{"id":4536,"date":"2023-01-05T17:22:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T17:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weedmaps.com\/learn\/?p=4536"},"modified":"2026-02-22T13:17:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T13:17:34","slug":"tissue-culture-cloning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weedmaps.com\/learn\/the-plant\/tissue-culture-cloning","title":{"rendered":"What is tissue culture cloning?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Whether you're a Master Grower<\/a> or a home gardener, when it comes to growing cannabis genetics will play an important role in the quantity and quality of bud you get to finally harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over decades of dedicated work on pheno hunting<\/a>, breeding and cloning, breeders and cultivators have worked hard to develop reliable methods for capturing and replicating desirable genetics. Until recently perhaps the most widely used method has been through traditional cloning techniques<\/a>, but as the science and technology of cannabis forges ahead a new option is emerging that could revolutionize cloning and the industry as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tissue culture cloning is a technique that has been used for decades in commercial agriculture, and is now gaining traction in cannabis. What is tissue culture? How does tissue culture cloning work for cannabis? And what are its major advantages and disadvantages? Read on to understand this emerging propagation technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is tissue culture cloning?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No matter the plant\u2014vegetables, trees, flowers, herbs or medicinal plants\u2014all cultivators share the desire for healthy and vigorous plants of known genetics that are pest and disease-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plant tissue culture (TC) is a collection of techniques to harvest, clean and replicate plant cells, tissues or organs in sterile conditions. Within tissue culture is a method known as micropropagation, a process that is used to produce plant clones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMicropropagation is a trusted method of propagating plants that has been used for decades in the agricultural and horticultural industries to propagate a wide variety of plants such as bananas, berries, fruit and nut trees, hops, orchids, ornamental plants, and sugar cane,\" explained Nikolaus Matheis, Senior Director of Quality Assurance at Conception Nurseries<\/a>, a company that specializes in cannabis tissue culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austrian botanist Gottlieb Haberlandt began working out the rudimentary techniques of plant tissue culture at the beginning of the 20th century<\/a>. By mid century, more research refined these techniques, but it wouldn't be until the 1990s that plant tissue culture became widely used in commercial horticulture and agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By taking just a few cells from a desirable plant and initiating them into tissue culture, countless identical copies can be produced. How does the process work? After harvesting a section of healthy plant tissue it is cleaned and sterilized before being lodged in a test tube or dish with a gel-like growth medium that contains nutrients and growth hormones. \u201cThe most common media used is agar gel, which has a consistency of Jell-O,\" explained Lauren Avenius, CEO at Node Labs<\/a>, a California based company that specializes in tissue culture for the cannabis industry. \u201cSince the media has all the necessary components needed to provide sustenance to the plant, it is possible to propagate plants or grow plants from parts that would otherwise be impossible such as leaves, stems, flowers or even pollen or anthers.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plant tissue is kept in a completely sterile environment, where it progresses through different stages of growth until the sample is mature enough to be cloned. Then, cuttings are taken and these go through a similar sterilization and growth process until they are ready for root growth and eventual transplantation into a growing or production environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These new plants have identical genetics to their \u201cmother\" and are completely free of pests and diseases. Tissue culture cloning, or micropropagation, can reliably produce scores of plants with impressive accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\tWhat is cannabis tissue culture cloning?<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\t\t
\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t\t\t<\/a>Photo by: Gina Coleman\/Weedmaps<\/cite><\/figure>\t\t\t