Cultivating cannabis plants isn’t an easy process. Growing this plant requires serious time, dedication, and effort, and it might not be for every farmer. However, recently, growers have started experimenting with cloning their cannabis plants in hopes of not only making the growing process easier but to help preserve only the best of the best plants.
Cannabis cloning may sound a bit intimidating, but it’s a transformative process that has changed what it means to grow weed. Below, we’re discussing what cannabis cloning is and how you can do it yourself. With this process, cannabis cultivation seems a lot more doable (and a lot less work).
What is Cannabis Cloning?
Let’s start with the basics: what is cannabis cloning? When we discuss this act of “cloning” cannabis, we’re being serious! Essentially, cannabis cloning refers to the idea of cutting off small parts of a cannabis mother plant and replanting them. When these plants grow, they are an exact genetic clone of the cannabis plant they were grown from.
When you grow that perfect plant, whether it be the tastiest strain or most potent buds you’ve seen, you’d do anything to preserve and re-use that plant if you could. Well, cannabis cloning allows for that possibility. Now, as long as you have a strong and healthy mother plant to grow from, you can easily clone your favorite plants, saving yourself significant growing time and money. After all, with cloning, you’re skipping the germination process entirely. Instead, you’re growing straight from an already established plant stem.
How to Clone Cannabis
Now that you know what cannabis cloning is, and how beneficial it can be, it’s time to talk about how to do it yourself. First, let’s discuss the necessary materials
What You’ll Need:
An established cannabis mother plant
Scissors and razor
Grow setup including dome or tray
Rooting hormones
Some space
Step One: Establishing Your Mother Plant
To clone your cannabis plants at all, you must first have an established mother plant that’s ready to be cloned. When choosing a cannabis mother plant, you must find one that’s healthy and strong. Weak cannabis plants cannot be relied on as mother plants because they’re going to constantly be utilized, grown, and cut for reproduction. In fact, cannabis mother plants actually never leave the vegetative state to help ensure that they’re always able to produce the offspring necessary.
On top of being healthy and abundant, you want your cannabis mother plant to be one of your favorite strains. Because this is a plant that you’re going to be replicating over and over again, it’s one that you must be happy with. From the strain to the terpenes and the THC percentage, these factors are crucial to consider when picking which plant to be the best mother.
Step Two: Deciding Your Grow Medium
Next, you must decide what kind of grow medium you’re going to use, as well as the specifications surrounding your setup. Understanding proper lighting, growing mediums, and space is crucial to helping your clones thrive, so make sure you’ve made these decisions long before actually cutting your plant to clone.
If you aren’t sure what kind of cultivation setup is right for you, you should do some experimenting first. Test out these grow mediums on plants that are less crucial to your yield than the mother plant or your clones. Once you’ve found the perfect grow method and setup, you’re ready to start cutting and transplanting your cannabis clones.
Step Three: Cutting & Transplanting Your Roots
As we mentioned earlier, your mother cannabis plant must be--and stay--in the vegetative state in order to continue to produce the parts you need. Start by finding branches of your plant that look extra abundant and super healthy. These are the stems you’re going to want to use for cloning. A general rule of thumb is to have at least two nodes so you have ample cannabis to work with.
Using scissors, cut this branch off of the mother plant, cutting it right above the node on the mother plant. Be gentle if you can. Now, grab your razor and cut the bottom of your node at a 45° angle. Right after cutting, place your clone into your rooting hormone and then into a rooting cube where you can trim off any unnecessary plant materials.
After about two weeks, these clones will be ready to be transported into a bigger pot with more space. Use gloves when transferring your plants to not harm them, and water your soil before actually placing the plant into its new home.
Step Four: Letting Your Plants Flourish
Now, all that’s left to do is let your clones flourish. From here, you will grow these clones the same way you’d grow any other cannabis plant. Only, you cut out a lot of time in the beginning by not having to germinate.
As you cherish your cannabis clones, make sure you don’t forget about the cannabis mother plant. This plant requires around-the-clock care to ensure that she’s healthy, comfortable, and thriving. Otherwise, without a mother plant, you don’t have any clones!
Celebrating Your Cannabis Clones
Cloning your cannabis is a process that every grower should try. With how much time and money it saves you, you’re able to truly focus on perfecting your yields like never before. Here at Luna Cultivation, we know a thing or two about high-quality cannabis, and cloning is a wonderful way to achieve buds that look like your wildest dreams.
Whether you’ve been growing traditionally for decades or just started your first operation, cloning cannabis can do wonders for your yield. You just have to try it for yourself.