If you have ever had a successful harvest, a strain of marijuana you particularly like, you need some more seeds, or any other reason to continue one of your plants, you need to consider cloning your outdoor marijuana plants. After one successful season, it’s always a good idea to clone your marijuana plants so that you can have more successful harvests in the future.
Cloning outdoor marijuana plants is useful for two main reasons: it allows you to produce more seeds, and it takes advantage of a particularly successful plant you may have had. When you encounter a particularly good strain, you are certainly going to want to hang onto it and keep producing more like it. Cloning is the way to do this. In this article, we will cover the basics of cloning, along with how and why you might want to clone for sex.
How to start cloning


Although it may seem like something from a science fiction movie at first, cloning is, in fact, a fairly easy process that has been going on for as long as cultivation of other plants has been around. The method is simple: put a cutting from any plant and putting it into the ground and having them root.
This is the principle for plants that are not marijuana. While the process is the same for marijuana plants, there are a few further steps you are going to want to take in order to make sure that yours are cloned successfully.
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Choosing a outdoor cannabis plant that is younger (between two and three months old) is usually best, although as long as the plant is mature, it should be able to be cloned. The process is the same for older plants, except that you will have to be paying closer attention to what the plant needs in the first few weeks, especially with regards to water.
How to clone marijuana plants


Once you have chosen a plant to clone, your first step should be to clip one of the branches. Pick one that is closer to the bottom and has larger leaves. Cut the branch at an angle, like you might to with fresh flowers before putting them in a vase.


Put the clipping into lukewarm water straight away, then transport it to your greenhouse or nursery to prepare it for rooting. You can use rooting cubes or small peat pots, which can be bought at any garden center or plant store (click here for the best online grow shop). You could also find mixtures that are soilless and usually made of gel or liquid, which are diluted with mineral water or another kind of water that doesn’t come from the tap.


Another option for rooting your cutting is simply to buy a rooting powder or gel and roll the branch in that. Try a few of these options and see which one works best for you.
After you have clipped and rooted your cutting, you should be sure to keep them happy and healthy from that point on. Spray water on your plants every so often to make sure they are staying moist while also ensuring that the airflow is good, but not so good that it dries out your cuttings.


Try this idea, taken from a San Francisco grower: you can create a sort of tent out of freezer bags that can be resealed. You can easily allow a small amount of constant air during the day, without the cutting receiving so much that it dries out.


You can also easily spray the cuttings with water and keep the resulting humidity inside your plastic tent. Because the material is clear, you can (and should) also expose your cutting to light for about 12 hours per day, with the exception of when you are cloning for sex. Roots should develop after several weeks, at which point you can replant them into the ground.
Cloning for sex


If you are specifically cloning for females, you will need to take one more step in the process. Do not keep light on your plants for 12 hours per day, but rather you should deprive them of light in order to initiate the flowering process. Make sure these cuttings were taken from plants that have already had at least three or four weeks of vegetative growth (which is identifying through seeing calyx development) and are mature enough to flower.
The plants should have complete, uninterrupted darkness for twelve or more hours, for a solid two weeks. Be very certain this is done perfectly because if any amount of light reaches them for any length of time, the process will not work and you will need to start all over again.
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After two weeks, you will start to see little blossoms in your cuttings, assuming you have done everything correctly. Continue the flowering process further, and you will soon be able to distinguish between your male and female plants. Dispose of the male plants unless you need them for seeding and transplant the female ones.
After less than one week of the transplant, your plants will go back to their vegetative growth, assuming you are able to provide them with thirteen hours or more of sunlight. If you are not seeing any results, try exposing them to light for 48 straight hours or more, and then you can allow them to get back into sync with the normal, seasonal patterns of light.
Thanks for reading. Please leave comments or questions below and don’t forget to download my free grow bible
Robert
Thank you for the bible!
greg,
Go here: support.ilovegrowingmarijuana.com
This is a cloning article and we are not set up in the blog to provide statrt to finish grow advice. IN our forum we have many helpful experts and staff who can answer all your questions and guide you along the way.
IN answer to genetics; I advise a Sativa for your climate. Keep in mind; Sativa originates from tropical areas, while Indica is from mountainous regions with a shorter grow season.
Im in Southern Africa,what is the best strain to grow in a grow house and how often can the same plant produce.Can it produce more than once?Must I replant after every harvest?
I stay in South Africa and just look at sum plants as i had prostate cancer and had plant marawana in the past
Doemonsdemon,
Cannabis is a hermaphrodite. It can change or present as either sex. I don’t know what seeds you are talking about so I am unsure on how to answer the rest.
I do not think that you will have much success attempting to turn a Male into a Female.
Yes clones from a Female will be Female unless you stress them in some way detrimental to the plant or a bad environment, as you mentioned.
Happy growing 🙂
Regarding the “cloning for sex” section of your piece; When would the described feminization process be necessary for a clone? Assuming that you would be taking cuttings from your best bud producing plants, which would be female, wouldn’t the “cloned offspring” also be female? Does cannabis have the ability to change gender in response to environmental stress? If so, is there any way to “stress” out males to change ’em into females?
Is it ok to take clones from an outdoor mother to then grow indoors?
Jack,
Yes, of course it is. One thing to note. Some (very few) strains do not like indoors and vice ~ versa. All you can do is try and I am sure you should have no issues.
Keep in mind that the plants are the same genetic age as the Mother and once rooted will adapt to the environment in which you place them. Happy cloning 🙂
Great advice
I should have read my post first. Root tone in the ground then the branch I meant. Thanks again. Another thing. I don’t know where to top these clones, got my mind blown. A seed plant has the V, crotch. My clones have √ leaf to branch. I can’t seem to get anymore thumb size buds. Many many triclones and most excellent smoke. 3 tote shit. Oh yeah it is awesome. However I’d love to get larger flowers. I have buds all over my babies but no cola. Anybody known why? Healthy good plants. Feed them as needed. I want big ones lol thank you
Babette,
I do not understand why you cannot get seeds to start. With Robert’s genetics, we get almost 100% propagation.
Meanwhile; You might be able to root a branch. I suggest you join our support forum at ilovegrowingmarijuana.com because your issue would be better answered and continued support will be available in the forum. You have the right idea but, We could discuss other options in more detail answering you completely at the forum. Thanks
Happy growing, lw – I❤️GM
Hi is anybody still reading this post? Ive been cloning because seeds just won’t sprout. 30??? I can’t believe they are all bad. Back to cloning, can I put 14 in branch with flowers outdoors and clone it? Iv been putting most of my cuttings in solo cups. On 3rd clone in flower stage sense 7-2016, I just put them in good soil, no root tone. Its April and this tall bud branch came from my 3 week cutting on they momma lol. Or should I put root tone in the ground then the ranch. Thsks for all advice.
Fish,
Other than the fact that you have clones growing; I do not understand what you are asking. Please post a clearer question, or better yet; Join our support forum at ilovegrowingmarijuana.com
Hi I put some clones out about 8 weeks ago two of them seem to be in flower stage early Sumer here shud I just leave them or will they be no good now thanks Fish