Mother plants

J lad

J lad

Member
Whats the best way to take care of my mother plant and keep her happy ?

Grow lights, upkeep (topping, manifolding, supercropping), growing medium and nutrients.

Im new to the whole mother plant and cloning sxene so help would be much appreciated
 
potpimp

potpimp

Sector 5 Moderator
At least 14 hours a day of light, and if you're growing indoors you will want a smaller container so she doesn't grow really big. Topping is absolutely good. A high quality soil or "Super Soil" (search for thread on here) would give you the best taste and least maintenance. I highly reccommend Rapid Rooters and Clonex rooting hormone; works 100% for me. Work in lots of worm castings and maybe some "tea" from time to time. You can also do a search for tea on here; I think Heisenburg did a great article on that.
 
J lad

J lad

Member
Do you have a link to it ? "Work in lots of worm castings and maybe some "tea" from time to time" < im new to this and dont understand what that means if you could elaborate ?

Any other mediums apart from soil ? Is super soil like fake soil?
 
B

bryan oconner

Well-Known Member
I like to put those moms under florescent or led lighting . and run 24/7 not a super strong light a 5000 lum for a large plant is perfect .saves on the electric bill . if your in a hurry to get as much as possible off her then you have to step up the lighting . throw it in a large pot as possible suggest a 20 gallon pot if your planning on keeping it for 6 months to a year . . and run veg nutrients , for that soil that's up to you to many opinions about soil . I prefer promix xp sold widely any where . fairly priced about 6 bucks for 2 cubic foot so that 20 gallon pot requires about 3 bags of soil 18 bucks . topping her is suggested to get more to trim off for your clones . keep in mind depending on how much you cut off her she will get tired of you . will have to start fresh . some people keep moms for months others for many years . its huge being able to have mothers and take 1 foot clones off her and have them rooted in 7 or so days ready to plant then suggested 1 week veg to let the roots get stronger then top the clone and can go straight to flower . so top the plant the same day before putting it into flower . there may be a lot of different opinions on this but for me it works very well saves a lot of time . these mother plants can get 8 or more feet tall ! under a small light hopefully you have the room .
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Super soil is just good organic soil. Usually it's been recycled and amended a few times so that it is very active with microbial life. Subcool came up with the marketing term supersoil but it's not really that special just an active living organic mix that provides nutrition to plants without using bottles of nutes; water only. You can use any decent grade garden soil to do the same thing or build your own mix. I use FFOF mix that's been recycled over & over for the last couple years for all my plants. I no longer find it viable to keep a mother plant in veg indefinitely but that is the best way to keep a particular phenotype in play for eternity. Cloning a clone over & over reduces vigor in my exp after just a few times doing it. I clone off every new plant just before blooming them. Healthy mamas make healthy clones in just about 5-7 days.
I keep mothers and young plants under fluorescents which is best IMO. Full spectrum bulbs or bars will make them super happy with tight nodes. Don't be afraid to trim them back as needed to keep them in the space they are in...and clone the cuttings. I use 3g pots for moms & I will remove bulbs from the grow area if they grow too fast & wanna slow them. They only need enough light to stay alive once you have the clones you need rooting out. I personally love my aerocloner & they are so ez to build DIY. Don't bother training mother plants unless you plan to flower them in which case they won't be mothers anymore...hope that helps good luck happy growing
 
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J lad

J lad

Member
Thanks guys it really does one thing im still yet to make my mind up is the growing medium i was thinking something small like a 5 gal dwc setup? Thoughts on that
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Don't put a mother in a DWC. Use soil. It's too much to maintain a mama in hydro. I mean go ahead and grow out your clones in a DWC or whatever hydro method you choose but mamas are best kept in dirt.
I personally prefer organic soil over every other method I have tried. I started out doing DWC because it is simple. But root rot is a pain in the ass and doing single bucket basically makes perfect conditions for bacteria to grow. Then I true D aeroponics which is much better and easier but requires more DIY than I wanted to spend time on after awhile even though yields were awesome. Then I forgot to flush inet one and tasted nutes in my weed which forced me to learn about organic soil. Now I just water them and go to work. No more checking ph/ppms changing out reservoirs or spending money on nutes and trips to the hydro store bs. Not trying to discourage you just save you time & money. Go organic I say; it is the best tasting IMO maybe less yield but exotic quality is easily attained with minimal effort
 
loftygoals

loftygoals

Well-Known Member
Take those thoughts of Mum's in DWC out of your head right now! Way too fragile to maintain for months/years without any disasters.

You want to be able to forget about Mum's for a week or 2, come back and see they're still pumping out new clones.

Soil is perfect. But I went with Autopots filled with coco/perlite. I can top up my res once a week and virtually forget about them. I have 6 Mum's under a single 110w T5 fixture they've been growing really well (too well?).
 
J lad

J lad

Member
What sort of soil would you guys recommend ? Like yous have said something easy to maintain ? How big of a pot should i keep my mothers in?
 
R

RandolfTheBlonde

Active Member
Richard Drysift said:
Don't put a mother in a DWC. Use soil. It's too much to maintain a mama in hydro. I mean go ahead and grow out your clones in a DWC or whatever hydro method you choose but mamas are best kept in dirt.
I personally prefer organic soil over every other method I have tried. I started out doing DWC because it is simple. But root rot is a pain in the ass and doing single bucket basically makes perfect conditions for bacteria to grow. Then I true D aeroponics which is much better and easier but requires more DIY than I wanted to spend time on after awhile even though yields were awesome. Then I forgot to flush inet one and tasted nutes in my weed which forced me to learn about organic soil. Now I just water them and go to work. No more checking ph/ppms changing out reservoirs or spending money on nutes and trips to the hydro store bs. Not trying to discourage you just save you time & money. Go organic I say; it is the best tasting IMO maybe less yield but exotic quality is easily attained with minimal effort
Click to expand...
I know this thread is a little old but its relevant to me rn haha
Also this has got me thinking...

I just started a Hella Jelly (F) by Humboltd Seed Company in a 5 gallon bubble bucket.
GH Veg and Micro + GH Ph up and down
18/6 light cycle. 2 - 4 foot long 5000 lumen led shop light

I know regular seeds make better mothers and soil is superior......but now I want to test it out and do a little side by side.
I'm considering adding a 5 gallon bucket in the tent and popping another Hella Jelly bean in peat and putting it right into some brand new FoxFarms Happy Frog soil I have.

Since the goal was a mother plant and the clones will be flowered under the same lights in the same room.....why not do a little side by side test for overall quality and flavor production......

P.S. All the clones will be flowered in a dwc system....
....maybe Ill throw one or two in soil just for shits and giggles
(my guess is those soil clones will be extra tasty :) )

Cheers Ladies
 
bk78

bk78

Well-Known Member
RandolfTheBlonde said:
I know this thread is a little old but its relevant to me rn haha
Also this has got me thinking...

I just started a Hella Jelly (F) by Humboltd Seed Company in a 5 gallon bubble bucket.
GH Veg and Micro + GH Ph up and down
18/6 light cycle. 2 - 4 foot long 5000 lumen led shop light

I know regular seeds make better mothers and soil is superior......but now I want to test it out and do a little side by side.
I'm considering adding a 5 gallon bucket in the tent and popping another Hella Jelly bean in peat and putting it right into some brand new FoxFarms Happy Frog soil I have.

Since the goal was a mother plant and the clones will be flowered under the same lights in the same room.....why not do a little side by side test for overall quality and flavor production......

P.S. All the clones will be flowered in a dwc system....
....maybe Ill throw one or two in soil just for shits and giggles
(my guess is those soil clones will be extra tasty :) )

Cheers Ladies
Click to expand...
Quality first post in 7 years being a member.

You go girl!
 
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