Best way to make clones

Discussion in 'General Marijuana Growing' started by pauliojr, Mar 6, 2007.


    pauliojr Well-Known Member

    I was reading the April 2007 magazine when I came across a pretty interesting article. Somebody asked what was the best way to make clones, how do you make clones, what's a good temperature, etc. This article was a great read. Check it out.

    The best way to make clones is always the way that is best for you! You can propagate or reproduce cannabis by cutting a growing branch tip and rooting it. Here's the way I like to make clones.

    Choose a mother plant that's at least two months old. If the variety is difficult to clone, leach the soil with 2 gallons of water for each gallon of soil every morning for a week before taking clones. Don't add fertilizer. Use a sharp blade to make a 45-degree cut across firm, healthy branches, generally those that are 0.125 to 0.25 inches [3 to 6 mm] wide and 2 to 4 inches [3 to 5cm] in length. Take care not to smash the end of the stem when making the cut. Trim off 2 or 3 sets of leaves and growth nodes so the stem can fit into the soil There should be at least two sets of leaves above the soil line and 1 or 2 sets of trimmed nodes below ground. When cutting, make the slice halfway between the sets of nodes. Immediately place the cut end in water. Store cut clones in water while making more clones.

    I like to use Oasis root cubes. Saturate cubes in water pH balanced at about 6.0. Make a hole in the cube a little larger then the stem. The hole should stop about half a inch from the bottom of the container to allow for root growth. Dip stem in a rooting gel as per instructions. When planting, take special care to keep a solid layer or hormone gel or powder around the stem while gently packing soil into place. Lightly water until the surface is evenly moist. Keep cuttings moist at all times, but don't let the soil get soggy. Clones root fastest with 18 to 24 hours of fluorescent light. Coll white fluorescents [or a combination of warm and cool white] are excellent for rooting. Clones root fastest when humidity levels are 95% to 100% the first two days and gradually reduced to 80% to 85% during the following week. A humidity tent will help keep humidity high. Construct the tent out of plastic bags, rigid plastic, or glass. Remember to leave openings for air to flow in and out so little clones can breathe. If practical, mist clones several times a day as an alternative to the humidity tent. Remove any sick, rotting, or dead foliage.

    Cut leaves in half to lower transpiration surface and keep them from overlapping. Clones root faster when the growing medium is a few degrees warmer than the ambient air temperature. For best results, keep the rooting medium at 75 to 80 degrees F [or 24 to 27 degrees C]. Keep the air temperature cooler by 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit [or 3 to 5.5 degrees Celsius] than the substrate. Use a heat pad, heating cables or an incandescent light bulb to heat rooting medium.

    In about two weeks, your cutting should be rooted. Signs that you've rooted include yellow leaf tips, roots growing out drain holes and vertical growth of the clones.

    I hope everyone enjoyed the read. I typed it right out of the magazine. Man, my neck hurts!

    leafwrapper Well-Known Member


    lol thanks for the sacrifice.

    videoman40 New Member

    Great post Pauliojr, a couple tips that you can utilize, or not...make your cuts under water, and I like using a piece of styrofoam, take a pencil and "stab" holes thru it, place in your water, and add your clones.
    A cheap way to maintain your humidity...

    pauliojr Well-Known Member

    You are right my friend. I have heard from many people and many videos to make the cuts under water to prevent air from rushing up the stem.

    FilthyFletch Mr I Can Do That For Half

    Great post.I am an underwater cutter myself and last 12 clone sessions am at 100 percent survival "knock on wood".I don't like to cut the clones leaves though. I know a few who do and have tried it twice and found for some reason it slows growth and rooting.Just a personal preference but everyone should expirenment and see what works best.Great post though will help alot of new cloners out.

    slingblade Active Member

    clones are a pain ive had good luck but i like to keep my short cycles becouse i grow so many diffrent types to breed for seed stock its faster just to grow more

    MacGuyver4.2.0 Well-Known Member

    Clones are a sure fire way to get that perpetual harvest going! Easier than seed as you already know which are females and how well the mother plant has done in the past. As far as leaf cutting goes I also discourage it for a few simple reasons:

    1. The cutting is already 'shocked' to a degreee and under stress
    2. There are no roots on a cutting yet to uptake nutrients (nor should there be any in your clones water source)
    3. By cutting back the leaf area, you only further stress the cutting and reduce the amount of leaf area that can provide photosynthesis. Remember the cutting has to use energy to grow roots- so why reduce the surface area of the leaf if that's the only energy intake possibility?
    4. As the plant starts to root it will rob some nitrogen from the leaf area to use elsewhere. If there is less to start with then you get the picture.

    I ran my crop for the past 4 years on clones alone and I'm glad I did!

    tricombingthesehairs Active Member

    keeping them under a dome for 4 straight days misting the lid and plants time to time works gradullay leave the dome off.

    buggin69 Active Member

    trial by fire taught me to clone... it was clone or die... i highly recommend it, mostly so that i'm not alone in my suffering

    dreamyhigh Member

    you use styrofoam as your medium, in place of soils/vermiculite/etc??
    i want to know more...! please tell

    ThomasJeffersonDidit Active Member

    Great thread. Cloning is something that will just come with experience. CloneX solution is wonderful, and a dome is a must have.

    I just recently started playing and learning with a dwc hydro system I built. I also found this wonderful link for a cloner
    I built one of my own and it works great. The best thing is you can make them all sizes and shapes very cheap and effectively.

    lightsgreenaction Well-Known Member

    I made a great smaller clone machine (just 7 spots) but it's perfect for me cause even if some don't make it I will have enough. I used a 3.5 gallon bucket, a small aquarium pump, pvc piping and ez cloner misters. I just search like DIY clone machine and found a great instruction thread on another site. I haven't used it yet but can't wait to.

    SHOSHON3N8TV Active Member

    LOL thats alot of work, I just cut a clone and put in moist soil, as long as the soil stays moist - it rootz. :-P Never used a dome, clonex, mist...whateva works 4 ya I guess. Keep it green!:mrgreen:

    Hydrotech364 ☠ Shaman ☠

    Fellas they make it sound so technical.I used to ph my water and I used to only get a few babies out of a batch.If youre H2O is 7.5 and below dont ph it.Never spray the cutting,if you feed the plant through its leaves there is no reason for them to try and root.I do use a dome but I try to leave them w/o it as much as possible.Ya need to have them dome free by day 4 @ that time the plants will be removing nutrients from the leaves and a slight yellowing will occur and its a good sign.Dont cut off the yellowing leaves because they will be turning back to green after rooting.I have found perlite to be a great medium because of O2 saturation,rockwool is ok but I mostly use Rapid Rooters.One more thing.I have never seen an imbolism from air in the stalk.I slice the tip of the stalks and notch them also.Root every time.7 days @ the latest.Good luck.

    greenhash Member

    hey what do i do if i don't have got cloning hormone?

    linky Active Member

    I use clonex, dome, root riots and a heating pad, since my first time trying to cut clones until now (8 months) I have 90%+ success rate. I cut 16-20 at a time and usually all but one or two make it, usually takes about 7-10 days for the root riot to have lots of roots poking through.

    drstrangebud Member

    What temp do you set your heat mat at? Thanks
    Cap'n Jack

    Cap'n Jack Member

    I always had good luck with those $2 Walmart rooting powders, then I heard about bubble/mist cloners using straight h2o.

    Since then I use plain vermiculite or 50/50 MG seed starting mix and medium grade perlite in little plug inserts for those trays that take humidity domes. (The inserts come empty, you fill with your own stuff and I don't use a dome)

    I mist the first 3 days with plain water, then dilute my veg mix to 25% strength or so and spray every other day. I use the "stream" setting on the mister to remoisten my soil when misting.
    (I use whatever veg mix is left after feeding my vegging plants and mix 1 part in 3 parts of water.)

    I am basically stressing the hell out of my plants on purpose. This early in life it just helps me pick out the more stress resistant phenos. No traps (hermies) yet. Likely because they are comfy and on a schedule for a few weeks before budding.

    General Hydroponics Flora Series with a very slightly corrected feed schedule is my primary nutrient line. (I add super thrive, H&G's root accelerator, a bit of silica supplement and a tiny bit of Epsom salt.)
    I'm testing Auroras Soul Synthetics. (Same company as Roots Organics)

    This has nothing to do with cloning, but...
    My indoor grow medium is a bale of Pro mix BX, a brick of Coco, small bag ancient forest, small bag wiggle worm and 2 cubic feet of "growstones." (Medium or course perlite works)

    Sent from my XT901 using Rollitup mobile app

    SaucyAussie Active Member

    Here's how I do it:

    I drill holes in the bottom of 8 oz. yogurt cups, fill them with perlite and then soak it in pH'd water and let stand overnight or even two days to pH the medium.

    I take a ball point pen and make a hole in the center of the perlite.

    I take the cutting and dip it in pH'd water then dip the tip, about 1", in Rootone rooting powder, available at most garden supply stores and greenhouses.

    I carefully place the cutting in the hole in the perlite and carefully push the perlite around it so as not to knock the rooting powder off.

    I made a growing tub out of a mortar mixing tub by drilling a 7/8" hole in middle for drainage/flushing. There's a hose attached to the bottom with a shutoff valve on it.

    I place the cups in the growing tub under a 400w metal halide being careful to hang the bulb far enough away to avoid burning. I water them FROM THE BOTTOM UP, as in, I put pH'd water in the tub and let the perlite soak it up through the holes in bottom of the cups. This is to avoid flushing out the rooting powder. I repeat this when the cups begin to feel light in weight, about every three to five days.

    In two weeks, I have roots coming out of the holes in the bottom of the cups and they're ready for transplant.

    I have had 100% survival using this method, I haven't lost one clone yet.


    JohnnySocko Active Member

    vermiculite!!! tried them all; rapid rooters, grodan, peat, coco, perlite...
    fastest/most foolproof for me was mild bleach--->cheapo rooting powder--->vermiculite heat mat, 70F-ish temps, florescent lighting....

    to each their own...I read like a gazzilion how to make clone post/threads and finally figured oput dipping well hydrated cutting in mild clorox solution helped combat rot and vermiculite rooted clones faster than any other media....YMMV but thats been my experience

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