Put the cubes in a plastic tray, mist them, and cover the tray with a clear lid. Set them 2 to 3 inches below fluorescent lights.
For best results, mist daily. The daily misting and keeping your cutting covered provide a humid environment that encourages growth. This will boost your plants' abilities to grow successfully. Leave the lights on for 18 hours a day to simulate natural outdoor conditions. As the plants grow taller, raise the lights so they remain about 2 to 3 inches above the plants. This encourages plants to grow like they would naturally.
In about 10 days, the cuttings will have developed roots. At this point, you can then remove the lid, but make sure to keep the cubes damp so they can take in nutrients. When you see a root ball forming below the cube, your clones are ready to be moved to another pot! Carefully move your plants from their plastic tray and deposit them gently into a pot or container of your choosing! Treat this developing cutting like you would any other plant and continue to water and nourish it regularly.
Protect your clones from their enemies diseases and fungus by sanitizing your blade, cutting surface, and fingers with rubbing alcohol before you start and when you finish each time you use them. How many clones have you attempted so far? Have any other useful tips you want to share? Visit our Facebook page to share your photos, experiences, and more! If you've been bitten by the gardening bug after cloning your first plant, you'll want to check out our learning center for more information, great advice, and many articles to help you on your next undertaking.
Signing up for our e-newsletter is another smart way to stay updated on sales, new products, and articles! Slice a Cutting Use a sharp utility knife to cut a leaf stem from the middle of the plant. Experiment to see which setup works best for you.
Whichever method you choose, make sure your new clones get plenty of light—preferably 18 hours—and humidity. For more info on cloning setups, check out our Guide to cannabis cloning equipment. When selecting a mother plant to clone from, look for plants that are healthy, sturdy, and at least two months into the vegetative cycle. This will allow nitrogen to work its way out of the leaves.
When you take cuttings, an excess of nitrogen in the leaves and stems will trick your clones into attempting to grow vegetation instead of diverting energy to rooting. Check your clones daily to make sure they have enough water by checking the bottom of the tray or auto-cloner. To increase humidity, you can spray water on the leaves with a spray bottle.
Most clones will be ready to transplant into soil in days, but some root out quicker, and some longer. When getting ready to transplant, be sure to keep the environment sterile. Transplant shock can occur, so be sure to use gloves when handling clones. Most of the time, these clones come from growers who focus solely on producing clones, but sometimes cuttings will come from a third-party source.
When purchasing clones for your home garden, always ask your shop where they came from. Not all pests, diseases, pesticide residues, or genetic markers will be easy to spot with the naked eye, but give your clones a good look before introducing them to your garden.
Thin and narrow stems typically mean the clone was taken from a weak or less viable branch. These cuttings may be more prone to disease or death and their root systems may take longer to develop.
Be sure to inspect all areas of your clone for the presence of pests. Large pests such as fungus gnats and spider mites can be spotted relatively easily. Check under each leaf and also check the soil medium, as some pests live there. Certain pests can also leave markers—spider mites leave spots and webbing, and other insects can leave trace bite marks. Many diseases can be difficult to detect in cuttings, but there are a few visual cues that can be seen early on.
A lack of vigor is a major cue—check for limping leaves, irregular or mutated growth, and discoloration. The first test we decided to perform is a six-week indoor grow : seedlings and clones were transplanted into gallon pots on the same day using a loose soil potting mix. We decided to test the following parameters at the end of this six-week grow:. We are currently doing other tests on Ellepots vs. This first test is just that—phase one of a series—but the results are fascinating, so we wanted to go ahead and share them with you.
In the above image, both root systems have maximized the space available to them and begun to spiral. Root direction, then, is heavily influenced by available space and available nutrients.
To satisfy your curiosity regarding the photo above, the seedling is on the left and the clone is on the right. The next step was to try to soften the soil and loosen as much as possible without disturbing the structure of the root system. Plainly stated, we dunked them in a bucket and gently hosed them down. With the roots clear of dirt, we began to get a better picture. Both seedlings and clones had bright white roots and appeared to be healthy. While the visual contrast seemed to tell a story all its own, we wanted countable data to compare, so we took measurements of everything we could think of.
The root systems of the hemp seedlings had an average of 16 roots extending from the stem. Only four or five of these seem to be primary roots at this stage of growth.
Seedlings 2 and 4 had some visible spiraling at the very base of the stem. The root systems of the hemp clones had an average of 37 roots extending from the stem, with five to eight larger roots each. Clone 1 had some early spiraling of two roots. While clones 3 and 4 have a downward growth pattern, they seem to have a slight rotation as well. When we measured root length , the seedlings averaged 17 inches in length, with the longest root measuring The clones averaged The average root diameter for seedlings was microns, and the average for clones was The average stem thickness for seedlings was Now is a good point to remember the three purposes of roots listed above: to anchor plants, to absorb water, and to store reserves for the plant.
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