How/when do you choose a 'Mother'?

cpurola · Dec 13, 2023

I have been growing from seed outdoors in southeast Michigan for 5 years now.
Most of the resulting plants have been all over the map with growth patterns and THC/CBD levels and hardly ever match the descriptions.
I'm seriously considering setting up an indoor grow area and taking cuttings of a favorite to have a more uniform grow outside for the next year.

Question: When and how do you choose a 'Mother' plant to clone?
After all, you don't get a true idea if it's a 'keeper' until after harvest and the plant is dead and gone.
What am I missing?

BB22 · Dec 13, 2023

I pull cuttings off a plant before I flip to 12:12

Repeat as often as you like

Wuddup_B · Dec 13, 2023

I do bonsai mothers. I'll go ahead and take a clipping and root it, then toss it in a cup. If the strain is unfavorable, I toss it.

I make mini hempy 32 oz cups. I also grow in hempy buckets.

HerbalEdu · Dec 13, 2023

This is how i m doing it:

i take a clones from each plant, then flower each plant to see what's my favourites phenotype(s) , meanwhile i keep the clones in small pots in a bonsaï stat with some lst, topping and carefull watering pratice, when the selection is done i discard all the unwanted clones and then i transplant the pheno(s) i want keep into bigger pots as mother with eventually a lite roots trimming before transplant.

cpurola · Dec 13, 2023

BB22 said:
I pull cuttings off a plant before I flip to 12:12

Repeat as often as you like

How many clones do you take from each plant?

BB22 · Dec 13, 2023

cpurola said:
How many clones do you take from each plant?

Usually just one. Sometimes when I top the plant I make a clone out of it. Long before flip I can see if it has rooted.

Sometimes I’ll take an extra just for backup. I’m working out of a 4x4 flower tent. Not a whole lot of room.

BB22 · Dec 13, 2023

There’s a rooted top from a Blue Dream now in flower. That top might’ve two inches when I put it in the dirt

Natep · Dec 13, 2023

Start a 100 seed pull a clone from each one. Which ever is the best you keep that plant. You are looking for the exceptional plant. No reason to keep one that is just run of the mill.

cpurola · Dec 14, 2023

BB22 said:
View attachment 2086928

There’s a rooted top from a Blue Dream now in flower. That top might’ve two inches when I put it in the dirt

So, when did you take the cutting? Do you have to do it in veg?
Also, how do you keep it small? Small pot?
But then you have stay on top of watering and feeding the right amounts at the right time to keep it healthy.
Sounds like a full time job. ;)

HerbalEdu · Dec 14, 2023

you can usually take cutting as long as two weeks into 12/12 without encountering reveg symptoms, later into flowering you will usually have reveg symptoms.

cpurola · Dec 14, 2023

Wuddup_B said:
I do bonsai mothers. I'll go ahead and take a clipping and root it, then toss it in a cup. If the strain is unfavorable, I toss it.

I make mini hempy 32 oz cups. I also grow in hempy buckets.

When do you determine if it is unfavorable? After harvest and cure? And how long can you hold onto the mother plants before you have to renew them?

BB22 · Dec 14, 2023

cpurola said:
So, when did you take the cutting? Do you have to do it in veg?
Also, how do you keep it small? Small pot?
But then you have stay on top of watering and feeding the right amounts at the right time to keep it healthy.
Sounds like a full time job. ;)

I took that cutting a little early. Most people wait till they have about four or five nodes.

It’s small because I took it early.

It’s not really that hard to keep up with the watering and feeding. It’s a rewarding hobby.

cpurola · Dec 14, 2023

HerbalEdu said:
This is how i m doing it:

i take a clones from each plant, then flower each plant to see what's my favourites phenotype(s) , meanwhile i keep the clones in small pots in a bonsaï stat with some lst, topping and carefull watering pratice, when the selection is done i discard all the unwanted clones and then i transplant the pheno(s) i want keep into bigger pots as mother with eventually a lite roots trimming before transplant.

Sounds so easy, but I think I need to get my inside grow space set up before going all in.

I will be selecting for mold and leaf wilt resistance as well as quality of bud.
If I took cuttings from my outdoor plants in July before flowering, I could keep them in a veg tent until deciding if they're worth keeping.
Then it's just a matter of keeping them alive over the winter and taking more cuttings to root and plant the next Spring.
How does this sound?

HerbalEdu · Dec 14, 2023

Sound like a good plan.

The main matters when doing a proper selection is launching enough seeds and then having enough room to keep a clone of each plant in veg while the plants are flowering

cpurola · Dec 14, 2023

HerbalEdu said:
Sound like a good plan.

The main matters when doing a proper selection is launching enough seeds and then having enough room to keep a clone of each plant in veg while the plants are flowering

Right! And unfortunately I have hording tendencies and HATE culling anything.

albitross · Dec 14, 2023

HerbalEdu said:
Sound like a good plan.

The main matters when doing a proper selection is launching enough seeds and then having enough room to keep a clone of each plant in veg while the plants are flowering

A proper pheno hunt isn't viable for most, so it can't hurt to lean heavily on being lucky af.

cpurola said:
Right! And unfortunately I have hording tendencies and HATE culling anything.

So true, killing is different than nurturing. Look at the bigger picture! I've recently found joy in killing the lesser variants. I put two clones outside last night to experience the deep sleep of winter only to provide more opportunity for the more attractive sister.

I feel bad yanking them out of the media and they never seem to die fast enough unless you chop them, so freezing somehow seems less cruel and natural.

cpurola · Dec 14, 2023

albitross said:
A proper pheno hunt isn't viable for most, so it can't hurt to lean heavily on being lucky af.

So true, killing is different than nurturing. Look at the bigger picture! I've recently found joy in killing the lesser variants. I put two clones outside last night to experience the deep sleep of winter only to provide more opportunity for the more attractive sister.

I feel bad yanking them out of the media and they never seem to die fast enough unless you chop them, so freezing somehow seems less cruel and natural.

So, did one survive? If so, you are duty bound to give it another chance. LOL

Wuddup_B · Dec 14, 2023

cpurola said:
When do you determine if it is unfavorable? After harvest and cure? And how long can you hold onto the mother plants before you have to renew them?

After cure. The cups are just 32oz paint mixing cups and don't take much space. You can fill a 2x2 with 25 of them. It'll be a bit crowded if you let them get bushy.

I keep the mothers for about 4-6 months and either toss if I want new strains or grow out another mother. I used to prune the roots, but just clipping a new mom is easier. My oldest mother is 2.5yrs old but the new clipping is only 1 months old. Still grows some nice flowers.

cpurola · Dec 14, 2023

Wuddup_B said:
After cure. The cups are just 32oz paint mixing cups and don't take much space. You can fill a 2x2 with 25 of them. It'll be a bit crowded if you let them get bushy.

I keep the mothers for about 4-6 months and either toss if I want new strains or grow out another mother. I used to prune the roots, but just clipping a new mom is easier. My oldest mother is 2.5yrs old but the new clipping is only 1 months old. Still grows some nice flowers.

Very nice! Thank you that helps alot.

Budclarkson · Dec 28, 2023

BB22 said:
View attachment 2086928

There’s a rooted top from a Blue Dream now in flower. That top might’ve two inches when I put it in the dirt

What’s the process to get a clipping to root and get it into soil? What products and soil are you using for cloning?

Thinking about trying this on a couple of photos in the oven.

For a mother plant, does this only apply to photos? Just keep it in veg to keep it out of flower and eventual die off?

How/when do you choose a 'Mother'?

How/when do you choose a 'Mother'?

cpurola

BB22

Wuddup_B

HerbalEdu

cpurola

BB22

BB22

Natep

cpurola

HerbalEdu

cpurola

BB22

cpurola

HerbalEdu

cpurola

albitross

cpurola

Wuddup_B

cpurola

Budclarkson

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