Issue #33 - Sunday, December 2, 2012 Dear Fellow Grower, In today's issue you'll discover...
- Learn everything you need to know about cloning so you can easily create an unlimited number of new plants!
- Check out Ryan Riley's
700 page picture guide to growing marijuana.
- Incredible feedback from one of our readers. Get inspired to start growing, grow better, or show off your own homegrown buds-in-the-making!
We hope you enjoy this issue of Grow Weed Easy!
Happy Growing!
Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com)
"Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful;
they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul." - Luther Burbank
Your Complete Guide to Cloning Marijuana
by Nebula Haze |
Once you get the hang of it, cloning is one of the easiest and fastest forms of "making new plants" available to any grower.
Yet there is some controversy about the best way to clone, and many growers don't realize that cloning should only be used with the healthiest, most desirable plants you have.
Today I will walk you through the entire process of cloning, and clear up some of the myths and misinformation.
I don't want to clone, where can I get seeds?
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How Cloning Marijuana Works 
Basically a clone is a little piece of plant that has been cut off from a parent plant and then given the opportunity to root on its own.
Pictured to the left is an example of a "mother" plant. This plant is known to be female, so all her clones will be female too.
All clones are genetically identical to the plant you took them from. So if you have an incredible specimen of a plant, you can make more plants that will have all the same characteristics as the mother.
A major benefit of cloning is that each clone will take less time to become a mature plant than when you start a plant from seed.
Another huge benefit is that you can take basically an unlimited number of clones from a single "mother" plant. Overview of Cloning Process: How to pick the most valuable female plant to clone
As the grower, you're looking for hardy female plants with fast growth, big roots, huge yields, and potent buds.
Now it is generally recommended to take clones during the vegetative stage of marijuana.
This is because clones taken during the flowering stage have a much harder time taking root and many of the clones will die.
Note: Some growers take clones during the flowering stage on purpose, with a technique known as Monster Cropping, but I strongly recommend waiting until you've had a few successful clones before attempting this method. The reason people do this is that clones taking during the flowering stage often display
unusual growth patterns and can become crazy branching monsters.
Ok, so you want to take clones during the vegetative stage, yet how do you choose the best mother plants that will give you the most potent buds and greatest yields? You don't know how the plant is going to turn out yet since she's still in the vegetative stage.
You could just choose to clone any plant, and maybe that's what you want to do if this is your first time cloning.
Yet if you want to get the best results, you should choose to grow clones from only the best plants.
But how do you know which plants are going to be good when you have to clone in the vegetative stage? How do you even know if the plant is a boy or a girl? 
This is where things get a little bit tricky...
In my opinion, the best way to get around this is to always take clones of all your plants right before you put them into the flowering stage. Don't worry, I'll walk you through the whole process of taking clones below.
Label each clone accordingly. (Don't forget to label them, or you will regret it!)
Keep these clones in the vegetative stage and allow them to start growing. I have a vegetative tent and flowering tent, and I just stick new, healthy clones in the vegetative tent until I'm ready to flower them.
Continue to nurture these new clones and allow them to start growing into full-size plants. Meanwhile, as your main garden starts flowering, the "parent" plants will start revealing their true characteristics.
At this point, throw away any clones that came from a male plant, or from a plant which grows slowly. You'll be glad you labeled them!
After harvest, you will know which plants had the best yields, growth, etc. Keep the clones you took from these best plant(s). These clones will become your "mother" plants which you can take further clones from whenever you need new babies.
You can easily keep a mother plant in the vegetative stage for a year or more as long as you keep her under vegetative light schedule. Make sure the mother plant is well-fed and happy, so that any clones you take off her are healthy and strong. 
Before anything, clean and disinfect all your tools, and get everything ready, including setting out everything mentioned in the "What You Will Need" section.
Don't add any nutrients to your RO water, and pH water to 5.5.
Soak your rockwool cubes for a couple of minutes in the water. You don't need to soak them for days, a few minutes is fine.
Choose a spot where there is new branching and a new top, and cut a little bit below that. Just firmly grab the new growth and cut the branch away at a 45 degree angle. Cuttings should be 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) long.
When possible, take clones from small branches off the bottom of your plant, as they
have more rooting hormones than branches toward the top and will grow roots faster. However, clones taken from any part of the plant will work.
Clones will also grow better/faster if they are on the smaller side and are made of pieces of new growth that has thinner stems and fewer leaves.
Basically, you just want to cut away a small part of the plant. The roots will grow out of the "cut" you made, and the rest of the cutting will start growing into an individual plant. 
(Optional) Some growers (myself included) gently scrape or even split the bottom of the cutting so more "raw" insides get exposed. As you can see from the pictures below, the roots only grow from the parts that are raw, so scraping and splitting exposes more "insides," which gives more surface areas for roots to grow out of and promotes faster rooting. 
Some growers do scraping and splitting like I do, and some growers do nothing. I've had the best results when exposing more "raw" parts at the bottom and making sure the whole raw area is coated in cloning gel. 
Always dip a newly scrapped cutting immediately into rooting hormone powder or gel (I prefer gel) to seal off air bubbles and give your cutting what it needs to start making roots.
Make sure you coat the entire bottom of the cutting, so that all the parts of the clone that get put into your rockwool cube is covered in gel. After the clone is covered in cloning gel, trim off any lower leaves or node points from the new cutting. Some growers also clip the tips of the top-most leaves so the clone doesn't over-exert herself trying to turn light into food, when she should be focused on roots.
Place the new clone into a moistened rockwool cube, and press around the bottom to make sure everything is sealed and no air can get to the rooting area. 
If you have an automatic cloner or humidity dome, this is when you would place the new clone inside.
When you recreate the right conditions, you don't need a cloner or humidity dome, yet these types of devices make successful cloning and root growth happen practically by itself.
In the next section I'll explain exactly what your new clones need to thrive. 
How To Nurture Your New Clones
Clones like warm, wet conditions. Think springtime.
Your clones need to get their water through their leaves right now, because their roots haven't formed. That's why a nice humid cloner works great, or you can mist your plants a few times a day until they start forming roots.
Some growers will use a heating pad under their clones to help keep things warm. A little warmer than room temperature 72-77 °F (22-25 °C
) is perfect. Many automatic cloners come with a heat setting.
Some growers don't use any grow lights at all for the first 1-2 days while clones get settled. I recommend starting them on an 18/6 (Light/Dark) schedule when you do introduce lights, as rooting seems to happen better when there's some amount of darkness.
The most important thing is to keep a close eye on your new clones until they've become well-established. For the first 10 days and especially for the first 3-4 days, you will want to use gentle lights on your new clones
HID grow lights like Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium bulbs are almost always too strong for young, weak clones. In fact, clones need only a bit of light in the beginning, as they are focused on making roots. 
T5 Fluorescent Bulbs, or CFLs are perfect cloning lights, as they're less intense, and should be used until the plants have a nice healthy set of roots are are growing vibrantly. Then you can switch to MH/HPS or LED lights. If you must start with intense lights, then keep them MUCH further away than normal, until your clones get strong.
If you're growing in rockwool cubes or other starter cubes, then you know your clones are ready to to be transplanted or receive regular light when you actually see the roots coming out the bottom of the cubes.
Remember, new clones are still a bit weak, and they should be treated gently, like seedlings, until they start growing vigorously. - Keep leaves of new clones moist, especially the first week after taking a cutting. This is why many growers buy cloners, since they will keep your cuttings nice and moist for you and practically automate the whole process.
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Some growers spray the leaves with a very mild nutrient solution, as the clones can absorb a tiny bit of nutrients through their leaves. Growers may also add a small amount of
- Vitamin B-1 ("Western States B-1" found at Home Depot or "
Advanced Nutrients B-52" work well)
- Potassium silicate protectant ("Dyna-Gro Pro-tekt
" or "Advanced Nutrients Rhino Skin" are great sources that have been time-tested for cloning marijuana)
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Store your rooting powder or gel in a cool, dark, dry place and never use "contaminated" rooting powder or gel. If the package was unsealed when you got it, or if you've dropped anything into the rooting hormone, discard and get a fresh package. Foreign materials like leaves, dirt, etc can cause bad stuff to grow and will negatively affect your cloning results. Believe me, the saving is time and frustration are worth the small cost. If you don't think you will be cloning often, get the tiny individual packets of cloning gel, and just open a new one every time you clone.
- Some cloning gels come with a handy applicator tip, which makes it easier to use and reduces waste and the chance of contamination.
- You will tend to get better results if you use clones from a well-established plant (at least two months old). If you grow a plant in the vegetative stage for about 2-3 months, you will be able to get dozens of clones off it.
- If you plan on just taking a couple of clones from a plant then letting it continue growing, it's best to take the clones off the bottom of the plant since these clones tend to take root in about half the time as clones taken from the top of the plant.
- If possible, give a potential mother about 10 percent less nitrogen then usual when feeding for a week or two before cloning as this will promote better rooting in her clones.
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Always take more cuttings than you need. You will lose a few clones in the beginning, but I promise it will get easier.
- Cloning gives you the power to take one plant and get unlimited new plants for practically forever! You can clone clones without a problem. Each new clone is a genetic copy of the original plant.
Who Runs This Newsletter?
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Nebula Haze:Marijuana has literally saved my life, and I'm dedicated to showing you how easy it can be to grow.
I have made it my mission in life to build the best growing resources available for new and advanced growers, while working to get marijuana legalized for everyone.
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Sirius Fourside:Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium(deep water culture, bubbleponics). "Growing cannabis is a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, perlite, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
Are You Ready To Go Pro?
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I know you are dedicated to growing the best marijuana possible or you wouldn't be reading this right now.
As you probably know by now, marijuana plants are quite a bit more complex than a regular houseplant, but learning how to grow isn't as crazy complicated as a lot of growers make it seem.
Still, you need to learn this plant's language if you want to grow real chronic buds and get great yields.
So you could spend years and years learning from trial and error...
Or you can take the shortcut to consistently producing outstanding results by learning from real growers who have done all the work for you.
Start Growing Elite Marijuana today!
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Every experienced grower has their own grow style, and over time as you get exposed to more info, you will begin to finely tune your personal grow style.
Now, there is a lot of great info in Ryan Riley's Growing Elite Marijuana book. If you read the entire thing from front to back, even a totally experienced grower will learn something, and probably a whole lot of things. For a beginner, this book has literally everything you will need to know.
As you probably know, the growing forums can be a rough place to learn how to grow weed, You must be on the lookout for bad information and will always be second-guessing whether this or that person in the forums actually knows what they're talking about. That's why investing in growing books by known pros will pay off in the long run.
Learn How To Grow "Chronic" Marijuana Today
I've read several marijuana books over the last decade (read some of my reviews about the best growing marijuana books), and learned a lot from all of them. Each book I've read has leveled up my growing skills
.
Now the price tag for this resource is pretty high, so it's only recommended for growers who want to go pro with their growing skills.
Still, I'm glad that I invested in this book, and I definitely have gotten my money's worth out of it 100x over via increased yields and saved time/frustration. If the price of this book is going to kill your growing budget, than you are going to have a tough time growing elite marijuana anyway. ;)
This book isn't for you if you're just looking to grow a tiny amount of buds to smoke a few times a year.
Yet if you're a daily smoker like me
and are dedicated to growing a constant supply of chronic buds for as cheap and easy as possible, you'll be glad you invested in Ryan Riley's ultimate guide to growing.
Feedback From Our Readers
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I finally was able to successfully clone my next batch of plants. I fell like Dr. Frankenroot, I'm so happy. Now I can continue to provide myself with the medicine I need.
BIG thanks to groweedeasy.com for giving me the knowledge to make it happen.
-S
There's nothing that warms my heart more than knowing there are more people successfuly growing marijuana in the world. :) Together we can overgrow the world! -Nebula
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Have some beautiful trophy pics you'd love to share?Submit your marijuana pictures here: http://growweedeasy.com/submit-trophy-picsAnyone who sends us pictures is kept completely anonymous!We thoroughly inspect pictures to ensure your privacy remains safe.
Buy Marijuana Seeds Safely Online |
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Common Question:
Where do I get marijuana seeds?
Now you have 2 real options:
1.) Use random bagseed that you find
2.) Buy seeds of specific marijuana strains online
Now if you want to pick the perfect strain for your needs, it's going to be hard with bagseed.
So...
Learn how to buy marijuana seeds online safely
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