Growing from seeds or clones, differences and drawbacks?

Hey guys, how is everybody? I wanted to know what you guys thought about the advantages and disadvantages of growing from clones as compared to seeds? I got some bad seeds and a little leery about buying them from some of these Internet sites. I am currently growing from clones and have four different strains: AK-47, Master Kush, Headband Kush and a mystery weed. So what are your thoughts?

only advantage i know of is that you skip the germination time. oh and that you'll know the phenotype too.
otherwise is just a clone. and everybody knows that a copycat cant stand up the original ^¨ meaning the weed gets weaker everytime you clone it. (takin clones from clones etc)

Differences

You know the sex of the clone immediately opposed to waiting for first preflowers as with seed.

Once the clone roots you can flower much sooner. Making for less time between grows.

Drawbacks

Only drawbacks i can think of from cloning is your limited to the strains you already have present. If thats even a drawback.

So Stink Meaner you think that the strength of the strains will get progressively weaker as the cloning cycle progresses?

i dont think you will notice the difference from one or two generations of cloning. its in the long run its pose to be weaker.
you have nothing to worry about. its kinda hard to clone though. in my opinion

Stinkmeaner said:

(...) everybody knows that a copycat cant stand up the original ^¨ meaning the weed gets weaker everytime you clone it. (takin clones from clones etc)

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Please don't spread misinformation.
A clone is a genetic copy of it's mother, it does not lose or gain any potency, no matter how many times you repeat the clone process. (From my understanding, translation: don't take my word for it, a mutation can happen, which in turn could mess with the genetics of a clone, but that rarely happen)

One thing you all are forgetting that I just realized. Once I started taking the time to grow from seed and sexing I realized all my growing problems stopped immediately. No spidermites, no molds or other deseases. When you take a clone from a friend or shop, you take on ALL the problems they have or have had in their rooms. So that did it for me, an extra 3 weeks for sexing is really a trade off for 9-10 weeks of easy growing.
I always grow my seed, when healthy and big take a clone or 5, then I put the seed plant into flower, once I know if its female I have clones rooting and getting ready to go. I eliminate the revert time most experience.

Getting your clones from a reputable person with a clean grow room should eliminate any problem such as mites and diseases. I personally help my friend set up and take care of his grow room before taking clones from his plant for mine. I agree with Man with the Hex; the clone taken from the mother plant prior to flowering, should have exactly the same genetic traits as the mother including potency. I think diseases might be a problem with clones as you could catch one that could ruin your entire crop from veg to flower, but this can happen with any plants strain right?

Potency will not be lost through the clone process, actually. I believe as a person grows a specific strain, and learns it's quirks, and you bet they "all" have their own little quirks. You become quite expert at your strains, and in fact the quallity will go up just on that merrit alone, Also If you work the strain long enough, and carefull enough, you will find fem selfed seeds, This opens the door to psudos that could end up better than the original. Ya just never know so go ahead and clone, and get good at it. There are a variety of ways of making clones of your mother plants. Check out my journal on Air cloning these roots are grown right on the mother plant, Before ever cuting the clone loose the whole process is done right on the donner. Also if you are procuring clones, take your 420 scope with you, if there is question of pests, loop the plant and media, check for pests you are going to see them if they are present. as for disease not alot of plant disease out there that is comunicable from plant to plant. There are a few but in controlled grows its very unprobable. unlike infestation.

clones / cons imo..
you may not really get the strain you think you're getting when you deal with clones.. many, many, many times, people will slap a name on a clone if it's a hot strain, even if it's say afghani kush and people want say obbama kush, some people are willing, and do, slap a new name on their clones to sell them..
clones are often infected with bugs and or mildew or mold if you get them from certain places.. always treat new clones from outside sources as if they're infected imo..
clones can be a bit more open to problems like infections and bugs then plants from seeds which tend to be a bit more hardy...

pro's...
no sexing involved
a bit shorter veg time required then plants from seeds
a lot of strains are still clone only, so if you want say cherry pie, clone is the only way to get it..
probably a few more pros i'm overlooking atm

oh yeah, the stretch in flower for clones of sativa plants is much shorter then the same strain grown from seeds, making it better suited for indoor growing then the same plant from beans..

i'll probably think of a few more later i'm sure..

melungeonman said:

Potency will not be lost through the clone process, actually. I believe as a person grows a specific strain, and learns it's quirks, and you bet they "all" have their own little quirks. You become quite expert at your strains, and in fact the quallity will go up just on that merrit alone,

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Thank you. First post that makes any sense here.

Lets draw the difference between the process of maintaining a motherplant that you pull cuttings from and the process of cloning clones, cloning those clones, cloning those clones and so forth. The latter method will cause, eventually, Genetic Drift.

Now, in terms of getting diseases, people seem to think that the only way to acquire clones is to buy them from a dispensary. A good grower will start off using seeds, pick out that good pheno or two, and use it/them for a mother plant. There's no genetic drift in that scenario, or risk of catching someone else's diseases.

As for cloning being easy: it is SUPER easy. I can have roots creep'n out the bottom of the tray in 8 days and spend only 10 minutes taking care of them that whole week. Like riding a bicycle.

"the strains will get progressively weaker as the cloning cycle progresses". WRONG!

Let's kill that rumour right now. Clones from clones from clones...does not weaken a strain in any way.
I have personally grown out 13 generations of kushage (TH Seeds). I know of other guys who have been cloning
one strain for a decade. Think of cloning like compound interest. The money earned as interest is the same exact
money that generated the interest. Just a seed bank, if you will.


BigSteve.