Cloning with JJScorpio

JJScorpio · Jan 10, 2007

Lately, I have been asked a lot of questions regarding cloning. Because it is difficult to explain without pictures, I have decided to do a thread showing how I do it.

I have used almost every method known to man, and I have found Rapid Rooters work best for me. That is the method I will use in this thread. If you choose a different cloning medium, a lot of the principles will be the same.

Below, you will see pictures of what I use to cut the clones, and root them. To start out, you will need a healthy plant. This mother is a Sour Bubble BX3. I cut off the nitrogen about a week ago, and yesterday soaked her with an ounce of Pure Blend Bloom in a gallon of water. You will want the plant very hydrated because it will get very little water again until the clones form roots.

Edit. 11-07-10. I would advise people now to give a dose of both flowering and vegging ferts two days prior to cutting your clones. I have had a strain recently that yellows very quickly and does much better without cutting off the nitrogen......

JJScorpio · Jan 10, 2007

Now it is time to get the materials ready for cloning. For this I have a clean, sharp pair of scissors, a meat thermometer and probe, clean sterile razor blades, a short glass filled with room temperature water, Rapid Rooter plugs, Rootone rooting hormone with fungicide and a humidity dome, tray and cover.

JJScorpio · Jan 10, 2007

The next thing we will need is a nice healthy cutting with at least one extra node. I try to pick one on the bottom half of the plant with healthy leaves and stalk. Here is one we will use.

JJScorpio · Jan 10, 2007

Because there is more leaf then necessary, I am going to trim some of the upper leaf, and get rid of the one lower leaf entirely. I do this because I don't want to leave to much for the plant to sustain while it waits for the new roots to form. Plants naturally lose water through the leaves, so it helps to remove the tips of the larger leaves. Here is the picture after it is trimmed and a picture of the trimmings.

JJScorpio · Jan 10, 2007

Now we are ready to clip a 45 degree angle at the bottom of the stem, dip into the rooting hormone and place into the Rapid Rooter. The Rapid Rooters should be soaking in room temperature water when you start. You can now take the Rapid Rooter, squeeze the water out of it, poke the pointed end of the meat thermometer into the hole to make entry of the stem easy and place next to the cutting. It is also important to put a small amount of your rooting hormone in a seperate container so you do not get bacteria into the entire container.

Cut an angle at the stem, with the clean razor blade, as shown in the picture, dip into the rooting hormone, shake off the excess and push carefully into the Rapid Rooter. Make sure to get the stem at least 3/4 of the way into the Rapid Rooter. If the hole at the top of the Rapid Rooter is to large, simply tear off a small piece and push it into the hole next to the stem.

JJScorpio · Jan 10, 2007

You can now do all of your clones this way and place them into your tray. In the photo below are ones that I did on January 1st, and they should show roots any day now.

Mist the plants lightly when they are all placed into the tray the first time, and then mist the inside of the dome a couple times a day for the first 5 days or so. Be careful misting the plants directly to often as they can get to wet and rot. Also remove the cover a couple times a day for a few minutes to let in fresh air.

After 5 days prop open the corner of the lid to allow air inside. If the plants begin to droop, close the lid again as they are not ready. All strains are different.

The biggest keys in successful cloning are the amount of moisture in the plug, temperature and lighting. Always check the plugs and add a couple drops of water if they begin to feel dry, but do not overwater as you will rot the stem. I place the meat thermometer in the dome and keep the temps between 70 and 75. To much warmth will cause the stems to rot at the base and you can lose the entire lot very quickly. Lastly, I keep one 24 watt bulb, 8 inches over the top of the dome and use 18/6 lighting scheduale.

I hope this has helped people get their cuttings to root easier. If you have any questions, or comments. Just ask and I or someone will try and help you. I will show pictures of the progression of the clones when they root. Good luck and grow on.........

Guest · Jan 10, 2007

Very nice tuitorial. :yes:

I root clones almost exactly as you do. Only difference is I use scarification and I have at least 95% success rate, depending on strain. Nice job... Im sure this will be a helpful guide to many people.

JJScorpio · Jan 10, 2007

TY Indo. For the last year I have tried every kind of medium with every kind of method tring to see how to perfect it, and the easiest way to teach people. I threw out a lot of rooted clones, lol. The next easiest was the 75 percent perlite 25 percent soil, but then you have to make a dome.

I would add that if you squeeze the bottom of the plug and you only get a drip of water, you have the right amount in the plug. If they feel as if they are getting to dry, just put a teaspoonfull of water in them and they are good again.

This way I found to be the easiest and it only cost about 20 dollars for everything someone would need.

pipeline · Jan 10, 2007

Great thread, JJ. We need get back to an FAQ!

I only have one "gripe", you said you cut off feeding with nitrogen for a week prior to cloneing. Cloning success will decrease if there are nutrient or water deficiencies or any other type of stress.

Scarification can be helpful, but one of the easiest ways to help success rates is to bury at least 1 node with the leaf cut off. Roots will naturally form at the node and will require less energy for formation compared to new (adventitous) roots, because the connection to the vascular system is already established.

JJScorpio · Jan 10, 2007

pipeline said:
Great thread, JJ. We need get back to an FAQ!

I only have one "gripe", you said you cut off feeding with nitrogen for a week prior to cloneing. Cloning success will decrease if there are nutrient or water deficiencies or any other type of stress.

That does make sense, but actually it is not true. I read many articles and it has been found that excess nitrogen actually retards root growth, where phosphate encourages it. Also, the N-P-K of the pureblend is 1.5-4-5, so there is more then enough nitrogen to last the 10 to 14 days it takes to start rooting. It is recommended that you mist with a 1/4 strength mix of flowering ferts, but I do not do that. Maybe the next batch I will do 1/2 with the nitrogen and 1/2 without and see if there is a difference.

pipeline · Jan 10, 2007

Yeah I guess that makes sense, fertilizing without supplimenting N for a week, decreasing vigor of shoot growth, and promoting root growth. Definately want to make sure the plant was in good nutrition before hand though.

Littlegreentree · Jan 11, 2007

I have one quick question, is it okay to use the rapid rooters out of the tray? Say right in the bottom of a small rubbermaid with the top off and some ceran wrap over the top to act as a dome or would it be best to surround the plugs in some sort of peatmoss or perlite mix also with the ghetto dome??

Truth · Jan 11, 2007

"That does make sense, but actually it is not true. I read many articles and it has been found that excess nitrogen actually retards root growth"

doesn't seem correct to me, if nitrogen retards root growth, then why would we need it in large amounts during veg? and the roots grow less in flowering than they do in veg..and bloom nutes are very low in nitrogen. I actually leave all the leafs I can since they suck nutrients out of these leafs and you can have a few die on you without having serious problems. Your method only shows little clones...what about large clones? I doubt you would want to cut most of the leafs off of a large clone...and finally.. The more leafs the plant has the more light it can process therefore the more energy it can make that can also go into rooting.

You say it takes 10-14 days for your clones to root..I can do without cutting the leafs off and with a good amount of nitrogen in them, and they will root within 7-14 days. doesn't seem like much of a difference is made. As long as they aren't over fed (deep dark green/blackish/purplish leafs [minus genetic traits]) then it should be fine.

JJScorpio · Jan 11, 2007

Littlegreentree said:
I have one quick question, is it okay to use the rapid rooters out of the tray? Say right in the bottom of a small rubbermaid with the top off and some ceran wrap over the top to act as a dome or would it be best to surround the plugs in some sort of peatmoss or perlite mix also with the ghetto dome??

You could try a rubbermaid, as long as you had a way to keep the RR upright, and kept them hydrated. With the dome, you have a tray beneath it with water in it, that helps keep things humid. I bought the tray, holder and cover for $9.99.

Surrounding them in moss or perlite would keep the light off the roots when they were exposed. You could give it a try, and see how it works.

pipeline · Jan 11, 2007

Leaving the large leaves can lead to the clones moisture stress faster than if they are cut off or in half. The cutting contains more than enough nutrents/energy in the stem and leaves to create roots. But if there is too much leaf area evaporating water, the water status of the clone will go down and it will lower rooting success.

Guest · Jan 11, 2007

here is what marijuana botony says...

High nitrogen content cuttings seem to root more poorly than cuttings with med to low nitrogen. therefore , younng, rapidly-growing stems of high nitrogen and low carbohydrate content root less well than slightly older cuttings...

JJScorpio · Jan 11, 2007

Truth said:
"That does make sense, but actually it is not true. I read many articles and it has been found that excess nitrogen actually retards root growth"

doesn't seem correct to me, if nitrogen retards root growth, then why would we need it in large amounts during veg? and the roots grow less in flowering than they do in veg..and bloom nutes are very low in nitrogen. I actually leave all the leafs I can since they suck nutrients out of these leafs and you can have a few die on you without having serious problems. Your method only shows little clones...what about large clones? I doubt you would want to cut most of the leafs off of a large clone...and finally.. The more leafs the plant has the more light it can process therefore the more energy it can make that can also go into rooting.

You say it takes 10-14 days for your clones to root..I can do without cutting the leafs off and with a good amount of nitrogen in them, and they will root within 7-14 days. doesn't seem like much of a difference is made. As long as they aren't over fed (deep dark green/blackish/purplish leafs [minus genetic traits]) then it should be fine.

You answered your own question regarding the nitrogen. Nitrogen if for green growth.

You could very well be getting roots in 7 days, but some plants will take up to 3 weeks or more to root. The purpose of this thread is to help people that have never cloned, or are having problems cloning. I don't want people getting frustrated and think they have done something wrong, because they don't have roots in 7 days, because that isn't the norm. What ever way works for you is fine. This thread isn't about whose way is better, or faster, it is to help people with their cloning.

Guest · Jan 11, 2007

Great thread JJ..

I use whatever I have peet pucks/rapids/soil.. I find little differance, as long as you use a heat mat to keep those temps up..

Have any of you use the new Clonex Matrix gel/soil for cloning?
I just saw it on ebay from UK, but can't seem to find any in the states.. :joint:

JJScorpio · Jan 11, 2007

budleydoright said:
here is what marijuana botony says...

High nitrogen content cuttings seem to root more poorly than cuttings with med to low nitrogen. therefore , younng, rapidly-growing stems of high nitrogen and low carbohydrate content root less well than slightly older cuttings...

I found the same from my research. That is why I wait a week from the last nitrogen feeding. I am not sure exactly how much "faster" the nitrogen-less cuttings rooted though. But if Scientists say it, they know more then I do, lol.

JJScorpio · Jan 11, 2007

Stoned Silly said:
Great thread JJ..

I use whatever I have peet pucks/rapids/soil.. I find little differance, as long as you use a heat mat to keep those temps up..

Have any of you use the new Clonex Matrix gel/soil for cloning?
I just saw it on ebay from UK, but can't seem to find any in the states..

I have a friend that tried it, and he didn't rave about it, lol. I think it boils down to the proper, heat, moisture and light. I could probably bring the temps up some and get cuttings to root faster, but then you up your chances of bacteria killing them.

Cloning with JJScorpio

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