Home Growers Corner
Part 2
How To Clone
The Old School Way
Tried and True Methods to Grow Big Plants . by Jay Richardson , contributing writer
If you read my column last month , you know that we are growing some marijuana plants in real-time . I thought it would be good to give our readers some perspective on not just the methods I use but also give an idea of how long it takes to nurture a cannabis crop from inception to the completion of a successful harvest . If you missed my March 2024 article ( part one ), you can find it at www . TheEvolutionMag . com . I discussed the importance of selecting the right genetics to meet your needs as a marijuana farmer .
Now that you have the strain that produces the flower with the THC levels and terpenes you desire , it ’ s time to learn how to keep the process going and produce the exact same buds every time . You can achieve this by taking stem cuttings or clones , which produce new plants that are duplicates of the original specimen . To follow Missouri state guidelines , I usually cut six clones at a time . You are legally allowed to grow a total of 18 plants . That means you can have six plants in one of the three stages of development . These stages are clone or seedling , vegetating and taller than 14 inches , and flowering .
The law is well-meaning but shows a lack of knowledge of marijuana gardening . I know some advanced techniques that throw the law out the window . Instead of limiting the number of plants we can grow , I wish they had limited the square footage of our grow areas . The commercial growers that supply the dispensaries are regulated by the size of the grow area , not the number of plants they have . I have a flower area that is roughly 50 square feet ( 7x7 feet ). I can fill the entire area with six flowering plants . If it were legal , I would prefer to fill the area with several dozen very small plants . It would be less time-consuming and more efficient , but I ’ m grateful to be able to grow legally , so I follow the law .
The law , as it is currently written , does provide us with the ability to garden in a way that will give us plenty of dried cannabis flower and some extra material to convert into edibles or hashish . I have articles and videos that cover those topics on my YouTube channel , Bobo ’ s Botanicals . You will find the QR code at the bottom of the article , or go on YouTube and search for Bobo ’ s Botanicals . You will find detailed videos demonstrating the cloning and transplanting techniques I ’ ll describe here . With that said , let ’ s cut some clones .
Grow plants like these . The big bush in the photos is my MMXX mother plant . The smaller plant with buds is her twin sister . They were cloned at the same time .
Everything I am writing about is predicated by the fact that it pertains to indoor gardening only . I am not a fan of outdoor marijuana gardening . It ’ s probably the control freak in me , but I really do like taking the variables out of my mini-farm . When your plants are outdoors , Mother Nature can throw everything at you , from bugs to animals to weather , not to mention the trespassers that could attempt to rip you off .
Even though I am allowed to have 18 plants , I usually only have 12 at a time . On the day the first six plants go into flower , each of them gives us a clone . These plants will go into the vegetative area , which is smaller than the flower area . My area for vegetation is one square meter ( 40x40 inches ), and it uses a metal halide grow light set on a timer to be on for 18 hours and off for six hours . So long as I keep these settings , the plants will produce new branches and become bushier but will not produce flowers . We will keep them in here until the six plants in the flower area have reached maturity .
At maturity , we will move down the assembly line and take new clones from the vegetating plants before they move to the flower room . Most of the work in your garden will be at the beginning and the end , which will happen simultaneously . It will be the beginning of plants and the harvest of six others . When you first start gardening , you will love trimming buds . My guess is that you will get over it . It can become very boring and monotonous ; however , it ’ s essential if you want to fully enjoy your crop .
Cloning is simple for me but seems kind of intimidating to some people . I have instructed a lot of people , and cloning seems to trip people up . You ’ ll need a clean razor blade , half-strength flower plant food , and a grow medium to start . The grow medium is available at your local grow store . They offer several options , including peat moss plugs and biodegradable sponges . I prefer a product called rockwool cubes . It is made from melted rock that is spun into a lightweight , spongy material . I think the one-inch-sized cubes are the best for rooting stem cuttings . It ’ s really not that hard , folks . Using my grandmother ’ s old-school methods , I successfully cloned my rose bushes in some glasses of water in my front window . They now grow at my sister ’ s house .
36 April 2024