//Caring for Clones

Caring for Clones

By The Artist Tree Staff

One of the great perks of cannabis legalization is that it’s now legal to grow cannabis plants in the comfort of your own home! The Artist Tree Dispensary supplies a wide variety of cannabis clone plants at all phases of development, from feminized seeds, to seedlings and more mature clones. We make it easy for you to find a plant that’s right for you. Wondering how to take care of a cannabis clone?  Read on for tips on proper clone care.

Supplies

Before you start, consider your future grow area. If you are growing outdoors or in a greenhouse, the conditions in your area will affect your clone and its needs. In general, you will need planting pots at various sizes. The Artist Tree recommends starting with a 1 gallon pot to allow your clone to develop her rootball. All growing containers used for cannabis should be well draining – fabric pots are a good choice or plastic pots with plenty of drainage holes in the bottom. You will also need media and/or soil, water, and nutrients, and, for indoor cultivation, you’ll need a grow tent and lights.

Conditioning And Care

After selecting your clone plant, we recommend bringing it home and planting it as soon as you can. Because of this, we suggest prepping your transplant station prior to purchasing your clone. For example, coco coir blocks need to soak before being broken up and then rinsed. Other ingredients used in a media include perlite, oyster shell meal, worm castings or other fertilizers. After preparing your growing medium, partially fill your pot with it. 

Set your clone in the medium, leaving the top of the rockwool cube that surrounds the clone’s roots about an inch from the top of the pot. Fill in the area around the rockwool cube with additional medium. Position the cube holding the clone level with the soil in order to prevent the stem from getting fungal disease (if it’s too low) or the cube from drying out (if it’s too high).  Press down on the medium lightly with your hands to prevent air pockets from forming, which can dry out her roots. Then water your transplanted clone until water seeps out of the bottom of the pot. Some seasoned growers like to soak the cannabis clone in hormone/vitamin solution to minimize the amount of shock the clone will go through during the transplant, reducing the chances of the clone changing sex, losing a limb, or even dying.

As your clone grows, you will eventually need to transfer it from its original 1 gallon pot to a larger pot. When transferring, do the same thing as when you initially planted the clone—with one exception. Prep the plant while it’s still in its one gallon pot by lightly massaging the pot to loosen it from the medium/root ball and make it easy to remove. This will also encourage the roots to grow into the medium in the new pot by gently breaking up the outside of the root ball.

Typically, prior to purchase, clones are kept under 24 hours of light by fluorescent or LED lights, which are more gentle than the sun. Therefore, clones need to be introduced to sunlight or other strong lighting gradually. If growing outdoors, place your clone in partial or indirect sunlight for the first few days. Shade will be the clone’s best friend as it adjusts to normal light. Indoors, if you have lighting with adjustable intensity, set it to 50% intensity for the first couple days then move it up incrementally. If your lighting doesn’t have this function, you can also move the light up so that it’s further from the plant and move it down a little bit every day/every other day.

Feeding And Watering Your Cannabis Clone

Watering and feeding your plant nutrients can be a bit tricky because there are many factors to be considered during each stage of your clone’s life. Do your own research to account for the specific factors that are introduced from your environment, media, and nutrients. The most common mistake is overwatering. When you water your plant, roughly a fifth of the water should drain out of the bottom of the pot. Some experts suggest letting the media dry up a bit between waterings. You can judge how dry the media is by picking up the pot and feeling its weight. If it feels light, it is probably ready for watering. Likewise, if it starts to wilt, it has been waiting too long for water.

Feeding your plant means providing nutrients and other needs for the plant in addition to water. When feeding, it’s important to remember that it is possible to OVER feed. Most seasoned growers recommend only feeding once or twice a week to avoid this. If your plant needs moisture more than this, give it plain water between feedings. When choosing nutrients for your plant, it’s a safe bet to pick a line of nutrients made for cannabis, such as Fox Farm’s Big Bloom. 

The life of a clone is delicate, but can be manageable and even fun with the right plan and consistency of care. When you give love and attention to your clone, it will give you love back with its yield.