My first real cutting job

[Lord-Xanthor]

As this is my only GSC the lower branches had to go so ended up with 16 nice size branches for cloning. First chop job. Im hoping my best plant doesn't die.

[Lord-Xanthor]

Something has me a bit worried. When I cut the branches of I put them first into proper ph water while I tended the plant for 30 minutes. When I got to the branches they all were droopy so quickly scraped off an inch down to expose raw stems then dipped them in same water to clean off then dipped in clonex and put into peat pellets. When I had taken single cuttings in past never seen them droop. After I finished with them all I mist sprayed them all and put dome over. Im just worried that they might not make it and they are very good cuttings too.
I reused the jiffy pellet tray as a propigator and instead of putting it in the tent I put it on top of it so they would get a lot less light but would get about 75 degrees in heat..Crossing fingers these live.

[insomniaczzz]

Hoping they live too. Sounds like you did everything right, although I think they do need more light than you giving since they are already established in age. You mother plant looks good too. Are you planning on topping her? If it was me, I'd give her a week to recover from taking the clones and then top and train, just my opinion of course.

[Lord-Xanthor]

Yesterdays cuttings are no longer wilted. I lift dome every 8 hours and mist the leafs with normal H20 PH balanced plus SM-90 to help fight mold during the weakened time where mold can hit quite easily. I'm using the Jiffy Pellet tray with lid. I was going to get the kit with dome for clones, but was a bit miffed that Amazon changed the price from $9.80 to $49. The tray may be a bit smaller, but the fact it had only cost me $16 for two trays filled with 50 jiffy pellets each and that Amazon wants $50 for basically a cheap dome that I could make using two TV dinner trays is a bit disturbing. Especially when other sets sell for $20 less that come with heating mats I don't need. My home is fluorescent lighting so I keep the tray on top of the tent to keep warm at 75 degrees and the only lighting they get is from sun or overhead lights which are off at night. No light for about 14 hours. Also the mother plant shows no sign of sickness today, 24 hours after cutting which is a plus =)

[Lord-Xanthor]

Also, not sure if its too late, but some cuttings are extra long and it dawned on me, can I cut/divide them in half to get an extra cutting or is it too late? Or can it be done? The bottom branches had offshoots down the branch that I'm wondering if it can be cut. This would mean the top of some of my plants will have an open end.

Forgot to add something. I had done some simple cuttings on the 22nd and 23rd and put them into small trays. Since those had no domes, to compensate, I would put the trays into large zip lock bags that I would open and spray the leafs three times a day. As I would close them, I would also blow some extra air inside to prevent the bag from damaging the leafs and figured a little carbon dioxide would help too.

I swear, I keep remembering things that I shouldn't be leaving out. I'm going to change the tray/bagged ones into something different which looks a lot better than using the small trays. The Black clam shells from IHOP are almost just as tall and the managers giving me a few for free.

Though my first set of cuttings has taken root, from the one I examined, the roots just started and haven't grown through the peat pellets yet. Not sure what I'm doing that's not getting me the same results as the instructions show. Other than blowing into the bags a little.

[Green75]

It all sounds good...once you see roots of any kind that's when I put in pots...that's just me tho

[Green75]

The more you do it the more you will see what is better for you...

[Lord-Xanthor]

It all sounds good...once you see roots of any kind that's when I put in pots...that's just me tho

Normally I would as well except the one I saw with roots was an accident as the cover yanked it out of the peat and the roots I saw were just starting unless they had more that got torn off when it got yanked out. Just got some clam shels to put the bagged ones in too.

edit: Just got home and checked my second set of 4 cuttings from January 22nd. I purposely opened one of the peat pellets and saw enough roots to now tell me these made it so took the dome off and am sticking to spraying them 4 times a day till I get the room to plant them. Main plants doing great so will train it in a few more days. I also noticed the ones that got too much Clonez where the stem went into the peat tablet but still had some exposed, those two sort of dropped roots right into the peat. Looks like a bunch of little fingers trying to support the plant.

Thanks again Green75 for all the help.

[Lord-Xanthor]

I put a lot of thought into it, and decided that what I just did might not work with all the cuttings, but most likely will slow them down in growing too fast. Every cutting had several branches so today I cut those branches which each had a lot of new growth, dipped them after scraping the stems into the Clonex gel and put into peat tablets, then after misting, put them into a take out shell that's half the size of a regular clone box, but for my cuttings sizes, there was no obstruction. The ones that I'm iffy on are the ones that now have cuts on both ends. Guess well have to wait 7 days and see what happens. I went from 11 clones to 21.

[Lord-Xanthor]

Forgot to add something I feel is slightly important, especially since it worked on my second trial of cloning. First trial failed, I knew it would as all 4 cuttings had one leaf only so not much to sustain enough. Anyway, every article I have read in regards to using peat or other types of tablets always say to punch the pellets to make a snug fit so the cutting doesn't fall out or get loose. I have had issues doing this way before working with marijuana. When the peat started to dry or the slightest vibration happened, the hole would open up anyway. To fix this and to work better with marijuana cuttings I would soak one extra pellet that I would mix in a little fertilizer very watered down and also mix in 1/2 teaspoon of CloneX and mix it into a thick paste. After I put the cutting into the pellet, instead of pinching it closed I would use a tweezer and take small clumps and push it into the hole to make a snug fit. I put the CloneX in the mixture in case while I was filling in the holes of each pellet that most likely the soil would wipe off the CloneX already on the cutting so at least there would be enough per plant regardless. This has worked for me, the fact I have 4 good clones on my second try shows this.