Best way to keep moms.

I've got a 2x4 foot flood/drain tray for my vegging and I just got started. I'll have 3 moms and want to grow that to at least 5. I'll need to get them their own tray or pots or something, as the 2x4 tray will be filled with the vegging plants. What is the best, easiest way to maintain moms? Pots in soil, drip system, another flood tray ???

I could suggest you to use soil in pots but with a bigger space let them grow better. This would give them more room to grow. This would also be easy to maintain because you can easily transfer the plants any place you want.

i agree...put them in some soil maybe in 5 gal buckets!!

I don't know why, because I'm a F&D grower, but I have a catch resevoir at the end of my trough with a pump that pumps it up to an upper res with airstone bubbler. I have seven separate connections for 1/2 inch hoses that come down to each mother in the trough(1fx6f). An electric valve is connected to the end of each hose. These valves open with a timer and gravity feeds the water from the upper res to the base of each plant. I set the timer to water them this way for no more than thirty minutes every two or three days, depending on the humidity. So when you see warning signs, adjust the watering schedule accordingly. I do this in clay gravel and lava rock. I cheat a bit and put down about one inch of crushed rock first because it's cheaper. I use the water change every five days from the F&D on my moms and my green. F&D op fertilizer, 1/6 of that recommended for dirt.

Thanks. I like the idea of soil. And I guess I could even hand water..

hand watering a few plants every few days aint so bad!

I'm curious, to produce 18 clones every 2 to 2.5 months, how many moms do I need?

In a smart pot. Or fabric pot. Roots Organics makes a cheap one out of recycled materials. The fabric lining essentially air prunes the roots to keep them from circling the bottom to death.

redburns said:

I'm curious, to produce 18 clones every 2 to 2.5 months, how many moms do I need?

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One good mom can easily produce 50 clones a week and have lots of snips left. I can take 75 off each one of my moms every week when I have them hoppin'. When I'm not cloning I slow them down by cutting back on the watering and shutting off the 400w mercury vapor light bulbs and leaving them on just cool white flouresent. MV is a frosted metal halide. When I put them in plant pots I use a five gallon pot filled with lava rock and clay gravel and I dump a couple or three gallons of spent op water through them every two or three days. I am forced to rely on timers, valves, float switches, etc. to run my op because sometimes my job has me out a week or more and it would be impossible for me to get there to tend my plants. Not only that when I'm out with my freinds while I'm not working I don't have to run to tend my plants. This way I can schedule my op time without interfering with my regular life.It takes away a lot of the suspision from other people as most people feel you have to be at your op everyday to grow dope and these are the types of patterns they're looking for. Even if I get locked up my plants may not recieve any nutrients but they will still be alive and I'll get out to one hell of a crop and my plants will still be alive. I only grow 24 clones every two months for myself but I send out hundreds of snips every month to other ops in BC.

You can keep her smaller by applying bonsai techniques and keep them several years but it's a bit more work. Here's a couple of pics from an old forum (credit OT1) and a couple pics of one I've just started training.

redburns said:

I'm curious, to produce 18 clones every 2 to 2.5 months, how many moms do I need?

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I just chopped up a mom last night, seedling for 2 weeks, veg for 4 weeks, took 12 clones and didn't have to kill the mom to get them (I could have taken another 8 at least if I'd had the second cloner running at the time). It will all depend on your veg conditions (so how fast you can get them to grow), but in my conditions you could easily pull more than 18 from a single plant in 2-2.5 months of veg...

ScrogThis said:

You can keep her smaller by applying bonsai techniques and keep them several years but it's a bit more work. Here's a couple of pics from an old forum (credit OT1) and a couple pics of one I've just started training.

View attachment 1207365View attachment 1207366View attachment 1207388

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I got a mom done like that, she's a year old in three months so I was thinking about cutting her loose. Moms have to be a year old before we use them for production. You can still clone and grow early if you like.

Thanks all. Sounds like I need to get some pots and grow my mammas big and healthy and it won't be an issue. I don't want to buy another expensive light so I'm thinking of going to home depot and buying a standard flourescent tube light and just plugging it into my timer I use for veg. If anyone has any thoughts on a cheap light that will keep the moms going strong, let me know. Thanks again all!!

yup home depot .. shoplight t8 light weather resistant one like 20 bux for 2 bulb 4 footer .. and daylight two pack of bulbs like 7 bux .. so u could get two lights and bulbs for 60 bux that would be all u need and have several mothers under them . or could get fancy and order a t5 4 bulb 4 footer .. htg supply has one for like 125 bux with bulbs .. what i use for veg and mother box ..

100watt hps (screw floros, I cant get em to perform above clone) per 4 moms, and I get 10 cuts per every 4 weeks. Shit, cant keep up. I mean, 10 cuts per, after I chope em down to a bloody stump previously. Flood and drain twice a day, 100ppm 3part nutes in 15gallons. Change 1 time a month, and same exact nute rate. Ph stabilizes after day 5, and remains for majority of month. Damn clean water after a month too. Temps of 85degrees, 18hrs a day.

Biggest problem is they grow pretty damn fast. Also, gotta clean up and replace moms about every 4 months, or they get freaking logs for a stem, and roots grow beyond net pots.

Anyhow, hope this may help. Any variation of these conditions would work i bet. So far, no issues, no deaths, and 90% success on clones. Best of luck to ya!

Oh, btw, you can get about 20 clones easily each other month, off 1 mom thats not even 16" tall. Just trim the gal above all the nodes with 2 flowers starting (when you clone), and youll double cloneables within a month.

Shanus said:

100watt hps (screw floros, I cant get em to perform above clone) per 4 moms, and I get 10 cuts per every 4 weeks. Shit, cant keep up. I mean, 10 cuts per, after I chope em down to a bloody stump previously. Flood and drain twice a day, 100ppm 3part nutes in 15gallons. Change 1 time a month, and same exact nute rate. Ph stabilizes after day 5, and remains for majority of month. Damn clean water after a month too. Temps of 85degrees, 18hrs a day.

Biggest problem is they grow pretty damn fast. Also, gotta clean up and replace moms about every 4 months, or they get freaking logs for a stem, and roots grow beyond net pots.

Anyhow, hope this may help. Any variation of these conditions would work i bet. So far, no issues, no deaths, and 90% success on clones. Best of luck to ya!

Oh, btw, you can get about 20 clones easily each other month, off 1 mom thats not even 16" tall. Just trim the gal above all the nodes with 2 flowers starting (when you clone), and youll double cloneables within a month.

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I would like to say happy and successful cloning to all good potheads.

Hand water is good unless you dont put to much of it. It could drown your plant with it.