Cloning from Mother or Every Generation

First off I want to give many thanks to everybody on this board. I am new to growing and found this a invaluable resource for information. Keep up the good work!

I have been reading a lot on cloning and have found that most people will have a "Mother" plant in which they get clones from. I have been doing things differently and wanted to get some input on if this is is the wrong thing to do.

I started off with a clone of NL from a friend of mine and as it grew I got a couple clones from the lower branches. As the original plant matured I started flowering it. This left me with the clones of the clone and as time passed I did the same with them. I repeat this cycle with every crop using clones from the generation before. Is this a bad thing? Am I going to lose potancy and eventually end up with a hemp plant? Should I keep a mother plant and if so how do I go about keeping the size down? I havent been doing this very long and don't want to kill the mother (if needed) by improperly clipping it back. Also, if I do need to dedicate a mother where would I clip the clones from? Usually I get these from the lower branches of the plants I plan to flower and would dispose of anyway.

If this has been discussed before I apologize. I have looked around and found mixed answers.

Attached are pictures of what I have now in my Veg room


Thanks

mr thumb..

i used the technique you are talking about for years.. and everybody in my circle used this technique.. I never saw any problems... even after 3 years

another guy who was doing the same thing with the same strain (we got our clones from the same plant originally) claimed the plants were getting WORSE.. that they were becoming genetically inferior... well, one thing was for sure, his growing technique was inferior to mine.. a lot more inferior...

A lot of people claim that YOU need to stick with ONE mother..

I know I am in the minority on this issue and by KNOW means am I claiming I know the answer to your question.. BUT i used your technique and rarely do I see yields even comparable to mine..

iloveyou

Thanks for your input Garden. I have been seeing a mixed bag of answers to the whole mother vs. clones issue when I was trying to figure out what to do. I guess it comes down to the "whatever works best for you" mentality. I am only 3 generations in and wanted to make sure I'm not going to start seeing results like your friend. As of now everything is fine and I don't see any reason to change my ways.

I'm glad to hear that you haven't had any issues. That gives me hope for this method.

What strain are you growing? Maybe certain ones will handle this method better than others.


Greenthumb

I asked the same question a few days ago, and when you think about it.
Since its a clone, there are no ways for the dna of the plant to vary from mother to clone to clone. Its the exact same plant, just restarting the cycle.
I believe that it wouldn*t matter how many times you cloned, because it would be the same as having a single growing mother. Make sense?

I started with one cutting a friend of mine gave me from seeds he picked up in vancouver. Since then I've used both tech at different times.

Even after 6 years of cloning, all my friends say I still got the best bud they've ever had. I've not noticed any decrease in quality of any kind - potency, growth vigor etc...

octafunk said:

Since its a clone, there are no ways for the dna of the plant to vary from mother to clone to clone. Its the exact same plant, just restarting the cycle.

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This is exactly what I thought.

I'm finding that everyone responding to this is defending the "new mother every generation" theory. Does anyone have any bad experiences with this method?

Now with this being said. I've heard the saying "Outdoor is better than Indoor and Seeds are better than Clones". I can understand the whole outdoor thing but why are seeds better than clones if you are cloning an exact copy of the original?

idk if this is true but i have heard if you keep doing this around the 8th generation there will be a mutation of some kind, not like a bad thing but just like a slight change in the genetics making them different. any one else heard of that?

Greenthumb Gangsta said:

This is exactly what I thought.
.... I've heard the saying "Outdoor is better than Indoor and Seeds are better than Clones". I can understand the whole outdoor thing but why are seeds better than clones if you are cloning an exact copy of the original?

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To answer your question. Clones are better than seeds because you know what you are getting. IE female/male,stativa dominant or indica. If you have grown the clone before then you have a better understanding the need of the plant and its growth traits. Seeds is a guessing game to some extent.

KM

OGdreams said:

idk if this is true but i have heard if you keep doing this around the 8th generation there will be a mutation of some kind, not like a bad thing but just like a slight change in the genetics making them different. any one else heard of that?

Click to expand...

it's called phenotype; the effects of environment on genotype


the genes are 100% the same.

kp

hey there....looks like your getting some good feedback. I'll just add my support for those thoughts already given - in my mind, and from a theoretical perpsective, the original mother genetics do not change. with the exception of when a clone might mutate and then you might take a clone that has a genome mutated from the original. it has been suggested that there is potential for varied clone performance depending on where on the "mother" it came from (i.e., top, bottom, etc.) plant vigor should remain unchanged - your thoughts around indoor/outdoor...I agree. I have my first clones from the mother that I am fully flowering out....they are doing well after what I thought was a little of a slow start. walk on !

KushMaster85 said:

To answer your question. Clones are better than seeds because you know what you are getting. IE female/male,stativa dominant or indica. If you have grown the clone before then you have a better understanding the need of the plant and its growth traits. Seeds is a guessing game to some extent.

KM

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i am not disputing anything you said..

but I would like to add..

Seeds are freaking awesome.. the plants are amazing and have larger leaves and what appears to be a more vigorous growth...

ESPECIALLY when you have only been dealing with clones for years... the switch to seeds is fun... ONCE. and then back to business with clones!!

iloveyou

Thank you all for your input on this matter. I guess I will keep going with the method of cloning from every generation and hope that I don't get mutation. If eventually it does mutate I will have to start over from seeds which will be fun, as Garden Knowm said.

If this does happen and I need to start over. Has anyone ordered through Nirvana in the states? If so how should I handle it? Should I have them delivered to a friends house? Or is it that discrete?

If anyone has any other experiences with "Clones Gone Bad". Please, I would like to hear about it.

Greenthumb

If you're really into cloning, keep a mother plant that you can always take clones off. If in any generation you find a girl which seems to do better than the rest, take clones of off her. You can do this for every generation. And if in some generation you find a girl who does exceptionally well maybe think about replacing your mother plant.

So, where does one get a clone? From a dispensary? Or a friend, I suppose?

The only drawback I see in cloning is having the same bud to smoke over and over again. Variety is the spice of life.

Garden Knowm said:

mr thumb..

i used the technique you are talking about for years.. and everybody in my circle used this technique.. I never saw any problems... even after 3 years

another guy who was doing the same thing with the same strain (we got our clones from the same plant originally) claimed the plants were getting WORSE.. that they were becoming genetically inferior... well, one thing was for sure, his growing technique was inferior to mine.. a lot more inferior...

A lot of people claim that YOU need to stick with ONE mother..

I know I am in the minority on this issue and by KNOW means am I claiming I know the answer to your question.. BUT i used your technique and rarely do I see yields even comparable to mine..

iloveyou

Click to expand...

yeah the mother necessity thing doesn't quite jibe with my understanding of genetics...it wouldn't be the first time "conventional wisdom" yelled me down, only to find I was right after all.

I keep a mom around as I dont really veg my plants from clone just go almost right to flower so taking clones from the rooted clones I dont really have time but I will use a clone from thast mom to be my new mom eventually and havent noticed and gentic slips. The cclones I got were from clones that have been going for decades now with no fall in quality. The comment about variety well I keep several different clones and moms so i have 6-8 different strains at all time and my group of friends all keep different strains so we can trade buds or clones but maintain the original straisn from being lost

I have always used clones from each gen. Ive seen mutations and its like 1 out of 50 out of 15 gens. In fact I was interested in what would be different if we flowered this mutated clone, and in the end we just got less than the others, the plant seemed almost retarded. but oh well, I guess I was hoping for some kind of Incredible Hulk or gamma related mutation and put forth a new kind of herb onto the world. After a while you can spot them out, just kill them, or give them to people

creosote bushes in the mojave desert have cloned themselves for over 6000 years and they seem alright

whos got some "extra" clones, ive germinated like 15, one came close and i thought was gonna make it but no, so yeah