There are many ways to grow marijuana. Some prefer seeds because they’re deemed more natural. However, growers who want to multiply the potential of a single seed turn to cloning. Cloning cannabis is a quicker, more effective way of cultivating similar buds from a single mother plant.
Cloning is a cost-effective method to reproduce an existing garden and keep them blossoming throughout the year. It isn’t a difficult process but it can be tedious.
It’s important to use a healthy mother clone. Healthy mothers make healthy clones. It’s important to wait two months into the mother’s grow cycle before cutting clones just to ascertain their health. An ideal area for growing clones should have ventilation, a systemic light source, and plenty of room. Young clones need to grow in a small nursery apart from more mature plants because they need more attention.
This grow journal chronicles growing a Super Skunk cloned from an ILGM mother plant.
ILGM’s Super Sunk is one of the most powerful cannabis strains in the world. It spends 7 to 9 weeks in flower. The thick and heavy branches produce fat, rounded buds which give and effective, physical stone, and strong couch lock. It’s recommended for people who suffer from insomnia, headaches, cramps, or loss of appetite.
Grower: Bevan
Location: New Zealand
Yield: 4 ounces
Mother plant: Super Skunk
January 1st
This plant starts in a small grow tent which is 2ft x 2ft x 4ft high with a 300W LED. It has a couple of 4-inch inlets at the bottom, a 6-inch inline fan sucking out the ceiling of the tent and blowing through a 4-inch carbon filter which creates a nice vacuum.
The clone was given by a friend and is already 3.5 weeks old. It’s being fed with Seasol Powerfeed NPK 12 1-4-7. For flowering, Guano Super Bloom NPK 1-9-1 will be used.
January 16th
The grow setup looks completely different now. It’s now a Secret Jardin L160 tent which has a larger grow space at 4ft x 4ft x 7ft. Plenty of light is supplied by the Philips Agro 315W Ceramic Discharge Metal Halide lamp system.
Even the air filter system is updated. The grow tent now boasts a 100mm mountain air carbon filter, and 125mm mixed slow fan blowing into a 6-inch insulated flex duct.
This plant is currently being fed 1L every day every other day and some days in between. It gets dry on top, normal in the middle, and wet at the bottom quickly.
January 21st
Here is the Super Skunk Clone. She’s already in the 17th day of flower. Clones finish their veg phase much faster than plants grown from seeds.
February 13th
This plant already looks like it’s ready to be harvested. It’s amazing how fast it can grow. Clones are further along than seeds so it’s important to work quickly and efficiently to keep up with them. She’s only 6 weeks into flower but pistils already look pretty dark.
February 28th
A partial harvest happened today. The top of the Super Skunk clone was chopped. The lower buds were allowed to blossom more by lowering the light.
Here are the harvested top buds.
And here are the remaining lower buds. You can see they are still growing. They’re quite frosty but don’t have the right amount of amber yet.
March 16th
This one Super Skunk Clone yielded 4 ounces!
Grower: Bevan
Location: New Zealand
Yield: 4 ounces
Mother plant: Super Skunk
As seen here, taking marijuana cuttings and growing them saves time and money because you don’t have to buy pot seeds. Harvest time will also be earlier because the germination process is bypassed. Clones also assure female plants.
A feminized mother will ensure your clones will become female plants. This will relieve you of the burden of allocating resources to young plants which turn out to be hermies. However, a mother plant should only be cloned three to four times. Keep in mind that each clone will represent the mother’s flaws as well as positive traits. Identical genetic structures also mean identical strength and vulnerability.
As much as they have plenty of benefits, clones have some disadvantages too. For example you won’t have any variety. They will have the exact taste and potency of the mother plant. However, this is a great selling point for people who want to have consistency among their cannabis.
Transporting clones may also cause shock, requiring several weeks for them to regain their vitality. Stories of clones transferred from one point to another and becoming flat when they arrived are not unheard of. They are delicate, and more sensitive to shock compared to seeds.
Burning is also an issue with clones and it takes longer for them to recover. Their fragility requires more care and proper handling during the early phase of vegetation.
To clone your cannabis, use a razor for taking cuttings. Place the fresh cutting into water immediately after removing from the rooting simulator. Make sure there aren’t any bubbles because they are major clone killers. Multiple bubbles prevent the clones from soaking up the much needed water.
Sliding the treated end of the clone into the rooting plug or pellet quickly and make sure it’s a snug fit. If cuttings don’t stick, it will absorb too much moisture and die. They are also more susceptible to bacteria so it’s important to keep them in clean, healthy soil. Finally, it’s necessary to watch out for overwatering. It’s not needed to spray the clones with water but if you want to, you can just spray enough once every three days to maintain humidity.
All these extra efforts will be worth it in the end. You’ll get more plants out of a single seed and future grow will require less time.
Do you have a special approach when growing clones?
Happy growing!
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