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Last updated: October 2026
A clone is the fastest way to grow a plant you already know you like: same genetics, same growth, same flavour. Taking a cutting is easy. Getting it to root takes clean tools, a steady climate and some patience. This guide shows you how to clone a weed plant step by step, from choosing the mother plant to transplanting rooted clones.
What are cannabis clones?
A clone is a cutting taken from a living cannabis plant, the mother, that grows its own roots and becomes a new plant with identical DNA. Every clone from the same mother carries her traits: growth pattern, flowering time, flavour and effect, as long as you give it the same conditions. That consistency is the main reason growers clone. Wondering whether to start from seeds, seedlings or clones? Our comparison of seeds vs clones vs seedlings weighs up all three.
How to choose a mother plant
- Pick a keeper. Choose a plant whose growth, yield and effect you already know and like, ideally grown from stable feminized cannabis seeds. Our guide to cannabis genetics explains why stable genetics matter.
- Keep it in veg. Give the mother at least a month in the vegetative stage before you take cuttings. More mature plants give cuttings that root faster.
- Keep it healthy. A steady climate, balanced feeding and no pests mean less stress for the mother and stronger clones.
- Don’t clone a flowering plant. It’s possible, but the cutting first has to switch back to vegetative growth, which costs time and lowers its chances. Read more in our re-vegging guide.
Where to cut clones from a mother plant
The lower branches root most easily, because they sit closest to the main stem and roots, where the plant’s natural rooting hormones are strongest. Choose a fresh, healthy branch with one to three pairs of leaves and at least two nodes. On the mother, make a straight cut 0.5-1 cm below a node: a straight cut leaves a smaller wound and less chance of infection. Taking cuttings regularly, every few days, also keeps the mother producing fresh new branches.
How to clone a weed plant step by step
What you need: sterile scissors or a scalpel, a glass of water at pH 5.8-6.2, rooting gel or powder (optional, but it speeds up rooting), pre-soaked rockwool, coco or peat plugs, and a propagator with a dome.
- Sterilise your tools before you start and again between plants. Every cut is an entry point for infection, and viroids such as HLVd spread through dirty blades.
- Take the cutting and put it straight into the glass of water, so the cut end never dries out.
- Recut the stem at an angle. Cut the bottom of the cutting diagonally, at about 45°, to give roots more surface. Trim the tips of the fan leaves to reduce water loss.
- Dip it in rooting hormone. Tap off the excess: a thick layer of powder can slow rooting down.
- Place it in the plug. Push the stem into a moist plug at pH 5.5-6.0, make sure the medium surrounds it firmly, and don’t move it again until roots appear.
- Close the dome. Keep the vents shut for about the first 10 days, then open them a little more each day so the clones get used to normal air.
The right climate under the dome:
| Setting | Target |
|---|---|
| Temperature | 24-27°C, with as little fluctuation as possible |
| Relative humidity | 75-85% in the first days |
| Light intensity | Low, around 100-200 µmol/m²/s (PPFD) |
| Light cycle | 18 hours or more, the same as the mother |
Cuttings have no roots yet, so they lose water faster than they can take it up. High humidity keeps them alive until roots form. Our climate settings guide covers temperature and humidity for every stage after that.
How long do clones take to root?
Under good conditions, new root cells start forming after about five days, and the first roots usually show within one to two weeks. Some strains root faster than others, so don’t give up on a slow tray too early. Wilting and drooping leaves in the first days are normal: the cutting is losing water while it has no roots. What isn’t normal is a blackened stem or mould. Remove those clones straight away so the problem doesn’t spread.
Once white roots grow out of the plug, the clone is ready to transplant into a bigger pot. From there it grows on like any young plant in the vegetative stage.
Can you clone autoflowers?
Technically yes, but it’s not worth it. Autoflowering plants flower on a fixed internal clock that starts at germination, and a clone is as old as its mother. By the time the cutting has rooted, it’s already about to flower, with no time left to grow, so the yield is tiny. Grow autoflowers from seed and keep cloning for photoperiod strains. Our guide to photoperiod vs autoflower strains explains the difference.
Keeping your clones vigorous
Cloning saves time and money and gives you uniform plants, but it has limits. Every clone inherits its mother’s weak points as well as her strengths, clones from outside can bring pests and diseases into your grow room, and some strains are simply harder to root than others. Over years of cloning the same line, mothers can also lose vigour, through stress, ageing or hidden infections such as viroids.
The fix is simple: replace your mother plants regularly and start a fresh mother from seed when a line slows down. For large-scale, disease-free propagation, some growers are moving to tissue culture, which grows new plants from a tiny tissue sample in a sterile lab.
Start with the right genetics
A clone can only be as good as the mother it came from. We’ve been breeding cannabis seeds in Amsterdam since 1994, selecting for the stability that makes a great mother plant. Find your next keeper among our feminized cannabis seeds, or, where it’s legal in your country, skip the rooting stage with ready-rooted cannabis plants.