Advice on cloning flowering plants

[GreenhouseEffect]

So I've cloned plants in vedge successfully before, and I have this Blue Dream in the puff ball stage of flowering( lot's of pistils, but not full on buds yet). Think it's the best plant I've grown so far, and really would like to preserve it's genetics. My ultimate plan being to make a clone put out male flowers with colloidal silver, and pollinate a sister clone, since it's the only plant of this strain I have.

Does anyone have any advice for cloning plants in flower? I know folks do it, and I have heard you can, that it takes a long time, since you are revenging also. Tryin to set myself up for success as best I can, any tips from those that do this greatly appreciated!
I'd really like to post a pic, but still on a borrowed computer and don't want to push my luck downloading pot plant pics on it.

Thanks!

[strainsgrow]

You cannot clone autos. Especially in flower. Genetics being the reason.

[GreenhouseEffect]

Ya, I know, but it's not an Auto, it's a photo period.

[GreenhouseEffect]

Humboldt strain from Seedsman

[DrPhoton]

Its been on my to do list to write an article about cloning. I did good research some months ago about the science of cloning which gave me great insight into the principles of cloning plants.

Flowering clones are termed monstercropping. Due to the unorthodox growth patterns of the clones when they revegetate. Its typically more difficult to do than clones from a vegging plant. Likely because of the slower root growth and the extended duration before vegetation starts.

But basically, regardless of the method used, the following is what is ultimately the goal for successful cloning.

Temperature:

Plants respire to create energy and this is best with higher temperatures. If temperatures are too low, metabolic activities are slowed and overall, the growth and developement is slowed. 72°F - 75°F (22°C - 24°C) is the ideal range for clones.

Humidity:

Its common to keep the humidity high to prevent as much water loss as possible, this is because without roots there is no water potential. By raising humidity, water that is already located in the cutting is prevented from transpiring and instead can be stored for vital functions during the cloning process. For example root development and photosynthesis. Some like to trim leaves to extend on this factor, but i personally dont. As long as humidity can be kept high, water loss will not be a problem and the extra leaf surface area will speed up development once rooted.

Light:

This is very important because too much light can really exhaust the plants beyond their capability. You ultimately only want to provide just enough light to entrain them to stay or convert into a vegetative state and satisfy a plants compensation point, which is required for a plant to make enough energy for simply staying alive. The ideal light is between 60-75umols (5000-6000 lux) but up to 90umols can be fine (7500 lux). 24/0 light cycle is recommended.

Oxygen:

Using a medium that has plenty of air space is very important for root development as roots require oxygen for respiration. I know people who put clones straght into water but as soon as roots form they transfer to airated medium otherwise further development is stunted. So mediums such as rockwool, oasis, rapid rooters or jiffy are common starter mediums for clones.

Water:

Water is important but only a little to support roots once they begin formation. Too much water in the medium drives out oxygen and suffocates roots. Spraying the environment helps raise humidity and spraying plants provides some water through osmosis in leaves.

List of tips:

Use rooting hormones to stimulate rooting, double dip methods are sometimes used.

Take stocky and thick cuttings, at least 6 inches or more. The thickness should be no bigger than a pencel. Cuttings that are more woody are harder to root, so try and use softer cuttings.

For the first few days, keep vents closed and maximize humidity, you do not want the plants to dry out while roots are developing.

Use no nutrient solutions, just pure water. Plants are not actively growing so nutrients are not strongly required and increased solute concentration limits water potential. Also PH water or mediums if required. Rapid starter is sometimes used with good results.

Take cuttings with 2-4 nodes, you can remove lower leaves if you desire.

Take the cut at a node, this may provide more surface area for roots but more importantly node hormones may be higher. Some people cut at 45° for a larger surface area for roots.

Make sure the stem has a tight fit and not loose in its medium. Loose fitted cuttings can fail to root as they dry out easier and rot. Take a bit of the medium and place it around the stem to create a tighter fit.

Put fresh cuttings in water as soon as possible to prevent air embolisms. The same type of embolisms that can wreak havoc on our cardiovascular systems in people.

Keep not only the ambient temperature in the recommended range, but the roots and medium. Heat pads are often used for these reasons.

Sterile and clean cuts are important, bacteria can rot the exposed tissue at the sliced end. So be sure that the tools used for cutting is clean and sterile to prevent contamination.

Just after root formation, you want to begin climatizing the cuttings by opening vents or lids. This is so that the cutting can start to transpire and pull water and nutrients up. This takes practice to know when its too early or too late and for how long.

Cuttings from the bottom of mothers root faster and are even better when mothers are a couple of months old.

Be patient, dont attempt to want to check for roots in the first few days, you do not want to upset the fragile roots or dry out the plants too much by leaving the lid off for too long.

Make sure cuttings are taken from healthy moms that are well hydrated and not overfed. This is important because roots will be using energy that is available from the cutting from previous photosynthesis. Also any available water and stored sugars that resides in the cuttings.

Hope that helps. Subscribe for this article in the future.

[GreenhouseEffect]

Wow, that's a whole bunch of really good information Dan, and a bunch of it that I didn't even know about, thank you very much!
I think I will try leaving the leaves on this time to, always heard that you should take them off to slow down moisture loss, but it seems like having them on could help a bunch to deal with the light issue.
The most successful clone I've had so far, was stuck into the soil right bellow a big plant, kind of makes a lot of sense know after what you said.

[DrPhoton]

Yea although more leaves has the potential for more water loss, you control this through humidity. With humidity control and spraying you control how much water is lost. I like the fact that once roots have formed, more leaf area is available for photosynthesis. But this is just my opinion, preferation.

[PapaIndica]

I've taken cuts in early flower many times, I've seen the stuff about it giving the "monster cropping" effect but, I've never actually seen that happen myself, nor anyone I know. It will take a bit of time to get through re-vegging your cut/cuts, and they can be difficult to get to root for you sometimes but, if you get them rooted and taking hold in a medium then it will happen, you just need to be patient with them. Personally, I think the best method for getting any cuts rooted is with an aero-cloner, something like the Turbo Klone or an EZ Cloner.
You definitely should keep them in lower light than you would your typical vegging plants, at least for a while, and keeping them under 24 hour lighting seems to help with bringing them back to veg mode, once you start seeing new growth coming out you can switch them back to 18/6 for veg.
The best thing to do about your leaves is to cut them in half, that's what most people do. It's not necessary with the smallest leaves but, any larger ones that are left on you should do this with, just go blade by blade and cut each one in half.
Definitely is best to get your 45 degree angled cut on a node if possible and also to have one or two in the area that will be in the rooting zone, they will shoot out roots much easier than straight stalk. If you can't do that, something else you can do is to either scrape down a small amount of the outer skin of the stalk in that zone or make some small slices in that zone, being careful not to cut too deeply, that will help roots develop more easily, it does help.
Something I always do is to grab a cup of water and have it handy when I take my cuts. If I'm able, I'll cut them a little longer than need be and put them in the water as quickly as possible and keep them in there as much as I can until they get dipped in rooting hormone and go into the cloner/root plug, etc. Another good idea is to water the plant/plants you're taking cuts from long enough beforehand that they've had time to drink some up, I'd give them 45 minutes to an hour.

Just my two cents...

Good Luck!!!

[strainsgrow]

My bad greenhouse. Probably responded to wrong thread. ✌️😂

[GreenhouseEffect]

No worries strainsgrow, I've been known to do that myself!

[Qwertywill]

Definitly do a diy clone machine... under 50$... and you can make it as big as you want... container, air pump, air stone and hose... used mine for the outdoor garden, little bit of clonex and phed water. 100% success. 8/8. Oh and a holesaw goes a long way too!

[kushroom420]

ive taken late flower cuts before, threw them in my cloner and let them do there thing trying to reveg. Took along time, months if i can recall correctly. They almost didnt make it. Finally revegged and than took right off. Good luck!

[GreenhouseEffect]

Thanks a bunch everyone!!
I think I will have to look into building a Cloning machine as well, I already have an air pump for my worm casting tea I make, as well as the splitter, it's a big pump and put's out a lot of air. I am pretty much a redneck engineer, and have a lot of tools for my business, so I aught to be able to pull it off.
Thanks again, and looking forward to it!

[Qwertywill]

If you need help let me know!

[GreenhouseEffect]

Thanks!
Have access to another computer that I can post pics off of now, so will share my progress on this mission.

[Qwertywill]

Cool beans. I would definitly want to know how taking clones from a flowering plant turns out!

[GreenhouseEffect]

Harvested the rest of my BlueberryxAK bag seed plants this morning, so had plant count for starting Blue Dream clones from flowering mother!

[freddyyola]

cant you just take pics with your phone and upload it from there or are you using a nicer camera for better pics quality looks good, anyways i hope one day i can have a raised bed garden for my plants but its not so legal here and i always wondered does the greenouse plastic/glass reduce yield from less sunlight? i guess it does but not thats the trade off for a controlled environment?

[GreenhouseEffect]

I planted into transparent containers so I can watch root development. Sock snuggies to increase micro humidity, and keep light off my roots ( thank you Tika and Paracelsus for the idea!!)
medium is mostly Spahgnum and Perlite, with a little bit of Vermicompost mixed in so they have SOME nutes, and to start colonization of benificial Microbes( I can't not have my worm castings anymore!)
Day time home is right next to mom for now, I have this weird, baseless hunch that bellow the mother has some unknnown benefit, so goin with it. Back in the world of the cognitive, maybe since branches were used to that environment, maybe it will help at first?

Huge thanks to everyone that stopped by to offer advice!! And to Gwe AND nebulas tutorials of course!
Wish em luck on there journey( hopefully it involves root foremation!)

GHE

[GreenhouseEffect]

Night time home for now, hangin out with the seedlings, CD-1 that I'm trying to keep from flowering, and some scraggly ass Habanero seedlings, more peppers, and of course, my apple tree.

[freddyyola]

cool set up bro i love it one day ill have an ourdoor grow i can chill at

[freddyyola]

im guessing that light is to heat up the greenhouse?