John wants you to be a farmhand!

[roadmut]

I recently purchased a cloning system, but unsure when or how to taking clippings any suggestions

[slo-han]

Cutting weak stems is a lesson in disaster. When you get some stems that get a bit woody you will have your best chance at success. I have done both and have had limited success with the smaller stems and better success with woody ones. Other growers on hear have different success with different techniques. There are lots of discussions on hear about this so do some searching. I've done some experimenting but find that root tone is my best bet. - slo

[roadmut]

I'm amazed I bought a cloning starter and rooting powder straight water and my cuttings three days old look great no wilting looking good but 1 question. I know the clipping have to come from veg stage and I have done that but the flowering takes 4 to six weeks can the clones stay in the the starter that long

[coconutisland]

Surprisingly, I have found that mistreating the stem helps as much as anything. Meaning that I scrape the surface for about an inch from the cut. The 'cut' should be within 3 or 4 inch's of the growing tip, regardless of where you take the clone, the top of the plant or a shoot from lower. Smaller shoots will take longer to set new roots... I just did a batch and split them between rockwool and soil starter pots, the soil seemed to root faster for me... But I am low tech, not really a true clone machine, just a germination box that I place my clones in... I was trying to do them just in my grow room and the humidity was not stable enough for them, as soon as I got the germination box, that problem disappeared... I would stay away from taking really large clones with large fan leaves, on your first few attempts. You need to strip lower fan leaves and trim all but the very top leaves by cutting them in half. This allows the plant to retain a bit more water in those early stages, the larger fan leaves (or water leaves) will use up the moisture in the plant by perspiring, without any roots, the stem will shrivel and the clone drops over dead in a few days. Youtube has many video's of how to clone to give you a good visual. Just understand that everyone has a particular way, a particular method, all aimed at the same result... Regardless, the principle is the same, cut, stick it in water soaked medium, keep it humid and moist with limited light... no nutrients until there are roots... then wait... I actually 'cooked' a couple in my germination box last month. I was germinating some pepper seeds and had the temps up over 85f, too hot for the clones... So this last batch, I waited until my seeds were sprouted, then took some clones and turned of the heat after a day or so... Just keep track of what you do, the water, the cloning gel or solution you use, the temps, humidity, how you did your cuts and where... Then experiment from there... Took me 4 try's in this new house to get a system of cloning that is giving me near 100% survival rate... first 2 were without a humidity box (clone station or germination box, pretty much the same things) I was at about 50% before the box and the roots were taking forever to show up outside of the rockwool starter cubes. almost 3 weeks before I could put them in the bigger blocks.

[Schmokin]

Hi Roadmut. Read the cloning pages from the site https://howtogrowmarijuana.com/marijuana-cloning/
Also, try a search of the forum for 'clone' or 'cloning'. There has been some good discussion in the past. As far as I can remember the consensus was that low tech wins the day, but as you might expect, everyone has a different take on it. The best idea is to try a few different techniques and see which one works best for you.

[roadmut]

Well I made my cuttings 3 days ago and put them into a cloning starter with rooting powder and plain water and so far so good no wilting except the 1st day

[roadmut]

I appreciate the feed back, I have been playing with hydro for awhile and it took alot of work to figure out a problem and it turned out to be a dirty pump. I didn't know it came apart for cleaning so I just flushed it, but now that I've corrected the problem looking good

[Schmokin]

Stick with them. Sometimes it can take quite a while for roots to come through, but as long as the cuttings seem healthy and are not wilting, keep on hanging in there.

[roadmut]

Your right they have started rooting but 1 thing in the past when buying clones ready to go there wasn't as much leaf, it has been mentioned that they need to be trimed. Otherwise they look healthy

[roadmut]

So far all but have roots and two are showing nubs I trimmed the leaves today, my research says that it gives the roots more juice to grow

[Schmokin]

People trim the leaves to save moisture and lower the demand on the roots until they have formed fully. You only need a couple of leaves on a clone to get it going.
If you have leaves showing strongly through the cube and the plant has started growing new shoots then you're done and ready to pot up or transfer your babes to a larger cube and fit them into your grow system.

[roadmut]

I have been working my system for a couple of years now and believe I have a good design now but I have 1 thing that I am trying to work out how to clean out the feed lines after harvest without disassembling by chance do you have any ideas I'm running an eb and flow type and Hesi formula the feed lines are 3/4 ID from pump to 1/8 ID feed lines

[roadmut]