Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

arrive in full force in about a week. The artificial rooting hormone fills the need until natural hormones take over.
    Give cuttings a 5-15 second dip in concentrated solutions of IBA and NAA, 500-20,000 ppm. With a quick dip, stems evenly absorb the concentrated hormone.
    Relatively new to the market, gels have caught on everywhere. They are easy to use and practical, but are not water soluble. Once applied, gels hold and stay with the stem longer than liquids or powders.
    Rooting powders are a mixture of talc and IBA and/or NAA and are less expensive than liquids or gels. To use, roll the moistened end of your cutting in the powder. Apply a thick, even coat. To avoid contamination, pour a small amount into a separate container, and throw away any excess. Tap or scrape excess powder off the cutting; excess hormones can hinder root growth. Make a hole bigger than the stem in the rooting medium. If the hole is too small, the rooting powder gets scraped off upon insertion.
    You can also spray clones with a single foliar spray of dilute IBA (50-90 ppm). Be careful to spray just enough to cover leaves. Spray should not drip off leaves. An IBA overdose slows growth, makes leaves dwarf, and could even kill the clone.
    Some growers soak their cuttings in a dilute solution (20-200 ppm IBA and/or NNA) for 24 hours. But I have seen few growers use this time-consuming technique.
    To determine the rooting hormone concentration in parts per million, multiply the percentage listed by the manufacturer by 10,000. For example, a product with 0.9% IBA contains 9000 ppm IBA.
    An all-natural, root-inducing substance is willow (tree) water. The substance in all willow trees that promotes rooting is unknown, but repeated experiments have proven willow water promotes about 20 percent more roots than plain water. This willow water is mixed with commercial rooting hormones for phenomenal results.
    To make willow water rooting compound, find any willow tree and remove some of this year’s branches that are about one and a half inches in diameter. Remove the leaves, and cut the branches into one-inch lengths. Place one-inch willow sticks on end, so a lot of them fit in a water glass or quart jar. Fill the jar with water, and let it soak for 24 hours. After soaking, pour off the willow water, and use it for rooting hormone. Soak the marijuana clones in the willow water for 24 hours, then plant in rooting medium. If using a commercial liquid rooting hormone, substitute the willow water in place of regular water in the mix.

Cloning gels are very popular because they keep root-inducing hormones evenly distributed along the subterranean stem.

Get all cloning supplies ready before starting.
    Canna products and several other commercial products contain Trichoderma bacteria. The bacterium causes roots to grow and absorb nutrients better. To learn more about it, check out the Canna web site www.canna.com .
     
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Grow More Roots

Split the stem of clones to expose more of the cambium layer just under the “skin” of the stem. It is the only place that generates new roots.
    Exposing the cambium layer causes many roots to grow there. Lightly scraping away the outer layer of the stem to expose only the cambium allows hormones to concentrate where roots start. Splitting the clones’ stem exposes more surface area to grow roots. Both practices increase the number of healthy roots, but rooting time is a few days longer.
    After the cutting has been trimmed and scraped, dip the bare stem into a rooting hormone. Now it is ready to “stick” into the substrate.

Split the stem to initiate more surface area for roots to grow.
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Avoid problems:
    Keep the work area clean. Wash work surfaces and tools before starting.
    Have grow medium ready.
    Prepare mother plant (scion).
    Take clones.
    Store unused clone.
    Insert (stick) cutting in growing medium or aeroponics system.
    Place clones under humidity tent.
    Look for root growth.
    Transplant when roots emerge from root cube or medium.
    Harden-off by gradually exposing to new environment.
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This beautiful ‘Stinky Pinky’ mother is just two and a half months old.
Before Making Clones
    Making clones or cuttings is the most efficient and productive means of cannabis propagation for small growers, both indoors and out. Once females have been distinguished, you are ready to practice the simple, productive art and science of cloning.
    Disinfect all tools and working surfaces to kill