Cloning cannabis: cuttings

There are many ways to make growing cannabis easier. We have already seen what they are for and how feminized seeds are created , which allow you to be sure of allowing only female plants into your greenhouse, limiting the risk of furtive and disastrous pollinations. We also talked about autoflowering seeds , which allow you to free yourself from the slavery of the seasons, from the fear of rain and mold. With autoflowering it's as if it were always summer, but with artificial light!

Here we will talk about cuttings, the small clones created from adult cannabis plants, which allows you to avoid the delicate step of sowing and waiting for small sprouts.

What are clones?

A cutting, or clone, is the genetic copy of a plant . In other words, it is a "daughter" plant that retains the genetic age of the mother , along with behavior, flowering period, flavor, potency and resistance. This is very useful for those who grow cannabis continuously, but it can be a double-edged sword: until the plant is harvested you cannot know for sure what to expect, even if seed banks now provide very precise descriptions of every variety. In fact, when you plant 10 seeds of the same variety, you can notice how some plants grow more vigorously, others show more marked characteristics of Indica and others of Sativa, others are more susceptible to mold.

Creating clones serves precisely this purpose, to select the best specimens and invest in them . Without this plant reproduction technique, a plant with a particular genetic composition could be lost, while, by preserving a specimen to be exploited as a mother plant, all its qualities can be safeguarded.

Cuttings can be taken when the plant has already reached 2/3 of its maximum height . You need to choose a branch with 3-4 well-marked nodes, regardless of their size.

The strongest and most vigorous cuttings or clones are those taken from the upper part of the plant; however, taking cuttings from a low area can be useful for trying aggressive pruning techniques, such as lollipopping.

How you do it?

There are many ways to clone cannabis plants.

• The basic method requires cutting a branch from a young but already quite tall plant, choosing a branch that has at least three or four nodes. Then you need to immerse the portion of the branch in a solution that contains rooting hormones . Finally you need to place it in the substrate and wait for it to take root. This process is simple and offers a good chance of success.
  

• There is a more complex method , but certainly more professional and reliable. First of all you need a female plant from which to take the clones , to grow healthy and bushy, with numerous lateral branches. However, before even proceeding with cutting the branches, some factors must be taken into consideration. It is best to act on plants born from feminized seeds , to make sure you do not clone a male that will be of no use. If, however, the mother plant is regular, it is advisable to switch it to flowering to check its sex, and then bring it back to the vegetative phase, increasing the hours of light.

You must then make sure to reduce the nitrogen levels of the plant . To do this, it is necessary to suspend the administration of fertilizers in the 5-7 days before taking the cuttings and spray water on the mother plant once a day for 7 days. Reducing nitrogen levels will be fundamental: a clone with too high levels of nitrogen in the leaves will be more stimulated to develop leaves than roots.

• Now we need to proceed with the preparation of the substrate (soil, rock wool, etc.). Add pH balanced water (6.5-6.6) to the substrate until completely saturated. When it is evenly wet, eliminate the excess water and fill the seedling jars. The substrate must be wet but compact, so as to be able to easily support the clone in a vertical position, without hindering the development of the roots.
  

• Then, fill a spray bottle with a pH of 6.5-6.6 and keep the entire plant hydrated , to minimize water stress and the risk of the clones dying once removed.

Now it's time to prepare the greenhouse , which must be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized with a solution containing four parts tap water to every part bleach.

• Now you can cut. Select a portion of the branch that has a pair of internodes with healthy leaves , at least 10-15cm long. Use the razor blade to cut the leaves of the first (and, in some cases, the second) lower internode. Then proceed to cut, at an angle of 45°, at the height of the internode from which you had previously removed the leaves. Once the cut has been made, it is essential that the cutting is immediately immersed in the substance containing rooting hormones . Otherwise, the clone would be exposed to the air for too long, with the risk of triggering an air embolism within the clone's stem and, therefore, its death. The rooting gel offers many advantages: its consistency envelops the cutting evenly and adheres well to the plant surface.

• The freshly cut clone must be immersed in rooting hormones for about 20 seconds and placed in the substrate . To avoid moisture loss, spray water on the newly planted clone, close the greenhouse and place it in a dark place for 12 hours. In this way the clones will have time to recover from the strong stress received after separation from the mother plant. After 12 hours you will have to subject the clones to an adequate light cycle to stimulate their vegetative growth : 18 hours of light and 6 of darkness with a surrounding temperature between 20° and 27°. Remove the cover of the mini greenhouse every 12 hours, the time necessary to moisten its interior with the water spray bottle.

• After about 10-15 days the cuttings will have developed roots . Moisturize the cuttings twice a day until you notice noticeable vegetative growth. Once the root system has developed, the clones can now be considered real plants and, therefore, in need of correct fertilization.