Quick Tips for Cloning Difficult Marijuana Strains
Cloning Difficult Marijuana Strains
If you have a marijuana strains that simply won’t take root, or you’re encountering an overwhelming failure with your current methods of cloning, here are a few ways to increase your chances of success:
- The potato graft: when you are trying to root particularly stubborn clones or cuttings taken from woodier, harder parts of a mother plant, and other methods have failed you can try a potato graft. To use a potato graft, simply select a potato that has started to sprout, you’ll want a smaller potato with 3 – 5 eyes on it. Cut a small hole about 1 – 1 ½ inches into the potato; you’ll prepare your cutting just like normal, dip it in your rooting gel or powder, and then fit it snugly into the hole in the potato. Now plant the clone and potato as you normally would; the potato will provide moisture and nutrients, protecting your clone and fostering the growth of new roots. You can also fill the hole in the potato with extra rooting gel prior to fitting the cutting into it.
- Aeroponic cloning: if you have the DIY skills and a small budget, you can build your own aeroponic cloning system with basic supplies for anywhere from $15 – $50. Alternatively, systems that root between 20 – 30 or more clones at a time are available for a range of prices, including the EZ Clone systems for 30, 60 or 120 clones at a time and smaller 30-clone setups like the Turbo KloneT24 and Clone King systems. Bubbler buckets, designed for use with a single plant, can also be adapted for use in rooting anywhere from 4 – 8 clones at a time. Using rooting gel in conjunction with an aeroponic system can often yield roots in as little as 6 – 8 days from cutting.
If you’ve been cloning for a while, or you know what you’re doing but can’t figure out what is causing recent failures with your technique, do a standard check of your nutrients, your pH balance, the temperature of your cloning area and your humidity levels. And to avoid losing your clones to disease, rot or other infections, be sure to sterilize all of your equipment before and/or between uses, especially the razor blade you use to cut your clones from the mother.
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