'Solo Cloning' - Cheap and Easy Cloning

Peregrin Took · Feb 25, 2007

I get asked about my cloning technique alot, and figured it was time to do a little how-to.

This is super simple, and hard to screw up. All you need is:

-Cups, two different sizes. The larger size shouldnt be clear, but somewhat opaque, like the red party cups shown.

-Rooting hormone. I use whatever is cheap.

-Water

-Cuttings

First drill/cut a hole in the bottom of the larger cup, a little larger than the stem of your cutting. Now fill the other, smaller, cup with water, I use straight tap water, to about 1-3 inches from the top ( depending on the size of your cutting )

Ok so heres the deal, you want to be able to slide the larger cup, upside-down, over the smaller cup of water. If the bottom cup has a tapered rim or such, you might need to cut a little bit off to get the top cup to fit all the way over the bottom one. Also it helps to make a few vertical cuts around the top of the bottom cup, above the water level, to help it slide inside the the top cup.

Now simply take your cutting, dip in your hormone of choice, and slide her in. This is why I said to make the hole on the top cup a little larger than the stem, or else you will end up scraping off your rooting hormone when you try to insert it.

Make sure the water level in the bottom cup is high enough to submerge the bottom 1-2" or so of the cutting.

Now your done, simply stick em under some low wattage lighting, and wait. After around a week or so, you can start lifting the top cup and checking for roots. Takes me anywhere from 5-15 days to start seeing 'em.

Peregrin Took · Feb 25, 2007

The particular example, BoggleGum, was kind of a slow rooter.

Here they are 16 days later. ( I gave 2 away, so only 4 of the original 6 are pictured. They all rooted)

Now depending on your growing style, you can gently plant them in soil, put them in a hydro system, or give them to a friend.

Hope this helps someone. Let me know if there is anything I missed.

hempman · Feb 25, 2007

cool what a simple way to clone i use the wicker method my self i will give i a run :chin:

.peace

Q_ba1 · Feb 25, 2007

wow great clonning method, i will try this one, it look very simply just do it and wait;p

ParadimeBag · Feb 26, 2007

im a new growing and i would actually feel confident if i were to try this method. thanks for the tips. i'll be sure to try this sometime.

forgive my ignorance, but when you said "low wattage light," how low did you mean?

Breezy420 · Feb 26, 2007

I just rapid rooters and a humidity dome, but this looks really simple. Just for kicks I think ill take a cutting tonight and test it out for myself. I get damn near 100% with my tried and true rapid rooters, but its always fun to try new things.

kindroyale · Feb 26, 2007

do you change the water?

watermelon · Feb 26, 2007

yeah, do you have to change the water?

i have to use tapwater, will leaving it for some time for the chlorine to evaporate allow this method to still work?

kindroyale · Feb 26, 2007

i've rooted things in plain water, but i had to change the water every day to prevent stagnation... i'd like to give this a go, right now, my cloning methods are:

soil (can't go wrong with plain ol' dirt)
rw and a clone dome (it's nice to be able to see those roots)
bubble cloner (works great for future dwc's but seems slower than other methods)

i don't like wick systems, they can get to be a mess (if you're accident prone)

i'm going to try this and replace the water everyday. got some cuttings to take tonite...

thegrower · Feb 26, 2007

im trying tsomething similar to this right now with plain distilled water, i dont plan on changing it. I am putting the cuttings right into 10/14 lighting to sex them... well see how it goes

Peregrin Took · Feb 26, 2007

Nope I dont change it.

I use regular tap water. I think the chlorine in the water, plus the top cup blocking the light, prevents the water from going bad. Never had algea or bad smelling water, even after 2+ weeks.

Ive been using this technique for over a year with 100 % results.

kooki · Feb 26, 2007

i do similar but tape over a clear cup, and use some card on top ,with a hole in, but this looks a nice simple method :yes:

nice one hobbit ganga fiend :joint:

tngreen · Feb 27, 2007

sweet! this is exactly what i was looking for. takin cuttings tonite!

wolverine-419 · Feb 27, 2007

looks good but if you just add a bubbler you dont need to worry about water ive had 100 % with

just my two cents for what it worth later :wave:

Blueshark · Oct 11, 2010

Looks very simple...and apparently fast, too. I'll give it a try. Thanks, Pippen!!

MileHighGuy · Oct 13, 2010

This is Great!

Was trimming the lower branches of a Norther Lights female.... Hadn't planned on keeping any cuttings, but saw this and decided to put the 5 best clones into 5 solo cups.

Thanks for the tip, I'll update in about 10 days with root pics if all goes well.

Peace

pootsmcgoots · Oct 13, 2010

Peregrin Took: everything is making sense, i just dont know what part of the plant or where or how to take a clipping to clone muchless what week of the plants life to do so. if you could post a photo of what part of the plant and how to do it i would greatly appreciate it. i have a gorgeous female going right now and i would love to keep her strain going. im about almost 5 weeks into the process and shes been in flowering for about 3 days now.

basspirate · Oct 13, 2010

great method. i like being able to see the roots. i clone with rootech, soil and solo cups now but I am getting a lot of stress on my clones.

do you just plop the root mass down in some soil after the clone is fully rooted? I never understood that part as it seems the roots are so fragile.

Haps · Apr 16, 2011

Thanks for the thread, I am going to try a few of these out. I want to be able to leave my clones for a few days, and this is simple and scalable, perfect for me.

vanilla moon · Apr 16, 2011

inspired me to try this as well. i'll post an update when they've sprouted roots, i want to keep them as simple ornamental house plants. I dont know how they'll respond to low level window light but we'll see.

Thanks for the thread

'Solo Cloning' - Cheap and Easy Cloning

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