Cloning feminized seeds is a quite simple procedure, and many growers know how to do it. But what about autoflowers? Can autoflowering plants be cloned?
Technically, autoflowers can be cloned. You just choose a side branch that is long enough to take as a cutting and then root it. But the clone will start flowering soon after, so you can’t make it big and productive. And you can’t turn it into a mother plant.
All this makes cloning an autoflower rather impractical. Why take a cutting if you can get better results just leaving the branch on the plant? Well, if you have extra room and some small containers to spare, you can try cloning an autoflowering plant in the following two scenarios:
- Your autoflower is too bushy, and you have to prune some of the branches. You can just throw them away, or you can root and grow them next to the main plant.
- You have accidentally topped an autoflower while training it. It will certainly put a dent in your final yield, but, if you make the cutting root and flower, you may redeem a few grams.
Can Autoflowering Plants be Cloned? This Grow Says They Can
A grower from the Growdiaries community who calls himself StickyFingah420 kindly shared his experience of cloning an autoflower. He resorted to this technique because he had accidentally broken a branch on his FatsBuds Zkittlez Auto.
In his case, the result was spectacular. But most probably, his overall yield would be better if not for this accident. Just check out this Gorilla Glue Autoflower grow journal to see how modern autoflowering genetics perform if nothing goes wrong.
So, the grower fimmed his Zkittlez Autoflower in week 3 from seed. This resulted in 8 potential side shoots from the main stem. The accident happened in week 5 from seed as the grower put too much strain on one of the branches in the second pair and it snapped. So instead of 8 potential side shoots, only seven remained on the main stalk.
Swipe to see all images in the gallery. © Growdiaries
The plant recovered from the stress, grew many more side shoots, got dense and fat, and produced 42.7 g (1.51 oz) of dry bud. Now let’s look at how the cutting was doing.
The Cutting
The grower put the cutting into a yogurt cup filled with soil. He cut the fan leaves in half to reduce their evaporation area. Zkittlez Auto seems to have very strong genetics because not every strain would root in soil.
Swipe to see all images in the gallery. © Growdiaries
When it became evident that the clone was alive, it was transplanted into a 2.5-3-liter plastic pot and kept in the same grow tent as the main plant. It was in the pre-flower mode soon after re-potting and then began to flower and finished just a few days later than the main plant.
The grower didn’t say what the yield was, but you can guess it by just looking at those fat and seemingly dense flowers. The broken branch certainly didn’t go to waste.
To Recap
This is for those of you who like to scroll down to the end of the post to see the bottom line.
Can autoflowering plants be cloned? Yes, they can. Just don’t do it on purpose. Because it won’t increase the yield. And there’s no way you can keep the autoflower genetics you liked by taking a clone and making it into a mother plant. Autoflowers simply don’t work that way. You’ll need feminized seeds for this.
Comments