how to keep a motherplant on long term

[mannitu68]

Hello,
i was thinking maybe you could give me some tips on how to keep a plant for a long time, while keeping it cheap, not too big and generally low-profile. I realized the genetic trades of the seeds can vary. Not all seeds grow the same. Next time i have a plant that developes really nice, i want to keep the lineage alive. Ive never had a "motherplant". It would be best if i could just put it on the table in the corner, ive got a good collection of e27 Led-bulbs and a longneck-lamp. I would like to avoid to set up a carbon filter or an exhaust-tube out the window. Hope it wont be needed. It would be nice if the plant stays as small as possible, but big enough to cut 2 or 3 clones every few months. Anybody has experience/ideas on that? Any tricks to reduce growth while keeping it healthy? What would the potsize be etc:?

thx in advance.

 

[Buzzzz]

Hello,
i was thinking maybe you could give me some tips on how to keep a plant for a long time, while keeping it cheap, not too big and generally low-profile. I realized the genetic trades of the seeds can vary. Not all seeds grow the same. Next time i have a plant that developes really nice, i want to keep the lineage alive. Ive never had a "motherplant". It would be best if i could just put it on the table in the corner, ive got a good collection of e27 Led-bulbs and a longneck-lamp. I would like to avoid to set up a carbon filter or an exhaust-tube out the window. Hope it wont be needed. It would be nice if the plant stays as small as possible, but big enough to cut 2 or 3 clones every few months. Anybody has experience/ideas on that? Any tricks to reduce growth while keeping it healthy? What would the potsize be etc:?

thx in advance.

Flouros work well for what you want to do,keep them short by trimming, for 2-3 clones every few months it should be easy to accomplish.

 

[mannitu68]

whats Flouro?

 

[PipeCarver]

Hello,
i was thinking maybe you could give me some tips on how to keep a plant for a long time, while keeping it cheap, not too big and generally low-profile. I realized the genetic trades of the seeds can vary. Not all seeds grow the same. Next time i have a plant that developes really nice, i want to keep the lineage alive. Ive never had a "motherplant". It would be best if i could just put it on the table in the corner, ive got a good collection of e27 Led-bulbs and a longneck-lamp. I would like to avoid to set up a carbon filter or an exhaust-tube out the window. Hope it wont be needed. It would be nice if the plant stays as small as possible, but big enough to cut 2 or 3 clones every few months. Anybody has experience/ideas on that? Any tricks to reduce growth while keeping it healthy? What would the potsize be etc:?

thx in advance.

Hi, I'm not sure this will help or not but I grow girls for 2 months take cuttings then flip the mothers and keep her children to clone off then grow out the children and take cuttings off them before I flip them. 2 months works perfect. I grow them for 2 months, take cuttings, then flip I can keep the strain alive with fresh cuts & no long term mother to tend to.

 

[mysticepipedon]

You probably need to learn about bonsai techniques if you want to keep a little plant forever.

I end up letting mother plants get too big, and then take another cutting and start over — sometimes flowering the mother plant, sometimes not.

 

[Buzzzz]

whats Flouro?

flourescent lights

 

[mannitu68]

what happens if you grow it in, lets say, a 0.5 gallon pot? Wouldnt that limit the size? That would be way more conveniant than having to trim it or to "re-clone" it.

 

[PipeCarver]

what happens if you grow it in, lets say, a 0.5 gallon pot? Wouldnt that limit the size? That would be way more conveniant than having to trim it or to "re-clone" it.

I have a friend here who claims he keeps mothers in 1 gal pots, I haven't seen them but he says he just trims them to keep them short. Says he has 8 he's had for years, I've smoked his stuff and he a smart guy that knows what he's talking about. I'll ask him more next time I see him. So it's doable but I personally ended up with monsters and or root problems if I veg too long.

 

[PrimoClonesCanada]

Here's a really good thread on bonsai moms.

ALL ABOUT BONSAI MOMS/MUMS

This article was originally written by OG member Oldtimer1, and it has already been partially posted in the grow faq submissions thread but I feel it would be helpful to post the entire article with the pictures included. Hope somebody finds this and it helps :joint: Part 1 MAKING...

www.icmag.com

 

[PrimoClonesCanada]

I have a friend here who claims he keeps mothers in 1 gal pots, I haven't seen them but he says he just trims them to keep them short. Says he has 8 he's had for years, I've smoked his stuff and he a smart guy that knows what he's talking about. I'll ask him more next time I see him. So it's doable but I personally ended up with monsters and or root problems if I veg too long.

Your friend more than likely does what's in that thread. It's pretty cool, I haven't tried it yet. I've been just resetting moms every few months but I'm contemplating trying this bonsai style. Seems really cool. And if you use square pots you could have tons of moms in a relatively small space.

 

[PrimoClonesCanada]

what happens if you grow it in, lets say, a 0.5 gallon pot? Wouldnt that limit the size? That would be way more conveniant than having to trim it or to "re-clone" it.

0.5 gallon pot would be tough unless it was a bonsai I think. It would get to big for your pot most likely, if it was in that size pot you would definitely need to keep it small by trimming it. In that thread they say you need to trim the top and leave only what branches you want and at least once or twice a year you have to trim the roots also and put in some fresh soil then back into same pot.

 

[HunterBrandon]

I ran one strain, from one mother to the third mother (C3?) after 5 years. The size of the container doesn't really matter as much as your trimming which controls the size. It can't get big if you keep hacking at it which is pretty much what you need to do to keep it small. Think of it more of weed whacking than Bonsai trimming. I had a big cloner that was always full and I would still throw cuttings away. You will throw away most cuttings and rooted clones because a healthy mother will put out way more than 2 or 3 clones per month. But this is to your advantage. Keep as many in a cloner as practical for your situation, and when the time of the month comes that you need a clone, you can pick the rooted superstar of the group. That was my method and it worked great for my progressive 1 ripe plant every 2 weeks system. Which is another advantage of running one strain. A progressive grow is more challenging with different strains that flower at different rates. My mother was in hydro in a 2 gal bucket and every 6 months or so I would pick it up out of the bucket and hack off a bunch of the roots with scissors which gave it room or else the root mass would get too big and pop up the lid. Low light levels will slow growth as well. When you find that one strain that rings your bell like no other, a mother is a good way to go.

 

[mysticepipedon]

I have a friend here who claims he keeps mothers in 1 gal pots, I haven't seen them but he says he just trims them to keep them short. Says he has 8 he's had for years, I've smoked his stuff and he a smart guy that knows what he's talking about. I'll ask him more next time I see him. So it's doable but I personally ended up with monsters and or root problems if I veg too long.

Maybe he trims roots, too, like the bonsaiers.

 

[mysticepipedon]

what happens if you grow it in, lets say, a 0.5 gallon pot? Wouldnt that limit the size? That would be way more conveniant than having to trim it or to "re-clone" it.

It depends on the plant, but I have a strain (Lemon Sunrise) that will flower in a small pot, even if it's getting 20 hours of light/day. I'd end up with clones that reveg to the 3 leaf stage and then flower.

Then I have another plant that won't flower without the right light regime, no matter how cramped it gets.

For me, it's hard to keep a plant looking nice and healthy in a small pot forever. They seem to want to be transplanted on occasion.

 

[mannitu68]

im just thinking, maybe not small but big pot is the way to go. If i have them in a 3 gallon pot and trim it regularly, even if its small, branches and stems should grow back fast once the rootball has grown through the whole pot. Small on surface but big down below. I really dont like cutting things off my plants, im a bit sensitive there. Even harvest makes me kind of sad.

 

[HunterBrandon]

im just thinking, maybe not small but big pot is the way to go. If i have them in a 3 gallon pot and trim it regularly, even if its small, branches and stems should grow back fast once the rootball has grown through the whole pot. Small on surface but big down below. I really dont like cutting things off my plants, im a bit sensitive there. Even harvest makes me kind of sad.

Once you start trimming your mother that feeling will change over time. Eventually it's going to piss you off the thing keeps growing and you'll be threating it with renting a big hedge trimmer from Home Depot and going to town on it. You'll be saying things like, "let me see you grow back from that"! after giving it a mean haircut.

 

[pilto]

I currently keep 4 older mother plants and am in the middle of a pheno hunt for a couple new ones. I have a Gorilla Zkilltles from Barney Farm, Wedding Cake, Blue Dream and Jack Herer that I really like that I have mother plants for and I am currently waiting on flowers from a couple Mandarin Cookies and Cherry Gar See Ya that I am gonng have as some of my stock genetics in the future. I usually keep about 6-7 mothers around. Just leave them under either 18/6 or 24/0 light schedule and keep them trimmed way back until you are getting ready to take clones. I keep my mothers in 1 gallon pots and keep them about trim the plants to about 14 inches tall and let them grow about 6 more inches before I trim them back again. Feed when thirsty and if they are getting too big or out of control, just clone them and make a new mother.

 

[tobh]

when i kept mother plants (will be doing so again at some point) i kept em in one gallon pots of coco and just kept em trimmed. low lighting and light feeding keeps em from getting too eager to explode growth wise. kept one mom alive like that for five or six years and always had a steady supply of clones at the ready.