# Cloning

> Cloning is propagating a plant by rooting cuttings from it, producing new plants that are genetically identical to the donor.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cloning.html
- Also written: clone, clones, taking clones, taking cuttings, vegetative propagation, asexual propagation
- Glossary category: Cultivation and training · Evidence: Established
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

Cloning in horticulture means vegetative (asexual) propagation: a piece of the plant, usually a [shoot tip](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/apical-meristem.md), is cut off and encouraged to grow roots. The rooted cutting is a genetic copy of the donor, including its sex, so every clone of a female is female.

## In practice

A typical cannabis cut is 8-15 cm (3-6 in) with 2-3 nodes, taken from a healthy vegetative plant, trimmed of lower leaves, dipped in a [rooting hormone](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/rooting-hormone.md) and set in a plug of rockwool, peat, [coco](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/coco-coir.md) or an [aeroponic](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/aeroponics.md) cloner. Roots usually appear in 7-14 days at about 22-26 °C (72-79 °F) medium temperature, high humidity and gentle light (about 100-200 [µmol/m²/s](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/ppfd.md)).

Cloning is how growers keep a selected keeper, run uniform [sea-of-green](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/sog.md) crops and preserve cultivars. [Genotype](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/genotype.md) carries over; pathogens such as viroids carry over too.

## Don't confuse with

- **Cutting**: the piece of plant itself; cloning is the whole process.
- **Tissue culture**: cloning from tiny explants in sterile culture; can clean up pathogens.
- **Reproductive cloning (animals)**: unrelated technology.

## Myth check

House position: clones do not drift genetically. Apparent decline is pathogens or care. Cuts from different parts of a plant can behave differently (topophysis), so take them from consistent locations.

## Related terms

[Cutting](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cutting.md), [Mother plant](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/mother-plant.md), [Rooting hormone](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/rooting-hormone.md), [Cloning dome](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cloning-dome.md), [Tissue culture](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/tissue-culture.md)

## Read more

- [Clone-only cuts and how to preserve them](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/breeding/clone-only-preservation.md)
- [Tissue culture basics for cannabis growers and breeders](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/breeding/tissue-culture-basics.md)

## Sources

1. Clarke RC, Merlin MD. 2013. Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany. University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520954571