What’s the best size to make a cannabis clone?

by Nebula Haze

You’re growing weed plants and about to take clones (which is done by cutting off a branch and forcing it to grow roots) so you get free new cannabis plants. You ask yourself, should my cannabis clones be big or small? What length should I cut the branch to make a perfect size clone?

When making cannabis clones by cutting off a branch, you have to decide how long to make the clone. I’ve found the best size length to make a marijuana clone is 7-9″ (18-23 cm) long. This stem is 7″ long. Perfect!

If you don’t have stems that are long enough yet, give the mother plant another week or two so that you can make clones the proper size.

Now that you’ve chosen the branch you want to turn into a new clone, how do you turn this stem into a new plant with roots? Here are 3 easy ways to clone:

Learn how to clone cannabis in a cup

Learn how to clone cannabis in Jiffy pellets

Learn how to clone cannabis in an aerocloner (aero cloner is a hydroponic system that speeds up root formation)

 

Why take 7-9″ (18-23 cm) tall cannabis clones?

You can take marijuana clones of almost any size but this height tends to root quickly and the resulting plants are typically a good size to start for most growers. This results in clones that are about the size of a 2-3 week old seedling.

This is what a 7″ clone looks like once it is rooted. An excellent size to start growing in most setups.

What about shorter or taller clones?

Small cannabis clones tend to take a long time to make roots and are slow to start growing, but you can make them. This clone was only a few inches tall and roots formed after almost 30 days.

You can clone cannabis plants in basically any cup or container. This cutting was rooted in a beaker!

Although they can be cloned, small cuttings are generally more likely to wilt and take a long time to make roots

You can take big marijuana clones, too. I’ve seen growers take 12″ (30 cm) clones or even longer, especially when using an aerocloner to cause roots to form. Big clones make roots in the right environment and plants will already be well developed. If you’ve got long branches and want a bunch of tall plants right away, you can turn those branches into big clones. However, bigger clones are more likely to wilt and die because they have a difficult time getting water to their tallest leaves and branches. The other issue with big clones is they already have a set stem structure. With smaller clones, you have the ability to shape the size and shape of the clone via plant training, but with big clones the structure is already set.

A big clone has a set stem structure because it is already so tall. This may or more not be good for you, depending on your desired size and shape.

Example of a cannabis plant that doesn't need to be defoliated because it already has lots of stem exposed

Learn how to grow weed in 10 steps

 

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