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Cutting the tips off leaves of clones

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Cutting the tips off leaves of clones

Bib4tuna 26 Replies 17,677 Views
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Bib4tuna

Bib4tuna

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I’ve grown with clones here & there but mostly have grown with seeds most of my life. A buddy of mine gave me a couple cuttings & I was wondering if I should cut the tips off the leaves. I keep seeing this online & wonder if this is a good idea. Just transplanted them two days ago & they’re about two ft.tall. Anybody suggest this or should I leave them be?
 
Are they showing roots? If they are I wouldn’t trim anything, but whenever I root newly cut clones, I always mar/snip the leaf tips to try to get the plant to concentrate more on root growth that photosynthesis. Happy growing!!
 
I’ve grown with clones here & there but mostly have grown with seeds most of my life. A buddy of mine gave me a couple cuttings & I was wondering if I should cut the tips off the leaves. I keep seeing this online & wonder if this is a good idea. Just transplanted them two days ago & they’re about two ft.tall. Anybody suggest this or should I leave them be?
The only reason people do that is when they're cloning a lot of clones at once and are putting them in a dome very close to each other. The reason for doing this, is it helps prevent mold from forming on the leaves while they are in the clone dome, with less places for moisture to sit and get stagnant..

Other than that, there's no reason to mess with 'em at this point. You can always trim off fan leaves to make room for bud sites and what-not, though. Personally I don't do much defoliation at all but I've been growing outdoors for the most part, lately.

Edit to add - Oh I just reread what you said. I've always been a firm believer that each leaf is a solar panel giving the plant energy, and unless the leaf is unhealthy looking or crowding a bud site in flower, I try not to remove them. I don't believe defoliating or even trimming leaves in the early stages will necessarily make roots develop faster. I've never seen a difference doing this, and I've never seen any research proving it, but I could be wrong. I don't think it will necessarily hurt your plant, though. So, try it out if you want. Maybe it will help, maybe not, we'll see! Good luck! 🤠
 
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The only reason people do that is when they're cloning a lot of clones at once and are putting them in a dome very close to each other. The reason for doing this, is it helps prevent mold from forming on the leaves while they are in the clone dome, with less places for moisture to sit and get stagnant..

Other than that, there's no reason to mess with 'em at this point. You can always trim off fan leaves to make room for bud sites and what-not, though. Personally I don't do much defoliation at all but I've been growing outdoors for the most part, lately.

Edit to add - Oh I just reread what you said. I've always been a firm believer that each leaf is a solar panel giving the plant energy, and unless the leaf is unhealthy looking or crowding a bud site in flower, I try not to remove them. I don't believe defoliating or even trimming leaves in the early stages will necessarily make roots develop faster. I've never seen a difference doing this, and I've never seen any research proving it, but I could be wrong. I don't think it will necessarily hurt your plant, though. So, try it out if you want. Maybe it will help, maybe not, we'll see! Good luck! 🤠
I’m a firm believer in don’t fix it’s not broken & also not big on experimenting with my plants when I haven’t a clue of what I’m doing. I’m sure ur right,I’ll just leave em be.
 
I've never seen research or side-by-side tests either. It makes sense that you want the cutting's energy and effort to go towards root development instead of supporting existing leaves, and there are a few other methods, products, and tips around this process too.....rooting powder, aloe gel, misting, increasing time with the dome lids off.....You'd think it would be hard to do a comparison.........100 cuttings without the leaf tips cut off, 100 with, and try to root them......because the cuttings will never be truly equal. Maybe if they tested to see if the ones with the leaf tips cut pumped out more root producing hormones? Maybe there are some studies on this, even on plants in general, I don't know.

You'd also think cutting the tips gives them better air, prevents mold......that also makes sense. I doubt it hurts them, and once they do root, unless you've really cut/stripped leaves way too much, they're probably going to grow at about the same rate.
 
Are they showing roots? If they are I wouldn’t trim anything, but whenever I root newly cut clones, I always mar/snip the leaf tips to try to get the plant to concentrate more on root growth that photosynthesis. Happy growing!!
Sorry I overlooked & didn’t see ur post. Yes a friend had given them to me & they were already showing roots. They’re about two ft.tall. And this process of snipping the the leaves when they’re newly cut is likely what I’d read about became confused.
 
Clones uptake water through their leaves.....there are no roots to do the job....

When they transpire/sweat, it is through their leaves....

Cutting a little from the tips of the leaves balances their intake/outtake......
 
I made my first clones the other day, I did clip the leaves, I read somewhere that cutting the leaves simulate an animal eating the plant, which in turns tells the plant to focus on roots. I have no idea if that's true but first attempt I did get roots.
 
The only reason people do that is when they're cloning a lot of clones at once and are putting them in a dome very close to each other. The reason for doing this, is it helps prevent mold from forming on the leaves while they are in the clone dome, with less places for moisture to sit and get stagnant..

Other than that, there's no reason to mess with 'em at this point. You can always trim off fan leaves to make room for bud sites and what-not, though. Personally I don't do much defoliation at all but I've been growing outdoors for the most part, lately.

Edit to add - Oh I just reread what you said. I've always been a firm believer that each leaf is a solar panel giving the plant energy, and unless the leaf is unhealthy looking or crowding a bud site in flower, I try not to remove them. I don't believe defoliating or even trimming leaves in the early stages will necessarily make roots develop faster. I've never seen a difference doing this, and I've never seen any research proving it, but I could be wrong. I don't think it will necessarily hurt your plant, though. So, try it out if you want. Maybe it will help, maybe not, we'll see! Good luck! 🤠
Though you are correct about the solar panel thing, you are obviously an amateur grower or not experienced with cloning propagation. You monitor your freshly inserted clones for proper fluid intake, if you notice your new clone wilting, you trim the ends off the fingers. It reduces the amount of water the freshly cut stem has to supply to the solar panel you speak of. Leaf trimming is done for that reason alone. It's a make or break, sink or swim, do or die type thing with a important purpose. 🤠🤓
 
Though you are correct about the solar panel thing, you are obviously an amateur grower or not experienced with cloning propagation. You monitor your freshly inserted clones for proper fluid intake, if you notice your new clone wilting, you trim the ends off the fingers. It reduces the amount of water the freshly cut stem has to supply to the solar panel you speak of. Leaf trimming is done for that reason alone. It's a make or break, sink or swim, do or die type thing with a important purpose. 🤠🤓
P.S. A grower only clones what he has room for and knows exactly how many will fit, if he thought he needed more, he'd expand his available area. Clones placed Properly into the desired medium never contact anything out side the medium diameter at time of conception. You're welcome 😊
 
I made my first clones the other day, I did clip the leaves, I read somewhere that cutting the leaves simulate an animal eating the plant, which in turns tells the plant to focus on roots. I have no idea if that's true but first attempt I did get roots.
Negative, its done solely for the purpose of easing the strain on supplying water from the newly cut stem to the impending leaves. If you stick a clone and notice leaf droop, move away from light and or trim ends of leaves, thus reducing the amount of water needing to be delivered to leaves prior to root system development. 😉 anyone tells you different they either don't know or they think they do.
 
I've tried both ways and I just can't seem to get it to work. The first time I did it, I got 1 out of 3 just using jiffy peat pellet and water. That plant is doing great, but I've tried twice after all of them failed, and now all of them look like they will fail again. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. It's about 80° in there. I started at 80% humidity, but they started wilting so I'm at 65% now. I used root riot plugs with clonex gel, and I've sprayed them a few times. I have a inkbird humidity controller in a small ~2x2x2 tent with an outtake. I'm running negative pressure, but both monitors usually about the same for humidity. I thought the root riot plugs looked a little dry so I have the left side about 2ml of the clone solution at 4ml per liter of .3Ec water. The first two days it was a little bit cooler. The ones still standing up are newer.

Can someone please help me.

I should add that they are getting about 100 PPFD for 18 hours, but tonight I'm going to turn the lights off an hour early.
 

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Im not talking from my experience since I have not worked from clones but I have a close friend who does. For most of them he trimms the leaves, some of them if the leaves are smaller he doesnt. That has nothing to do with simulating animals eating the plant (which does work for more trichomes during flower but thats another thing). Its just for the simple reason that the cutling doesnt have roots so if you have too much leaf it will die due to lack of water to mantain the clone before the root is big enough.
 
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I've tried both ways and I just can't seem to get it to work. The first time I did it, I got 1 out of 3 just using jiffy peat pellet and water. That plant is doing great, but I've tried twice after all of them failed, and now all of them look like they will fail again. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. It's about 80° in there. I started at 80% humidity, but they started wilting so I'm at 65% now. I used root riot plugs with clonex gel, and I've sprayed them a few times. I have a inkbird humidity controller in a small ~2x2x2 tent with an outtake. I'm running negative pressure, but both monitors usually about the same for humidity. I thought the root riot plugs looked a little dry so I have the left side about 2ml of the clone solution at 4ml per liter of .3Ec water. The first two days it was a little bit cooler. The ones still standing up are newer.

Can someone please help me.

I should add that they are getting about 100 PPFD for 18 hours, but tonight I'm going to turn the lights off an hour early.
You dont need that much stem, as I just mentioned the more plant matter that the clone has to substain the most likely its for it to fail. There's no root to mantain such big clones also they look kinda dry, are they dry? Seems like @Tenesseejed works with clones lets see what he has to say.
 
I've tried both ways and I just can't seem to get it to work. The first time I did it, I got 1 out of 3 just using jiffy peat pellet and water. That plant is doing great, but I've tried twice after all of them failed, and now all of them look like they will fail again. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. It's about 80° in there. I started at 80% humidity, but they started wilting so I'm at 65% now. I used root riot plugs with clonex gel, and I've sprayed them a few times. I have a inkbird humidity controller in a small ~2x2x2 tent with an outtake. I'm running negative pressure, but both monitors usually about the same for humidity. I thought the root riot plugs looked a little dry so I have the left side about 2ml of the clone solution at 4ml per liter of .3Ec water. The first two days it was a little bit cooler. The ones still standing up are newer.

Can someone please help me.

I should add that they are getting about 100 PPFD for 18 hours, but tonight I'm going to turn the lights off an hour early.
don't hesitate to slightly overwater your root plug the first week until the plant effectively grow some roots, damp medium the first few days help the plant assimilate water from the stem until it grow some roots
 
Also are you using scissors? You need something sharp to cut a clean 45º angle, a cutter or a scalpel. Scissors create pressure on the cut closing it a bit, making it harder or impossible for it to root.
 
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Though you are correct about the solar panel thing, you are obviously an amateur grower or not experienced with cloning propagation.
Lmao I love when broscientists with 4 whole posts come out of nowhere to tell people who/what they are on the Internet. Thanks man, I wasn't sure if my 25 years of cannabis cultivation was enough to surpass amateur level, but you just assured me. Please tell us, master, how to do it right? 🤣 🤣

oh you disappeared almost a year ago what a shame I was hoping we could all learn from the master. Damn it 🤣
 
I've tried both ways and I just can't seem to get it to work. The first time I did it, I got 1 out of 3 just using jiffy peat pellet and water. That plant is doing great, but I've tried twice after all of them failed, and now all of them look like they will fail again. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. It's about 80° in there. I started at 80% humidity, but they started wilting so I'm at 65% now. I used root riot plugs with clonex gel, and I've sprayed them a few times. I have a inkbird humidity controller in a small ~2x2x2 tent with an outtake. I'm running negative pressure, but both monitors usually about the same for humidity. I thought the root riot plugs looked a little dry so I have the left side about 2ml of the clone solution at 4ml per liter of .3Ec water. The first two days it was a little bit cooler. The ones still standing up are newer.

Can someone please help me.

I should add that they are getting about 100 PPFD for 18 hours, but tonight I'm going to turn the lights off an hour early.
You took quite a bit of clones there. I don’t want to assume your standard operating procedures however I’m going to assume you didn’t put the cuts into a cup of water as you took them? Whenever I take clones because that’s my preference I used to get air embolisms in my plant because I didn’t take the cut and directly put it in a cup of 6.0 ph water while it waits for the other cuts to get taken. You need to take the cut with a CLEAN RAZORBLADE every time. Like wipe it in between each plant switch with alcohol. I don’t but hey I usually clone one strain at a time or just two really every once in awhile. In between plant switch I’ll clean it. Then throw it away when done. This prevents disease transmission through your tools that touch different plants.

Then I cut like 50% off the leaves so cut the leaves in half with pruning scissors Also a little over 4” is what I shoot for with clones even 3” too. Then I take the cut fresh out the water and right before it’s clonex dip I cut 1” off the stem. Then dip the cut into clonex gel and I root in soil I get 95%+ success. Maybe 10 seconds max that new cut is exposed to air.

I fail rooting when I try to go to small of a cut to root and I handle it to rough and damage it getting the cut put into its media. Don’t worry about them falling over they used to do that to me when I didn’t use the cup of water like I said. Anything over 30 seconds where your root is exposed to air will give it a great chance of getting an air embolism and wilting. Even though they wilted just keep the media within the moist level and then they’ll perk back up
 
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I only took so many because I have such an impossible time keeping them alive. I only need 4 of them so I took 20. But I did put them in a cup of water with 4ml/L of the clone solution (directions said 5ml/L) immediately after cutting them.

I used a scissors. The razorblade point makes sense (crimping)

I felt the plugs were kind of dry. But the times before I thought maybe they were too wet. The root riot plugs come premoistened. If I squeeze them tight there is water that comes out, but I did feel like maybe they were to dry. That's why last night I moistened just the left side.

This morning I just checked them and it looks pretty much just like the picture from last night.

Would being in the bathroom be an issue? I personally use a castile soap, and not much of it, but my roommate uses all the worst chemical soaps. Should I move them out of there?

My SOP so far is I use tap water with clonex solution, but I actually didn't think to let the chlorine evaporate out this time. I cut the plant, trim most of the leaves off and straight into a cup of water. I would be surprised if they were exposed to air for even 10 seconds.

From there, I put clonex in a separate puck, dip and stick. Before I did, I recut the stems at more of a 45° angle and scrapped a little of the fiber from the bark.

I'm not sure about the humidity. I set it to 90% for the first few hours, but it was only about 72° degrees in there. So I turned it down to 80%. So on the 2nd day I put a heater in there and aim for about 78-81° I think the heat is good, but then more started falling over so I went down to 65%. Last night I put them to 77% before I went to sleep, and I decided to that's probably best, but I don't know.

I will try to keep the cuts smaller in the future. Though, I have to say that it's the 4 tallest ones that appear to be doing the best, but I noted that those also had the wettest plug. Many of the others were the light brown color. All of the plugs got sprayed two shots from my sprayer (like windex type), but only the left side was given and extra 2ml of the solution.

I always pH. I grow in coco coir so it's super important. 5.8 is my target, but for the clone solution I used 6.2 which I'm understanding now to maybe too low.


Thank you everyone who took the time to answer. I hope I managed to answer all the question, and I think I have a few new things to consider for my next attempt.

They are all from one plant.

Addendum: I used trimming scissors, but I did clean them really good with alcohol and use my shirt to make sure they were dry and that - hopefully - any residual IPA was rubbed off.
 
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