Cloning Flowering Autoflowers?

Ok everyone, I know you can't clone autoflowers, especially when in flower like this plant was (see my other diary). It's all over the web. However, I could not find a photo or log of anyone that tried. If you followed my last/first diary, you know I destroyed my very 1st grow which was a Tangerine Dream autoflower that hit 5 feet in height. I took a few small branches, trimmed them and planted them in wet rockwool cubes. It took two weeks, but a root formed in each. So now they are growing in nute solution and as you can see below, roots have formed. Because they were in water for 2 weeks, the largest leaves turned yellow. I trimmed those and also topped the plants since they were trying to grow the smallest colas I had ever seen. At half strength solution, I still have a little burn. I just watered the solution down some more. Let's see what happens! 😊

A week after topping and they have both recovered. Plant 1 has a strange bushy top and is growing wider with twisted thin leaves, but she is flowering. Plant two is showing the classic shape of a topped plant and flowering nicely. She started flowering earlier and grew 2 inches since last week. Both are starting to smell nice. These are very small plants. I think they will do ok.

Both plants seem to be in a flowering growth spurt. They are starting to look like normal plants with training and LST. They are both 12 inches tall and 12 inches wide now. The trunk of each are about a quarter of an inch think now. I think they are looking pretty good.. If I would have known, I would have trimmed at least a dozen clones from the original plant!

I believe both plants are in a flowering growth spurt. They are growing an inch a day. I keep adjusting the PH by adding base. I have 2 Kale plants growing in the same bin since prior experience with Kale is that they produce a lot of base (and the family loves Kale). My hope was that they would balance out the Cannabis acid production. If they are, I think they are too small to be having a major impact yet. The trunk of each plant are now a little over 1/4 inch. They are getting stronger. The scent of both plants is pretty strong now. I've ordered a grow tent and air filter that I expect to receive this week. My main priority is to get the smell under control. I also hope the reflective walls will help make better use of the available. light. This was a very low cost COB led, I wish I got something with more light output. At this point, they seem like pretty normal flowering TD plants. When you get the chance look at week one and two, the difference is pretty amazing. When this growth spurt stops, I think I'm going to take another cutting and try to clone that as well. I can't help but wonder how late into flowering the plant can be and still get a successful clone. That said, I still need to get these two over the finish line!

I went ahead and purchased a grow tent. I think it is helping increase the available light while decreasing the pump and fan noise along with eliminating the odor (with the nice big charcoal filter) which makes everyone else in the house happy. Both TD clones added 5 inches in height. But between yesterday and today, it looks like they may have stopped growing. The plants are thick with leaves and growth. At the top of the plants, I'm measuring 25,000 lux. They seem to like it. Also, in one of the photos you will notice Kale growing. The 2 TD plants were creating a very acid solution that required daily adjustment. In my Kale grows, the Kale was creating a very basic solution. So I decided to grow both plants in the same bin thinking they would help each other out and balance the solution a little more. It seems to work. The kale produces more base than the cannabis produces acid, but I'm going significantly longer before I need to adjust the PH. The kale is a heavy feeder too. So they seem to be protecting the cannabis somewhat from nute burn when I can't attend to the plants for a while due to travel. Just a reminder, these are clones of a TD autoflower that was flowering. These 2 are exceeding all my expectations! Even if they look a little weird.

It has been a tough week! Last week, I purchased a "precalibrated" PH meter. I foolishly started using it without testing it 1st. My PH was very high according to the meter. So I lowered the PH. A few days later, she wasn't looking so good. I suspected the PH meter. I checked the liquid with my old trusty GH PH dye kit. It registered 4.0 PH! SO I fear she was not able to feed for at least 3 days! IN addition, she is now withing 7 inches of the LED lighting. I have no more room to raise the lamp. Please have a look at the photos. Many of the leaves are very pale green/yellowish. DO you think it's bleaching from the LED? Starvation from the PH lockout? Also, one of the photos shows a leaf with brown spotting. I would appreciate help with that as well. Thanks!

I've come to the conclusion that the yellowing was mainly the fan leaves, so I pruned most of those and now it seems more of the plant is getting light. In addition, she is suffering light burn on the leaves most directly under the LED. I can't raise the lamp any higher due to the tent and I have no more space to bend branches and colas lower. So there isn't much I can do at this stage but wait. I've been checking the tricomes, they are all still clear. Assuming she makes it past the light burn, I think she has at least 2 weeks left. SHe smells very strong of spice and citris! I just added some new close up photos. Are the tricomes clear or milky? How close do you think to harvest?

Based on prior recommendations, I took this week's photos using a different light. I'm still not sure if these tricomes are clear or white. You can see the leaves with what I think are light burn. If this is due to a deficiency, I feel I've tried to add almost everything to try and cure it with no luck. Is the plant just very close to the end here? I assume I have at least one more week until harvest.

A day early into week 9. They must be very close to harvest now. I assume any day now. It can't be more than a week. I've only been giving them both water. So much so that now the Kale and Basil they share the bin with are turning yellow as well. They both smell strong. The shorter plant on the right is wider and I expect will deliver more yield at harvest as the colas are much wider than the taller plant. I think I did a better job training the second shorter plant than the 1st. That said,, in the next grow I will be very agressive with the training. Unlike with these two. Both these plants are now mostly yellow and red leaves all over. Just a small number of green leaves in the center of both plants. It looks like fall is here. I think I could harvest today as all the tricomes are white. But I will wait until the first signs of brown anywhere. Also, I've been pulling many of the leaves off with a very slight tug in an effort to get more light to the few green leaves that are left. The ones that are harder to remove, I leave. I'm assuming they still need them. Please let me know what you think.

I learned alot and got really good advice on GrowDiaries. This is a great, positive, encouraging and helpful community. Reading other diaries is a huge learning experience. Also, having this log to look back at for me and others has already proved useful and will continue to do so. A great experience!0