The Project ~ HYDRA ~ perpetual journal

[Mikedin]

So as this little project begins, more of an evolving journal of a mother plant. The first plant will be a test to learn the fastest technique to grafting. I call it project Hydra after the mythica Greek beast the Hydra, a beast with many heads, this mother plant, or the eventual final mother plant will house many strains to be selected when needed. This will be the journal of me learning how to graft, and how to do it the most efficient way and eventually to design a final mother plant, of which I’ve never taken care of either. So…. Yeah a fun new project begins

To start we have the cali blues freak, a 3rd generation clone from the mother plant does well with dry amendments and through the runs no issues or diseases and a excellent blueberry cali blues from @Captspaulding

After an up pot then followed by a heavy defoliation (took off about 2/3 of the plant) they were left to sit for the night, next day came back and she was all perked up still so I figured might as well get attempt 1 out of the way, I took these pics along the way but felt safer redoing it with smaller/ shorter growth tips, everything was sterilized with 70% iso alcohol, cutting was taken and out directly into water while the recipient stalk was worked on, then v it was made to donor scion, I used the split on the stalk side and clone side got the base cut in a “V” approx 3/4” deep then Pushed the “scion” (as it’s called in every article I’ve read, and will be the term I’ll use.) down until it made a firm connection. I used the easy peel first aid tape to wrap the graft point, tightly but not tight enough to squeeze or damage anything, then used some new produce bags (I have a roll) cut down and shortened, then sprayed inside of the bag as well as the scion, covered with the bag, and then tied the bag tightly so no air could get in so no humidity in its “mini dome” will be lost while healing, just around the graft point.

From what I’ve ran and watched the bag should stay on for approx 2 weeks, if she starts trying to grow back up is what I should be watching for.

This is attempt 1 and was done with 2 grafts, one from each, Frostette 1 and Frostette 2 from seed from @Trustfall, a clone will also be taken as I don’t expect my first try to be a success by any means, but through trial and error well figure it out!

Let the fun begin!

Any tips are much appreciated follow along, throw out tips or links to articles, anything related to mother plant care, any knowledge you have in long term mother plant care especially for a beginner, bonzai and grafted cannabis mothers. Hit me up!

 

[Captspaulding]

Oh I am tuned in now homie!!!!
Excellent!
Can’t wait to learn a thang or 2

 

[Mikedin]

Oh I am tuned in now homie!!!!
Excellent!
Can’t wait to learn a thang or 2

That makes 2 of us haha, startin from scratch on both the mother plant care and the grafting techniques, but my plan is exactly as it sounds, a multi strain mother plant, if I can max it out 20-30 strains I’ll no problem dedicate a 4x4 or 3x3 and a 300w light to keep that many strains in one place, and if you don’t like a strain anymore,… just remove below the graft point!

I am aiming for eventually a braided main trunk 2’-3’ tall or so into a mainlined top in an umbrella shape one strain per top site to veg out for clones

 

[Captspaulding]

That makes 2 of us haha, startin from scratch on both the mother plant care and the grafting techniques, but my plan is exactly as it sounds, a multi strain mother plant, if I can max it out 20-30 strains I’ll no problem dedicate a 4x4 or 3x3 and a 300w light to keep that many strains in one place, and if you don’t like a strain anymore,… just remove below the graft point!

I am aiming for eventually a braided main trunk 2’-3’ tall or so into a mainlined top in an umbrella shape one strain per top site to veg out for clones

That’s such a dope idea.
Holy hell.

 

[Mikedin]

That’s such a dope idea.
Holy hell.

It’s a start! The braided stem coming up is the question part, gotta find the right clone to use with some super low nodes so that the braid can start at the soil level up to the canopy

 

[Mikedin]

Here we have the next strain that I’ll attempt to graft once a scion is big enough to be taken

A cman x okie from @Trustfall

I haven’t decided yet on how many strains I’d like this mother to hold, I see it as a continuing project so I wanna plan the mother out ahead as to not bottleneck how many graft points I’ll have in the final version

I’d like to see a minimum of 15 strains on her but we’ll see what realistically is possible

 

[Variety719]

Trying to stay on that plant count Mike?

 

[Mikedin]

Trying to stay on that plant count Mike?

nah I’m actually under, I figure, why keep up with multiple mothers just for personal selection, why not have a multi variety mother and pull cuts when I need them, or keep tons of mothers around, plus… who dosent want a 12-15 strain plant

It’ll be awesome to say oh I have 2 frostettes on here but this pheno ivertakes that one, so cut an inch below the graft, and re-graft with the new pheno,
Plus it’s fun to learn a new technique here and there lol

 

[Mikedin]

I spy a new candidate!

Looks like she’s coming out a bit upside down but I’ll see if she corrects herself in the morning

 

[Rama777]

Nice man! I was gonna try that recently but when I went to make my first graft, I found out I was materially underprepared. I need to give it a shot again! Good luck!!

 

[Mikedin]

Nice man! I was gonna try that recently but when I went to make my first graft, I found out I was materially underprepared. I need to give it a shot again! Good luck!!

Oh I went basic believe me lol, before I go crazy I wanna go at it with basic materials, theoretically it should easily take the graft, as long as the scion can live long enough, fingers crossed these first 2 take and start rollin!

 

[Rama777]

If you get failures, there is some so far minimal research that suggests rooting hormone has potential to increase the success of grafting in general.

 

[Mikedin]

If you get failures, there is some so far minimal research that suggests rooting hormone has potential to increase the success of grafting in general.

I watched about 50 videos of people grafting, a some did use gels like clonex, some said the scions with the clonex in them were the only ones that didn’t take, others say the opposite, I figured with the next graft attempt I’ll do one with clonex and one without, the bags I sprayed with just tap water inside before sealing, now looking back my clonex rooting hormone spray may have been a better choice than plain water but I as just going for it

Before I go big I always try the K.I.S.S method

 

[Thatoneguyyouknow_]

This memes a shoutout to the oldschool forum crawlers

 

[Mikedin]

Well it’s update time! Project hydra continues! Plant has had some feed wanna keep her top top shape to receive grafts. Gave some cal mag (few rust spots on older leaves that weren’t removed during her cut back) and a shot of 2/3 dose of FF grow big, Frostette #2 scion is showing signs of acceptance, leaves have gone from droopy in the bag to spread out and perking up, scion #2 from Frostette #1 isint looking dead but no major signs of perk up yet, popped a tiny hole in the bag and blew in some fresh air, and a quick 2 sprays of some clonex clone and seedling spray to give the leaves a little nutrient boost to hopefully push her through

These frostettes are beggin for the big tent to be availabe, as soon as it is I’ll grab 2 clones of each and throw them in there, this may be the run I go to 15 gallon pots and run only 2 of them in there in flower

 

[Mikedin]

Oh hell yeah! Frostette #2 defenitly looks like a success, Frostette #1 still has potential not giving up yet! I’ll make another attempt in a few days if I see no improvement

 

[Mikedin]

Yeah Frostette 2 is looking strong, I untaped the bottom of the bag and I’ll let it sit half open still on the scion overnight and see how it looks tomorrow morning , then might remove it and watch every few hours through the day to see if it needs to be replaced

 

[Mikedin]

Looking good! Looks like Frostette #2 is happy, bag removed, time to see some new growth! I’ll leave the tape for a few more days to finish healing up if she drops without the bag I’ll replace it loosely

 

[Mikedin]

Defenitly looking good on F2 she’s upright bagless for 24 hours and ready to start producing clones! F1 is looking better and better each time I look at it, some rigidity coming back to the leaves I see a bit of leaf spread inside the bag, cut the corner off and gave 2 spritzes of clonex clone spray then sealed it back up, hopefully she’s a keeper too, the mothers of these scions will be in 12 gallon fabric pots in another few days, they’ll be ready to rock after an up pot gald I got these 2 onto the project, the clones in water are still perfectly upright as well no droop or wilt, frostettes always cloned easy as hell now so with a backup of both saved I’ll get them into the big tent once the cali blues finishes drying

The hydra plant is looking great, she’s growin in thick after the massive cut back, I already topped her new growth after the 3rd new node trying to strengthen and push new strong nodes lower on the stalk to receive more grafts, the okie x cman will be coming up next, The Frostette mothers behind hydra are already 48” tall monsters in those 3 gallon pots can’t wait to see what Frostette will do in 12’s, never ran bigger than 5 gallon buckets before

 

[Rama777]

Hell yeah cuz!!!!