Freaks Stupid Simple Cloning Method

[guymandude]

I have been asked by a few to do a cloning tutorial of my cloning technique since i get as close to 100% success rates and usually see roots in a week. Keep in mind this is i have found what works for me in the 10 years I've been playing around with this ridiculous plant we love so much. I have tried the bubble cloners with limited success. They usually work for me a couple times then no matter how i clean the thing, i would get funked up. I have found that temps play a profound role in this cloning method and it's quite easy to get a spot with really warm temps if you put your mind to it. I use a mother keep tent with a 4 bulb T5 fixture in it. Temps stay around 85-90 degrees in there and the clones love it.

I am not saying this method is better than what you are using and having great success with. I am saying this is what has worked for me for the past 10 years or so.Worked well enough that I won't varying from it, until i start having problems with it. All plastic materials are washed out and repurposed a few times before hitting the trash. I really don't want to hear from the ultra-treehuggers about it, ok? please? Most major fast food chains have gone back to using styrofoam for their large drinks and that really pisses me off. Let's go scream at them

shopping list:
1 bag , 50 count, 16 ounce clear cups (Walmart)
1 bag, 80 count, 9 ounce clear cups (Walmart)
these are stupid cheap - both bags should total about $5
high quality, well washed coco coir with added perlite - you can use dirt too, i have found i get roots faster with coco
a drill and a drill bit - keep it on the smallish side nothing over say 1/8th inch
Clonex Gel
grow formula nutrient solution. I run AN full strength for this. doesn't hurt the clones AT ALL. Use what works for you for your clones.

 

[guymandude]

so, you get your 9 ounce cups and drill drainage holes in the bottom of the cup. This is much easier to do if you leave the cups stacked within each other and drill 5 or 6 cups at a time.

label your cups. very important. We've all had that stoner moment when we go, "Um, which one was this again? shit!" Grab a sharpie and label the cups

fill the cups with the coco/perlite mixture.

moisten with the nutrient solution and then i use a ball point pen to make a hole in the coco where the stem of the clone will be placed. You don't want the coco to be completely saturated. You should be able to squeeze the cup and have a little solution run out of the drainage holes in the cup. After all this time, it's become a weight thing for me. I can feel the weight when it's right

 

[guymandude]

take your cutting

trim it up - angled cut on the stem, trim the leaves to cut down on transpiration a bit and dip the end in the Clonex gel

place the cutting into the hole in the coco in the cup and press the coco gently down around the stem. Important note: you don't want leaves overhanging the edge of the cup. This is cause tissue damage on the leaf and invite mold and funk. so after the cutting is placed in the coco, I take my trimmers and cut any overhang off at the edge of the cup.

there is a before and after final trimming

then take the 16 ounce clear cups and use one as a dome for the clone

place the cups into the warm area cloning tent for me, and forget about them for about 3-4 days.
temps in this tent run between 80-90 degrees. after a couple days, i will take the domes off briefly to allow fresh air into the dome. Then the dome goes back on. After 4 days, I take the domes off. If a clone wilts, the dome goes back on. If it doesn't, the dome stays off, watch for new growth and roots. wash rinse repeat

new growth - see the new growth - that means the plant is making roots too.


onc eyou have a nice healthy thick mass of roots, transplant into coco or dirt. The plant will adjust to going into dirt quite easily. If you want to run the clone in hydro, wait for the roots to gte nice and thick, remove the clone from the cup and gently rinse off the coco from the roots. Put in hydroton and let her rip

questions?

 

[DemonTrich]

Nice wrote up

May I suggest slipping a colored cup under the clear cup with soil. Roots don't like light, and this way you can still slide the clear soil cup out to inspect the roots.


Also, give dip n grow a try. This stuff is like super steroids for clones. My record is 3 days from cut to roots. 5 days potting. This is ONLY on 1 strain. All 15 others take 7 days.

 

[jipp]

Nice wrote up

May I suggest slipping a colored cup under the clear cup with soil. Roots don't like light, and this way you can still slide the clear soil cup out to inspect the roots.


Also, give dip n grow a try. This stuff is like super steroids for clones. My record is 3 days from cut to roots. 5 days potting. This is ONLY on 1 strain. All 15 others take 7 days.

i order 2 oz of it to try.. the clonex i order was ship poorly and blew up in the mail.. they refunded my money but yeah. heh.

anyhow thanks for the recommendation..
chris.

 

[One drop]

great thread good advice for the new players just one thing i do is i trim up the leaves off the plant before you take the cut this way you have to only cut then hit the clonex then into the mix .

 

[guymandude]

Nice wrote up

May I suggest slipping a colored cup under the clear cup with soil. Roots don't like light, and this way you can still slide the clear soil cup out to inspect the roots.

the clear cup and roots in the light does not matter as long as you don't leave it in the cup to veg for longer than say 3 weeks or so

i order 2 oz of it to try.. the clonex i order was ship poorly and blew up in the mail.. they refunded my money but yeah. heh.

anyhow thanks for the recommendation..
chris.

great thread good advice for the new players just one thing i do is i trim up the leaves off the plant before you take the cut this way you have to only cut then hit the clonex then into the mix .

i take the cut then take another cleaner cut up the stem after i trim.

Like i stated earlier, this is what works for me. and it works very very well. it's rare if i lose a cutting to not rooting. I'm not going to run off the reservation and try Dip and Gro or this and that when what I am doing, and what i attempted to illustrate, works so damn well for me.

It's this simple:
If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it

 

[One drop]

the clear cup and roots in the light does not matter as long as you don't leave it in the cup to veg for longer than say 3 weeks or so





i take the cut then take another cleaner cut up the stem after i trim.

Like i stated earlier, this is what works for me. and it works very very well. it's rare if i lose a cutting to not rooting.

yep i got that i just elimanate that step theres no need to do the second cut thats all i was saying .

 

[guymandude]

there is if you are also giving your plants a trim. The one big drawback to this method is the clones start out a bit smaller. i have to go with what will fit inside a 9 ounce cup with a 16 ounce dome over it. Sometimes that requires a second cut. I start big and work my way small. you can't do it the other way around

 

[Dr Bob]

Yep. After much trial and error over the years, I too found that coco works REALLY WELL for cloning.

I don't routinely get visible roots in a week...But RELIABLY get rooted clones in two weeks.

Only differences in my procedure are: (1) I don't have any nutes in my Coco to start (only adding after rooting has obviously started); (2) I put all the cups with cuttings in a large clear plastic storage container, then put an identical container (turned upside down) on top of the one containing the cuttings (creating a humidity chamber, rather than individual domes like you make with the 16 oz cups); and (3) I keep the whole thing in a cabinet with a homebuilt T12 fixture (provides low light AND just the right amount of heat).

I'll be taking some cuttings in the next week or so. Maybe I'll try adding some light nutes to the coco this time around. I get impatient sometimes with wanting my clones rooted. Sure would be nice to cut that two-week timeframe down a bit.

Anyways...Good post.

 

[guymandude]

Yep. After much trial and error over the years, I too found that coco works REALLY WELL for cloning.

I don't routinely get visible roots in a week...But RELIABLY get rooted clones in two weeks.

Only differences in my procedure are: (1) I don't have any nutes in my Coco to start (only adding after rooting has obviously started); (2) I put all the cups with cuttings in a large clear plastic storage container, then put an identical container (turned upside down) on top of the one containing the cuttings (creating a humidity chamber, rather than individual domes like you make with the 16 oz cups); and (3) I keep the whole thing in a cabinet with a homebuilt T12 fixture (provides low light AND just the right amount of heat).

I'll be taking some cuttings in the next week or so. Maybe I'll try adding some light nutes to the coco this time around. I get impatient sometimes with wanting my clones rooted. Sure would be nice to cut that two-week timeframe down a bit.

Anyways...Good post.

hey, @Dr Bob, thanks for your support. I have found that temps are imperative - the lower the temps, the longer the cuts take too root. Also, I noticed adding nutes help speed things up. Just go with what you'd normally give newly rooted clones.
The AN I use is pretty gentle so I slam them from the get go

 

[iKharon]

great thread good advice for the new players just one thing i do is i trim up the leaves off the plant before you take the cut this way you have to only cut then hit the clonex then into the mix .

Yeah I was thinking about this too.. I did that at first but felt like the attached extra cuts stress out the plant your taking cuts from. So I do take the cutting, dip immediately in clonex, then trim off excess and nip the tips of the tops

 

[DrMcSkunkins]

Im gonna try cleaning my cloner with the pressure washer and then running straight peroxide with a few tblspoons of white vinegar for an hour or so, should kill anything biological.
I always forget to water cups...

 

[guymandude]

Im gonna try cleaning my cloner with the pressure washer and then running straight peroxide with a few tblspoons of white vinegar for an hour or so, should kill anything biological.

yup, been there done that. That's why i do what i do. Bubble cloners would work once or twice for me, even with the cleaning regimen. Then i started doing this and haven't wasted money on a bubble cloner or the materials to make one, since.

 

[DrMcSkunkins]

yup, been there done that. That's why i do what i do. Bubble cloners would work once or twice for me, even with the cleaning regimen. Then i started doing this and haven't wasted money on a bubble cloner or the materials to make one, since.

You tried peracetic acid?

 

[guymandude]

no, i got way too fed up with the cloners and switched to this. I'm not going back when this method works sooooo well for me, which is why i posted it.

if it ain;t broke, don't fix it. - this is an important lesson to learn, folks. I experiment and try different things too, btu for cloning, this method is the be all end all for me- which is why i posted it, in hopes of helping someone having trouble with cloning

 

[Lbgrower]

Very cool @guymandude interesting teqnique im with you one hundred percent when something works no need to change it. Thanks for the post.
Do think @DemonTrich has some good tips for anyone who hasn't got their methods down yet! Thanks guys!!

 

[DemonTrich]

I've perfected my cloning over the last 5 yrs. I may lose 4 of 150.....if even that. I'm telling you guys, try dip n grow. Cheapest, quickest rooting compound I've ever used.

 

[Lbgrower]

I've perfected my cloning over the last 5 yrs. I may lose 4 of 150.....if even that. I'm telling you guys, try dip n grow. Cheapest, quickest rooting compound I've ever used.

You soak em or what? I wanna improve the speed of rooting.

 

[DemonTrich]

I soak them for 5mins minimum. Max of 15 depending on how many strains I'm taking at that time. I do 20% dilution.