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You are here: Home / Indoor Growing / Cannabis Cultivation

How To Make Clones Root Faster (In Only 7 To 10 Days)

Last updated January 10, 2023 By Steven 29 Comments

Making clones root fasterWaiting for your clones to root can be frustrating.

But if you knew how to make your clones root faster, you could eliminate that frustration.

Then you are left with only the benefits of cloning. And those are great.

Cloning eliminates all of the guesswork.

No more wondering if your seed is male or female. Wondering what kind of bud it will produce and how much of it.

With clones, you know exactly what you will get, because you have already grown the same plant. If not you, then the person from whom you got the clones.

Either way, you know the mother plant and you know what that plant line has done in the past.

True, it could be your first time cloning this plant and if you did it right (i.e. took cutting during the vegetative stage), you won’t actually know what the plants are capable of.

But that only happens the first time. After that, you know what you’re dealing with.

Point is: once you’ve got a great plant, cloning it allows you to keep growing that great plant forever.

So let’s learn how to make those clones root faster, so that you no longer have to deal with the one frustrating aspect of cloning.

Contents

  • 1 How To Make Clones Root Faster
    • 1.1 Supplies Needed To Encourage Rooting
    • 1.2 Get The Peat Pellets Ready
    • 1.3 Take Clones From The Mother Plant
    • 1.4 Prepare And Plant The Cuttings
    • 1.5 Provide The Ideal Environment
    • 1.6 Nurturing Your Clones
      • 1.6.1 1st And 2nd Day
      • 1.6.2 3rd And 4th Day
      • 1.6.3 5th Day
      • 1.6.4 6th And 7th Day
      • 1.6.5 8th And 9th Day
      • 1.6.6 10th Day
  • 2 Make Clones Root Faster: Final Thoughts

 

How To Make Clones Root Faster

The key to faster rooting is providing clones with exactly the right environment. Every step of the way, we want to provide the ideal environment to encourage rooting. In order to do that, we’re going to need some supplies.

 

Supplies Needed To Encourage Rooting

  • Cloning tray with ridges (and no holes) and a vented dome (this is a good one)
  • Peat pellets (like these)
  • Razor blade or exacto knife (must be sharp)
  • Scissors (read reviews of the best scissors for trimming weed)
  • Rooting gel and rooting powder (get both for best results)
  • 2 small plastic buckets or large mixing bowls
  • Spray bottle (this one is good, if you don’t already have one)
  • Grow lights: LED tubes are best, fluorescent lights also work well

 

Now that we have everything we need, it’s time to start cloning. Follow these instructions exactly and your clones will have strong root growth in 7 to 10 days.

And once your clones have rooted, you’ve got a huge head start over seeds. You will grow your weed to harvest much faster.

 

Get The Peat Pellets Ready

The peat pellets are packaged in a dried, compressed form. To use them, you need to first expand them. You do this with water.

Use one of the buckets or bowls and fill it with warm water. Put the pellets you plan on using in the water and let them soak until they have expanded.

Once they’ve expanded fully, remove them from the water and squeeze out the excess water. Then place them in the cloning tray.

 

Take Clones From The Mother Plant

Before you start cutting clones, you want to prepare some water to keep them in. Fill a bucket or large bowl with cold water.

Now you’re ready to cut.

To speed up rooting, you want to cut your clones from the lower part of the mother plant. The closer to the roots they are, the faster they will root themselves.

You’ve probably read advice that tells you to take a large section of plant with several branches and bud sites, because it speeds up the growth of the clone. A smaller clone will take longer to grow multiple branches.

But if you’re trying to speed up rooting, having more leaves is detrimental. With more leaves, the plant uses more energy to feed those leaves. You want as much of its energy as possible to be put toward root production. We’ll trim most of them off in a minute anyway.

First, let’s cut.

Once you’ve identified where you want to cut take the razor blade or exact knife and cut the branch at a 45 degree angle. This provides more area from which the roots can grow. You can use scissors for this, but they need to be very sharp. They should cut the stem, without crushing it.

After the clone is cut, place it in the bucket of cold water. This allows water to seep into the stem, which prevents air bubble from forming inside.

 

Prepare And Plant The Cuttings

To speed up rooting, you want to remove all the leaves, apart from the ones at the crown. You also want to cut the tips off any larger leaves that remain. They should be trimmed to an inch or inch and a half in length.

You also want to make sure the clones are all as close as possible to being the same length. That helps ensure they grow at the same speed.

Once all the clones have been trimmed, you are ready to plant them. Before planting a clone, dip the stem in rooting gel first and then into the rooting powder.

Some strains root better when dipped in powder and some root better when dipped in gel. By using both on every clone, you ensure they all get whichever of the two they prefer. You always want to dip them in gel first, because it protects the stem from being clogged.

After you have dipped the stem in both the gel and the powder, stick it in one of the peat pellets (or whatever other medium you are using, like Rockwell cubes, etc.). Press the pellet around the stem, making sure it fits tightly and won’t fall out.

 

Provide The Ideal Environment

Clones need warmth, moisture and light. Ideally they want 18 hours of light per day and a room temperature around 68ยฐ F (20ยฐ C). Let’s be sure to provide them exactly what they want.

Once all the clones are planted in their peat pellets and the pellets are all lined up in the cloning tray, add a tablespoon of water to the pellet at the base of the stem. This serves to activate the rooting gel and powder.

You also want to fill your spray bottle with room temperature water and spray the clones, as well as the base of the cloning tray and the inside of the lid. Use the misting setting for all of this.

After misting, place the dome on the cloning tray. All of the water you sprayed ensures a high humidity inside the dome, which is exactly the environment clones need. If you are not using a dome, read How To Raise Humidity In A Grow Tent.

Whatever type of grow light you are using should go directly above the dome. If you are using fluorescent light or a low voltage LED (like the T5 LEDs I recommend), keep the light an inch or two above the dome.

If you are using a more powerful LED or a metal halide bulb, leave 2 or more feet of distance between the light and the dome. A dimmable LED grow light is great for this situation, since you can dial down the intensity, which also saves on power costs.

 

Nurturing Your Clones

You should mist the clones and the inside of the dome twice a day, every day. Ideal times are in the morning and in the evening.

Doing this not only maintains the water level in the plants (since they don’t yet have roots with which to take in water), but also dilutes the amount of nutrients in the leaves, which forces the plant to look for more. The best way to get them is to grow roots, so we are encouraging that.

 

1st And 2nd Day

On the first two days, just continue misting twice daily (maybe even 3 or 4 times on the first day, if necessary). Keep the vents closed at all times.

 

3rd And 4th Day

On the third day (with the first day being the day you took the clones), open the vents and leave them open. This lets moisture escape, which may seem like a bad thing, but will actually help encourage rooting.

The lack of moisture dries out the peat pellets. On the 3rd day, there will already by the beginnings of roots sprouting inside them stem and the lack of readily available moisture encourages them to grow more quickly to find a source of moisture.

 

5th Day

On the 5th day, check to pellets to see if they are dry. If they are, add about 2 cups of water (half a liter). Add the water to the cloning tray, letting it fill the grooves. Do not add the water directly to the peat pellets.

Adding water to the pellets makes it too easy for the plants to get water. We want them to have to reach down to the cloning tray to get water, because the way they do that is by growing roots downward. It is another way to speed up the formation of roots.

 

6th And 7th Day

On the 6th day, you want to close the vents again. By now you should be seeing some roots coming out of the peat pellets for some of the clones. Now that the roots have begun to show, they need extreme humidity to encourage further growth.

 

8th And 9th Day

On the 8th day, add another 2 cups of water to the cloning tray. This time, infuse the water with a minimal amount of grow nutrients.

Keep the vents closed and keep misting the clones and the inside of the dome twice a day.

 

10th Day

Go ahead and remove the dome so that the clones can adjust to the normal environment. They should all have strong root growth, which means you can transplant them to their next home in a small grow tent or a large one.

In actuality, you could transplant any clones that show strong root growth prior to this day, if you wanted to. We also have an article on when to transplant cannabis seedlings.

Now you are ready to grow those clones into adult plants that give you a huge harvest. If you need help with that, this article has everything you need to grow the perfect cannabis plant indoors.

 

Make Clones Root Faster: Final Thoughts

It takes time for clones to root. You really just have to wait it out. That said, if you provide the ideal conditions, your clones will root in the shortest time possible. Follow the instructions given above to ensure you do just that, in order to shorten the rooting time as much as you can.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. James says

    November 4, 2019 at 10:16

    If you are planning to grow cannabis but don’t know how to grow marijuana plants indoors step by step, so just go through this link [promotional link removed] to have proper guide.

    Reply
    • Jason says

      July 13, 2021 at 18:02

      I havenโ€™t had much luck with my clones and am Iโ€™m way over my head with 6 strains in veg and ready to start flower! I need advice on cloning with aeroponic system with no dome? Are the cuts at the top better?

      Reply
      • Anonymous says

        August 6, 2021 at 03:28

        In my opinion you are wasting your time with aeroponic cloning. It doesnโ€™t come close to using a domed rooting tray. Iโ€™ve only been doing this for the last 50 years soโ€ฆโ€ฆ..

        Reply
        • SBernhard says

          September 11, 2021 at 16:53

          I agree, domed cloning is much more successful. Only thing is most people suggest heating pads, but forget to place something between the clone dome and pad. Also, avoid watering them too much or at all because the environment or clone medium is susceptible to mould.

          Reply
        • Anonymous says

          April 5, 2022 at 10:48

          I’ve been cloning using aeroponic with great success.

          Reply
      • Gerry says

        May 6, 2023 at 18:31

        You really should get yourself a heated incubation/propagation dome in you want clones to take, especially growing bud. I grew 3 plants from seed, then cut 9 clones from all of them, three clones from each plant. I only want a few plants…I’ve always been growing too many plants…end up with too much bud the same stuff. It’s better to grow a few plants well, than a pile of plants mediocrely…

        Reply
      • Gerry says

        May 25, 2023 at 09:58

        A tray with ridges on the bottom and a dome with vents along with a heating mat with thermostat…you can get the entire kit plus get a florescent grow light as you don’t require strong lights when cloning. I got my entire set-up from Amazon.com. It’s not easy to get the hang of cloning by any stretch, but once I get the hang of it (I HOPE!!!) I’ll be sailing. I just tossed about 5 unsuccessful clones…but one is now growing…got three more in the dome now on Day#9…no roots yet. I do have one clone so far, so that’s better than zero. Patience is a virtue they say, but all I know is Patience is a G’nR tune. Best of luck Jason, try not to get discouraged, just keep pluggin’ until you’re a cloning master.

        Reply
  2. Rikstar says

    May 16, 2020 at 09:03

    Thanks for this artical it has helped me root my first lot of clones I stuck itday by day and yep! worked a treat.๐Ÿ’™โœŒ

    Reply
    • Steven says

      May 17, 2020 at 01:25

      That’s great, congratulations!

      Reply
  3. Raquale Starr says

    July 6, 2020 at 17:30

    This is amazing! Realized that I had done several steps in opposite manner; I used powder & then gel. You’re a great teacher; I’ve been growing for over 12 years but a person can always learn something new, KUDOS ๐Ÿค—

    Reply
    • Steven says

      July 7, 2020 at 00:40

      Thank you, I’m glad it helped!

      Reply
  4. Craig says

    October 30, 2020 at 05:42

    Definitely informative. I have been growing mary indoor and outdoor for many years. I have made many clones. I put some of these techniques combined with current knowledge and my clones have been rooting faster than ever. Great article. Also Thanks for the valuable info.

    Reply
    • Steven says

      October 30, 2020 at 08:34

      Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you found it useful.

      Reply
    • Ryan Chaplin says

      April 24, 2021 at 23:52

      Thanks for instructions on Getting roots faster. Clipped some last week and buy day 6 there was roots. Thanks for the step by step instructions it’s idiot proof

      Reply
      • Joshua Mullins says

        January 4, 2022 at 04:47

        Hey man. This is my first time cloning and i have 4 plants. They seem to be doing well. I flipped them over to budding about almost 2 months ago. I had them in veg since last summer when i took the cuttings. I only just got my closet set up for growing maybe 4 months ago. Seems like it took them forever to start growing. But When They did they grew pretty fast. Anyways where im going with this is ive got one plant that is still pretty small. So a little over a week ago i flipped it back to veg. Yes it is already budding a little but i wanted it to get a little bigger. My question here i guess is how long is it going to take for it to flip back to veg and start growing again? Im doing what they call monster cropping. Im very impressed with the results ive had besides how slow they have been growing. Ive just Got some cheap grow lights from wall mart. Do you think thats why they have been growing so slow? Any info greatly appreciated. Email me and ill show you some pics

        Reply
  5. David Carrol says

    December 19, 2020 at 10:14

    Thank you for the information and I appreciate your support I’ve just started my own personal grow and appreciate any information you can offer.

    Reply
  6. Inna says

    April 27, 2021 at 16:31

    Which nutrients should be added to the water on 8/9th day? Do you have a amounts with names for a gallon of water? I would greatly appreciate it.

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says

    June 9, 2021 at 18:08

    This is definitely the most informative article on clones. Definitely the best technique. I have grown well for years, but struggled w clones.. they always took a long time. This way is awesome !! The only other thing that was suggested to me, which I a.m Trying now is soaking clone cuttings for 24 hours in PHd water prior to putting them in clone tray w gel and powder

    Reply
  8. Jon says

    August 2, 2021 at 06:08

    This is wrong on so many fucking levels ๐Ÿ˜‚

    Reply
    • Rock steady says

      November 15, 2021 at 06:51

      Why you hating???

      Reply
    • Ro says

      January 18, 2022 at 13:28

      Can you tell us your way???

      Reply
    • KingMaximo says

      February 26, 2022 at 18:29

      He can’t tell us his ways cause he probably doesn’t have any. I’ve been growing over 20 years now and the information in this article is how you clone cannabis. How this information can be wrong is beyond my comprehension because it works and is common knowledge among experienced growers. Gotta look over some people…

      Reply
  9. KT says

    October 18, 2022 at 12:22

    This write up makes cloning seem like its a hard thing. I only ever have had 1 clone not root out of hundreds I have done. Take a cutting, scrap a bit of the outside of stem with your scissor or razor where the cut is, dip in rooting powder or gel ( I used PRO MIX Stim Root @ $3 bottle can be found at most home and garden centers) and stick them into Rapid Rooters, cover with dome, mist the clones and the inside dome when its getting dry and air out the dome once or twice a day, 5-10 days you have roots. PS I ran out of my rooting powder so I though I would try one of the expensive ones to see the difference (REMO ROOTS @ $20)

    Reply
    • Benjamin B says

      May 6, 2023 at 13:41

      This is good info. Thank you. I’m gonna try that cheaper product.

      What are your temps? You use heat mat?

      Reply
  10. Anonymous says

    November 18, 2022 at 22:14

    I dig the info in this article. I found it while looking for root zone temperatures for the clones. Glad I did, I was running at 79 degrees F. The one thing I would add is to clean your gear. If your dome and tray have been sitting since your last run, scrub them with soap and hot water, and don’t use anything scratchy on the clear dome…or it will get all scratched up 8^)

    Reply
    • Steven says

      November 19, 2022 at 00:04

      That’s great advice, thanks!

      Reply
    • Benjamin B says

      May 6, 2023 at 13:45

      Yup. Clean is key.

      I have always done the 80/80 rule. 80 degrees F and 80% relative humidity. Have you found room temp works better than 79?

      I was surprised this article didn’t mention a heat mat.

      Reply
  11. Rodney says

    May 21, 2023 at 08:25

    I’ve been using this method for around 20 years, and once I got the temperature of the clone room to a constant 70-72F and using peat pucks and humidity dome, I’ve had 100% success. The odd time there’s a few slow rooting ones but still within 14 days all usually had roots, but I’ve had good roots in 10 days ready to transplant. Tokes 2 U

    Reply
    • Steven says

      May 22, 2023 at 00:26

      Nice, sounds like you’ve got it down perfectly!

      Reply

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