Keeping your P1 Mothers Vs. Taking a clone once flowering

[TerpeneDream]

Hey all,

So I'm starting my first garden (from seed),

I was wondering what y'all thought….



Would it be best to hold the original seedlings back as the P1 mothers and just take clones from them once ready?

Or,

Let the plant run it's natural cycle. Once it's proven itself a keeper, then take a cutting if you so choose?




I was going to hold my original seedling mothers back in veg, as my original P1's. I know this is the long way…


Is is less satisfactory to have a clones your saved mother?

Any benefit to having that original P1?



Thanks!

 

[ThaDocta]

We have clones of clones of clones that are verified over 20 years old at this point. In the hand of an exceptional cultivator, they all perform as well and excellent as ever. I've bred with these same clones and have seen no adverse affects. I personally don't think the actual parent seed plant is necessary to maintain genetic integrity.

 

[master chine]

Did wonder the same...if the case à 3x seed test good news

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

If you keep a mother and take cuttings for clones, then you have a fallback if the cloning fails, so you can try again. If you let your plants flower and decide at maturity who's a keeper, then you'll need a successful cloning or revegging of that mature plant to keep it going. No fallback if the cloning fails. You can go by plant structure, vigor, aromatics, and trichome density,... but how do you really know who's a keeper until you've cut it down and smoked some?

 

[MicroRoy]

Once you find out she is good. You would be wishing you had an established mother all ready to start making cuts.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

I was going to hold my original seedling mothers back in veg, as my original P1's. I know this is the long way…

If you want to be secure and time efficient, I think the best way is to take cuttings from your original seedling plants as soon as you can, either lower branches that would be larfy anyway, or if you top then use that for your cuttings. As soon as you have roots on a cutting then you've got your clone for sure. Then you can safely put the original plant into flower.

So you have clones of everybody, and plants in flower. If you're not making seeds, then cull the males when they show, including their clones. As the original females mature and show their characteristics you can see who will be the likely keepers. You might want to take more cuttings from the potential keeper's and/or their clones to build up numbers to start your next grow. Once you've harvested and smoked some, make your choices and toss the losers. If you played it right you'll have a set of vegging keeper plants close to ready for the flowering room.