Hydrolife Magazine April/May 2016 (USA Edition)

grow
Gender Determination
Since they share the same DNA, the gender of both the mother
plant and the clone is the same. A cutting from a female
will be female, and a cutting from a male will be male. This
knowledge can be used to sex plants: you can take a cutting
and expose it to a flowering light schedule while the parent
is left under growth lighting, and whatever gender the cutting
displays will be the same as the plant it was cut from.
Since it is the female cannabis plants that develop buds,
males can be eliminated from the growroom. This removes
the need to cull males later, as the gender will have already
been established. Once identified, superior females can be
propagated by the garden-ful, if desired. By keeping at least
one of a group of clones under a vegetative growth lighting
schedule, more can be produced on demand.
Similar Growth Habits
A garden of clones should all have the same growth requirements
as the mother, meaning less work customizing environmental
conditions and nutrient schedules for different
plant varieties.
Taking Cuttings
When taking cuttings for clones, make sure each cutting
includes at least one growth tip and a section of stem. The
growth tip is important because the meristem cells there
will lay the foundation for the upper portion of the mature
plant. The root meristem cells will be missing, since the
cutting initially will have no root system. Instead, the
meristem cells in the stem are encouraged to develop into
root cells as they age.
“If the cutting
is exposed to
conditions that
roots like, the
meristem cells
in the stem make
root cells."
Each cut should be clean and handled with care, as it is an
open wound. Since the cutting will no longer have access to
the parent’s root system, if not used immediately, the cut end
should be placed in water until planting. Although they may
recover from a light wilt, cuttings are susceptible to terminal
wilt. Once too many of the internal chains of water are
broken, the cutting is no longer viable.
Fortunately, the meristem cells in a cannabis plant’s stems
aren’t hard to coax into forming root cells. If the cutting is
exposed to conditions that roots like, the meristem cells
in the stem make root cells. The ends of the cuttings can
be exposed to a plant hormone auxin such as idolebutyric
acid (IBA) or naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) to encourage
root development, which is a key ingredient in many rooting
powders, gels or liquids.
If the stem end of a cutting is placed in potting soil, a
stonewool cube, rooting cube, mist or oxygenated water, put
under moderate lighting in a warm environment and kept
moist, in about 1-2 weeks, the cutting will form visible roots.
24
grow. heal. live. enjoy.
myhydrolife.com