Cloning: Do THC levels drop over generations?

[shatinthehat]

Hey all! I would love to hear some opinions on this.

I recently heard this from a farmer (Who BTW has been growing for quite some time), but as everything else, I'm not sure if it's just someones opinion/myth or it is in fact the truth. Do the THC levels lose potency with each cloning? In a nutshell, this guy was basically claiming that clones are only good for a few (around 3) crops because the THC levels diminish. You then need to start from scratch with seeds. Has anyone ever heard of this before??

 

[GanjaGuru]

I've seen this topic discussed before.

Some growers say no, but I disagree because it's happened to me and my friends.

Through light manipulation we can now keep a pot plant alive indefinately. There's a grower not too far away that has kept a plant alive for over 5 years.
But he doesn't clone from it. And it never flowers; it's in perpertual veg. It's more like a house plant.

The reason that clones lose vigor over time imo is because marijuana is an annual. Without artificial sources of light it will complete it's life cycle and die in less than a year.
When you keep a donor plant alive for over a year, you are doing something unnatural, something no marijuana plant experienced through millions of years of evolution.

The plant you take clones from IS NOT a mother plant. Mother denotes (usually sexual) reproduction, and that's not what's happening when you take clones. The plant you take clones from is more correctly called a donor plant.
When you take a clone from a donor, that new plant, the clone, you shouldn't think of it as an exact reproduction of the donor plant--it IS the donor plant. You cut a piece of the donor plant off but it still is that plant.

So the plant, kept alive for longer than nature intended, loses vigor, which affects both yield and potency.

The difference in opinion is probably due to the fact that it affects some strains quicker than others.

 

[massproducer]

A mother/ donor plant can be vegged indefiniatly with no problems, i keep my mothers/donors in veg for a long time and take clones from these, i have never had any problems with this.

I think you can run into problems taking clones from clones, over and over again. But if you do not actaully flower your plant, then it still would not have finished its life cycle.

Some people actually re veg their plants after they harvest, which to me that is not natural and can cause the plant to degrade.

 

[Hick]

I must say, "it hs been my experience"...that after several generations of cloneing clones, I have seen a degredation of overall vigor, potency and yeild.
My thoughts lie close to ganja's, but also relates to what massproducers has said. Over time, the overall age of the plant begins to effect the general health of the cuttings/clones. Though it is possible to keep a donor in the vegetative state for quite a long time, via light manipulation, it still naturally ages/matures and is it's 'natural' metabolism to flower, reproduce, and die over a relatively short time.
"Theoretically" it shouldn't happen, but "realistically", I've found it to be.

 

[shatinthehat]

Thanks for the info all! This was the first I'd ever heard of this, and the explanantions do make sense.

 

[Biffdoggie]

I've been rockin' the same sweettooth for about three years now, no mother, just taking clones right before flower and have had no problems, fat tops, great quality.