The Most Basic Of Cloning Polls...

[purpledomgoddes]

Here is an interesting side note to this poll....

There have been 868 views of this thread (at this point), and 88 people have voted...approximately 10% of the total.

Given the widely held practice of finding a "keeper" and maintaining those genetics for future use...I would have thought a higher percentage of viewers would have cast a vote in this poll.

Even if we chalked up 200 views to folks revisiting (hehehe, 15 for me), that would still leave a total of 668 views, which would mean about 14% of viewers have cast a vote.

Is it possible that so few of us growers are actually involved in cloning our favorite plants?

interesting analysis. w/ ~10% of the population voting, can potentially draw conclusions.
polls go on forever if open-ended. thread has been alive for ~7 days. seems conclusions may be drawn.

while cloning can be major part of gardening for some, others may have varied objectives. there are alternatives to continually looking for keeper.

example:
acquire xxx seeds, preferable of diverse genetic origin.

for this example, lets set seed sowing count to only 10.

3 each of 3 genetically diverse varieties (or a single, staple variety), and a bagseed thrown in for good measure (or not).

gardener sows all 10 seeds. takes clones of each seedling.

flower seedlings out w/ goal of full seed run.

should have xxx seeds at harvest.

never have to acquire seeds again.

do same thing each generation.

maybe select 1 mum, and maybe 1 dad per 10 run; maybe.

this the 10% ratio of "keepers" from each gen, and can carry on several lines in small garden.

can eliminate clones altogether and just plant xxx seeds every xxx days/months - after seed run.

can potentially read a lot from 10% of a population. depends on what is looking for.

 

[Pirate]

There are dozens of successful methods or products.

I've settled on:
Plain Tap water / Dip & Gro / Rapid Rooters.
.
.

 

[B.C.]

Is it possible that so few of us growers are actually involved in cloning our favorite plants?

Naah man, those are people looking to learn somethin. New or old, you never stop learning.

About the cloning. I've cloned using aero, bubblers, wick method, soil, hell you name it, I've tried it over the years. One thing I can tell you is that the medium temp is indeed, the most important thing. If some one is sucsessfully cloning with out warming the medium, it's only because their ambient temps are within the window, so that would mean the medium is as well. All the methods I jus spoke of will work great once you get the temps right. Between 75-80 degress is what to shoot for, the farther temps fall from this, the longer it will take to root.

Somethin else that will help make this a breeze. Take cuttings from the soft newest grow tips, esp from the top. There's more natural hormones in this part of the plant than any where else, they will root the easiest. All the hormones that cut needs to root with, is in it. I've been rooting clones for years without using any thing extra.

No matter what method you choose to clone with, keeping these things in mind will make you much more sucsessfull at it. Good luck! BC

 

[SlowCalaToker]

Naah man, those are people looking to learn somethin. New or old, you never stop learning.

That's why I keep checkin in. If I didn't lurk threads that have different methods from what I currently use, I would never have found the methods I use now. Props for keeping this going, lots of folks are learning new cloning methods they haven't seen before.

 

[Hal]

99 votes....who gonna be numero 100?

 

[milehighmedical]

Looks like you topped your 100 there Hal, congratulations. The numbers are staying consistent though. Looks like we've answered your question.

Like I've said.... 40% in plain water still blows my mind! I would of never expected it. In fact, I would of never even considered cloning in plain water.

A) 30 fucking days? I have a plant count to worry about. Med patient here.

B) Every clone for me is my golden opportunity to get my hands on that strain permanently... not going to risk just dropping it in some water when I can snip, dip and slip it in a rapid rooter or jiffy to root and have 100% success rate proven to myself.

C) Plain water is boring. Simple is boring. Progress is what I thrive for. Progress is not boring.

When I have the opportunity and resources to put my clones on the line for the sake of experimentation, I will. I took a tomato cutting yesterday and dropped it in some water to see what happens. Worst case scenario: Nothing. When I lose a Cannabis clone, that's a month worth of meds for me.

 

[Hal]

I wasn't considering it either, but in my looking through threads about cloning, I stumbled upon this thread touting the wonders of plain 'ol water. If you read that thread, you will see why I began to consider it....it seems simple and fool proof.

Here is the link:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=10827

The other cloning methods I had been reading about did not seem fool proof at all. I was constantly reading posts about folks experiencing rot and fungus, warnings about maintaining a rather small temperature window if success was to be found, and varying opinions on which hormone and media worked best. The plain water method seemed to be free from these assorted problems. Thats why I wanted to see how many were using plain water, mostly because plain water is not something that people start threads about.

So, in response to your list....

A) the length of time it takes seems to be the ONLY issue here, and I can see if a grower needs to put out as much harvest as possible that would be a consideration. But a few extra weeks (at the most it would seem) will not affect me badly at all.

B) I think growers are taking a bigger risk using these other methods. Not saying its a big risk, but the plain water seems almost risk-free....but it does take a bit longer.

C) I think you're just BS'ing here dude....what really counts is positive results and success. But, it does take a bit longer, so if you are in a hurry, then I understand.

You're last paragraph is going on about the "dangers" of experimentation, as though the plain water method is risky....when it is less risky than using the various other methods. Not saying you don't get 100% success, but many in cloning threads report having difficulties. Not so with plain water it would seem. It just takes longer.

 

[Sleestak]

Straight into coco for me. bubbler when I wasn't running coco.

 

[B.C.]

Do a lil research on regular greenhouse propagation methods. I think yul see there is a criteria that needs to be met if you want quick rooting clones. Just like there is a criteria for germing seeds on a large scale and even growing the plants them selves.... Also, ya might wanna check out the thread Rez through up on cloning. later, BC

 

[Dirt Nasty]

Cloning in strait water is a horrible waste of time with the end result being an inferior product. Step your game up, people.

 

[milehighmedical]

I discovered that thread a while ago as well, it's packed full of information. A great read if this topic interests you at all.

I don't mean there's actually any real danger. I just have only done it the other way and since it's never failed I'm sure you understand why I'd be unwilling to change my routine.

Positive results are what I want to. But there's only a certain number of grow cycles left before I die, and I'd like to make the most of each and everyone.

Obviously plain water is ideal for anyone who's never cloned before or just doesn't like the idea of spending more money than necessary on propagation.

If I grew only for myself and didn't have patients waiting on meds and a plant count to watch I have to admit I'd be switching to water cloning.

As for reports of less than 100% success on water-only cloning... I've only ever seen one thread on it. And if you didn't know other people used this method and tried it yourself and it didn't work... you wouldn't exactly jump online and be like "I took a cutting and dropped it in some water... and did nothing else, and it didn't work, WTF?" It's not exactly surprising. But now I'm just arguing for the sake of arguing, I'm sorry.

Final verdict: It works.

 

[CottonMouth]

Well I vote for something other than plain water, but each to thier own.
My method works great for me and I might loose one or two from time to time but I would say 95% over the last ooh 9-12 months.
Coco rinsed in 1 gallon R/O water and 5ml cal/mag
then watered every other day or when needed with my own rooting water
R/O water brought to a boil and turned off then add a handfull of willow branches let soak over night and wallah instant rooting water.

CM

edit: forgot to mention normally by day 7 I am putting them into thier flowering containers with a ton of roots.

 

[TacoSusio]

All of these methods clearly work, given optimum conditions. I'm certain someone could root a cutting in their crotch, if they were motivated enough.

It really boils down to which method each of us wants to take the time to master.

For me, since I run DWC w/o a medium, I feel developing 'water roots' makes for a less stressful transplant, so I clone in a bubble cloner. Also, I LIKE building gadgets for my grow, so that was a bonus.

I suppose what I'm saying is that much like every other aspect of growing this plant we all love, the answer is within you.

 

[ReelBusy1]

a little Clonex and ph balanced water and i'm usually good as long as I don't over spray the clones.

 

[Hal]

Well, I decided to go as simple as possible and try the plain water method. I put 10 cuttings into plain tap water on 6/26, under one 18 watt 6500K CFL, with a sheet of white typing paper directly above the cuttings to further diminish the brightness.

I checked today (didn't check the previous 3) and 6 of the 10 have definite roots starting, one looks like she's ready to pop some, and the other 3 seem to be showing signs but not sure. Two of the 3 that are questionable are quite thick and strong, and I remember reading that the more mature the cutting the more difficult it is to get roots. I'm quite satisfied, after only 10 days.

 

[melvin2]

fastest i've seen roots in plain water, 6 days.

30 days is bs from people that haven't tried it.

There are many variables why different methods work for different people.

I used to use rapid rooters and olivias in my old house with 100% success, but in another house with mold problems, that rate went down to about 5% trying different powders/gels/dips. Cloning in perlite with dip n grow was 5% as well.

Desperate as I was I tried straight tap water. Smooth sailing now. Temperature is the key and low light levels of course help. No domes, hormones or misting. Just fresh tap water every day or two and they stay green and show roots in 1- 2 weeks depending on strain.

edit: as for the claim that water cloning produces inferior bud.... lol and lol again.

here are some white rhino and satori after 9 days in a cup:

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Do a lil research on regular greenhouse propagation methods. I think yul see there is a criteria that needs to be met if you want quick rooting clones. Just like there is a criteria for germing seeds on a large scale and even growing the plants them selves.... Also, ya might wanna check out the thread Rez through up on cloning. later, BC

The larger nurseries growing stock use a combination of techniques to propagate and much of it is mechanical and automated. The cuttings are dipped into the rooting solution and then placed into the small plastic 4x or 6x or 9x trays that you've seen at garden centers.

The one consistent thing is that around here they almost always use a combination of Dip 'n Grow and B-1 if we're not talking about tissue-culture propagation. The other consistent thing is the humidity levels maintained in the rooting greenhouses as well as temperatures.

This isn't an advertisement for Dip 'n Grow - it's probably no better and it's certainly isn't any worse than any other rooting agent. It's more that this is a local company who made inroads into the nursery industry around here over 20 years ago and nursery growers are very slow to change.

They certainly would never, ever pay $22.00 for a small bottle of Clonex. Ever.

HTH

CC