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Keeping cuts

Gry

Well-known member
Veteran
If you had one that you felt had value, how would you keep it ?
Above and beyond simply reversing...
 

Mithridate

Well-known member
Seeds could be an option, self, incross or outcross... But depending on what its makeup is, you may never find something identical..

When there is nobody around to keep a cut I keep an additional cutting/bonsai in a separate area (doesn't have to be too elaborate, water automation is suggested though)

when you clean the plants lower portion, you can keep cuts in the fridge for a month (maybe more id have to verify)

tissue culture, start a new one every x amount of time

A couple years back I entrusted a non grower friend with a precious cutting. As long as she kept it alive id give her something to smoke every 2weeks/1month.
Came in handy when I f'd up, I was happy she kept her end of the exchange till then. Gave her a nice bonus too.:ying:
 

Wiggy-Smalls

New member
I am a firm believer of spreading keepers amongst my close knit group of friends. I have lost a cut before and managed to get it back. I also keep more then one mom of the same cut, small and bushy.
 

74G

Active member
if u need a keeper let me know... really interesting in cuts... .. .
all the best to all green lover... .. .
 

asher1er

Active member
Veteran
Like some have stated, spread her around to those you trust with them.. Just cloning it yourself is not enough because shit happens sometimes.. I recently got back some stuff i had around '07 '08 and that wouldn't have been possible without some great folks! :joint: :tiphat:
 

Hombre del mont

Dr of Stupidity
Besides spreading it around to friends, you could make a Bonsai mother. They don't keep for ever, but can be redone several times.
 

CannaRed

Cannabinerd
I was lucky that I happened to find my favorite keeper early in my grow career.
I Wasn't good at cloning or keeping mom's alive, or even growing for that matter.
I always made sure that I had at least 2 rooted clones, before flowering her.
I always tried to take about 5 cuttings, incase of rooting failure. My cut doesn't like to get rootbound. She will start to push pistils and then get caught in middle of a reveg with all the crazy growth. So I try to always keep them in correct sized pot.

​​​​​​If you have extra space, it's good to have copies in different tents. That way an infestation of some pest in one space won't affect the others.

I'm a better grower now so I haven't lost my favorite cut in a while, but if I hadn't given her to a friend, I would have lost her several times now.
The best thing you could do is give a copy to a trusted friend that's a better grower than you. That's not always possible, so spreading it around on the forums, hoping that someone will still have a copy when you need it, is an option.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Always have a rooted cut before flowering

I can't flower anything until I have cuttings off it, or it's gone forever. I could give some of the cuts away, but first I need to have them. So it all starts there.

I have lost exactly zero plants, and have a 100% failure rate backing them up with other people.

There is only one person you can really trust with your stuff, and that's you. So run your grow, then gets cuts before bloom. Then only after you have smoked it can you decide which cuts you are really keeping or sharing. At which point, you may be committed to running it a second time anyway. It been growing for months. It's massive, unless you have taken cuts a second time.
 

PolyChucker

Active member
I sprout 40 seeds at a time, and take clones after preflower around 8wks for anything that’s developing normally, and give the plant and clone a code and a gender mark. My clones go in a long term veg area to sit around for a year or more.
Back to the seedlings - I put all plants in the flower closet at 8wks - I’ll leave the males in the with the females to see how they develop - but when they get close to dropping pollen I’ll take them out and put them by a window to isolate. They will keep developing even with minimal light. Any promising males I will pollinate one bud of the females to make more seeds without hampering flowering too much, and mark with a color coded zip tie. That way I can label the seed bag with the mother and father. And hopefully I’ll have clones of both in veg area.
You won’t know until the smoke test what’s really special and you’ll be glad you took those clones early on. Pretty quickly your veg area will fill up but you should have sampled many of them by that point and you can start tossing the worst ones to make space as needed.
If you are working with only females then it’s way easier - just have a small, minimal veg area to keep your fav cuts.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
I guess you are putting cuts in along with your seeds, and it's the cuts you are pollinating. As pollinating seeds is working with unknown genetics, and even when flowered off, it's still unknown as a seeded plant isn't sensi.

Sounds like a committed grow. I notice you also using coloured ties as markers. I do that. Are you getting the same 50 red/yellow/green/blue and longer blacks pack? Thank you China. The ties often have no teeth, but damn are they cheap :)
 

imiubu

Well-known member
I tend to take too many cuts in case of rooting failure, then end up w/ too many plants for my space.
I just can't cull these extra plants so they go out to other gardeners. I don't ask any one to keep the strains
I pass... as shit does happen and it's not good for relationships to expect others to keep your strains safe.
Lesson learned the hard way, gotta manage your own garden.

I shut down over summer and keep only 2 'moms' ea. of my most valuable strains. I keep them pruned down
low and under just a shop light type florescent lamp to keep them growing but slowly. Around 3 months prior
to flowering cycle, I ramp up the lights to T5's and get some new vegetation going then... I can start my
cuttings for my flower run.
Currently, my absolute fave that I will do what ever is necessary to keep, came as a gift of 1 single reg seed
that luckily showed out as a female (whoop!). I've had her 3yrs. now and she has been shared extensively.

What I discovered is that not allowing moms to become root bound is crucial to their survival.
I'm kinda brutal w/ my gals though as I will pull them out of their current pot, rip about 1/3 of the roots off,
then place them back in the same size container w/ all new soil.
They aren't like house plants... they will become unhappy quickly simply giving them some food and leaving
them root bound from Apr to Nov. :)

That said, I am still rather inexperienced compared to so many others here but... I have learned how to
keep my keepers happy :)
 

CannaRed

Cannabinerd
I tend to take too many cuts in case of rooting failure, then end up w/ too many plants for my space.
I just can't cull these extra plants so they go out to other gardeners. I don't ask any one to keep the strains
I pass... as shit does happen and it's not good for relationships to expect others to keep your strains safe.
Lesson learned the hard way, gotta manage your own garden.

I shut down over summer and keep only 2 'moms' ea. of my most valuable strains. I keep them pruned down
low and under just a shop light type florescent lamp to keep them growing but slowly. Around 3 months prior
to flowering cycle, I ramp up the lights to T5's and get some new vegetation going then... I can start my
cuttings for my flower run.
Currently, my absolute fave that I will do what ever is necessary to keep, came as a gift of 1 single reg seed
that luckily showed out as a female (whoop!). I've had her 3yrs. now and she has been shared extensively.

What I discovered is that not allowing moms to become root bound is crucial to their survival.
I'm kinda brutal w/ my gals though as I will pull them out of their current pot, rip about 1/3 of the roots off,
then place them back in the same size container w/ all new soil.
They aren't like house plants... they will become unhappy quickly simply giving them some food and leaving
them root bound from Apr to Nov. :)

That said, I am still rather inexperienced compared to so many others here but... I have learned how to
keep my keepers happy :)

I'm with you on trying to keep mom's from getting rootbound.
Dad's are even worse. They will bloom and/or die even quicker in small pots
 
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