixture into the basin until you’ve covered the fogger unit with half an inch of it. Replace the lid on the machine. In the holes in the top, place net pots, and fill these up halfway with HydroClay, which is another one of your hydroponics cloning supplies. Plant a rock wool cube in each one of these net pots, and then cover each cube over with more HydroClay. Then you can turn on your fogger unit.
Constantly monitor the water level in the cloner machine and keep everything nicely filled with your B1-water solution and concentrated nutrient solution. Keep your greenhouse at 72 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.While these are the basic, elemental instructions for using hydroponics cloning systems, there will be variations, since there are different, competing hydroponics cloner machines and makers of the basic supplies.
Government Cultivation Information
- California Department of Food & Agriculture – Medical Cannabis Cultivation Program
- Government of Canada – Cannabis for medical purposes
