Imagine you have a plant you really enjoy and you'd love to have more plant just like it, for instance, a rose. Or, you have grown some really brilliant variety of tomato in your hydroponic or in-ground garden and you want to grow more exactly the same. You have a herb you cook with frequently and need to have a constant supply. What do you do? You use the method called cloning. Its very ease to do in a plant propagation or cloning machine, even for woody plant propagation.
In biological terms, you want to participate in the process of developing similar producing populations of genetically identical individuals. Simply put – cloning is the process where you use plant propagation to make copies of a whole plant from a piece of an existing plant. You do this every time you take a cutting and place it in water which works well for some plants. In fact, some plants propagate this way in nature rather easily- take strawberries and their runners, for example.
Plant propagation works really well in a hydroponic plant propagation cloning machine. People with hydroponic systems use this method of increasing the number of plants they have to grow for a variety of reasons, using plant propagation cloning machines to make this process easy and stress free.The plant clones are given all the moisture, nutrients and humidity they need to induce healthy root growth.
Here's how to get started with your plant propagation. The "parent" plant should be at least 2 months old and healthy. To start a clone, cut a short piece of a growing stem with a few branch points on it at what is called a terminal growing point. A terminal growing point is where a leaf is attached to a stem. Some people advocate taking the cutting first, then making a 45 degree cut under water, ending at the terminal point. Remove the lower leaves. Prepare your cloning chamber.
At this step, there are a couple of things to think about based on the type of plant you are propagating. You may need different cloning powder/gel/liquid depending on what type of plant you are cloning and what methods you use but most plant propagating aids work for the majority of plants. From what I have seen, the major differences are the concentration of hormone which promotes root growth and the method of cloning. Do not use an absorbent type of foam to hold the cuttings as this can and will promote disease. The cutting or clone should be placed about 1/2″ deep in your growing medium in your plant propagation machine. For a plant propagation machine, the best idea is to place the hormone directly into the cloner water as gels can and will wash off in most plant propagation machines with constant exposure. Just be aware of the volume of hormone to water – don't over do it.
You need adequate light for proper and quick growth rate and a well-ventilated, cool location. This is to be found in a plant propagation machine. The temperature should be around 21- 23oC (70 -75 oF). The base should be a little warmer, about 26-27 o C (about 80 oF), since bottom heat encourages root growth. The humidity should be around 90% in the plant propagation machine. Remember, if you can grow it – you can use plant propagation to clone it.
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