Before we hop into the why, it is important to understand that it is not necessary to clone your marijuana plants. This is because marijuana plants make use of sexual reproduction to produce seeds. The two parents’ characteristics are randomly combined and given to the child plant, just as you would expect the genes of humans or other animals too.
This means that every seed that is a result of sexual reproduction will be unique, just like every child of two human parents will be unique. There are tons of genetic possibilities in marijuana plants, which is one of the reasons that growing is so interesting.
Of course, some growers want to limit or remove that randomness from the equation, which is the reason many people turn to marijuana clones.
What Is Cloning?
Cloning, in its simplest form, is the process of producing a plant that is genetically identical to another. The method of cloning is surprisingly simple. Essentially, you take a cutting away from one plant, plant it in the ground, and wait for the cutting to root. Of course, like with most natural things, the method of cloning is not foolproof. While marijuana plants follow the same process for the most part, there are quite a few steps that you must take to ensure successful cloning.
If you grow outdoors, cloning will be most successful in an area where growing seasons are longer. Of course, even some longer growing seasons won’t ensure a plant reaching its full potential. This is because plants can take many months to mature. With that said, short clones can produce an incredible yield, leaving you with plentiful buds.
For the most part, cloners tend to use the bottom plant branches, as they won’t receive a majority of the light anyway. You can double your overall harvest by using anywhere from two to four branches. It is always recommended to choose plants that are less than three months old, yet older than one month.
Why Clone?
Cloning is one of the best ways to ensure that you’ll have a reliable harvest, especially if you are working with plants that have been successful in the past. This is because your plants will share the same strong genetic code as their parents. You’ll be able to expect top-notch growth habits, identical taste and potency characteristics, and the same number of buds. The best news is, a healthy mother plant can produce more than 40 plants per week with ease!
If you have a strain that you like and that strain was successful in a harvest, a clone is a close guarantee that you can have that strain again and again. If anyone has ever told you that cloning isn’t a positive growing method, that person obviously doesn’t understand the growing process.
We hope that you now have a better understanding of cloning and its capabilities. Be sure to contact us about ordering your very own clones! Much love to all of our fellow growers out there!