Best Way to Start a Mother Plant

[Smoking Gun]

So I have been pondering this issue for some time now. I have been messing around with seeds lately after many years of working form clone. Therefore my mother plants have always been from clones. I know that it is typically accepted that plants grown from seed will show the best vigor, and some people prefer to make the mother plants the permanent mother. But eventually a clone of that original seed plant will have to become a mother, or a new seed would need to be started and then there is a lot of chances for variability. Also it would be several more weeks until the clone roots and matures to the point of being able to be flowered out, so its that much longer until you know what you got from that seed. So what do you guys think, should the seed plant be the mother or should a clone off the seed plant become the mom?

 

[Shotyoung]

It may take a while to get the mother you want with seed but if you know a clone is fire then all that work is done for you.

 

[Aqua Man]

Yeah the genetics would be my concern. With a clone you can pick out the pheno you like. Might go through a fair bit of seeds before you find that mother ya looking for.

 

[Smoking Gun]

It may take a while to get the mother you want with seed but if you know a clone is fire then all that work is done for you.

Yeah the genetics would be my concern. With a clone you can pick out the pheno you like. Might go through a fair bit of seeds before you find that mother ya looking for.

Correct, but if you have already popped a seed pack to find a keeper pheno would you keep the plant grown from seed as a mom or use the clones off of each of the seed plants for mother plants?

 

[Aqua Man]

Correct, but if you have already popped a seed pack to find a keeper pheno would you keep the plant grown from seed as a mom or use the clones off of each of the seed plants for mother plants?

I would keep the seed mother and cut clones off her. That's just my personal opinion. I mixed up the poll lol can i change my vote. Sometimes my reading skills are about as good as my wife handling skills

 

[1diesel1]

So I have been pondering this issue for some time now. I have been messing around with seeds lately after many years of working form clone. Therefore my mother plants have always been from clones. I know that it is typically accepted that plants grown from seed will show the best vigor, and some people prefer to make the mother plants the permanent mother. But eventually a clone of that original seed plant will have to become a mother, or a new seed would need to be started and then there is a lot of chances for variability. Also it would be several more weeks until the clone roots and matures to the point of being able to be flowered out, so its that much longer until you know what you got from that seed. So what do you guys think, should the seed plant be the mother or should a clone off the seed plant become the mom?

A clone is a clone and so on. Regardless of where the clone comes from a clone can be improved on in any way a clone is created. I could go on and on but I won’t.
My growing has always come from cloning all these years.

The mother in the middle I’ve been cloning going on 10 years. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve created a new mother with her.

 

[cemchris]

I would keep mothers from clones off a seed plant. Seed plants generally have really thick stems and like to go vert. Clones will generally bush out more. Not to mention would want to flower it out and select as quick as I could with the seed run to fig out if it's worth the time to go through. Also seeds generally, with the thicker stems, will break a lot easier then bend when training a mom to bush out.

 

[damien50]

A clone of a clone is what my mentor preaches as he maintains 5-9 year old bonsai mothers. I'd rather have a clone just to ensure I have consistency across all my cuts. I abuse plants that come from seeds more than I do my clones.

When I can get my clones to root, I don't think they lack much vigor but I think transplanting at the right time to get that burst of growth is as much as art as it is technique.