Keeping unrooted clones in cold storage

[Lean Bear]

be good if this topic could be pinned I think so not lost in time? .... @Owderb

[Guest]

Learn something new everyday, thank you Slugum. 

[Slugums]

48 minutes ago, TheGreenShabeenReturns said:

Learn something new everyday, thank you Slugum. 

 

Cheers @TheGreenShabeenReturns!

 

Its been great actually giving this a try and now knowing that I can get away with it!

 

Finding @hashmaster3000 thread, that kicked the subject off back in 2015, gave me the right place to document the process past the point of refrigeration and through to them rooting out!

 

 

 

[hash72]

growing 2 types at the moment was sick I never took cuttings from either because of the timing, luckily I kept a couple of seeds back of each, wonderful thread.

[unity]

awesum topic, just what i wanted to find

 

[Baudelaire]

Just wanted to add that I regularly root cuts that have been in refrigerated 8 weeks, with about an 80% strike rate. It has become part of my regular protocol for mother backup insurance, new strain pheno hunts, and breeding projects. The ability to hold 20 different varieties in stasis for up to 3 months, a full maturation period for most strains, all within a 12x12 inch freezer bag with no other maintenance required, has been an absolute game changer for me.

 

I don't lose cherished moms when I travel, or have an irrigation failure. I don't miss saving individual plants that start out unimpressive and then surge, or show other valuable traits late in flower. I can keep one or two moms of each important strain, rather than 3 or 4, because I've got the family jewels locked away in the salad drawer. I just rotate new cuts in every 8 weeks.

 

I've found a few things:

 

- be careful of too much moisture. I use one sandwich bag, half-zipped, per selection, usually 4 cuts. Those go into a 1-gallon ziplock freezer bag, with a couple of spritzes of misted water in the outer bag (not in the smaller bags). Zip the outer bag shut, with enough air left inside to give it some cushion. Once sealed, do not open until ready to be rooted.

 

- check the temperature of the frig bin or shelf you plan to use. Many refrigerator salad bins have their own temperature controls, and many are set close to freezing, which will damage your cuts quickly. Temps can vary even among open shelves. You want to make sure your storage spot remains above about 38F/3C or so. 

 

- keep things cool, humid and in low-light for the first 48 hours after setting the cuts to root. They've been in hibernation for weeks, give them some time to wake up.

 

Other than that, root as per your regular technique. I usually cut to allow a couple of internodes below the medium, dip in a little rooting powder, and into 2-inch cups with 70/30 perlite/vermiculite. Under a dome, misted with plain water, 80F/27C, 200-400 PPFD 5000K LED. 80% average rooted within 10 days.

 

Peace -b420

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by Baudelaire

[murphyblue]

just put 2 cuttings in fridge  will try anything me

 

[Butterfingerz]

Interesting, yet easy method for short term plant stasis.

Wow very cool!!

[FergusGrowman]

After reading this a couple weeks ago I chopped a few clones and papped them right in the fridge! 

 

Today's the day they get put in the propagator ! 

 

Cheers for the tip 

[EmmaSalmon66]

This is great. I am having a very limited place for growing - will be doing outside/polytunnel initially but have a small indoor to take over. Some of the seeds I have bought are mighty expensive, so if this can enable me to keep going year round its fantastic news

[FergusGrowman]

So half my clones rooted .. The other half looked like sweaty lettuce within a couple days !

 

It seems that the clones i took from thicker stems seemed to cope fine with the cold, they all rooted nicely after roughly 10/12 days of in the propagator .

 

And the thick cuttings that didn't work .. I think its cause I sprayed too much water in the bag before fridgeing them.

[Herbal Kint]

On 01/01/2016 at 2:10 PM, spankydemonkey said:

Do they still need light?

Its 2021 but

 

I do have led in my fridge , maybe to keep it open

[Herbal Kint]

On a serious note my cuts survived 2 weeks in jiffy packed in box for 2weeks traveling about 2000km,they were nice , green and healthy. Why not in fridge?

[Thai Stick]

Just thought i would drop this in.

 

As an experiment i put a bunch of extra 10cm branches i trimmed off into an opaque plastic jar with the bottom 2 inches submerged in plain water.

 

They've been sitting in my fridge for 3 weeks now and look just as healthy as the day i cut them.
 

Next i will try the same but with two or three different rooting agents, clonex, aloe vera and a local product said to produce roots.

[Keye]

On 30/12/2015 at 11:28 PM, hashmaster3000 said:

I thought I'd post this as I never see it mentioned and I believe it to be an invaluable tip.

U can keep unrooted clones in the fridge for up to a few months and then root them as and when u need them.

.....

 

Its unbelievably simple , all I do is mist the inside of a sandwich bag , be sure to label the bags so u know whats what. Then take it clones leaving a longer stem than u would normally and theres no need to trim all the leaves off . Place ur extra long clones into the moist sandwich bag and place the bag in the crisper draw in ur fridge.

When it ready to root them just take them out the bag, trim up the stem and leaves like u would normally and place it in ur chosen rooting medium I.e, soil, jiffys , riots, etc. And place in the prop.

 

 

OK, I'm just adding my hat to the 'Holy Shit Where Did This Come From' post. After reading through it, I'm also on the 'This Is Exactly What I Need' post. Sorry for editing your post in the quote @hashmaster3000 .

 

On 04/04/2019 at 3:51 PM, Guest said:

i've got to say this one of the most unbelievable, surpising threads ive ever come across on this site since ive been on..

why have i never heard of this before??,

i've alway RUSHED a cutting from being snipped off the plant, to water, and finally to clonex and the rooting medium because ive been terrified of "embolisms"....  

have i been getting Sherbinskied for the last 20 years or what??   

 

 

I don't think I've actually laughed out loud since Men Behaving Badly was on TV.... Sherbinskied!

 

On 01/07/2019 at 6:52 PM, Baudelaire said:

Just wanted to add that I regularly root cuts that have been in refrigerated 8 weeks, with about an 80% strike rate. It has become part of my regular protocol for mother backup insurance, new strain pheno hunts, and breeding projects. The ability to hold 20 different varieties in stasis for up to 3 months, a full maturation period for most strains, all within a 12x12 inch freezer bag with no other maintenance required, has been an absolute game changer for me.

 

...../

 

I've found a few things:

 

- be careful of too much moisture. I use one sandwich bag, half-zipped, per selection, usually 4 cuts. Those go into a 1-gallon ziplock freezer bag, with a couple of spritzes of misted water in the outer bag (not in the smaller bags). Zip the outer bag shut, with enough air left inside to give it some cushion. Once sealed, do not open until ready to be rooted.

 

- check the temperature of the frig bin or shelf you plan to use. Many refrigerator salad bins have their own temperature controls, and many are set close to freezing, which will damage your cuts quickly. Temps can vary even among open shelves. You want to make sure your storage spot remains above about 38F/3C or so. 

 

- keep things cool, humid and in low-light for the first 48 hours after setting the cuts to root. They've been in hibernation for weeks, give them some time to wake up.

 

 

 

 

Thank you! This is repeated through the whole thread; sorry for editing your post, too @Baudelaire

 

On 07/03/2021 at 11:34 PM, FergusGrowman said:

So half my clones rooted .. The other half looked like sweaty lettuce within a couple days !

 

It seems that the clones i took from thicker stems seemed to cope fine with the cold, they all rooted nicely after roughly 10/12 days of in the propagator .

 

And the thick cuttings that didn't work .. I think its cause I sprayed too much water in the bag before fridgeing them.

 

@FergusGrowman - more great advice, thank you for reporting back.

 

I am going to try this; I will let my plant grow more, take bigger cuts, put them in to the fridge and then flower my plant. Then, in 8 weeks or so, cut her down and pop the cuttings in....

 

Yee Har!!