Clone storage and shipping advice

[Wretched1]

I recently started to grow and have found two plants that work perfectly for me.
However, I am planning to go out of town for about a week and I'm paranoid that the person watering the plants will forget about them or somehow kill everything.
Can I take cuts and store them in the crisper of the fridge just to have backup? I read somewhere that this has worked for some people.
Also I want the mail my buddy a couple just so he has them. Any tips on shipping? I'm thinking just toss them in a sandwich bag and ship in a small box. Maybe a Pringles container

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Loc Dog]

Can leave cutting in water, I use mason jar. A week should be fine but if waterer could change it once would be best.

 

[goingrey]

Here's a thread about cold storage of clones.. https://www.icmag.com/threads/keeping-unrooted-clones-in-cold-storage.361833/

But yeah like Loc Dog says a week is not very long, a cup of water is fine. Maybe they'll even have roots when you come back. If you don't trust the waterer to change the water you could put them into some kind of substrate to deal with the slime. I've been using Seramis for this recently but if that's not available to you then "anything" will do the trick.

For mailing clones it would be a good idea to keep the ends moist. Without actually trying it I like the idea of the vials they use for roses... but I guess most people just use wet paper towels wrapped in cellophane?

 

[Loc Dog]

if you can block all light from the water, it will go longer without algae forming, when using cup/jar.

 

[Wretched1]

Thanks for the info! I found two long posts about this last night. I am probably going to try the glass cup/jar and also put some in a sandwich bag. The more I have the more chance.
I'm pretty new and think that ever plant is a keeper lol. I am probably going to try planting a couple in 5gal outside in the summer as well.

 

[Loc Dog]

Best to clone before flowering of mother plant. I had really bad luck at first and cuts from revegged plant can be less than desirable. I had to reveg GG4 for cuts and ever since it branches assymetrically.

 

[laszlokovacs]

Why not try as many methods as possible to experiment what works best for you and so you have the highest chance of success? As long as you have enough possible cuttings from the mothers. Taking more cuts will also reduce the need for watering as there will be less leaf surface area therefore less transpiration so the water will last longer. 1 week isn't very long either- they'll probably survive.

Sticking a cutting in a glass of water will easily keep it alive for a week. It may root by the time you get back. If you have any perlite you can also stick that in a cup and fill with water and then stick the cutting in. This will block out the light and keep a great environment and most likely root in under a week but water may need to be added too along the way.

You can definitely store cuts in the fridge for a few weeks in a sandwich bag. You should recut the stem end when you take it out of the fridge to clone. Also make sure there is some air exchange in the bag and leave a lil corner open because otherwise the leaves+stem can easily rot if too moist like the salad you never end up eating from the store.

 

[beta]

I had to reveg GG4 for cuts and ever since it branches assymetrically.

Don't all mature plants have alternating nodes? I may be misunderstanding what you're saying here.

 

[Loc Dog]

Don't all mature plants have alternating nodes? I may be misunderstanding what you're saying here.

It was symetrical before that.

 

[beta]

All plants start from seed with symmetrical nodes, once they are sexually mature the nodes become alternating. You'll notice it happen around the same time you see the first pre-flowers.

 

[Loc Dog]

All plants start from seed with symmetrical nodes, once they are sexually mature the nodes become alternating. You'll notice it happen around the same time you see the first pre-flowers.

I wonder if Marrdoggs mother plant was never flowered. He may have taken cuts before putting it into flower. That would make sense why it went assymetrical after reveg.