Trimming and Cloning the Garden

Home Grown With Pinky · Trimming and Cloning the Garden

I'm glad I'm able to legally grow cannabis and teach others the ways of this magical medicine. I'm glad for the internet where I can see new and different techniques that many others share regarding their own gardens. Most importantly, I'm glad Arizona gave us all the legal opportunity to grow our gardens with fair legislative guidance. I hope all of you are taking advantage of your state's new power of legalization.

Let's check in on the garden:

Trimming:

Plants that carry a large amount of foliage will waste your nutrients and misguide your plant's growth direction. Topping the plant is the beginning of this guided growth system. You can find the previous link regarding topping here. Plants use a large amount of energy to create and maintain leaf and stem development. By trimming your plant, you force your plant to continue growth in other stems and leaves, conserving and channeling that energy to other parts of the plant system. This energy eventually leads to greater plant flower production.

Trimming also helps your plant's hygiene. Trimming cuts down on any potential pests. For example, a common issue for gardeners are spider mites. Mites are notorious for living in dense foliage, finding refuse in dark, dry areas where they will chew on leaves for sustenance and spin an enclosed web to nest. You'll know you have them if you find tiny spot damage on your leaves and small webs wrapped around leaves. With a magnifying glass you'll notice small reddish arachnid arthropods taking refuge in the shade. If mites arrive, use soapy water and spray the entire plant twice daily. The soap suffocates the bugs and is safe for the garden. Let the water evaporate naturally.

Another benefit for trimming is keeping down disease. Keeping your plant trimmed allows you to spot any onset disease quickly. Blight, the fungal disease in plants, can spread from the soil to the leaves, turning leaves brown and drying up the plant. Your healthy looking plant can be dead within a matter of days if not properly observed so keep your plant trimmed to remove any blind spots. Luckily, blight isn't an issue with hydroponics since soil is replaced by other mediums, but it's better to be on the safe side.

Trimming also cleans up your plant's appearance. There's nothing nicer than a new haircut and the same goes for plants. A uniform, organized organism always reminds us to be proud of our hard work. The cannabis plant is a beautiful specimen, why not show it off respectfully?

I trim off all the leaves that were growing densely together along the stems. The large sail leaves which were not directly in light were removed. Many of the leaves were bent, showing their struggle for space. I trimmed the plants until there were no major leaf overlapping. It also provided me an excellent view for observing my plant's growth direction.

These two leaves were growing in cramped areas,
wasting both plant energy and growth direction.

Cloning:
The best way to propagate your garden is to clone! Cloning is a free way of exploiting your plants by making additional plants for future crops. My big idea is simple, keep gardening no matter what! Since Proposition 207 only allows an adult to grow 6 plants, I'll only clone four for now, maximizing my total plant count to six. I do have a fifth extra clone as backup. If all my clones root, to abide to Arizona law, I'll kill off the extra clone. I honestly do not know the definition of a plant according to the new proposition. I'm making the assumption that the plant must obtain a root system for growth in order to be counted as a plant. I rather be on the fair side, sticking to six. When everything is said and done, my garden will only possess two plants at a time, using the clones as the segue future crop. The remaining clones will be discarded. When I'm ready to discard the clones I'll walk you through my strategy.

Clone cutting requires a cup of tap water and clean sheers:

Finding clones:
If you're a ruthless gardener, you'll probably cut the tops of your plants and use them as clones. I recommend not doing that. The tops of your plants are all sites for flower growth. Remember, your end flower product comes from these tops! Your best action will be to find small stems growing in the darkness of the canopy. These stems will be smaller than the major branches that come off the main stem. Those stems will be your clone cuttings. While you're trimming your plant, use this opportunity to find these cuttings. Below you'll notice I found a branch sticking out but is small and isn't entirely in full light. This will be an excellent cutting candidate!

Your cuttings should include at least three nodes on the stem. Don't worry about the excess leaves, you'll deal with that when you're ready to drop the cuttings in a cloning system. For now set the cutting in the cup of water and continue finding additional clones.

Cuttings with long stems will take to root easier. Now going against gardener taboo, many gardeners will tell you rooting hormone is essential for cloning. From my experience, that hasn't be the case. A rooting hormone is a powder or gel acid you apply to the bottom of your cuttings. The acid is suppose to trigger a hormone to the plant to produce root growth. I've realized just keeping the bottom of the cuttings in darkness and misting it constantly is the natural trigger to release hormones for new root development. Rooting hormone is extremely acidic and can rot away your cutting stem. Also be careful handling it and wear both gloves and facial protection. I've learned that stems with both rooting hormone and nothing still grow a proper rooting system. So I don't use hormone anymore.

Cloning system:

If you'd like to go old school and plant your cuttings in a cup of well-draining soil, by all means. But I've learned through a lot of trial and error that using a cloning system is the most ideal way of propagation. It also is a transparent system that keeps out any and all guessing scenarios. When your plant is in soil, it's very difficult to notice any rooting has began. I also know the cutting is fragile and sometimes soil can rot away the stem. In a hydroponic cloning system, all these issues are removed.

A cloning system is exactly like a DWC system. You can spend almost $100 buying a cloning system but it will be a lot cheaper making one yourself. If you have a sharp utility knife and have the skill to cut circles out of a plastic lid, you can make your own cloner. Below are the supplies for a DIY cloner:

1 5 gal bucket (black)

1 5 gal bucket lid (black)

1 utility knife for cutting plastic (or drill that can cut two inch holes)

1 air pump and accompanying stone

8 x 2in foam collars (affiliated link here)

8 x 2 inch net cups (affiliated link here)

All cloner systems will be the same: a tray of cuttings that sit atop a large reservoir of water. The cuttings itself suspend above the reservoir, taking the splashing from the bubbles of an air stone inside the reservoir. The cuttings are held up by foam collars and net pots. The foam also act as a barrier between light and darkness. The dark, wet bottoms trick the plant to thinking it is underground. Your plants bottom stems produce hormones that will force it to make a rooting system, making a clone of the mother plant.

Cloner building:

1. Drill out a 5/8 inch hole at the top of the bucket reservoir to feed in the airstone tubing. Remove any plastic burrs from the reservoir and fill it with regular tap water. Fill your bucket about 60% (3 gallons) of water.

2. Find a location for the reservoir to sit at. I tend to sit my reservoir under a low light kit. Feed the air stone tubing into the reservoir to check for bubbles. Use your hand above the water surface to check if the airstone bubbles are gently spraying your hand. This spray does not need to be vigorous, just a small spritz is enough for clones.

3. Cut out 2 inch diameter holes on the bucket lid, keeping the holes evenly separated. Note: do this away from the water reservoir. Use a utility blade to keep the holes clean and clear away all the plastic burrs. Set the lid on the reservoir when it's properly clean.

4. Cut out the bottoms of your net pots but leave the rest of the pot intact. The net pots are used to hold your foam collars while the clones sit suspended on the reservoir.

5. Take your cuttings and trim off all but the top leaves. The top should have several small leaves. This is to insure the slowing of transpiration (water moving through a plant). Make sure you have at least three nodes from the cutting and the stem is firm, not flimsy. Stems that are the size of a thin pencil (3mm) tend to be best for cloning. Notice below I removed the majority of the leaves except for the top.

Before clone trimmed

After clone trimmed

6. Place your clone's stem in the slit opening of the collar. Make sure your stem sticks out below the collar at least an inch. Gently fit the collar into the net pot. Set the clone with the collar and pot onto the reservoir lid. Repeat this process until all your clones are set in pots on the lid. Cover any remaining lid holes with empty collared pots.

Keep a small light on your clones but make sure the light is not as intense as your regular tent light. Cuttings are very sensitive. Some will droop and not take root. In a couple of hours, lift your clone cups and check if the bottom of your stems are getting moistened from the airstone bubbles. The whole process from cutting to rooting can take several weeks. If you notice that your cutting's stem is getting dark and slimy, your cutting suffered from stem rot. Remove it from the cloner and discard it.

Like I mentioned before, Prop 207 allows any adult in Arizona to be in possession of 6 plants. I honestly do not know what constitutes as a plant. I'm making the assumption that a plant with roots is considered a complete plant. Honestly, only 2 adult plants is perfectly ample per household. It will be better to honor quality over quantity.

As a side note, cannabis leaf trimmings are an excellent culinary product. As a bitter leafy green, cannabis leaves can be eaten like any other leafy produce. You can eat it raw but it is best sautéed in oil and herbs. Keep in mind the vegetative leaf trimmings will not contain any psychoactive properties that will induce a high.

I hope your garden is doing well. If there's any questions regarding cloning or trimming, please let me know. Happy gardening!

Pinky