How to Grow Cannabis Clones (With Pictures)

Last updated: April 24, 2020

Cloning cannabis is a way to ensure that the next batch of plants being grown is just as good as the previous. It’s a form of asexual reproduction that lowers the chance of poor genetic mutations which can occur through standard sexual reproduction of male and female pairs of plants. This is ideally done after a great plant shows up in the crop, one you want to recreate again and again.

Through cloning, this is entirely possible as a plant clipping can indeed grow into a full-fledged plant with the same genetic properties of the “mother” plant it was taken from. It’s a great choice when a crop goes surprisingly well, and you feel the need to recreate this as close as possible for the next batch.

Let’s go over how to recreate this yourself.

What is Needed?

Cloning cannabis is surprisingly simple but a few tools are needed to get the job done. These include:

A cutting needs to be taken off the maturing mother plant. Take the sheers and cut above a node on the mother plant, to take whichever branch you’ll be cloning off basically.

Once that is off, you should then take the razor and trim the area where you took the cutting, below the node, at a 45-degree angle. This helps the roots spread.

Now dip the cut area in a rooting hormone and place the clone an inert rooting medium like Rockwool, it’s not ready for soil yet.

The leaves on the plant should be trimmed at the tip, this helps with photosynthesis, and any smaller leaves towards the base should be trimmed off as well as they tend to not do as well under stress.

Featured Image Credit: marijuanapropagation.com

Do all of this under sterile conditions, with gloves, as infection can occur on the exposed sections of the trimming.

Caring for Trimmings

Moisture and sanitation are key for these young trimmings. Ideally, multiple trimmings are taken and placed at once. A few will die, this is normal, and they should be removed as soon as possible.

A spray bottle with water should be used multiple times a day, they like their humidity and should be kept around 80°F. Lighting is also important. Lights on an 18-hour cycle, but kept some distance away from the plants will do the job nicely. They are very prone to infections and shock during this stage, so sanitary precautions are a must whenever handling them.

Gloves, removal of dead or dying clones in the area, light, and a gentle mist of fresh water are all they need.

Transplantation

After 1-2 weeks, small white roots should be beginning to unspool their way out from the bottom of the trimming. Once the roots are about an inch or two long, it’s time to transplant them into a growing medium.

Carefully prepare the soil ahead of time for the clones. Make sure it is pre-watered, as to not cause movement once they are placed, and gently place the rooting clones into a hole about 1-2 inches deep.

Shock can occur here, as they are still quite sensitive, so no nutrients yet and be sure to keep things as sterile as possible. After they have acclimated, another week or so, then they can be treated like a regular plant.

Featured Image Credit: lovingimages, Pixabay

Conclusion

Cloning is a great way to extend a crop long into the future and to keep excellent genetics alive and part of future generations.

This, of course, isn’t the only way to propagate a crop. Interbreeding male and female plants are a perfectly valid way to keep a crop going, as long as healthy candidates are chosen from both sides.

Still, for consistency’s sake, cloning is hard to beat.

Featured Image Credit: BiW99, Pixabay

Also See:

• T5 vs T8 Growl Lights
• Different Types of Grow Lights