Mother keeping

I have been able to get most of the answer I need for my first grow from the forums already, thanks to everyone for a great community. But I have a few questions regarding handling mother plants that I haven’t quite been able to nail down

Managing size: I’m planning to only keep 1 mother per strain, probably 2- 4 plants total. From what I have gathered, if I keep them under a couple CFLs maybe 125w that will make them not grow as fast. But when they do grow, do I just top them monthly or whatever to keep them under a certain size? I would like to keep the mothers for many months maybe a year or so, but I don’t want them to be 6 foot tall plants.

Taking clones: I have read mixed things about taking clones. Can I use this as a way to control size? It seems like most of the time clones are taken from the lower more mature longer branches. Does the lower part of the plant refill these areas and you always clone from here or do you take them from anywhere. I would like to use this to control growth but it seems like you don’t want to use the top of the plant as the branches are smaller and younger. Maybe im wrong

Lighting: as noted above, since I don’t want them growing real fast, would 1 or 2x 125w CFLs or maybe a couple T5 lights be sufficient to keep them healthy but limit overall growth?

Odor: since they will stay in the vegetative growth stage, will they produce the strong odor that a flowering cannabis plant does? If I have them in a closed closet will that likely be enough or will I need proper odor control like a carbon scrubber

Hi! Hey I'm keeping mom's now too. Here's what I'm doing.
Topping when needed, using what I can to clone.
not feeding them full doses, and tying branches down.
works good so far. As for lighting, I have 3 mom's under
aprox 190 watts. Led & cfl's. Idk if more light would make
them grow taller or not, cause I never tried. But less
light will make them stretch. And I'd guess they grow
faster in any form of hydro.
And my mothers don't give off much smell. Not enough for
a filter.

Wildo69 said:

I have been able to get most of the answer I need for my first grow from the forums already, thanks to everyone for a great community. But I have a few questions regarding handling mother plants that I haven’t quite been able to nail down

Managing size: I’m planning to only keep 1 mother per strain, probably 2- 4 plants total. From what I have gathered, if I keep them under a couple CFLs maybe 125w that will make them not grow as fast. But when they do grow, do I just top them monthly or whatever to keep them under a certain size? I would like to keep the mothers for many months maybe a year or so, but I don’t want them to be 6 foot tall plants.

Taking clones: I have read mixed things about taking clones. Can I use this as a way to control size? It seems like most of the time clones are taken from the lower more mature longer branches. Does the lower part of the plant refill these areas and you always clone from here or do you take them from anywhere. I would like to use this to control growth but it seems like you don’t want to use the top of the plant as the branches are smaller and younger. Maybe im wrong

Lighting: as noted above, since I don’t want them growing real fast, would 1 or 2x 125w CFLs or maybe a couple T5 lights be sufficient to keep them healthy but limit overall growth?

Odor: since they will stay in the vegetative growth stage, will they produce the strong odor that a flowering cannabis plant does? If I have them in a closed closet will that likely be enough or will I need proper odor control like a carbon scrubber

Click to expand...

Managing size:
Look into the bonzai method. You can keep them real small that way. No problem.
If a plant gets out of control and/or you do not plan to use those genetics for a little while then just take a couple clones from it, chuck the mother, and start a new mother from the clones. You can do it over and over again... After you get your cuts from a mother, if you are not going to chuck it and make an new one from a cut. Then, cut your mother waaay back to the lowest nodes you can. Make sure you leave 2 nodes for 2 new tops on each branch and some fan leaves. Remove branches that emerge from the dead center. Go for a "bowl" sort of look. You can cut it way back. Just leave at least, say %15 of the original growth. 25% is probably better.

:Taking Clones:
It's a matter of preference... I only take clones from tops, as i use the bonzai method. My clones root in 10 days or less and are always super healthy. If you recently topped, expect at least 3 weeks of growth before you are ready to take cuts... longer will produce more vigorous healthy cuts... it will vary with your genetics.
Say you only have 5 tops and you want 8 clones... you can just take a clone from the top, then go further down that branch and take another cut. That cut will have two tops, but it will root just fine. It gets done often here. It frees up some mother space. If you want to start over with your mother but need say 8 cuts in just a few months... then just start 2 new mothers of that strain. Going from clone to 4 tops in a couple months is a breeze.

Lighting:
The cheapest best thing to do, imo, is 4 ft T8 lighting... you can keep 3-4 mother plants under one of those lights fine. I keep about 7 under two T8s, side by side. T5 is too expensive with very little advantage. CFL gives you uneven growth. T8 2bulb fixture from lowes is less than $20. One of those should cover you. If you find your growth is too slow (doubtful) just pickup a 2nd fixture and mount it right next to the original one.

Odor:
Depending on the strain, there will be a little odor. carbon filtration will cover that up. You can setup a fan hovering over your lights... then exhaust that air to your flower room. That air will be filtered through your flower filter... no need for a second filter.

Here are 7 mothers under 2 T8 four foot lights...They have plenty of room to grow bigger. Just make sure you leave yourself some vertical room. Also, plan ahead... know what you expect to grow for your next round before you start the previous. Then you can plan your mothers accordingly.
View attachment 2394989
This Northern Lights mother provided many clones just 1 week ago. She was cut back to produce more clones in about 7 weeks. Notice the bowl like shape. She might need tied or cut back a little in 4 weeks or so. NL can stretch a bit.


Here are cuts from a few bonzai mothers. They look pretty healthy, right? All tops.
View attachment 2394990
I've heard the "you want to cut lower growth" thing too. For years and years. In my experience though, they really do not root any faster or make better cuts. In fact, the tops take off after rooting and transplant. The little side cuts add 1-2 weeks to your veg time, as they catch up to lush healthy top-type growth. I find that using all tops, I barely even need to veg at all. When I do... you guessed it... a cheap old T8 2 bulb fixture... you can root your clones in the same spot.

For a small flower (4k or less) room with a variety of strains to choose from... the bonzai method with a T8 fixture is a great option. Hopefully this answers some of your questions.

thanks for all the insight, very helpful.

only one thing stick out here, you stated
"...and start a new mother from the clones. You can do it over and over again..."


It was my understanding you should only clone so many time from the same genetic line..
In that if you take 4 clones form the mother, and chuck the mother.. then make a new mother form one of the 4 clones.. then later take 4 more clones, and repeat.. you are essentially using the same plant genetically speaking.. i recall reading some where you should only go a few 3-5 generations into the cloning otherwise you may have weird things happen. Which is why you keep the mother so everything is an 1st generation clone.. was i misinterpreting what i was reading?

Wildo69 said:

thanks for all the insight, very helpful.

only one thing stick out here, you stated
"...and start a new mother from the clones. You can do it over and over again..."


It was my understanding you should only clone so many time from the same genetic line..
In that if you take 4 clones form the mother, and chuck the mother.. then make a new mother form one of the 4 clones.. then later take 4 more clones, and repeat.. you are essentially using the same plant genetically speaking.. i recall reading some where you should only go a few 3-5 generations into the cloning otherwise you may have weird things happen. Which is why you keep the mother so everything is an 1st generation clone.. was i misinterpreting what i was reading?

Click to expand...

Well, if you did it every single time you took cuts that would be a little excessive. being that the process of going through "cloning" can be very stressful on the plant, you are exposing it to more possibly stressful situations by starting a new clone more often than needed.
Assuming that the clone was cut from a healthy plant and the clone remained healthy through becoming a new mother... there is not a degradation of the genetics. in my opinion and experience.

What can happen though is along the way, your plant can have a problem... like say your light cycle gets messed up and it goes into flower, then reveg. So, when your plant goes through that, it will carry on into the next clone. Even if you were just keeping 1 plant all this time though, the reveg would have the same negative effect on your 1 plant. It is possible someone who reported problems with cloning over and over just had a plant problem, then shifted the blame to that practice. Maybe not though...?
Just make sure every time you pick that new mother from a batch of clones you are picking the healthiest clone. Always use the healthiest clone.

The making of a new mother from clone is also good for root health... after a plant is in a pot for about 6 months it will be very rootbound and much of the roots will be dead.. This can have much worse effects on a plant than being "born again" through a cutting. (Fungus gnats, root aphids and the diseases they spread) You can repot in a larger pot instead of starting a new cutting, but you can only go with a bigger pot so many times. Especially when trying to keep at a manageable size.... some people "root prune" to work against the inevitable root bound problem... i have never tried it, but it sounds like a stressful thing to put your plant through. a new clone seems like a better choice to me. that's just a guess, not from experience.

I'm on some 20th generation plants... the effects of the environment are what adds up over time. not the actual number of times it is cut. I'm probably only chucking mothers and starting new with clones about 2 or 3 times a year these days. That is enough times to keep them a manageable size and with healthy roots. You can start your mother in a 1 qt pot, then when she is rootbound go to a 4 inch square korg pot, then a 1 gallon pot. then a 2 gallon pot.... that should get you to about 6 months... with that, you are only chucking your mothers twice a year.... I pretty much like to chuck a mother only when I am not going to be using the genetics for a long time... like right now, im putting my super silver haze mother aside for about 6 months... so i am starting a new clone for a mother. why keep a 2 gallon pot plant of her for 6 months and spend all that time watering her?

these are just my opinions based on my own experience. I could be incorrect and/or could have a bias opinion about the matter. But it is derived from experience, not book knowledge.

"Managing size" - Pot size is the answer. Put your mother-to-be in a 4-7 QUART size pot for her entire lifetime
(with one exception for advanced growers) and leave her there. Most strains will grow to 24-30 inches and top out there
if left there. It would be wasteful to merely top a mother plant for size control. Treat the top cola as a clone and take it when
it is clone size.

"Taking clones" - See above. Cuttings taken nearer the roots will root sooner, everything else being even. With my KSK cloning
operation cuttings from the top of mom rooted a day or 2 slower than bottom rung clones. But the lower branches are usually smaller,
so don't sacrifice size for place-on-the-plant. You will have a higher success rate cloning if the cuttings you take are large enough
to have a hole in the middle of the stem.

"Lighting: as noted above, since I don’t want them growing real fast" - ??? That is lenty of light for slow measured growth. Width of
spectrum is actually more important than wattage if the plant's health is the concern.

"Odor:" Flower rooms will smell more unless you have a batch of re-growers vegging. They tend to reek.

Good luck, BigSteve.