Do you need a mother plant to clone?

I don't keep a mother plant in veg. I just veg 8 plants and take cuttings from them right before I move them to flower. Then when those cuttings grow up I take cuttings from them and so on. Is this OK? Does it matter?
Thanks.

That's what I do too. Been doing it for 3 years, plant still grows, tastes, and yields great.

your mom would be ashamed of you

no worries, bare in mind if the batch of clones fail you lose that strain/pheno.

Thats the same way i do it also. I take clones right when my plants go into flowering so even if something goes drasticaly wrong my plants will only be in flowering for a week and ill be able to take more clones. I also wait till i have my furture plants going well in soil before i clean up the bottoms of my flowering plants and remove what would be potential clones.

Awesome. Good to hear. My veg area is pretty short so I've never kept a mom. Never gave it much thought before but it has been weighing heavy on my mind lately.

Thanks for replies!

Yea, its ok to do that. You can keep a mom even in really short spaces, if you LST right.

I did this for quite awhile with my strains but they started to wear down and not be nearly as good as when I first started cloning them. I'm surprised to hear others not have this same thing happen if doing it for years. I mean did you clone every 1-2 months for a couple years? I literally saw about 5 strains break down over time and grow differently, looks differently etc..

Seriously? I started from seeds around May '10 and then started cloning after that. So maybe 7 generations in now. Mine actually look better than ever. But that's because I've finally figured out how to do it better. Curious when they might start to degrade? This was my main worry and reason for starting this thread.

But this is how I reasoned it out in my head. As stupid as it may sound.. haha. I figure if you keep a mother plant for 2 years and take clones from her every 2 months then she is still a 2 year old plant in 2 years. And if you cut clones from clones from clones for 2 years then basically those plants are 2 years old as well. So I thought it was a draw. Make any sense?

It definitely depends on the strain. If it has strong genetics, they will carry on for many generations without weakening in potency or yield.
If the genes aren't so strong due to repeated crossing and other various reasons, they may degrade within a few years.

I started with a seed. Once the 4th set of leaves started to open up I topped above the second set, tossed the bottom into flower, and started rooting the top. Once the top had it's 4th set of leaves start to open I repeated the process. Now that I know it's a female I hold the bottom in veg long enough to make sure the new clone roots before tossing the bottom into flowering.

i would thing ya have more of a chance of losing those great qualities that made you pick the strain in the first place. if you mother a strong, vibrant plant, you ensure strong, vibrant clones for a long time.

11 years on my indica, 4 years on my sativa. Pull clones twice then into the budroom. I am acquainted with a grower doing his 15th year on a hybrid.
I have never understood this degeneration theory, I have never spoken with anyone with direct knowledge, everyone always "heard" it somewhere else.

ievolution, do you have any details on what the plant fail is? What parts mutated and are growing different? This is new to me and growers in my area.