Why bother keeping mother plants?

[emgee420]

I you've got a mature plant, and have successfully taken a clone, why not put it into flower, grow that clone, and repeat?

Why bother having 1 (grand)mother plant, when you can do that?

Sorry if that's a dumb question, i'm a new grower

 

[w3rds]

I think its really only useful for people that grow large amounts, often. Combine that with the incorrect belief that a clone of a clone will show genetic issues. If you are growing for personal use, keeping the same mother seems unnecessary.

 

[seeded]

You can only begin to appreciate the need for keeping mother plants after you've lost a truly great girl that ticks all the boxes. Lose one like her and the memory will haunt you enough that you're never going to risk losing another girl until after you've already harvested and tested them thoroughly.

 

[Stan G.]

I think its really only useful for people that grow large amounts, often. Combine that with the incorrect belief that a clone of a clone will show genetic issues. If you are growing for personal use, keeping the same mother seems unnecessary.

If you have several cultivars and only run one varietal at a time, mothers help even the smaller setups.

 

[Stan G.]

You can only begin to appreciate the need for keeping mother plants after you've lost a truly great girl that ticks all the boxes. Lose one like her and the memory will haunt you enough that you're never going to risk losing another girl until after you've already harvested and tested them thoroughly.

Makes me wanna cry thinking about it. Damn cops. Don't just take clones, share with dependable growers for insurance.

 

[SuperBudBros]

I think its really only useful for people that grow large amounts, often. Combine that with the incorrect belief that a clone of a clone will show genetic issues. If you are growing for personal use, keeping the same mother seems unnecessary.

I've actually always wondered if this was true if you keep getting clones from clones and keep doing this of it'll degenerate one thing that has happened to I had a plant from seed and took clones from this seed plant and flowered both the mother and clones and actually the buds on the clones came out different and actually way better but only done this once so Idk but would like insight

 

[MJINC]

Mothers tend to be for bigger ops, perpetual gardens and SOG grows. It takes a little while before you can get a plant that's going to give you plenty of clones but it's worth it. I've seen giant plants that can give 40+ clones every couple of weeks. Keep 10 like that and you can get 800 clones a month.

 

[DocTim420]

Ahhh...the question which has no wrong answer.

Some suggest that mothers are the only way to go and others (like me)...have discovered you can get across the finish line without them.

I am perpetual grower with half dozen different strains and pull a harvest every 7-10 days...and have zero mothers. Two reasons: Real estate and quality.

First, not having 6 mothers allows me to have about 10 production plants in the same footprint/space...and having an extra 10 plants in veg at all times is a good thing; sometimes that extra few weeks in veg is all it takes for a skinny girl to get fat.

Second, the quality of the clone will vary depending on where the cutting is snipped from the donor plant. Clone candidates sourced from the bottom branches usually have narrow/thinner stems but excel in root development (both in speed and quantity). Now, snip the top 5-6" of a plant and that clone candidate has a fatter stem, newer growth (bottom branches are older growth), more nodes per vertical inch (usually), and broader leafs. Admittedly, the root development for clones from the top seem to lag a bit, but are productive just the same.

This process of sourcing your clones from the top--works great once you have a good quantity of plants in progress. So when I have 5 plants and need 10 cuttings, I take 5 tops, and another 10 or so from the lower/side branches...keeping the best 5 for a total of 10.

I have observed cuttings usually will take on certain attributes from the source plant. Example, if you take a cutting from a super cropped plant, that cutting is more prone to super crop structure. Take a cutting from a wispy weak branch, that cutting will be weaker than normal. Take a cutting from a branch that is prone to have nodes every inch with heavy leaf development, that cutting will probably become your treasured plant.

 

[emgee420]

Cheers for the info guys, that was very useful.

I've just got a small grow tent with a few plants for personal medicinal use, so I think I'll skip keeping mothers and see what kind of genetic mutations I can come up with

 

[Ready4]

You do not have to keep "mother" plants if you carefully insure 1-2 rooted clones of those favorite strains prior to flower or while in early flower. Making sure you have at least one clone plant that is healthy will typically prevent the loss of a keeper.
Genetic mutations are unlikely.

 

[Dropped Cat]

I keep mum plants and flower them after her cuttings root.

Micro perpetual, and I keep some males as stud also.

The only line I lost happened as I overdosed the rooted cuttings,
and the mum plant of those cuttings got chopped the same day.

End of line.

 

[Mudraya]

Not judging anyone but I've always considered moms to be the most important part of the garden. Without them, the garden wouldn't exist, for me. Like StanG said it helps even in smaller gardens. When I started I didn't know anyone else who was doing what I was, it was all on me. There was no dispensary or group of friends to get new ones or save my less used plants for insurance. Often out of 12 moms I would do maybe 2 types at a time (smaller garden). I remember reading OT1s? bonsai mother guide on OG and the idea made perfect sense, a light bulb went off and it's been that way since. To each their own.

 

[FunkBomb]

You keep a mother plant around so you can take clones and keep the genetics going. Ever have an amazing plant that you couldn't keep around because you flowered it and didn't take clones? I only take a few rounds of clones before the mother plant gets flowered. New rooted clone = new mother plant. This process can go on for years with very few problems.

-Funk

 

[Rodehazrd]

I tried a mother from cc 818 headband and after about 3 cuttings she got really woody little stems that were slow to start, compared to the cuts I make when I lollipop. Should I have scraped the skin or used something beside the gel? they were ok after they got going but took an extra week.
Rodehazrd

 

[Peripheral]

I you've got a mature plant, and have successfully taken a clone, why not put it into flower, grow that clone, and repeat?

Why bother having 1 (grand)mother plant, when you can do that?

Sorry if that's a dumb question, i'm a new grower

Since you are new and asking questions like this, it tells me you are thinking.. Never be afraid to try something regardless of how unorthodox it may seem.

Your suspicions have paid off in this case, as many growers including myself do not keep mothers, rather, I clone my veg plants just before I throw em into bloom.. Its a rotation.. The clones will be vegged and prepared for bloom and before they go into bloom, cuts are taken from the plants... Voila! No moms . I also take backup clones and store them in the fridge for up to a month, and they will root faster out of the fridge after some time.

Someone will inevitably come in here talking about genetic drift and what not but in the last ten years its never been an issue..

 

[stoney917]

Not keeping moms is playing with fire.... those who don't haven't learned the hard way yet..... shit happens...

 

[rolandomota]

Its the numbers if you can grow large amounts of plants then its better to take many clones from mom and grow many big plants and let mom grow a bunch more branches to clone again instead of flowering one mom at a time and risking the death of the small new clone mom. Also the smaller clone will give less clones so for small gardens its ideal to flower the biger plant and keep the smaller one as a mom for next time

 

[DocTim420]

Not keeping moms is playing with fire.... those who don't haven't learned the hard way yet..... shit happens...

Mom's are not immune to pathogens and diseases, so let's not present a sense of "false security". Keeping a genetic line alive is not rocket science....just saying.

 

[Peripheral]

Not keeping moms is playing with fire.... those who don't haven't learned the hard way yet..... shit happens...

You don't know what you are talking about, that is only something a novice greenthumb would worry about.

There is no point in keeping moms when you are pulling cuts from your veg plants.

I've done it that way for 10 years without a problem.

If you are worried about your ability to clone then just take some extra cuts and throw em in the fridge.

I'm a master grower, I'm well past worrying about whether I can successfully root cuttings.. it's not even a thought..

I don't see what u mean by playing with fire, care to explain?

 

[Peripheral]

Mom's are not immune to pathogens and diseases, so let's not present a sense of "false security". Keeping a genetic line alive is not rocket science....just saying.

Exactly