Sexing by cuttings in a glass of water

[strain_hunter]

I would like to determine the sex of my plants by cuttings that are sent into flower.
Do they need increased humidity through a transparent bag if I put them in a glass of water?

I thought about putting several cuttings together in a flower vase.

 

[mudballs]

No they dont need humidity domes in vases of water

 

[strain_hunter]

Thank you.

 

[Chills]

Thats how i always check the sex of my plants. I just cut a branch, put it in a glass of tapwater and place it at the floor of my flowering chamber. Just simple.

I thought about putting several cuttings together in a flower vase.

Works. But don't confuse cuttings, take care of accurate marking.

 

[strain_hunter]

Thats how i always check the sex of my plants. I just cut a branch, put it in a glass of tapwater and place it at the floor of my flowering chamber. Just simple.


Works. But don't confuse cuttings, take care of accurate marking.

Yes, thats a very nice option especially if you use soil like me.
Marking stuff is already here
Thanks for the advice.

 

[greyfader]

change the water daily using water that has been sitting out for 24 hours. this allows it to gas off chlorine and allows the ph to settle at a steady level.

 

[strain_hunter]

change the water daily using water that has been sitting out for 24 hours. this allows it to gas off chlorine and allows the ph to settle at a steady level.

I will do that. Thank you

 

[Hammerhead]

Most plants can show sex before flowering. When a plant gets big enough it will show pre flowers in veg. It does take at least 30 days. Some can show sooner. The other way is to take cuttings and flower the plant you took cuts from. A cut in water will not do that quickly. All of its energy will go to producing roots. It will not grow until that happens. This will take much longer.


Preflowers grow at every node ..

 

[greyfader]

Most plants can show sex before flowering. When a plant gets big enough it will show pre flowers in veg. It does take at least 30 days. Some can show sooner. The other way is to take cuttings and flower the plant you took cuts from. A cut in water will not do that quickly. All of its energy will go to producing roots. It will not grow until that happens. This will take much longer.


Preflowers grow at every node ..
View attachment 19038674

right, the best way is to observe for preflowers. i use a handheld illuminated loupe.

there are several problems with the water method. one is that it takes a long time. during which you shouldn't have much variation in temps and humidity. so, the fact that you must maintain tighter parameters for a longer time increases the chances of failure.

also, the plant's roots can differentiate into two forms depending on the media it's in. in pure water cloning, the roots will be the fishbone/ladder type and in a medium that has a physical structure and is well drained the roots will be the "air" type roots. so, if you a growing in a medium with physical structure you should clone in one that has physical structure. not necessarily the same material. for example, you can clone in perlite and, when roots appear, move them into your permanent medium. they will adapt rapidly.

but if you clone in water, producing the fishbone/ladder type roots, and then put them into a physical medium, like the soil you mentioned, there will be a stall while the roots adapt to the new type of medium.

if you are going into a "roots in the water" type hydro system, the water cloned roots will take off faster than the "air" type.

 

[Chills]

Usually i change the water once every two weeks. It takes between 2-4 weeks for the cuttings to show sex. Only about 30% develop roots in that time.
Between Oktober and April you can place them just on a windowsill. It really is a keep it simple stupid way. I wouldn't overthink it, just try it out.

The way @Hammerhead describes works just as good. But i am a low Budget smalscale self-sufficient Cannabislover, i keep my motherplants in 2 Liter pots with low lightintensity. They don't show preflower that fast in my garden and i cut the top for branching anyway, so...

 

[xtsho]

change the water daily using water that has been sitting out for 24 hours. this allows it to gas off chlorine and allows the ph to settle at a steady level.

You don't need to let the water sit out. The chlorine actually helps keep the nasties from growing. I just add water as it's needed. I just had a bunch of clones root that were just cut with some garden shears and put in a used pickle jars with straight tap water. They all rooted. It took a month but they grew roots.

I never changed the water I just added more as needed. The plants were on a table under an awning over my patio in the backyard. They have not gotten any direct sun since I cut them. They sat outside in a jar of water without a dome for the last month and through a heatwave and multiple days of 100°F degree days.

They are not that robust but they're rooted and the leaves look pretty good except where some leaf eating bug had dinner. I didn't spray them for pests.

It's not the best method but it's as easy as it gets. My preferred method is cloning in straight coco. It worked out though. I'll let them root for another week and then plant. They don't look bad for a month of sitting in a jar of tap water outside though.

 

[strain_hunter]

Thank you very much for all the tips and insights into your experiences.
I will test them.

For me, cloning is currently interesting in order to obtain the different phenotypes of a variety so that I can later select the right mother.
That's why I only need cuttings from the plants that I send into flower.
Just started growing this year without mothers.

I've also just thought about the fact that the visual identification of the starting plant for the purpose of selection means that cuttings could actually be stored in a plastic bag in the fridge for the time being, so that the suitable phenotypes can be rooted later and then kept as mothers.

Most plants can show sex before flowering. When a plant gets big enough it will show pre flowers in veg. It does take at least 30 days. Some can show sooner.

Great, that makes it easier.
I hadn't actually noticed this and I didn't pay attention to it because I always thought that sex determination was only possible after flowering had started. That's why I only looked for the signs a week after the light changed.

The other way is to take cuttings and flower the plant you took cuts from. A cut in water will not do that quickly. All of its energy will go to producing roots. It will not grow until that happens. This will take much longer.

I've noticed that too. I built a box in which the clones are sprinkled with water from below and have a transparent roof for the humidity. That works well.
My second attempt in a glass of water without regulating the humidity was not so successful and I disposed of the plants after two weeks when the leaves had withered.

Preflowers grow at every node ..
View attachment 19038674

Thanks for the picture. Sll information in one place.

right, the best way is to observe for preflowers. i use a handheld illuminated loupe.

I have one here and will try it.

there are several problems with the water method. one is that it takes a long time. during which you shouldn't have much variation in temps and humidity. so, the fact that you must maintain tighter parameters for a longer time increases the chances of failure.

Interesting point. Can‘t controll the fluctuations much.

also, the plant's roots can differentiate into two forms depending on the media it's in. in pure water cloning, the roots will be the fishbone/ladder type and in a medium that has a physical structure and is well drained the roots will be the "air" type roots. so, if you a growing in a medium with physical structure you should clone in one that has physical structure. not necessarily the same material. for example, you can clone in perlite and, when roots appear, move them into your permanent medium. they will adapt rapidly.
but if you clone in water, producing the fishbone/ladder type roots, and then put them into a physical medium, like the soil you mentioned, there will be a stall while the roots adapt to the new type of medium.

if you are going into a "roots in the water" type hydro system, the water cloned roots will take off faster than the "air" type.

Thanks.
Another good tip that I didn't know. I'll implement it in my clonebox when I get the chance. They are currently hanging freely in the air and will then be planted in soil. I have already noticed that rooting in soil takes a relatively long time.

Usually i change the water once every two weeks. It takes between 2-4 weeks for the cuttings to show sex. Only about 30% develop roots in that time.

This is also useful information. This is only the third time I've taken cuttings and I thought I was doing something wrong when I tested them in the jar.

Between Oktober and April you can place them just on a windowsill. It really is a keep it simple stupid way. I wouldn't overthink it, just try it out.

Yeah, learning by doing.

The way @Hammerhead describes works just as good. But i am a low Budget smalscale self-sufficient Cannabislover, i keep my motherplants in 2 Liter pots with low lightintensity. They don't show preflower that fast in my garden and i cut the top for branching anyway, so...

I have 2 liter pots too and can‘t switch to bigger pots before the plants go into the growbox.

You don't need to let the water sit out. The chlorine actually helps keep the nasties from growing. I just add water as it's needed. I just had a bunch of clones root that were just cut with some garden shears and put in a used pickle jars with straight tap water. They all rooted. It took a month but they grew roots.

I never changed the water I just added more as needed. The plants were on a table under an awning over my patio in the backyard. They have not gotten any direct sun since I cut them. They sat outside in a jar of water without a dome for the last month and through a heatwave and multiple days of 100°F degree days.

They are not that robust but they're rooted and the leaves look pretty good except where some leaf eating bug had dinner. I didn't spray them for pests.

It's not the best method but it's as easy as it gets. My preferred method is cloning in straight coco. It worked out though. I'll let them root for another week and then plant. They don't look bad for a month of sitting in a jar of tap water outside though.

Thank you also for your answer.
During my last test in glass jars, the leaves first turned pale and then deformed and died.

I have no idea what caused this and unfortunately I didn't take any photos.
Did you add fertilizer to the water at any point?

 

[greyfader]

You don't need to let the water sit out. The chlorine actually helps keep the nasties from growing. I just add water as it's needed. I just had a bunch of clones root that were just cut with some garden shears and put in a used pickle jars with straight tap water. They all rooted. It took a month but they grew roots.

I never changed the water I just added more as needed. The plants were on a table under an awning over my patio in the backyard. They have not gotten any direct sun since I cut them. They sat outside in a jar of water without a dome for the last month and through a heatwave and multiple days of 100°F degree days.

They are not that robust but they're rooted and the leaves look pretty good except where some leaf eating bug had dinner. I didn't spray them for pests.

It's not the best method but it's as easy as it gets. My preferred method is cloning in straight coco. It worked out though. I'll let them root for another week and then plant. They don't look bad for a month of sitting in a jar of tap water outside though.

hey buddy! if you do not change the water and they survived you got lucky. here's why. anaerobic bacteria.

essentially, you are using a stagnant water method. meaning that it doesn't move around or get aerated. a clone doesn't need much oxygen but after a while the stagnant water becomes anaerobic. anaerobic bacteria thrive in these conditions. the clone will die in these conditions. so my approach when i did this was to exchange the water daily. belts and suspenders.

on leaving the water out for 24 hours in an open container. some municipal water systems use chlorine and some use chloromine. chloromine is bound to the water molecularly, chlorine is not. you may have been on a chloromine system and it wouldn't have made any difference leaving it out because of this. but, in a chlorine system, where the chlorine wants to gas off naturally, it bonds temporarily to form hypochlorous acid (HClO) and hydrochloric acid (HCl). these temporary acid compounds will cause you to have a temporary low ph condition until they gas off. when they gas off the ph of the water will rise significantly. large ph swings are not good for cannabis. small, slow swings are.

so i think the prudent thing to do is allow it to sit out 24 hours and let the ph stabilize. then correct ph if necessary.

i think a ph of 6.0 is ideal for cloning.

 

[Chills]

Your approach is alright greyfader. I guess strain_hunter dont want to produce living plants for transplanting. Its just for sexing and then throwing them away. I think i read one time chlorine in the tapwater is more of an issue in the US than in Germany, where strain_hunter and i'm from.
Its more like a "keeping a bunch of flowers alive" subject.

 

[Drop That Sound]

Instead of taking the cutting from the unconfirmed plant.. just leave it attached, and wrap it with some cheap flexible LED strip that runs on 5 or 12v. Just a little strip should be enough.

Then, wrap it all up in a wad of tin foil so no other light gets in.

Hook the little led strip up to a timer and set it to 12/12. Let the plant continue to veg out as normal, with the "sex pod" dangling off the side like a shiny ornament .

Unwrap it in a few weeks, and only that section of the plant you covered up should have started to show, without affecting the rest in any way.
If its all nasty from lack of air flow (and the plant is a keeper), just cut it off. You would have anyway with the glass of water method, which sometimes takes an extra week or 2 if you do it that way because it wants to root.

 

[greyfader]

Your approach is alright greyfader. I guess strain_hunter dont want to produce living plants for transplanting. Its just for sexing and then throwing them away. I think i read one time chlorine in the tapwater is more of an issue in the US than in Germany, where strain_hunter and i'm from.
Its more like a "keeping a bunch of flowers alive" subject.

i gotcha! i haven't cloned in water for many years. best of luck to you guys!

 

[mudballs]

" cuttings could actually be stored in a plastic bag in the fridge for the time being, so that the suitable phenotypes can be rooted later and then kept as mothers."
they only last about 3wks like that. In plastic sandwich bag and every measure taken, they still just start dying

 

[Hammerhead]

I don't clone in water. It's not a reliable method. The success rate is not even close to plugs.

 

[xtsho]

I don't clone in water. It's not a reliable method. The success rate is not even close to plugs.

No it isn't. That's why I use coco when I'm making clones to give away or use for making crosses.

But if you're thinning a plant out and have some cuttings of sufficient size it doesn't hurt anything to toss them in a cup of water and wait. It doesn't require any maintenance and you could end up with some rooted clones. That's basically what I did. Maybe I got lucky.

I do know that I do things that many on the forums say you can't do and I don't do many things some say you have to. My plants grow just fine. People have been rooting cuttings from all types of houseplants in cups of water for at least a hundred years. Cannabis is just another plant . I have dozens of houseplants around the house. I treat cannabis the same way I treat everything else. I don't do any cannabis specific stuff. I've been growing plants of all kinds for over 50 years. Cannabis is one of the easiest to grow. I wish eggplant were the same. Eggplant is the Achilles heel to my green thumb.

I'm not recommending this method of rooting clones I was just showing that it can be done.

 

[Hammerhead]

No it isn't. That's why I use coco when I'm making clones to give away or use for making crosses.

But if you're thinning a plant out and have some cuttings of sufficient size it doesn't hurt anything to toss them in a cup of water and wait. It doesn't require any maintenance and you could end up with some rooted clones. That's basically what I did. Maybe I got lucky.

I do know that I do things that many on the forums say you can't do and I don't do many things some say you have to. My plants grow just fine. People have been rooting cuttings from all types of houseplants in cups of water for at least a hundred years. Cannabis is just another plant . I have dozens of houseplants around the house. I treat cannabis the same way I treat everything else. I don't do any cannabis specific stuff. I've been growing plants of all kinds for over 50 years. Cannabis is one of the easiest to grow. I wish eggplant were the same. Eggplant is the Achilles heel to my green thumb.

I'm not recommending this method of rooting clones I was just showing that it can be done.

LOL, For me and all I know it is. I would not have posted it if it wasn't. Rooting in water is the worst method to use. I get 96% in plugs. Water id be lucky if I got 10%. Ive been growing for 75 years