I have read that you can take a clone to a 16th generation. Like, start with the original from seed and can take a clone from that, then a clone from that until you get a 16th clone and it's then done. I would be interested to see if this is true or at what point the clone really craps out. I've always used the advanced rooting hormone. The shit is mad expensive but it's in a league of its own when compared to olivia's or any of that other crap. Remember, the clones love humidity so if you have a humidity hood you're in good shape. Everyday you want to give the clones more and more time without the hood. The guy at the hydro store said, 1/2 hour first day and then double the time w/out the hood every third day, until you are at about 2 hours and or they have rooted. Something I have thought of is cut the stem up into as many pieces as you can while still having it connect to the rest of the shoot. Then, put a very tiny stone (say, 3mm in diameter) and shove that inside the stem where you have cut it up into different pieces. Think of when you put on a hat. The stem till be the brim of the hat and the stone will be your head. Then just dip the cut end with the stone in it into your rooting hormone. I think this might work better because there is more surface area for the roots to grow. Another thing you might try is "air layering" I think is what it's called. You want to get a little hobby knife and cut a circle around the stem and then put another "circle cut" around the stem about an inch or so above the first circle. You want to remove the first layer of the skin from the plant. Then you get some wet sphagnum moss and wrap that around the circular cut (it should look like someone has removed the label from a can of soup, the label being the outer most part of the skin of the plant) and wrap that shit up in some cellophane. Put rubber bands above the top circle and below the bottom circle keep all the moisture in. Check the plant in about a week or so and see if you have anything good going on (such as roots or some poontang).