best way to keep a mother in your experience? (hydro prefered

Hey guys, fairly simple question here, but I'm sure it has many answers. Looking for advice on which way to best keep mothers. I hope to keep them for roughly a year. I just completed my first grow in which I bought clones. I'm also buying clones for my second grow which is in the works. I'm hoping to have seeds delivered in time to grow them out as mothers and be able to take my own clones for the third grow. Hoping to do some experimenting to find which pheno/geno I like the best. I'm running ebb and flow tables in flowering and buckets in veg. Just hydroton and rockwool. Wondering if it will be difficult to keep mother for a year in 5 gal buckets with drip feeders? What is your experience and how have you kept your mother's happy and healthy the longest? I would consider soil as I've been told it is easier but I don't want to have another space and don't like the idea of soil in the same tent as veg. Any and all help is appreciated!


Also, how do you feed them? Once they are mature do you cut back or feed mature veg nutes for a whole year?

I reckon soil as well just due to it being slowest and cooler temps and lower nutrient and light levels also to limit growth speed. You can also do things like trim the root ball and add new soil to the pot rather than up-size.Adding water-retaining crystals may help also so you don't have to water much at all...just check on them every now and again.Rockwell may work well too - not very experienced with it. Drip feeders or blumats would work well but you don't want to over-do the nutes because they'll take off - just fix any deficiencies.
Any advice anyone has I'd be super keen to hear it also, just about to build me a veg/mother cab and looking for tips.

Dont keep a mother.
Cut a dozen clones off the plants u grow out preferably before switching to flower. By the time those plants are done flowering those cutting will be perfect.
Clean down your grow area and repeat as often as necessary.

I believed in keeping a mother for years but since joining this site ive been convinced otherwise.
Use your mother area as an extra veg area.

Thanks for the reply guys. Since I'm shooting for a perpetual, my plan is to eventually do what you're talking about. I just to make sure I can clone successfully before I jump into that method. Also, I'm only getting 6 seeds and I'm running 24 plants so I kind of need to grow them out in order to cut the amount of clones I need for a full grow. Thanks again!

I guess if I get the seeds in time, I can grow the 6 out big enough to fill my scrog net. Decisions, decisions. Only time will tell!

Put it in Schultz moisture control. It's cheap and keeps em healthy for like 6 months. Don't be scared of the miracle grow stuff

AlphaPhase said:

Put it in Schultz moisture control. It's cheap and keeps em healthy for like 6 months. Don't be scared of the miracle grow stuff

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Is that a soil? I'm a total newbie and I only have experience in hydro, please pardon my ignorance!

It's soil but it works great for mother plants, I use it sometimes and I water once a week or less and just add water, no nutes for about 5-6 months or so. It keeps em mean and green and it's cheap too

Here's what I do. I grow a good sized plant and clone off the top. The top seems to be where the most vigorous growth is and always makes the best clones. I do not believe in any kind of genetic drift( meaning the plant gets less potent over time). Its different if your cloning sick plants, always make sure its a healthy cut. Then you just flower your mother and keep the clone. it will be an exact copy and take up less space.

torontoke said:

Dont keep a mother.
Cut a dozen clones off the plants u grow out preferably before switching to flower. By the time those plants are done flowering those cutting will be perfect.
Clean down your grow area and repeat as often as necessary.

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Absolutely, especially if you are going for a perpetual. I do a combination of mainlining and LST, and get my clones from pruning in veg.

IMO, mothers are only useful if you run a sea of green or take time off between grows.

Thanks for reply everyone. As I said, I plan to mother these seeds until I get the the point that I feel comfortable without them. Doc, you're the man! I received similar advice from the only good grower I know in real life. It makes a lot of sense.

I'm on here everyday.

I think mothers are good if you have limited flower room and want to have more strains than you flower each time. I.e. 20 strains as mothers and you run 3-4 per cycle. I just feel that a clone in a pot with a decent rootball (mother) is likely to fare better over time than a cut sitting in a rapid rooter etc.

Drumfounded said:

Thanks for reply everyone. As I said, I plan to mother these seeds until I get the the point that I feel comfortable without them. Doc, you're the man! I received similar advice from the only good grower I know in real life. It makes a lot of sense.

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Ah, yes.. you are doing hydro. Hydro is great, but there is that ever nagging fear in the back of your head that keeps reminding you that your entire crop could fail at any moment.

Keep a mom in soil (5-7 gallon), top her from 6 nodes down to 4 from seed and train her out flat so that each new node grows a new shoot quickly. In 6 weeks you'll have all the cloning material you need.

Seedlings always seem to grow with a little more vigor IMO. Some of my plants are ten years old no way to have a seedling that long.

Glaucoma said:

Ah, yes.. you are doing hydro. Hydro is great, but there is that ever nagging fear in the back of your head that keeps reminding you that your entire crop could fail at any moment.

Keep a mom in soil (5-7 gallon), top her from 6 nodes down to 4 from seed and train her out flat so that each new node grows a new shoot quickly. In 6 weeks you'll have all the cloning material you need.

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That's why I don't do it anymore we have power outages. soils pretty forgiving

Well that's a lot of what I expected to hear. Am I right to fear the idea of soil and hydro in the same tent?

Goldy said:

I think mothers are good if you have limited flower room and want to have more strains than you flower each time. I.e. 20 strains as mothers and you run 3-4 per cycle. I just feel that a clone in a pot with a decent rootball (mother) is likely to fare better over time than a cut sitting in a rapid rooter etc.

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Did you misunderstand me or am I misunderstanding you lol? When I say a mother kept in hydro, I don't mean keeping her in a rapid rooter plug. I'm more or less thinking a 6th rockwool cube to start and then putting her either in a tray with hydroton, or a 5 gallon bucket the same way.

Dr.Pecker said:

That's why I don't do it anymore we have power outages. soils pretty forgiving View attachment 3315189

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That's a good looking plant man