What about feeding? Does she require a usual regime or does need less after a while? What kind of light would you suggest? I have a 1kw MH in my veg tent where I plan to keep the mothers. They wouldn't be directly under the light, just off to the side. And most likely sitting on the floor. With the bucket or pot I'd like to keep them under 3'. Does this sound like an okay place to start?
I keep mothers in hydro, large mothers, right now. Here they are under the plasma light. I use soilless for a substrate for my hydro mothers. You can use pretty your same nutrients and simply drain to waste. I lower the light on my mothers (I want them to stretch internodal length), and I usually feed them regular veg food and alternate with tap water (plain tap water no pHing etc...), to keep them growing slowly. As they get to tall if I don't need more clones I simply give them a haircut shortening them and throw away the extras.
You can run a dwc next to a soil plant. If you look hard you might be able to find a battery for keeping minnows alive (people use them for fishing) that would power the air pump I'm pretty sure they make them. You want a back up plan for them maybe even a generator. That air pump has to run.
Tell me about the plasma
Yes. Please tell us about the plasmas! I can't really get the light in a better spot for the mothers. Would it be a good idea to add cfls or a t5 fixture, just to keep on the mothers and keep close to help prevent stretch? What is your soil soiless substrate?
Yes the plasma light, so far disappointing. The bulb (rated for 30,000+ hours), went out a mere 2 weeks after going out of warranty with a mere 1000 hours or less on it. I'll give more information depending on what the company decides to do. But so far I'm withholding judgment pending information.
Personally, I liked to keep a mother under full lighting (MH) like any other vegging plant. Cloning off of a plant in full swing veg growth is easier IMO. The vigorous growth makes for a faster response. At least, that's my theory.
Oh man, that sucks. They are really attractive to me because of the low heat.
Plasma light, low heat? Possibly compared to 1000 Watt HID. I still have to evacuate the heat from its heatsink. I would have shot it with my temp gun for a comparison but I wasn't expecting such 'short' use!
Yeah, I meant in comparison. For something that puts off so much light, it runs way cooler overall. I've seen them running in a store, but not in actual use.
Doesn't need as much food as it's growing slower, slower metabolism slows food intake That's why it doesn't have as much nitrogen because it doesn't need as much
Hence why I run lower light but not low enough to stimulate flowering. You can flower under low light conditions in 18+ hour days.
I disagree I think soilless would keep him in hydro. But it doesn't matter, frankly he should try several different approaches and see what ends up working out for him and what he likes.
That's a bummer man. I hope they do right by you. Definitely give us an update if you and when you can!
You're absolutely correct. I often feel foolish for asking some questions on here because I know the answers come with experience. I hope to experiment with my methods in the future. Not really looking for a sure thing, just some advice and a good place to start. Appreciate the feedback!
As of now, I'm not 100% sure, depends on how everything goes with my new setup. I'm planning on taking about 30+ cuttings every 2 months, give or take.
Haha yea I agreed with what you were saying just everyone else seems to hate on mothers and prefer just cloning and flowering out the original over and over. I should have made it clearer who I was replying to
