Where to take a cutting for cloning

[jcsmooth]

I'm about to sex my latest addition to the garden, but have a quick question for anyone out there....
Some of my plants show more side branching than others, and naturally, if they're farther from the light, I might as well use to take clones.
Other plants seem to be shooting straight up with little side-branching.

My question is while I am trying to keep a uniform canopy, can I top a plant and root it? The meristem is what I'm referring to.
Any downside to doing this? I figure I might as well use the cutting for something rather than throwing it out.

Does it matter where the cutting is from?
Sorry for such a simple question, but after four grows I still am learning.

Thanks,
JC

 

[Guest]

well in my experiece (not very much) the plants that seem to stretch the most seem to be the ones in the corner of the room, hence they dont get enough light and stretch to it. i dont believe i have ever heard of the "meristem" but i have had great success with topping plants, they get bushy instead of just really tall. and as far as i know topping is better then lsting in terms of stress on the plants. and no it doesnt necesarily matter where the cutting is taken off the plant. i was able to clone a tiny leaf with a tiny stem in dirt. hope i provided some help. late

 

[Guest]

jcsmooth-

Can you put a screen above your plants, or tie them down. This way you can get that even canopy. As it grows, just tuck it back under. As the top of the plant grows, the branches, now that they are more exsposed to the light, will catch up (more bud). You can use twine to tie it down too. Just tie plant down to the pot.

I have seen people cut the tops and then re-plant it. I think they cut some of the folage off, like you do with clones. But, this is your primary shoot, and the top will now grow two smaller primary buds ( not the mass as one primary. I would manipulate its growth with a screen, or tie down.

Take clones that have a few branches. Cut close, so you have soom stem. Cut branches, and any leaves off the clone. leave the top on though, just no developed leaves. Then recut a small portion off the end of the clone, quickly dip in rooting hormone. Stick shoot into substrate. And there you go. They like alot of humidity, spray some water on the inside of your humidome. A couple times a day, exhale your breath into the dome to give it some co2. In 10 or so days you need to check for roots, then move to your grow room. Just took 43 clones yesterday. 76 degrees inside, with 99 percent humidity( humidity will come from the water you spray in there). They look happy.

Chilly Willy

 

[NoNameNoshame]

Take it from one of your side branches with a few nodes.. A node under the soil/rockwool is a good place for roots to shoot out of....remember a several inch cutting has better odds of making it than a short little dinky one.

Basically, If you prune your bottoms or tops at all, you should have plenty to work with.

You don't need a growth tip on your cutting but most prefer this...I have seen some nice clones that where topped when rooted and formed quite nicely with several growth tips.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

Nonamenoshaame'

Thats cool. You can cut the tops off of clones. And roots are born easier while a cut branch is under the soil. Some of mine were like that when I did it, I didnt know if that was going to be a problem. The clonig went really well. The trick for me, was to have evry thing ready in advance.

 

[jcsmooth]

Thanks everyone for your quick responses. I suppose the consensus is that you can cut the main growth (top), but that side branches are the standard.

I've had pretty good success with my cloning thus far, with my best success coming from the "water bottle cloning" technique that was quite popular back on OG. Wow...I can't believe that guys name who starting that whole...movement
For those not familiar, you simply take a peat pellet (or rockwool, whatever), with your cutting in it, cut a small water bottle in half (With cap on), place the cutting inside and seal up with tape. You can aerate the bottle once a day for 15 minutes or so, but because everything is concealed and independent, retaining high moisture is easy and transfer of disease is minimized.

That's a piss-poor explanation of the process, but you can probably search for the technique. The bottom line was that it was cheap and worked really well.

Anybody else have success using a top as a cutting to root? The meristem (main terminal shoot) is still young and not woody, so I think it will work just fine.

Thanks,
JC

 

[Guest]

You can root the top of a plant,but in my experience its a little harder and may take a little longer.Give the plant a heavy dose of bloom fert several hours or the day before taking the cutting,this will give you a lot better chance of success.I'm growing a couple strains that are like that too,DP blueberry and skywalker,you have to wait awhile before you can get any good side cuttings from them.On the other hand my grapefruit and white widow are the opposite with tons of sidegrowth early.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

Two things to think about when taking a cutting; young vigorously growing shoots root quicker and easier than older woodier shoots. Indoors, they are often found on the top part of the plant, since they are close to the plant. BUT... shoots closer to the meristem on the lower part of the plant contain more rooting hormones (since they are closer to the root system) and therefore root easier that top canopy shoots. So try to take those vigorously growing shoots as far down on the plant as possible for optimal rooting, for instance what you trim off the base to make the meristem stronger.
As SKELETOR said, you can give the plants a bloom fert dose before taking cuttings. What you want is to increase the P levels in the shoots (which stimulates root production), personally I use bat guano, which is mainly a phosphorus/magnesium booster that will not burn the plants, it's great for rooting cuttings.

 

[Dan42nepa]

I took some cuttings yesterday and was a nervous wreck. I am about one week until i want to start flowering and need to make sure my cuttings are viable before i start or i will have to take more. So far, they are green and look healthy. This seems such an easy process but have heard such horror stories and dissention as to methods it seems intimidating. Some people say take low branches, some high. Some say small some say large. Some clone in water some in soil, bubble cloning as oposed to damp rockwool. I went with the last thing i read which was a low branch cutting above a previous node. I also bought two clear shoe boxes and put one on top of the other as a hood. They were 1.00 each in the dollar store. last week i constructed a cloner using ice cube trays for bottled water with holes drilled in the bottom caps and vermiculite as medium. The moisture didnt wick as well as i liked so still had to spray with water bottle. I also put a few drops of liquid kelp into a glass of water and put the cutting in that for a before sticking in rooting powder and inserting in the soil.. We will see.. I am filled with doubts over the quality of a few cuttings especially since i have one non replaceable strain. We will see and I hope for the best. Also i have no idea of the sex of any of these and took 3 cuttings from each plant. I have 18 cuttings total and having 2 survive for each plant would be great. I figured I would propigate the cuttings and wait for sex indication from the host plants and discard any males.. (I may keep one and propigate it for pollen down the road). We will see. I havent been this stressed since my seeds sprouted the soil...

 

[Guest]

I have also found that the tops are more difficult to root....seed plant single top....

In the book cannabis botony by clarke...

He says that nitrogen is the key...

That cuttings with high nitrogen will porbably root slower....

He doesnt mention the effects of phosphorus....

I would be interested in a link if anyone has one that talks authoritatively( ie no screen names lol) about cloning and phosphorus....

perhaps the bloom food is simply feeding the plant with a low n fert...

Because nitrogen is highly mobile we would expect to find the highest levels of N at the top of the plant....

With my moms however which have many tops.... I dont notice they root any slower.....


If only the plants could talk..... sigh.....

 

[imnotcrazy]

For strains that don't produce many side branches, bend the main stem slowly to @ 30 degree angle from the medium. This will encourage side branching and is used for bonsai moms and LST.

 

[Guest]

budlydoright-

Like your name. I was told that micronutrients would be all that is necessary. Which is already in my mix as an aged bark. Also acts as a buffer with the nutes. But it has to be aged, composted bark.

The feeding charts do show using a small amount of veg. solution (botanicare). But, also hear, to use strickly water.
What are your thoughts on this ?




These were taken 48 hours ago. Taken from lower plant,

 

[Core]

why did you cut the leaves ?...they supposed to have at least 1 set of leaves..

 

[jcsmooth]

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice...I watered the girls today with a nice shot of bloom fertilizer and plan to take the cuttings tomorrow. That'll be a nice break from studying for final exams
Damn it's hard to "prioritize" when you've got a closet full of lovely ladies. Actually...some of them are more than likely guys.

Anyways, I normally lst all of my plants because I have restrictions on height, but because my veg. closet is already full to the max., I can't do much training.
My veg. closet uses cfl lighting, and as we all know that doesn't penetrate too deeply.
Sooner or later I'll get myself a nice hps/mh digital ballast from hidhut and a grow tent. None of this small time 250hps. Movin' on up!


Well I should get back to my readings. Thanks for all the great tips guys,
JC

 

[Guest]

Hey Core-

Cut the leaves this time (not any developing leaves). Last time did not, and they did not make it. But, problem last time, coud of been from another problem.

The leaf growth you see, for the most part, has developed within these 48 hours. I mean, even new growth between the nodes, is mostly new.
Why keep the leaves on ? Always looking to improve.


jc-

Light makes all the difference, good luck with your exspantion.
Oh, and good luck with the ladies,

 

[TGT]

I have never seen clones taken before that were stripped so severe> it will be interesting to see if they pull through< like you sayed there is new growth so they probably will be okay< but i never seen clones like that before> a+ for originality> usually i leave the first set of leaves on but if they are very large i will cut the tips off down to about half the leaf< this way the plants do not have to take up so much water> good luck

ps: sorry for the all lowercase and weird characters> i spilled coffee on my keyboard and now its all messed up

tgt

 

[Young Giver]

If I were you and had height issues I would just pinch the top leaves on the taller branches. This is where the oldest hormones are making them hard to clone . You want to get the branches at the bottom of the plant these are the newest hormones.

 

[Core]

they prolly will make it but ....but that will cost you in days to root....been there done that.......

 

[Guest]

Budleydoright check out the NPK of Olivias products,cloning solution and gel.The cloning solution is .06-.13-.07 and the cloning gel is .08-.13-.07.As you can see the phosphorous is doubles in both products,the reason being this is what the cuttings are lacking.A heavy dose of tiger bloom before taking cuttings definately increases you chances of healthy cuttings,not just rooted cuttings.You can root them in plain water with no phosphorus before during or after,but I like to have healthy cuttings from the start.

 

[jcsmooth]

Sort of off topic, but does anyone else use the old water bottle cloning method?
I just remembered the fellows name who was the proprietor...growmatic.

I was scrounging through my buildings recycling bins taking out plastic bottles...there's not a chance in hell anyone knows what I was doing, but it'd still make me look like a complete wacko. I'll have to disinfect all the bottles before I use them of course, but that's still better than going out and buying bottled water just for the damn bottle.

JC