Can You Clone Autoflowering Plants?
Can you clone auto-flowering plants? Autoflowering cannabis plants flower automatically based on age rather than environmental factors, i.e., ratio of light to dark hours, unlike photoperiod plants. Cloning is generally associated with photoperiod plants, although some growers have experimented with autoflowering species. But have they been successful?
What is Cloning?
Before answering the question, “can you clone autoflowering plants?” it is essential to understand what cloning is.
Cloning cannabis plants involves taking a small section about six inches in length from an already established mother plant. A grower then uses the cutting to generate a new plant by placing it in water or a growing medium. The cutting takes root and forms a new plant. The new plant shares identical genes to the mother plant.
Cloning is an excellent way for cannabis farmers to preserve a particular strain’s genetics. The new clone keeps the original plant’s characteristics, such as taste and its. Cloning is also economically appealing as farmers do not have to buy seeds. They can instead take a cutting from a plant in their garden and create a homogeneous copy. It is also quicker than germinating seeds.
Cloning Cannabis Plants
Growers who want to clone their plants should do so when they are growing or vegetative. The plant to be cloned must have a few branches that can develop into other plants independently. Growers should use a sharp pair of scissors to take a cutting.
Cloning during the flowering stage is not encouraged as the cannabis plants stop growing once it enters the flowering stage. It channels all its energy to increasing buds, and cloning the plant at this stage produces a plant that won’t have enough time to develop. It will then make very few buds and almost no yield due to inadequate growth. Once they have taken the cutting from the mother plant, growers should dip it in a rooting hormone solution and place it in a seedling tray with some soil. Covering the cutting in a dome helps it develop roots. It should also have partial light. The growers can then introduce sunlight or artificial lights for it to grow normally after expanding some roots.
Cloning enables cannabis growers to grow many plants for large yields while saving money on expensive seeds. Growers can also choose to clone their favorite plants with their preferred traits. They can also eliminate male plants by only cloning female plants.
Can you Clone Autoflowering Plants?
Can you clone autoflowering plants? This is a question many growers ask. Autoflowering plants move from the vegetative stage to the flowering phase regardless of the light situation. As such, taking clones of autoflowering cannabis strains is difficult, though not impossible. Technically, growers can clone autoflowering plants, but it is not worth it. They don’t thrive so well when they are cloned.
An autoflowering clone follows the same genetic schedule as the mother plant, and they grow fast. Because the clone is as old as the mother plant and is not dependent on light, it has no time to grow, resulting in a small plant and low buds. When the mother plant flowers, the clone will also flower regardless of the clone’s stage. The top parts of the plant are the first to receive the hormone signals to indicate the onset of flowering before the hormones filter down to the lowest branches. It is improbable for cloned autoflowering plants to produce good yields.
Bottom Line: Can you Clone Autoflowering Plants?
Cloning autoflowering plants is difficult and almost impossible because it is hard to predict when the plant will flower. They cannot be tricked into staying in the vegetative stage by manipulating lighting like other species. Cloning too early can hinder the mother plant’s growth, and the clone might not grow. Growers can clone the plant before it reveals its gender, but the window of opportunity is tiny.
Conclusively, cloning autoflowering plants is not worth the effort, and the best a grower can get is low yields. The best option in growing autoflowering plants is to buy seeds from a
reputable seed bank.
Contact us today to learn more about cloning or check out our full selection of
premium quality cannabis seeds.
Have you tried cloning? Share your experience in the comment section below?
