Grow Q&A: Can I Take Clones From My Flowering Pot Plant?

Dear Dan, I have a question about some clones. I got them from a friend and they were all about 6-12 inches in height but they were already budding. I don’t know how this happened because they were outside but I want to know if this is going to effect the overall yield? Should I toss them and start over or is there hope for them to survive and thrive down the road? – Big D Papa

Dear BDP,
I’ve seen this problem arise plenty of times. People realize they forgot to clone their plants during the vegetative stage and then think they can get away with cloning from a flowering plant. The problem is, the flowering clones must then revert back into the vegetative stage and this process takes time and can also result in shocking plants into strange behaviors.

I strongly suggest taking clones only from vegetating plants. In this way, you will avoid having to re-veg the plants and issues such as the plants turning into hermaphrodites or mutating in other ways due to stress. Sometimes, leaves will come out twisted or with only one or two blades. All of this is time wasted that could be spent strengthening the plants for their eventual flowering stage.

Also, the reason this happened outside is likely because the plants weren’t receiving more than 12 hours of light per day. If you supplement their light regimen to 18 hours or so per day with added lighting, you will avoid having them prematurely flower until you want them to do so.

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