Again, I'm a noob so I KNOW NOTHING but here's a little something I found from 2008...
I know it sounds like a contradiction in terms, but I have found a way to successfully clone autoflowering (Ruderalis) plants with a reasonable amount of vegetative growth returned to the clone.
After realizing the age-determinance of the autoflowering plants was entirely hormone regulated (similar to the photoperiod determinance of Indica and Sativa), I began to play around with certain factors of my cloning technique.
After about 3.5 to 4 weeks of vegetative growth nearly all Ruderalis' will show sexual characteristics. The most important aspect of my technique is quick identification of sexual characteristics formation. It's paramount to take your cutting at the earliest possible moment.
If you don't already know, it's best to take any cuttings from the lowest point of your plant. This is because the hormone levels of the old growth are much more stable than those nearer the apical meristem. Well, this characteristic is doubly important with Ruderalis clones, as it literally serves a dual purpose. The lower branches haven't yet received the signal from the top that sex has been determined and to start bud production. It's only a small window of a few hours that you'll have to take your cutting if you want to do this properly.
Root your cutting under 24\7 light of full spectrum and low intensity before transferring the rooted clone into your grow medium. Once established you can pour on as much light as you can provide and the clone will grow vegetatively for about 80% of the parent's final size, producing bud at the same percentage. The physical age of the clone may be twice as large as it should be, but the flowering time is the same as it is from a seed.
So it seems as though it could be possible.... Maybe its not a critical Jack and I was misinformed or maybe it IS a clone from a critical jack and that was the reason it took like 2 weeks to get roots and almost died...
