Do you have a beloved cannabis strain with the traits and potency you enjoy most? Would you like to shorten the time between harvests of the buds you cherish? Reproduce your favorite genetics much faster if you know how to clone a marijuana plant.
It’s possible to create replicas of your preferred cultivars without starting from seeds each grow cycle. Propagating cannabis plants decreases the time they take to reach their full potential and ensures a constant supply of nugs.
Ready to learn the art of marijuana cloning? We’re about to tell you everything you need to know to create the perfect cannabis copies. Let’s go!
What is cannabis cloning?
Cloning involves snipping branches from established “mother” plants and providing them with the conditions they require to grow roots. This cutting develops into a genetically identical duplicate of its source.
Marijuana clones display the same potency, appearance, and growing characteristics as their mother plant. These copies produce quality buds each harvest if taken from a healthy specimen.
Every serious grower should know how to clone cannabis. The process is a reliable way of increasing yield without compromising crop quality.
Advantages of cloning over growing cannabis from seeds
While there are pros and cons of cannabis clones, using cuttings has many advantages over reproducing marijuana from seeds. Let’s explore some benefits of replicating your favorite cannabis variety through cloning:
Cheaper: The method saves you from spending money on seeds, as you can propagate your existing varieties.
Healthier plants: You’re guaranteed new crops without issues by only taking cuttings from healthy mother plants.
Saves time: Cultivating marijuana through cloning is faster, as you can skip the germination phase of the plant’s life. Clones also grow quicker than seedlings.
You know what you’re in for: Propagating a strain you’ve previously grown means you’ll know what cannabis characteristics to expect. There won’t be any surprises during growing or harvesting.
Produce multiple harvests: If you’re cultivating indoors, taking cuttings allows you to grow your strain of choice year-round. Knowing how to clone marijuana efficiently means you’ll have a constant cycle of plants in differing life stages.
What supplies do you need to clone cannabis?
Cloning cannabis is a delicate process. You’ll require a few essential pieces of equipment to perform the method correctly. Here’s what you should prepare before attempting to propagate your plants:
Sharp scissors
You need sharp scissors to take the cuttings and give them a trim.
Ensure the blades are clean and disinfected to prevent bacteria from entering the clones or mother and causing infection.
Rooting hormone
Using rooting hormone is how to clone a marijuana plant with an increased success rate. It comes as a powder, liquid, or gel and contains chemicals that encourage root growth.
The powder form is easy to purchase from most gardening stores and the most effective for propagation. If using a liquid hormone, be sure to dilute it accurately.
Rooting medium
It’s crucial to plant the clippings in a well-aerated, moisture-retaining medium that enables them to develop healthy roots. Try rooting cubes made from rockwool, peat, or foam. We recommend using the former as it’s sterile and absorbs water easily.
When using any rooting cube, it helps to invest in a tray and insert that holds the cuttings and helps them retain moisture.
Grow light
Clones are sensitive to their environment, carefully manage light to keep them healthy. Shine one of the best grow lights for indoor weed at a low intensity to prevent burning the tender leaves.
Adjustable LED lamps protect cuttings; using them is how to clone a cannabis plant like a pro.
Humidity dome
As the plant clippings develop their roots, they absorb water through their leaves. For this reason, it’s essential to keep them in high humidity.
A simple dome sold at most garden retailers helps to maintain the level of water vapor surrounding the clones. They make monitoring and altering humidity simple and encourage growth.
Clone box
Consider purchasing an auto-cloner if you’d like to cultivate many marijuana cuttings at once. This equipment provides the perfect environment for clippings to thrive and develop healthy roots.
Most boxes come with a pump that circulates water and nutrients and misters to maintain humidity. Simply provide a light source once your clones are inside, and the auto-cloner takes care of the rest.
Other supplies
When propagating cannabis, it’s helpful to have several sterile, empty containers on hand. Use them to hold clean water or rooting hormone.
You’ll also need a sanitizing agent recommended for horticultural use and some disposable gloves.
Cannabis cloning process step-by-step
Cannabis cloning doesn’t have to be stressful. As long as you’re well-prepared and remain organized, most of your cuttings should root successfully. Read on for a detailed, step-by-step explanation of how to clone weed.
Step 1: Set up your workspace before you begin
Before you begin, sterilize the surfaces and equipment you’ll use. Lay out your tools so that they’re within easy reach.
To produce high-quality cannabis clones, avoid letting the cuttings dry. Fill an empty container with around half an inch of clean water to keep them hydrated until planting.
Prepare the rooting medium by wetting it lightly. Don’t overdo it, as the clippings will rot in excess moisture.
Decant some rooting hormone into a clean container to avoid contaminating the entire product.
Step 2: Choose a high-quality mother plant
It’s of utmost importance to take cuttings from a high-quality marijuana crop. Since clippings share the genetics of their mother, any unwanted traits will be impossible to eliminate.
There are a few rules when searching for the perfect specimen to clone. Here’s how to clone a marijuana plant while ensuring cuttings grow into lush, flowering crops.
Choose the characteristics you want to reproduce
Make sure the mother produces the characteristics you prefer. Take the strain through at least one blooming cycle to learn its growth traits and test its bud quality.
Don’t clone a plant grown from feminized seeds
Cannabis crops cultivated from feminized seeds are more likely to become hermaphrodites when trimmed. Since we prune mother plants often, they need to be as stress-resistant as possible.
Choose a robust and well-developed plant to clone
Germinate several seeds of your preferred strain and establish their genders from the pre-flowers. After at least two months of vegetative growth, choose the healthiest and fastest growing female plant as your mother.
The crop you select should be big and branchy, with a full canopy of leaves and a robust root system. There should be at least ten nodes and no signs of mold, pest infestations, or nutrient deficiencies.
Keep your mother plants on a solid vegetative life cycle by providing 18–24 hours of light per day. House them in large containers and trim them often to control bushiness.
To ensure clones of your favorite cannabis cultivar are always of consistent quality, start new mother plants from seed every 6–12 months.
Step 3: Take a cutting from a plant in a vegetative state
Learning how to cut clones isn’t tricky. Pick a sturdy branch near the bottom of the plant where you’ll find the most developed growth. These limbs tend to form the most robust root systems.
Using your scissors, snip off a four-inch piece of the branch at a 45° angle. Cutting in this manner maximizes the surface area exposed to the rooting hormone.
Make a tiny slice through the middle of the stem to stimulate development. This step isn’t necessary but can help the clone absorb the rooting agent.
Step 4: Immediately put your cutting in plain water to prevent bubbles
Once you’ve taken your cutting, quickly place it into the container filled with clean H20. This step stops air bubbles from forming in the stem, interrupting water flow through the clone.
Should the clipping not receive an adequate supply of H20, leaves wilt, and the plant may die.
Step 5: Dip the cuttings in rooting hormone and place them into the medium
It’s possible for a cannabis cutting to develop roots in plain water, but this easy option comes with a risk. Algae may form, making it difficult for the clone to absorb H20.
Applying rooting hormones is a safer way to encourage clippings to grow healthy root systems. Take your clone out of the water and immediately dip the cut end into the agent for roughly 10–20 seconds.
Check that the hormone covers the entire bottom surface. Stick the cutting into the moistened growing medium for cannabis, pressing gently until about ⅔ of the branch is covered.
A cutting that’s too shallow within the rooting cube isn’t how to clone cannabis effectively. It may dry out, and the hormone could evaporate.
Step 6: Trim the bottom leaves
Trim off all of the clipping’s lower leaves, leaving only the top two to prevent the clone from wasting resources. Instead of feeding foliage, it can concentrate its energy on forming roots.
It’s also helpful to cut the ends off the remaining leaves to slow down respiration. This extra removal reduces their surface area and helps the cutting to retain more moisture.
Step 7: Transfer your clone to a humidity dome or clone box
Once you’ve completed trimming and planting, it’s time to place your clipping under a dome or into a clone box. Keep humidity levels high to encourage the cutting to develop a healthy root system.
Step 8: Nurture your clone
It takes around 1–2 weeks for the first signs of growth to appear on the plants. Are you wondering how a marijuana plant clone likes its environment? Light, temperature, and water saturation should remain at specific levels to keep it happy.
Grow lights should be on for 18 hours and off for six each day to keep the plants in a vegetative state. It’s best not to give new clones around-the-clock illumination, as this may slow down the rooting process.
Keep your clippings in cooler temperatures of around 72–77℉ to improve their growth speed. Avoid subjecting them to any conditions below 40℉. Freezing environments could cause the cell walls to burst, killing your plants.
Humidity for weed clones is a high level of 80–85%. Use a humidifier to ensure everything is well settled. Should you notice the water vapor levels dropping, mist the cuttings with a spray bottle filled with clean water.
Check on your plants daily to ensure they’re constantly damp. Provide them with fresh oxygen by lifting the dome or opening the clone box. This step also helps prevent mold from growing around the cuttings.
If any of your clippings die during rooting, immediately remove them. Decomposing plant material creates a breeding ground for pathogens that could kill off the rest of your clones.
Step 9: Plant your clone in a new container
When cloning your marijuana plant, here’s how to tell when it’s ready to be transported into a new container. Only about 2–3 inches of roots should stick out of the growing cube.
Before starting, sanitize your tools and wear gloves. Handle your plants with care, as the weak growth may break easily.
Prepare your pot by filling it with dampened soil. Wait for any excess water to drain from the bottom, and then dig a small hole using your fingers. It only needs to be 1–2 inches deep. Pull the clone from the medium and cover the roots with sand.
Monitor recently transplanted clones for stress and signs of pests. Be sure to increase their light levels to increase their growth rate.
Cannabis cloning tips
When learning how to clone cannabis, it’s common to make a few mistakes and lose some cuttings. Even veteran growers rarely achieve total success in each batch of plant clippings.
If armed with some knowledge and know-how, you can improve the chances of your clones surviving. Follow these five tips to prevent issues and obtain the best possible results.
Prepare your mother plant
Before taking any cuttings, get your mother in the best possible condition to supply clones.
Stop feeding the plant a few days before cloning. Nitrogen will move out of the leaves and stems, forcing clones to focus on producing roots.
Take more clippings than you need
Always cut more clones than you need in case any don’t root. Having extra clippings saves you the frustration of waiting for all of your cuttings to root.
Know how to clone a marijuana plant productively so you won’t have to worry if any of your cuttings die.
Incubate
We’d like our clones to root as quickly as possible, and there’s a simple way to accomplish this. Keep your growing medium at a higher temperature than the surrounding air by placing your tray on a heating pad.
Make sure the conditions don’t get too warm by checking the temperature daily.
Provide clones with extra nutrients to encourage rooting
In addition to dipping your cuttings in rooting hormone; it’s helpful to spray leaves with a mild nutrient solution. Along with water, clones can absorb a small number of minerals through their foliage.
Only use around ¼ of the recommended seedling amount to prevent nute burn.
Change up your lighting
Expose your clone to blue light for the first week of its life. These rays help the clippings to develop their root systems.
During the second week, shine red wavelengths on your plants that encourage leaf, branch, and bud growth.
Always know what you’re going to grow
If you’d like to eliminate the guesswork from your grow room, cloning might be for you. When knowing how to clone weed, you save money when reproducing your favorite strains. You never cultivate a strain you don’t want, making reproduction less risky.
Preserve your most desired cannabis characteristics through a reliable method that reduces the time until your next harvest. What more could any marijuana lover want?
If you’re still searching for the cultivar of your dreams, check out the great selection of cannabis seeds on SeedSupreme. With our selection of top-shelf strains, you’re sure to find something to tickle your fancy.
