Clones

What it is

A clone (or cutting) is a branch cut from a plant and set to grow its own roots. The new plant is an exact genetic copy of the mother: same sex (female), same aroma, same potency, same size.

What it's for

To keep a plant that turned out really good (a seed is like a child: it comes out similar but different; a clone is identical) and to have many identical plants without buying seeds. Big grows are built this way: a mother plant kept in veg all the time that gives clones.

How to do it

1. A healthy branch is chosen from a mother in vegetative, 10 to 15 cm, with 2 or 3 nodes.
2. It's cut at a diagonal, with clean scissors or scalpel, and put in water right away (an air bubble in the stem kills it).
3. The lower leaves are removed and the upper ones cut in half (it loses less water).
4. The base is dipped in rooting hormone and stuck into light soil, rockwool or a peat plug.
5. It goes to a place with very high humidity (80 to 90 %, with a lid or mini greenhouse), soft light and 22 to 25 °C.
6. In 7 to 14 days the roots come out.

Why not with autoflowers

A clone is as old as its mother. Since an autoflower flowers by age, its clone flowers right away, tiny, and hardly yields. That's why only photoperiods are cloned.

Watch out

The clone carries everything the mother has, including her pests and diseases. And a stressed mother, or one in flower, gives clones that root poorly.