How to establish high yielding (cuttings) mother plants

[arexxis]

It seems like there are no good tutorials out there which will help me. So after hours of searching i will just annoy you guys with my questions (sorry )

Setup:
- 2x DWC Hydro with 4-8 pots under a 600w mhg veg bulb

Size doesnt matter as long as it stays under 80 inches, whats important for me is the cuttings output.
The more cuttings the better. Personally i never trimmed / pruned my mothers,
letting them grow naturally always produced enough clones for me.

- what would be the best way to establish / maintain this project?
- how many cuttings would i be able to produce?
- how long would it take before im able to cut the first clones?

Im not able to change the equipement listed above. It will be a pretty big project (for me) and im gonna have all the time in the world to care for them,
so if you have ideas that would be time consuming -> i have no problem to use them. If you know any threads / guides / tutorials which would help me, please post! Thanks guys!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Look up "Bonzai Mum's" By OT1.

Everything you need to know is in those postings. 8" tall, 8" wide plants that can give 20-50 cuttings each.

Stay Safe!

 

[arexxis]

I already stumbled over that thread, but bonsais are more for people with either a) less space for their mums or b) wide variety of strains. Bonsais are very limited when it goes for cutting production, the main advantage you get from them is that they produce quality cuttings

 

[Jnugg]

just LST the hell out of a plant & that'll provide plenty of Cuttings.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I already stumbled over that thread, but bonsais are more for people with either a) less space for their mums or b) wide variety of strains. Bonsais are very limited when it goes for cutting production, the main advantage you get from them is that they produce quality cuttings

I'm sorry... 30-50 cuttings (on a mature bonsai) is not enough for you? I can get that twice a month... more if I use HID lighting.

You need more? Do a dwarf instead. Use a larger pot and grow it a foot tall and a foot wide. 50-100 cuttings, at least twice a month.

Stay Safe!

 

[xeno83]

I can take anything from a few to as many as 16-20 clippings from my semi/bonzai mums. I have 2 strains and keep my mums about 18-24" and about the same size around. I trim them back when I don't need clippings, and top them every now and then. If had a bigger op I could probably get 32 clippings from each one if needed.

 

[hush]

+1 on the bonsai moms. To the OP, something tells me that's going to be the most popular answer you get, so don't look a gift horse in the mouth, bud. If you don't want small plants, for aesthetic reasons, then fine, just LST the hell out of a plant like someone else said above. You'll have 100's of branches in no time!

 

[bill cooper]

+2 on the bonsai mums

 

[arexxis]

Ha, okok. I will use some of the bonsai techniques, you convinced me

 

[offthehook]

If you create your own moms from seed then here's what you should do...

Take an as large number of seeds to select your mom from. (Preferably not less as 100, but between 50 and 100 would with a bit of luck be possible too.)

Now you put them in well ripened organic soil with an extremely high ec. like 4.0 or 5.0 Ms, depending on what you think that this strain can handle.

The one that is geneticly prepositioned to withstand this high ec the best will become the biggest yielding mom of them all.

 

[CannabisFox]

The one that is geneticly prepositioned to withstand this high ec the best will become the biggest yielding mom of them all.

Why?

 

[creativeprocess]

... put them in well ripened organic soil with an extremely high ec. like 4.0 or 5.0 Ms, depending on what you think that this strain can handle.

The one that is geneticly prepositioned to withstand this high ec the best will become the biggest yielding mom of them all.

Why would one do this?

 

[Big-Narstie]

Why would one do this?

Think he forgot to put LOL at the end.. Just because you eat loads don't mean u gonna b fat.. I even know fat ppl who don't eat much.

 

[TOKING TOKOLOSH]

I've heard that you should L.S.T and then cut away inside of plant at top to create a cup kind of effect inorder to promote branch developement closer to bottom of stem which in turn provides better root developement on cuttings.

Anybody weigh in...

 

[mushroombrew]

If you want maximum cuttings I will share my trick. You owe me.

OK when you got a mother all bushy...you take 50 clones off her. Lets say you take them all. How long before she puts out another 50 healthy clones? A week? Fuck no!

Chances are she will favor 4-6 leads. Which will need to be topped to force her to push more leads.

So I take cuttings in 1.5 Rockwool block and "field" plant them

Set up a flood and drain tray. Put 2" of media like hydroton of GS2 (I mix them).

Then I lay a solid carpet of 1.5 block with fresh clones. 500 fit in a 4x4 tray.

Veg just a little and top every clone. Now you got 1000 clones. Double down boys.
Now you got two 4x4 with 1000 clones. if you want.

The cool thing is each individual plant absolutely has to make a new lead.
A mother may shut one down but the clone has no choice. The first ones you top will make two leads. Fast. Like 10 days. So 10 days after first top you can take another 500 no problem.

Many many mothers. Short height.

The big facility I have designed needs 864 healthy clones per week. And will choose those
from 1000.
So we had to get creative and make 1000 per week. We did it easily with two 4x4 mother trays.

Hopefully you are in a legal state. Oregon has no plant counts. Elsewhere this type of thing is a forty year affair.

P.S. Everything roots faster in MH. Just keep lights high. T5's are way slower. Tried everything.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

The bonsai method, scaled to larger plants, produces a significant number of cuttings. The secret is to create multiple 'rings' like the tiny bonsai plants. Each 'ring' produces a shock of cuttings at once, not 4-6 at a time. A 2' diameter mum can easily throw 100 cuttings a week, more with small leaved plants and an extra 'ring' of shoots.

Definitely the safer choice for 'plant number' areas. Another upside is each mum can be removed/replaced and everything else continues on. Small plants are for conservation, scaled up bonsai is for production.

 

[creativeprocess]

The bonsai method, scaled to larger plants, produces a significant number of cuttings. The secret is to create multiple 'rings' like the tiny bonsai plants. Each 'ring' produces a shock of cuttings at once, not 4-6 at a time. A 2' diameter mum can easily throw 100 cuttings a week, more with small leaved plants and an extra 'ring' of shoots.

Definitely the safer choice for 'plant number' areas. Another upside is each mum can be removed/replaced and everything else continues on. Small plants are for conservation, scaled up bonsai is for production.

I wish you had a picture to detail this. I may be just learning but this whole "ring" terminology isn't very clear to me.

 

[St. Phatty]

Sometimes I wonder if it depends on the hormones of a specific branch.

I notice that each of my 4 outdoor plants has branches in the shade that are barely flowered, branches that would normally have been trimmed during lollipopping.

I'm tempted to cut them and see if they root. They are on the same plant that has buds ready to harvest, on branches that exhibit a very different plant/branch age than the shaded branches.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I wish you had a picture to detail this. I may be just learning but this whole "ring" terminology isn't very clear to me.

When you follow the OT1's Bonsai Guide, he shows you how to trim a clone/plant so you eventually form a sort of cup. The 'rim' is made of new shoots, with each shoot growing a leaf into the center space and a leaf on the outside of the 'rim.'

With a larger plant, you're going to create additional 'rims' or rings of these shoots. Each 'ring/rim' needs to have enough space between for the new shoots to grow their leaves properly. Crowding slows development, you want each shoot having plenty of space for their leaves to grow into.

Make more sense now? My apologies, I haven't had a grow going for over a year now. I have some mums I've just started and will have pictures in a month or so. It takes a while to grow a multi-ring bonsai. lol

 

[mushroombrew]

Sometimes I wonder if it depends on the hormones of a specific branch.

I notice that each of my 4 outdoor plants has branches in the shade that are barely flowered, branches that would normally have been trimmed during lollipopping.

I'm tempted to cut them and see if they root. They are on the same plant that has buds ready to harvest, on branches that exhibit a very different plant/branch age than the shaded branches.

Yes they will root. The only time i go to 24/7 lighting is to root a flowering clone.