MOTHER MANAGEMENT

Can anyone chime in on how you choose to manage your mothers. While taking cuts every few weeks what is the best way to prune without backing yourself into a corner and having a plant outgrow the space. Also how many times can you clone to make a new mom before the horamones are so badly diffused that the plant is less potent or lacks pheno traits of the original plant. thanks in advance for any input.

Dr.Kevorkian said:

Can anyone chime in on how you choose to manage your mothers. While taking cuts every few weeks what is the best way to prune without backing yourself into a corner and having a plant outgrow the space. Also how many times can you clone to make a new mom before the horamones are so badly diffused that the plant is less potent or lacks pheno traits of the original plant. thanks in advance for any input.

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i cut clones every 3 weeks from my mothers and there is an art to trimming so that the mothers are able to bounce back quikly and produce alot of clones.Always cut ur clone above a node so that that node will become the next branch. i often leave 2 nodes so that i have 2 more shoots to cut in 3 weeks.
i had 1 mother for 4 years(a kick as AK47 pheno) and she never got taller then 4'. there r a couple ways to keep mothers short, 1 way is to always trim back down to the size u want it to be and every 2 or 3 months tear away about 2/3 of the root mass and replant w/ fresh soil. both those techniques will keep mothers short and healthy for many years.
i cloned from a clone for over a year and seen nothing to indicate there is anything wrong w/ doing it. but i imagine if u did it for several years u may run into trouble

i cut clones as well every two to three weeks off of my two mother plants...with a good prune technique one can keep mothers for several years....hunterwoundedft is correct, don't take the entire branch,remember to leave some nodes for future growth...i've had one of my two mothers for almost two and a half years with no problems at all...stay safe and good luck

Also, if you don't need clones or want to trim, cut back growth! Simply reduce lighting wattage and time. Ahh you say time? Yes, time, set it to go on for 3 hours and off for 5, repeat. You will only get 9 hours lite per day and still not go into bloom, (reduces elec. costs too!) when you want more growth reverse this and go 24/7.

I see a lot of stuff about bonsai moms in soil, but is there any way to keep a mother plant small in a hydro setup? Can you trim the root mass the same way?

Do not get too excited about bonsai techniques xero. It is a cultivation technique of little or no use in Cannabis growing.
The main concept of bonsai is estethic, and quite frankly, it doesn't matter how your motherplants look. What matters is how healthy they are, and the clone material they deliver.
Bonsai's a technique developed for different types of trees. Trees are somewhat different from Cannabis. Tree plants' life cycles span over several years, sometimes hundreds of years. Stasis is a natural part of their life.
Cannabis is an annuary plant. It generally sprouts, grows, flowers and dies within a year. The whole essence of it's life cycle is about speed. It grows as fast as possible to be as big as possible when the flowering starts. It's what it was designed for by nature.

Still, Cannabis is an excellent survivor, that can adapt to new situations. You can retain, stall or reduce growth in a Cannabis plant and get away with it, but that plant will not be as vigorous as a fast-growing, healthy motherplant, which will deliver heathier, more vigorous clones.

In order to grow happy, healthy motherplants, allow them to grow, and trim them rather than cutting down on the light or N.

Once they grow out of their pots and you don't want them to get even bigger, they will become rootound. A rootbound plant can present a number of different stress symptomes, but essentially it's an unhappy 'imprisoned' plant, that will eventually wither.
You can prune the roots, which will keep the plant vigorous in the sense that they will grow back. But the easiest way of keeping the genetics going is simply to clone the plant, and start all over. You will spend less effort on that clone than you will on keeping your rootbound mother happy.

There's no saying how many times you can re-clone a plant. The cloning process in itself isn't a cause for aging. There's a biological clock ticking within the genetics, and that time is probably different for each strain, even every individual. Some growers have kept the same strain going for 15-20 years, perhaps even longer. When the time is up, the time is up. It will seem like the genetics slow down. The plant won't grow, won't perform. The thing is, if you try to clone it at that point, you will have little success, which is why some growers think that there's just so many times that you can clone a plant.

So, to sum up:

Chuck your bonsai book out of the window, or use it for your elm trees.

Give your motherplants enough light and nutrients to grow at ease. When they get too big, prune and trim, and when they get too old, clone and start all over.

I clone a clone form a clone and on and on.
IMO, you only need a mother plant if doing a perputual SOG or needed a shit load of plants. I can't think of anyother reason?? If anyone thinks of one, post up.
As neither of these apply to my setup and i use the same amount everytime i just take two clones from each plant just before going into 12/12. I pick the best half and bin or give away the rest.
As rosy said, The cloning process in itself isn't a cause for aging.
IMO, wether you keep a mother plant or keep cloning clones the strain will be viable for the same amount of time. Until someone can post facts to the contary that's my opinion.

Grownz said:

I clone a clone form a clone and on and on.
IMO, you only need a mother plant if doing a perputual SOG or needed a shit load of plants. I can't think of anyother reason?? If anyone thinks of one, post up.

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Most growers like to keep a 'stable' of different genetics, but he might not want to grow them all at once.

Rosy Cheeks said:

Most growers like to keep a 'stable' of different genetics, but he might not want to grow them all at once.

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I didn't even think of this, i dunno why. Great idea. I see more advantage keeping mother plants in my situation now. Getting a tolenence to this G13 i have but don't wanna lose the strain. Now i can keep it and start some new chronic seeds. Thanks rosy.

I clone about every 3 weeks for upcomming grows, and regrow my mums every 9 months, Keeping the mums under 1foot tall and wide hopefully fitting 2x mums and 2x clone cribs in this 4x 4 foot flouro veg cab. But lately since loosing my last mums ive been cloning clones but going back to mums as soon as possiable.

left plants that have given a few clones and ready to flower or keep as mums, centre freshly rooted clones/ new mums and grow starting in 3 weeks and in the crib more clones for a grow about 6 weeks away.