Apr 29, 2020

Genetic Selection II, Seed or Clone? Part 1

Working with Clone Stock

Guaranteed genetics. If you have a COA of the mother(s) that the clone came from or of a clone that was grown to maturity, you can be very confident that the plants you are getting will test extremely close to that COA value.
100% female. Instead of worrying about culling males, if you are working with clones from mother stock that doesn’t contain high levels of hermaphroditic traits so you can be confident that all of the plants you received are duplicates of each other. Considering one male can pollinate plants up to ten miles away, having that reassurance and peace of mind is almost invaluable.
It will be extremely easy to keep your canopy even. Although a good and consistent seed will be very uniform, a clone canopy should be damnear 100% even with very little extra effort.
The plant size should be extremely predictable giving you a great opportunity to pack your plants into your acreage as tightly as possible to maximize your canopy space and prevent weeds!!

Much weaker root zone. Due to the spindly nature of clone roots as well as the lack of a taproot, clones never really develop extremely prolific root balls, especially once transplanted to the field. This means they are more susceptible to being uprooted early from high winds. Also, since they have a smaller root mass, they are unable to uptake as much nutrient and are therefore almost never as big/hearty as plants grown from seed.

Basically, a plant that started as a clone will almost never yield/produce what a plant that started as a seed will.

Your timing must be perfect and you are limited to either the space/availability of your cloning operation’s facility, or it is limited to the number of healthy clones that your mother stock can produce.

Missing your timing window with clones can completely mess you up. Start too early and their roots might not hold up to the seasonal shift from winter to spring. Start too late and your plants will never get to the size that you need to fill the inter-plant gaps in your field and your yield will suffer.