Mother plant Best system to use +rep

[bricktown73]

I want to grow 2 mother plants when I clip my clones next week. What is the best systems to use? Drip, aero, ebb and flow?

What should I contain it in? I like the 5 gallon bucket ruitin, but can someone spell it out? Or links would be cool. +rep

 

[ElephantRider]

Is dirt and cfl's out? They just need to pop clones out. Are you talking about a perpetual personal grow or all at once style?

 

[joker152]

none of those three would really be best for a mother plant man, hydro and aero systems are good for growing harvest plants with big buds as fast as you possibly can, with mother plants you gotta take advantage of the cheaper and easier way to grow them and save the effort for the plants you are going to harvest. simply use some good ol soil for the mothers and stick a few cfl's on her, also put the mothers in 18-6 to prevent them from growing too big, all you want off the mother is some healthy branches and they really dont need too much for that

 

[WhatWouldBobDo?]

Regardless of style, cfls/floros and dirt is the way to go for mothers. It's easy, and you don't need to worry about it. You can change the light source if you want (LED's if you have to, MH could work well), but stick to the dirt.

Hydro for mothers will just give you more growth and more problems than you need to deal with. Dirt allows you to open up the root system, trim, and replace without as many issues as with hydro, at least in my opinion.

And if you are planning on keeping a mother in a 5 gal bucket you'll get a 7 foot tall mother. I usually keep moms short. All you need to do is get cuttings off them. I usually go with a 4" square pot.


But that's just me.

 

[bricktown73]

ok, so if I get a 5 gallon bucket, drill some drainage holes, what should I put the 5 gallon bucket in? LIke a rubber maid container for the over flow? And can i use my hyrdo setup nuts for the dirt? Or do I have to get feretizer?

 

[mj320002]

What I do with my Mothers is put them in 5 gallon buckets filled with granulated rockwool. You can use your same nutes. I just cut drain holes in the bottom of the bucket and put a square bucket under it to catch the runoff. You could set up a drip system but I just water mine by hand. Just make a gallon for each one and that will fully saturate the rockwool and have a little runoff. I only have to water like every 4 or 5 days until right before i take clones then about every other day.

ok, so if I get a 5 gallon bucket, drill some drainage holes, what should I put the 5 gallon bucket in? LIke a rubber maid container for the over flow? And can i use my hyrdo setup nuts for the dirt? Or do I have to get feretizer?

 

[WhatWouldBobDo?]

Why are you people using 5 gallon buckets? It's so unnecessary. All you need is a 4" square pot.

 

[bricktown73]

Why are you people using 5 gallon buckets? It's so unnecessary. All you need is a 4" square pot.

Then what is the minimum size container I can use for a mother to harvest 20+ clones every 2-4 weeks?

I thought that the 5gln bucket was just convient and effective?

 

[mj320002]

You could probably grow a mother in a 1 inch rockwool cube but you would just have to water it like 3 or four times a day. The 5 gallon buckets are easier because you don't have to water as often and there is more room for the roots. Also how tall are the cuttings you are taking? Just because you use a bigger pot doesn't mean you have to have a bigger plant either. If you trim them they stay short until of course you have removed all the lower branches for cutting and have to move up then it begins to gain height.

Then what is the minimum size container I can use for a mother to harvest 20+ clones every 2-4 weeks?

I thought that the 5gln bucket was just convient and effective?

 

[bricktown73]

Actually, I plan on building ( or actually started) an aeroponic setup in a 30 gallon rubber main. I though I would suspend a 5 gallon bucket, or a 4 in cube of rockwool with clay pellets or something else but not sure what would be the best for me... Maybe someone can jump in and give me their thought.

 

[wildyking07]

For my Mothers i use 7.5l pot (in just any basic run off tub) i start them off in a small rockwool cube and then add this to the pot (the pot is full off mini rockwool cubes these>>> http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?M=GRODAN&ID=3699058&ref=GB)

 

[LoudBlunts]

in my humble opinion, aeroponics would be a bad idea. lets say your power was to go out.....all your strains could die.

soil/soilless moms work good


i use tt96 floros and ebb and flow for my mothers

 

[BirdTooth]

What if you needed high numbers of clones each pass, like over a hundred? Would soil still be a good option? Or do you just recommend it because it is painless and low-tech?
Would a person needing those high numbers do better with a different method?

 

[BirdTooth]

i use tt96 floros and ebb and flow for my mothers

What kind of clone numbers do you take? How many clones are you generally able to take per pass, per mother?

 

[LoudBlunts]

i grow tiny bonsai moms but im still able to get at least 5-10 cuts per mom

the rest of the clones, i just experiment with (best cloning method, pruning, etc etc)

 

[Revolution101]

look up smart pots. Plant them in soil in these pots. You could keep a mother in this for 100 years and it wont get root bound.

 

[ElephantRider]

Yeah.. I'm sayin' organic dirt, 5 gallon bucket, monster cfl's on 18/6. Do a circular LST first so you have all kinds of branhes reaching to the lights. And what these guys say is true.. dirt's the best way to go for a mom. Less issues, since you're looking to keep this thing for a loong time. There are plenty of people that keep moms for 20+ years bonsai'd in dirt. It's easy and natural. Man.. even better, go LED.