TAKING CLONES

1. Disinfect or sterilize all your tools in alcohol and put on nitrile gloves.
2. Choose new green branching from your mother plant. Non-woody stems root easier than woody stems. Pick a stem with at least 1 node on it. A node looks like a joint on the stem that holds 1 or more leaves or buds.
3. Cut your clone with a straight cut just below a node using a sharp scissor or razor blade. The clone should have a length of between 10-20 cm (5-8”). Preferably all clones have about the same length, so no clone has to fight for light.
4. Place your clones immediately into a glass of water, to prevent the fresh cut from oxygen exposure until you have cut all your clones and you proceed with the next step.
5. Take the fresh clone and use a sharp razor blade to make a clean slice at a 45-degree angle through the middle of the last node or just below the last node.

• Making the cut through the node increases your chance for successful rooting, as this is natures spot to send out new roots.
• Cutting on a 45-degree angle enlarges the surface area where the callus is formed and where the roots start sprouting.
  

1. Gently scrape of the hard epidermis (outer layer) of the bottom part of the clone so more “raw” insides get exposed. This again gives more surface area for roots to sprout, promoting faster rooting. Do not scrape off more than the planting depth. Scrapped off parts that remain above substrate will lead to failure.
2. Remove all but 2 or 3 top leaves. All lower leaves should be taken away in order to reduce evaporation surface and to ensure energy savings. If the remaining top leaves are large, clip about 30-40% of the top of the leaves for the same reason.
3. Take some rooting hormone powder from the original container and put it into a separate small container. Do not dip the clone directly into the original container and never return used rooting hormone to the original container either, as the powder is activated after contact with clones.
4. Put the node end of the clone into water and then dip or roll it into the hormone powder. Don’t apply the hormone powder any higher than the planting depth. Tap off the excess hormone powder by lightly tapping the clone against the edge of the container. Too much rooting hormone decreases your success rate. Rooting hormone is not a necessity, but it does increase speed and success rate.
5. Carefully place the clone all the way into the pre-punctured cutting holes of the Eazy Plug. Make sure to insert the clone deeply enough, completely to the bottom of the cutting hole. The pre-punctured cutting hole ensures that the rooting hormone remains on the stem of the clone instead of being rubbed off.

Note:

At step 3, one can also take the cutting right away from the mother plant at a 45-degree angle. However to minimize the wound for the mother plant and to accelerate its recovery it is advisable to:

1. start with a straight cutting an cut the clone afterwards at a 45-degree angle as described above
2. pinch the upper top of the straight cut on the mother plant with your nails (gloves on) in order to somewhat reduce the open wound