Cutting of canabis
Taking cuttings is one of the most well-liked methods to propagate a cannabis plant. Regularly called “cloning” it’s an excellent strategy to get multiple cannabis plants that are genetically matching to the “mother” cannabis plant. Many of us feel threatened by the method, and are a bit leery to try “cloning”. If you’re one of those folks, relax, it is a comparatively simple process. What follows are step-by-step instructions for an easy process that works for most sorts of cannabis plants.
WHY TAKE CUTTINGS?
There are several reasons that you will need to clone your plant, the most clear being, that you do not have any seed. Cloning could be your single option in this situation.
One more reason that you may want to take cuttings is to control the standard of the cannabis plant ( s ).
Allow me to explain : Each seed, like each human, is subtley different.
Genetically, no 2 cannabis plants are the same, DNA works in cannabis plants much the same way as humans. So if you’ve a cannabis plant that’s just what you need it to be you can take cuttings to “clone” your special cannabis plant. Over time you might make about a bazillion genetically matching clones if you wished to. One reason to clone your cannabis plants that’s often forgotten, is that it’s regularly Quicker than starting from seed. Some cannabis plants will produce a rooted, growing cannabis plant from a clone before the seeds of the same cannabis plant can even sprout. Saving plenty of time.
WHAT you will need:
A SINGLE EDGE RAZOR BLADE – Must be sharp!! A new blade is best.
BACK-UP BLOCK – a chunk of Foam , wood or plastic roughly 2″x2″. .
SHOT GLASS – Or similar little plastic or glass container.mOr similar small plastic or glass container.
GROWING MEDIUM – Rockwool or Oasis cubes, Pro-mix, coconut fiber or one of a number of other acceptable growing media.
SEED TRAY WITH CLEAR HUMIDITY DOME.
ROOTING HORMONE – you’ll need a top quality rooting hormone like Woods, Clonex, Olivia’s, Dip & Grow etc. You may use a powdered rooting hormone but in my view they’re much harder to work with leading to a reduced success rate.
SPRAY BOTTLE WITH WATER. RUBBING ALCOHOL.
BEFORE YOU START
This might seem plain, but you need to only use healthy cannabis plants to take cuttings from. The more healthy the “mother “cannabis plants the better success you’ll have with your clones. You need to take 1 or 2 more cuttings than you want and then choose the best ones to use and ditch any that are not healthy. You’ll need to leach the nitrogen out of the mum cannabis plant ( s ) by watering them heavily with pH altered water only ( no manure ) for 2 or a few days before you take the cuttings. This is a vital step as the nitrogen stored in the cannabis plant will retard rooting. Decide what you’re going to use for growing medium. The general public use either Rockwool or Oasis cubes, which are probably the simplest to use because they’re pre-formed and actually have a hole in them for the cutting. However you may use many alternative mediums just as successfully, use plastic cups with holes cut in the bottom to hold coconut fiber, a Perlite & Vermiculite mix or other loose type growing medium.
Do not use regular mud or Peat Pellets as they stay too humid and will rot the stem of the cutting. You’ll need to pre-soak your growing medium before you start, using pH balanced water. Distilled water is the smartest thing to use, but any Good water source will work. ( NOTE : Most growing medium must be doused in pH six to pH seven water, Rockwool should be doused for 24 hours with water altered to a pH of 4.5 to five ). Make holes in the head of the growing medium that are about the same size or a little smaller than the stems of the cuttings. You don’t wish to force the cutting into the growing medium. It’s vital that you sterilise everything before you start, because cuttings are terribly subject to fungus, viruses and sicknesses till they root. Use rubbing alcohol on your hands, the razor blade and the cutting block. Wash the shot glass ( or whatever you are using ) with alcohol, dry it and then fill it three / four full with rooting hormone, and put it aside for the moment. Work quickly but fastidiously.
When you make the cut that separates the clone from the ma, you should get it into the rooting hormone as speedily as feasible to stop air from getting pulled into the stem. Please use caution not to chop yourself with the razor blade. ( The barristers made me say it ).
TAKE THE CUTTINGS
1. Take a growing tip from your cannabis plant 3″ to 6″
long with one leaf internode, 2 is better but not necessarily possible.
( A leaf internode is where the leaf connects to the stem, See diagram one ).
2. With a Sharpened single edge razor blade,
meticulously cut off 1 or 2 leaves ( or tiny branches )
flush with the stem. ( See diagram two ).
3.Make a cut roughly quarter ” below the internode ( s ) where you trimmed the leaves.
Cut at a forty five to sixty deg. Angle. ( See diagram three ). Hold the back-up block behind the stem where you are going to chop, hold block firmly against the stem, this supports the stem and protects your fingers. Make this cut as fast and clean as you can, you don’t need to tear or crush the stem.
4. Quickly insert the cutting into the rooting hormone ( See diagram four ). If you’re employing a liquid hormone you can let the cutting soak for 30-60 seconds. ( NOTE : With a gel type hormone you dip the cutting and then insert it into the growing medium ).
5. Insert the cutting into the growing medium ( see diagram 5 ), don’t push the cutting all of the way through the medium, leave room for the roots to develop. Ensure that the cut ( s ) you made at the leaf internode ( s ) are under the surface of the growing medium.
6. Gradually pack the growing medium up against the cutting.
Ensure there’s good contact between the cutting and the growing medium.
CARE AND FEEDING INSTRUCTIONS
Congratulations! You have now successfully taken cuttings, now the challenge is to keep them alive long enough to root. The cuttings are terribly exposed at about that point and must be handled with care. If you follow the steps below you ought to have few issues.
Seven. When you have your cutting ( s ) in the growing medium mist them with the spray bottle crammed with water and put them in the tray. Mist the interior of the clear humidity dome and place dome over the tray. ( NOTE : The cuttings require some ventilation and a pair of little holes in the dome will generally do the job ). Eight. Take away the dome and mist the cuttings two or three times each day. This keeps the cuttings from drying out and also changes the air under the dome. This step is imperative, the cuttings have no way to restore lost moisture because they don’t have any roots. Mist the interior of the dome and replace on tray. The humidity under the dome must be about ninety pc till roots appear on the cuttings. ( NOTE : use caution the air under the dome doesn’t get too hot, if it is, you could have to increase the quantity of venting, and increase the number or mistings every day ).
Cuttings have to be kept between 72 and eighty degrees Fahrenheit. To cold will repress root expansion. If you live in a cold climate you’ll need a heated propagation mat. Nine. The cuttings are likely to need light, you want brilliant light, but not so intense. Dappled daylight if you’re leaving your cuttings outside. Inside you can employ a double tube fluorescent fixture with both a cool white bulb and a warm white bulb in the fixture ( or 2 “grow” tubes ). This can give a good, balanced light range. Fluorescent light doesn’t penetrate so you may keep the lights very near to the cannabis plants ( 1-2 inches above the cannabis plants ). If you’re employing a Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium fixture you must keep the cuttings much further away ( two – three feet away for 175 – four hundred watt bulbs and four – six feet for a thousand watt bulb ). The lights should be turned on for eighteen to twenty-four hours per day. Ten. To water the cuttings you may use either plain distilled water ( or other Good Quality Water ), or you are able to add a really mild manure like Olivia’s Cloning Solution or Wilder’s Clone Root Concentrate, you may employ a 0.25 strength overall purpose hydroponic manure solution. Do not forget to adjust the pH of the water / nutrient solution ( 5.5 for rockwool, 6.5 for most the rest ). Eleven. Water the cuttings each two days unless you live in a dry climate then you need to water each day.
Never let the growing medium dry out. Don’t let it set in water either, or the stem will rot. ( NOTE : a way to water the cuttings is to use 2 trays, one with holes and the other without. Fill the tray without holes about 1/2 way with water and then slowly lower the tray with the holes ( and cuttings ) into it.
Let sit for 1 or 2 seconds and them slowly raise the tray back out and let it drain ).
Tiny Hydroponic systems are available to automate the watering cycles of the cuttings, significantly reducing the quantity of manual work. Twelve. After roughly a week you can test to determine if your cannabis plants have begun to root. Take away the humidity dome and leave it off for an hour or 2. If the cannabis plants have not shriveled at all then they most likely have enough root development to support themselves. If no wilt is noticed leave the dome off, if they’re shriveled, spray the cuttings and dome and replace the dome on the tray.
When you have determined that the cannabis plants can support themselves, stop misting the cuttings and leave the humidity dome off. ( NOTE : Once the cannabis plants have roots, relentless misting can essentially be dangerous to the cannabis plants ). Thirteen. If the lower leaves begin to turn yellow and die, do not be disturbed, it is absolutely normal. It’s the cannabis plant feeding off itself to sustain life, moving valuable nutrient and water from the older expansion. Don’t remove any dead expansion till the cannabis plant is well rooted.
If you take away the dying expansion the cannabis plant can starve and die fully. Fourteen. When the cuttings are absolutely rooted you can move them into your hydroponic system or the soil.