Cloning any plant, including how to clone marijuana, means using cuttings to create new plants. Cuttings are small pieces of an existing plant that you can put in soil, allow to grow, and get a clone. When a cutting begins to grow, keep reading to learn how to end up with a new plant, just like starting from seed.
The Steps for How to Clone Marijuana
Here are the 6 fast easy steps in cloning marijuana:
Get the right supplies
Select a mother plant
Prepare the clone to take root
Select an early growth spot like a humidity dome
Extra tips for success
Check often, and take care of your clone
If you follow the above steps in the right conditions, you should be able to grow multiple clone plants. You can tailor your plants to favor flowering or root growth for a sturdy plant. Follow the steps described below and enjoy your new marijuana plants.
1. Get the Right Supplies
As is always the case with gardening or farming, you can go crazy buying supplies or be a minimalist. Most people operate somewhere in between and get good results.
Some products are worthwhile investments, but others do little except eat up more of your money. When you want to learn how to clone marijuana, it’s understandable that one of your first concerns will be avoiding bad investments. So, you’ll need to use common sense to make advantageous purchases.
One such investment is an excellent pair of scissors or a razor.
Elsewhere, you’ll benefit from starter cubes or a great blend of soil. If you know good soil from garbage dirt that looks the part, go ahead and apply your knowledge. Otherwise, if you have doubts, starter cubes remove the guesswork.
Optionally, you can buy cloning gel or powder. Some people swear the gel or powder results in a better root system, but the consensus isn’t unanimous. In my experience, people who know how to create good quality soil don’t really need extra help.
Another critical decision is to consider your space and your climate. Do you have access to natural sunlight, or do you need to install grow lights? Or do you live in a cold climate or someplace where the temperature drops at night?
These factors will affect your decision about whether or not to invest in grow lights, a humidity dome, or an aeroponic cloning machine.
If you already live in a humid climate with natural sunlight, you may only need a little starter tray for young plants. Cloning in a cold basement without windows may require using grow lights and a humidity dome.
Your budget will also affect how far you decide to go. Real sunlight in good conditions is how plants should grow. Start from there, and figure out what else is needed to recreate natural conditions.
The last item you may need is a heating mat for cold temperatures. Get a water bottle with a spray nozzle to wet the clones. If you use starter cubes, spray the clones. Do not wet the cubes after inserting the clones.
2. Select a Mother Plant
If you have ever planted seedlings and had to decide which ones deserve to go into pots or a garden bed, selecting a mother plant is similar. Just like we have to discard weak seedlings that will not make the transition into strong plants, choosing the wrong mother plant will not get good results if you are learning how to clone marijuana.
A strong mother plant is far more likely to make a healthy, fertile clone than a weak one. With a plant like marijuana, you want to select the best candidate from the variety of marijuana you’re looking to clone. The clone will be genetically identical, so you should start with your best mother plant.
In the same vein as selecting a healthy mother plant, you should also cut one of the best parts to be the clone. Many growers cut off a six-inch branch. If you have one branch that looks healthier than the others, you might want to select that branch as your clone.
By choosing a thriving branch from the healthiest-looking mother plant, you give your clone the best chance to survive and thrive.
You will need to look for new growth tips on healthy branches. We will look at what to do later once you have selected the perfect branch.
3. Prepare the Clone To Take Root
Once you select a branch with new growth, take your scissors and cut at a 45° angle close to where the branch meets the stalk. Once you have the cutting, there are some extra steps to plant the right way and give the clone the best chance of survival.
If your mother plant is reasonably large and has lots of branches, choose the branch based on what you want from the clone. Higher branches will flower more easily, while lower ones take longer to flower (but they establish roots faster).
If you are cloning cannabis because you want another strong plant like the one you have, establishing a better root system with a lower branch will work the best. You might wait longer while your clone focuses on growing roots first, but the dividends pay off later.
Growing is always an experiment because the same type of plant in similar growing conditions will act differently from season to season.
If you like experimenting and want to try for a clone with equal roots and flowers, pick a middle branch to cut. The equal distance from the roots and flowering section should encourage well-balanced plant growth.
One of the most important steps is to prevent air from getting into the cutting. If air gets inside, the cutting will probably die. The reason is that the cutting is about to become the start of a new root system. While soil has aeration, it is an anaerobic environment overall.
If you trust your homemade soil skills, you can put the cutting into the dirt and not worry. With starter cubes, using cloning gel in combination works well. The cloning gel seals the cutting, ensuring air does not get inside.
Take the bottom of the cutting where you made the cut and dip the end into the gel. Let any excess gel drip off, and insert the clone into the soil or cube. If you’re using a cube, first submerge the whole thing in water for a few seconds.
Otherwise, if you are not using gel, you can put the cutting in water to stop air from getting inside. Once you prepare your soil, remove the cutting from the water and plant immediately.
Pinch the soil or top of the cube into the cutting to make a secure fit. Most people like to plant in a starter tray made of plastic to hold the clones. Later on, the soft plastic makes removing the clones easier without disturbing the root system too much. Do everything you can to avoid plant shock.
Lastly, if there are any large leaves on your cutting, clip them off or in half. The reason you clip the leaves is to encourage root growth. There is plenty of time for the plant to grow nice leaves later.
If the plant puts too much energy toward leaf growth, the roots suffer. You need to grow the best roots possible first. Once a viable root system starts to grow, you can focus on everything else.
4. Select an Early Growth Spot Such as a Humidity Dome
A humidity dome does all the work for you to create the right growing conditions for clones. However, if you live in a suitable climate, you may already have perfect conditions without needing to think about extra investment.
Candidates for good natural conditions are a warm, humid climate with hours of sunlight coming through a window. If you already have a greenhouse, you should find the conditions are likely ideal for growing. Various plastic sheets on the market accomplish the same thing.
You may also already have a clear plastic container you can cut a few holes for ventilation. Once you see how simple a humidity dome is, you may discover the materials to make one are already in your home.
One word of caution with a humidity dome: watch out for mold or algae. There are no tricks to keep mold spores away. Just pay attention enough to spot mold early on.
Why Humidity?
Think about how plants get water. Water enters the soil, flows down, and the roots from various plants and trees absorb the water. During cloning, we cut a branch off an existing plant, but the branch doesn’t have roots.
So, how is water going to get into the plant? The leaves will have to absorb it from the air for now. In that context, the best way to water the clones is to create a humid environment. After the roots grow, the humidity won’t be necessary.
In the materials listed above, you saw that you need to be able to spray the clones with water. Until roots take hold, watering the soil will not get water into the plant.
We need to water the leaves and recirculate the water in a humid environment. Otherwise, the clones will die of dehydration, just like standard plants that do not get enough water.
Another tip many growers employ is spraying with a nutrient solution in addition to or instead of plain water. Since the clone does not have roots to absorb the nutrients, the leaves can absorb some. Nutrients will also end up in the soil and help the growing roots eventually.
Use or Create Springtime Conditions
Our target temperatures are 72-77°F or 22-25°C. In the quest for springtime conditions, the temperature is only half of the equation. The other part is simulating springtime sunlight if you are using grow lights.
Clones need some dark periods for the roots to take hold properly. Normal spring conditions have about equal parts sunlight and dark, twelve hours each. If you are using natural sunlight, let nature take its course.
For grow lights, you can increase light exposure to 18 hours. You might want to use a timer to make sure the lights go off. Six hours of darkness is the minimum.
If you are using natural sunlight, there is no need to give your clones a few hours of extra light after sundown that a grow light would give you. The sun has already provided the clones with all the light energy necessary.
The final thing to bear in mind regarding light, whether utilizing sunlight or growing lights, is that plants use light and their roots symbiotically. Your clones will not have roots for a few days. You can cut back on the light exposure for the first 3-4 days and increase the exposure time afterward as the roots grow.
A week to ten days into the growth cycle, the clones should be in a good position to receive full light and give energy to the roots.
5. Extra Tips for Success
With the steps already discussed, you will grow healthy clones. However, there are always extra tweaks and tips that can multiply success.
Vitamins and Nitrogen Vs. Phosphorus
When you plant from seed, creating a nitrogen-rich environment by adding something like chicken manure is a great idea. However, we are cloning a plant already grown, meaning the needs are different.
Over the years, marijuana growers have discovered that phosphorus is the best tried and true addition to the soil. Phosphorus encourages growth, so look for a potting mix meant for flowers. You can also find nutritional supplements that add vitamins and potassium for better growth.
Make Multiple Clones
Some people don’t have much space to work with, but if you can find the room to make multiple clones, you will be glad you did. You never know if a clone will take root or fail. Just like you do not plant one seed, do not create one clone and assume things will work out.
If you end up with too many clones, you can always give some away, maybe even sell a few, or let them die off. Then you know you will get at least one more healthy plant.
Do not forget to label your clones. The label can be as simple as a piece of tape you scribble something on. After a couple of weeks, all your plants will look the same, so labels and dates keep things organized.
Clone Dormant Plants
Dormant means that the plant is not flowering. Whether you have gardening experience or are a first-timer after a season of observation, you will notice that plants undergo active and inactive phases. Active means flowering and growing fruit, if applicable. Of course, most plants get active during the summer or warmer months.
You can clone a flowering marijuana plant. Just know that the result will be different than if you clone a dormant plant. A dormant plant will naturally grow roots faster. You have to encourage a flowering plant to do the same thing.
People may have various reasons for wanting to clone a flowering plant. For instance, you might have just discovered that a flowering plant is a real winner, and you want to start cloning immediately.
All you have to do is follow the instructions the same as above, except you need to pinch or cut off the active buds. Only take cuttings from the bottom of the plant to help ensure they grow roots faster.
Do not worry if you see strange growth patterns or oddly shaped leaves. Clones from flowering plants may get bushy and appear genetically different from their mother plant.
After a few weeks, the plant will outgrow these abnormalities and look normal. Just focus on growing strong roots.
6. Check Often, Monitor, and Take Care of Your Clone
If you’re using a humidity dome, you will permanently remove the cover once roots take hold after six to 10 days. However, you need to periodically remove the dome before then to let fresh air circulate.
Even though you spray the leaves and put on the lid to create humidity, the plants still need the moisture to lift and for fresh air to move in. A good rule of thumb is to let any visible moisture or water droplets evaporate from the leaves before spraying on a bit more and replacing the lid.
Check your clones at least once daily and remove any that die or look too weak to grow strong. Dead plant matter attracts things that consume death, and the consumption can spread to your other clones.
Also Read
12 Best Marijuana Strains For Sex In 2022 (Ranked & Reviewed)
Final Thoughts on How to Clone Marijuana
Above are the steps for how to clone marijuana, but don’t forget that plants also need your love and commitment. That will fuel you to follow the steps and take care of anything your clones need as they struggle to survive the first few days.