Healthy Long-Term Mothers - What's Your Method?

[Boylobster]

How do y'all keep your precious, precious mother plants content over long periods of decapitation and confinement? Give up the secrets, kids - I came to learn! ...and I've never been good at keeping the ladies happy in the long run. :D

I don't know what it is with these "What Would *You* Do?" threads I keep posting... I guess I learn best from good examples. :)

 

[Boylobster]

Nada??? Nobody??? 'Tsk. Y'know, stuff like preferred mother medium and why, preferred nutes and why, flushing method, how long you keep hackin' into 'em, etc. etc. C'mon, I know everybody 'round here isn't just constantly buying seed. :D

 

[Smoking Gun]

I have found that regular feeding schedules, and pretty liberal and constant trimming will help keep mom's around for a while. And although I haven't had do this yet, root pruning also helps. I personally prefer soil , but coco would work very well too.

I guess it also kind of depends on what you mean by "a long time". Some people consider a year a long time others consider 5 years a long time.

 

[Boylobster]

...whooo... 5 years???? Yowza. I'd be happy for them to not show signs of distress within... I dunno', 3 months. :P

I know I've had some problems recently with all my plants because I'd vastly underestimated the strength of the nute solution I was using... overfed like mad. I'll probably start a new set of mothers from the clones I took, and I was just looking for input on how to keep them properly, right from the start. Learn from good examples, y'know?

 

[hererisssh]

I've had bonsai's in 4 and 6 inch square pots in soil for a long time. Every 4-6 months it's root trimming time. I use a big serrated bread knife and cut entire rootball back almost to the rapid rooters they start in. Transplant them to some new soil and their back in business. Mine are not used for any big production runs and are more for occasional cuts and preservation.

 

[Boylobster]

Huh! I'd never heard of root trimming 'till now. Too cool! And that practice would allow for lots of good things - relieving a rootbound plant, refreshing the soil, less need for heavy flushing...

What are the "rapid rooters"? Are there any real nuances to that technique, or do you just... lop off their legs and let 'em start over? Should precautions be taken with the vegetative mass to help mitigate the shock they must experience?

If you don't feel like answering all these questions yourself, I'd be almost as happy with a link or two. ;)

 

[herby]

Another good thing would be to share that precious mother with a friend or two. That way if anything ever happens to her you always have someplace to go to get her back.

 

[Smoking Gun]

What are the "rapid rooters"? Are there any real nuances to that technique, or do you just... lop off their legs and let 'em start over? Should precautions be taken with the vegetative mass to help mitigate the shock they must experience?

- Rapid Rooters are store bought soilless plugs. They wrok really well for quick rooting of clones. Then you can put those plugs right into the dirt.

-Like I said, I have never actually done root trimming, but I personally would remover around 50% or so of the root mass. Start with cutting the bottom off, then remove some mass from the sides. Right now I only have one plant that is 1 year old, but I do have several moms that are about 9 months old, but they were just put into 1 gal pots 5 weeks ago or so. Until then they were actually kept in cups. With keeping a careful eye on their health, when they needed feeding, and proper times to trim them back they were able to survive all that time with little space for the roots. I decided about 2 months ago to make a bonsai to use for training techniques, so in a few weeks I should have some practice with root trimming.

As for dealing with the vegetative matter of the plant, I would not trim it more than 1 week prior to, or less than 1 week after root trimming as to avoid undue stress. I hope this helps some. The only real key to keeping plants alive is to learn to listen to them.

 

[Boylobster]

Call me the Plant Whisperer... lol.

Huh. That's some good info right there. I like the idea of root culling a lot; makes a great deal of sense.

Herby, funny you should mention - I *am* that friend at the moment. :D

 

[USMCtanker]

wow thanks for all the info, def learned something. alot of my collection im gonna keep as mothers and just take clones of and flower those, so far there only 2 months old lol so thanks for all tips and info , i will for sure need to do that when the time comes

 

[Boylobster]

Mm. It's nice to see that my pestering can benefit at least a few other people as well... :) Spread the love my friends, spread the love. :D

 

[HerbalTea]

How do y'all keep your precious, precious mother plants content over long periods of decapitation and confinement?...

Don't forget regular flushing of the medium. I finally got it through my thick skull to ease off on the feeding regimen, too...I use soil and 6" pots, and toxic salt buildup got to lethal levels after 40 to 45 weeks. Definately don't wanna do that again...

 

[Boylobster]

Word. I'm still trying to find that balance between deprivation, healthy growth, and overfeeding... :P That's why I like the root trimming technique (in principal, at least) - you get to give them completely uncontaminated soil every time you do it. Chop chop! :)

 

[RansacktheElder]

Bump! I thought this deserved a bit more explanation if anyone's game? Thanks.

 

[revfunk]

yup.......what everyone else has said are all viable methods. I run an entire garden of elite/clone-only's....and have for a few years now...............every 6 months or so I take clones, flower out the old mom, and start fresh. This will work indefinitely AS LONG AS the clones you take are from healthy plant material. It's really pretty easy........some of my clones are over two decades old.

bf

 

[tenacious]

Bump! I thought this deserved a bit more explanation if anyone's game? Thanks.

i agree 100%!!!
i have a mama thats 15 months old that has been started from seed. she is in 22 gals of soiless-mix consisting of mostly worm castings/coco coir/perilite. i'll post more tomorrow on this worthy subject!!!!

 

[Nuglover]

yup.......what everyone else has said are all viable methods. I run an entire garden of elite/clone-only's....and have for a few years now...............every 6 months or so I take clones, flower out the old mom, and start fresh. This will work indefinitely AS LONG AS the clones you take are from healthy plant material. It's really pretty easy........some of my clones are over two decades old.

bf

Right there with ya man. I do the same thing. Extra insurance...Don't have to put so much effort into, or worry about one particular plant. Numerous cuts of the same genes means numerous potential mothers at all times.:smiley_joint:

 

[Boylobster]

So, I should've reported back on this a while ago, but...

I tried the root culling technique on three different mothers to replace the coir they were growing in, and they all absolutely loved it.

I trimmed them back heavily a week in advance so they'd have less veg. mass to support, and then pulled the medium out of the pots and sawed their poor little roots back to a little rectangular cube (what's the proper term for a three-dimensional rectangular form?) of about 3"x3" and 4" deep. This root nub was then place in a new pot of coir and watered with a mild fert solution.

They sagged for the first day or two, and then exploded into vigorous new growth. :yes to that method. With it, I don't see why you couldn't keep a mother stable indefinitely. However, I will still refresh the line with a new mother clone - perhaps once every year or two.

 

[Boylobster]

"two decades old"!?!

That.
Is.
Awesome.
:D

 

[RansacktheElder]

I think I just found the method I'll use. Wonderful! I'd love to keep three moms If I'm lucky enough to grab fem's from them.
Northern Lights
Mazar Afghan
Purple Wreck
That would make me a happy happy man indeed. Thanks for the update Boylobster.