hi all. I'm in the middle of my first hydro grow - here is a thread on it:

first hydro grow, need advice and feedback please


I'd like to take a few cuttings for clones for my next grow. I figure I'd take a few lower branches from each of the plants - branches that aren't getting as much light and won't do much on this grow anyway.

I have a few questions:

1. I'm currently on day 23 of 12/12 lighting for flowering on these plants. Can I still take cuttings for clones or is it too late to have them go back into Veg mode?

2. If it's not too late and I can take some cuttings off my plants for clones what is the best way to "maintain" them so they stay alive and veg but not get too large before I can put them into flowering mode after my current grow is harvested?
I've read all about cloning so I think I can handle taking the cuttings and getting them to root, but I figure I have AT LEAST another 30 days or more for my current plants to go before harvest and if I vegged clones for that amount of time they would become too large. I already made that mistake on this current grow and my plants are much, much taller than I wanted them to be.
If I veg the clones for 30 days or more how can I keep them relatively small and short?
Would vegging them under CFL's work better for this rather than the 400W HPS I used to veg my current grow?


my goal is simply so that I can put clones immediately into flowering as soon my current grow is harvested, kinda like a perpetual grow I suppose, plus by taking clones I'll know they are all female rather than from seeds where you don't know what you will get

thanks for any help or suggestions you can offer.

1.Have the they started to develop buds? I might be wrong, but as long as they haven't started to flower u shoulden't have a problem cloning them.

My suggestion with the perpetual grow is to grow 1 mother plant and keep her at a veggative state.(it will take a couple of months) that way say, every 2 weeks you can take 3 or 4 cuttings and clone them. then have a seperate flowering room for them and at the end of 4 months, you will be harvesting every 2 weeks...

thats what i did last year, but i messed up by putting soil moist in pots, which in turn caused root rot and i lost all of my kids.
But you live and learn, and dust yourself off and try again.

High funtime...

23 days is a lttle more than I like but it will work.. it may take a some extra days for roots. I prefer the first 14 days of 12/12, as they are still in veg to bloom transition period and would not have to revert from 'blooming' back to veg.

I tried mothers in soil.. Do not have the concentration to do soil & DWC. I'm too new, maybe some day.
I just clone>root>veg>veg>veg>clone>root>veg.
Before long you will see a rooting/growth pattern and be able to clone at just the right timing, so they can be ready and go right into your bloom box after you harvest.

GL..

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4maggi

The future ain't what it used to be... Yogi Berra..
Ask Lucas: https://www.cannabis-world.org/cw/showthread.php?t=892

yes, the upper branches have a lot of flowers on them already but not the lower branches which are the ones I would take as clones.

ok, allowing what? maybe 10 days or so for the cuttings to root or so? that would still give me 20 or more days easy for the cittings to veg and grow. I'm afraid of them getting too big until I can put them into the flowering area - no room until the current grow is harvested, so how do I keep the cuttings from growing too big during that time? I've already learned firsthand on this current hydro grow how much faster they grow compared to soil. I'l looking to help avoid 5 foot tall plants like I have now - I'd much rather have more plants but bushier and much shorter than I have now. Unless it's just the genetics of the plants i'm growing and they are going to be big and tall regardless of what I do.

I wouldn't worry too much about them getting too big any time in the next few weeks. The cloning process should stunt them for a while until they grow a good root system. I think the last time I cloned it took me about a month to see any significant verticle growth

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Hmmm...That's odd operator.

I just took some clones last week and a few of them are already starting to grow vertically. Maybe it's strain dependent? I wouldn't think it would be but I really don't have enough experience to say one way or the other.

Fun,

You could do some low stress training (tie the tops of the plants down so they stay shorter then if they were allowed to grow vertically) and that will definitely keep them shorter for you. Do a search on LST and you'll learn all about how to go about doing it.

-the Corsican.

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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

"If at first you don't succeed, it wont hurt to smoke a little weed!"

OK, since it doesn't seem too late to take the cuttings I'll run over to my local Home Depot or Lowes and get the supplies to make up a cloner unit than take some cuttings.

Between the time the cuttings take to recover from the shock of the cutting and than maybe some type of training I can keep them small enough for the next grow.

Thanks all!

I cut all the leaves in half too... I thought that was why, could have been cold too, I remember it only being about sixty five in the room I had them in. I guess I could have done a better job now that I think about it lol

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

Ummm... Heres an idea no-ones suggested yet.
Take your cuttings, and put them in the fridge until you are ready to root! ITS SO SIMPLE! Take your cuttings, and stick them in a glass of water (only bottom half of stem, pulling off any leaves or nodes below water level. It was suggested to use PH'd water at 6.0, but the first time I ever did this- It was just straight tap!) Put the glass on top shelf (Or where ever its the coldest WITHOUT FREEZING!) Leave it alone! Change your water every 7-10 days with fresh Ph (If ya wanna) water, and you have yourself a FLORIST FRIDGE - filled with clippings that are waiting to be rooted! They will stay that was up to 2 MONTHS I KNOW, as I had a plant get accidentally topped outside this summer, and I did this with the top. It stayed alive for 2 months before Hubs turned down the temp by accident and froze the lil booger in its cup. Then it was a gonner after that, but up until then, it was perkier than the plant that was potted outside! I have friends who say their cutting root with the same success even after sitting dormant for months!

THIS COULD BE YOUR EASIEST SOLUTION!

Happy Cloning,
JointGirl

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JointGirl

that's an idea I wouldn't have thought of but it makes sense, although I would never had thought they would last 2 months - a week or two maybe but 2 months? wow!

High joint girl...

I have read this before, somewhere.. but put the cut in a baggie with wet paper towel around stem, in frig. .. I tried it.. and for about 2 weeks they looked great!
Then, I forgot them.. 6 weeks later, wifey says.. "what's this black stuff in this baggie?"
I never tried again.. thanks for reminding me.

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4maggi

The future ain't what it used to be... Yogi Berra..
Ask Lucas: https://www.cannabis-world.org/cw/showthread.php?t=892

I had heard of the baggie solution before, but never tried it. From my understanding, the cuttings will stay dormant, and not root for AT LEAST 2 months. Thats how long my top lasted? Maybe thats the MAX time it will last, and it wasnt the freeze that killed it? IDK, never tried it again. When I first noticed the clipping looking a lil' droopy, I changed the water, and it perked back up. This lasted for a little over 2 months, the last time it was droopy, I went to the cup and it was frozen- thin layer of ice on top of water. Hubs had turned it down when he added a large amount of BEER to the fridge one night not thinking anything. DUH!
I was told this trick by a florist who uses basically the same technique for other legal clippings, and applies to it clones as well. I know FOR SURE it worked at least once, for at least 2 months I might put this technique to the test again, with more than 1 strain and see how they fair. Just for the fun of it Maybe different strains react differently to this, IDK- But I'll try to find out for us!

Happy Clipping,
JointGirl

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Never done it for more than a week or two but the cup of water in the fridge is perfect for savig a cutting and cloning it later. Works great.

I read in Jose Cervantes' book that they'll keep for three weeks max, like this

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Mazar-i-Sharif freshly transplanted clone.