mother plant -how to EASY

badtorro

badtorro

Well-Known Member
I found a really nice strain and I'd love to have a mother plant from her
but I can't pay her too much attention on daily basis so I'm wondering...

what's the easiest way to maintain a mother plant?
I only need very few cuts per year, but I need as little maintenance as possible. Watering as rarely as possible, growth as slow as possible.

any ideas?
 
Oregon Gardener

Oregon Gardener

Well-Known Member
I usually keep them for a year. I have two strains that I refuse to give up. I use good ol' FF and a high quality potting soil mixed. Small fls in a small place will keep em' going a long time. I start with the solo cup and try to stay as small as possible and water as little as possible. You must resist just throwing water on them if you want them to stay small without f'ing them up. It's like buying a gal a drink. First ya gotta pick em' up. Now normally, I like big girls, but for this ya want em' as light as possible. I bring em' up to the table, and pour it in slow... Not too much! Then, I like to squirt a little. Ya know soapy water 1/4 fert and such. Other than that, keep your muthu trim and tie your muthu down ( if yur into that sort of thing) Don't worry about throwing away good genetics. Keeping the future girls uniform is more important in my opinion. Here is some mothers that I just retired. Another RUI member has them now and is flowering.( pic 1) I hope he will post. These new moms have been pruned several times. (pic 2-3) I think it makes a prettier clone which inter makes prettier plant. Follow your schedule.
 

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badtorro

badtorro

Well-Known Member
thanks for great tips, indeed this could work

how do you arrange to have it survive ie. 3 weeks vacations?
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
badtorro said:
thanks for great tips, indeed this could work

how do you arrange to have it survive ie. 3 weeks vacations?
Click to expand...
I use the electronic fill up valves from the back of old washing machines along with a timer to get the watering done while I'm away for the moms. Set the timer to what you'd normally water after you figure flow settings etc. Of course this will take a bit of figuring but anyone who's passed high school should have no problem.

The budders res gets topped up with one of these valves with a timer and a float switch every 24 hours in between waterings.
 
badtorro

badtorro

Well-Known Member
bird mcbride said:
I use the electronic fill up valves from the back of old washing machines along with a timer to get the watering done while I'm away for the moms. Set the timer to what you'd normally water after you figure flow settings etc. Of course this will take a bit of figuring but anyone who's passed high school should have no problem.

The budders res gets topped up with one of these valves with a timer and a float switch every 24 hours in between waterings.
Click to expand...
wow this sounds great!
indeed this could work
Would you mind posting a picture of the device?
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
Stick to 32-34 watt daylight florescent tubes for moms as they will not burn the plant in the event of contact while you are away. 300+ watts(tubes) are best for moms.
 
badtorro

badtorro

Well-Known Member
bird mcbride said:
Stick to 32-34 watt daylight florescent tubes for moms as they will not burn the plant in the event of contact while you are away. 300+ watts(tubes) are best for moms.
Click to expand...
thank you for the tips! I will research that

I'm thinking very small scale, virtually a single plant with just 3-4 cuttings per year, so I really want to keep it as compact as possible, so I will sitck with te CFL idea, I have a single 23W bulb for vegging, this should work. I'm also thinking v.small pots should help, no?
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
here









The small hose that slides on goes to the plant pot and attach the hose to the cold water tap side and adjust the pressure at the tap, set the timer etc. I run a res with this...120vac
 

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MonkeyGrinder

MonkeyGrinder

Well-Known Member
If you're wanting to keep a tiny mother I'll share my method. Although I am roughly new to the whole mother plant thing.
But I have 4 that I've been keeping small and in pristine health. The 1st one I've had close to 9 months old now and she's 6 - 7 inches tall pot included. Along with the rest of them. They're varying age but from the same plant.
First off root your clones.
Then pot them in very small containers. These are in 750ml pots.
Before people go bonkers about them being rootbound and whatnot (they all are)
I'm keeping them small like this until april rolls around. Planning on upcanning them in a few weeks to grow them out as large mothers for an army of small clones to throw out during the last week of april.
Now with that being said.
I've been doing nothing except for keeping them right beside small T5 light system on a gas lantern routine veg cycle. The light is placed on a wall vertically. Plants right up next to it. It's a 2x2 with 8 bulbs. I keep it set to only have 4 bulbs running. Bulbs are 23watts. So it's not a big power drain.
When they get too tall. Around a foot or so pot included. I just chop it strait down and trim it up so there's only one single growth node left to push out growth from. If I felt inclined I have a good 6-8 inch cut I could root if I wanted. . And the cycle starts all over again. I only have to do this like twice a month. Every 3-4 weeks.By the time they're that large I'm generally having to water them every 3-4 days. I consider that a pain in the ass considering for the first week after their big chop I literally don't even look at them for a week.
They bounce right back from a huge pruning and keep on chugging with their rootmass. There's no time loss at all.
And I feed them maybe once every 3 weeks or so. I do it right in the middle of their growth cycle before they're going to get chopped. So it doesn't burn it when it's just a little tiny runt of a plant. And it pushes it to where it needs to be chopped. After messing with them and dialing my little personal system is I know what these cuts can take and what they can't. And I've been keeping them 100% healthy.
Since they're rootbound AF watering them is a little odd cause the liquid kinda shoots to the bottom. I just stick them in small tupperware container. Fill it up with water. Then hit them with a few shots of water up top to completely hydrate the medium (promix)
So you can take from this post what you will.
It's just a small system I've personally dialed in keeping a lovely 2015 pheno alive for a 2016 run.
I'd say I spend 30 minutes a month messing with them.
It's
Open closet.
Are my bulbs still burning?
Yes.
OK.
Do they need water?
No
Shut door and come back tomorrow.
If yes then water them and put them back. Chop them if I have to water them too often.
 
badtorro

badtorro

Well-Known Member
MonkeyGrinder said:
If you're wanting to keep a tiny mother I'll share my method. Although I am roughly new to the whole mother plant thing.
But I have 4 that I've been keeping small and in pristine health. The 1st one I've had close to 9 months old now and she's 6 - 7 inches tall pot included. Along with the rest of them. They're varying age but from the same plant.
First off root your clones.
Then pot them in very small containers. These are in 750ml pots.
Before people go bonkers about them being rootbound and whatnot (they all are)
I'm keeping them small like this until april rolls around. Planning on upcanning them in a few weeks to grow them out as large mothers for an army of small clones to throw out during the last week of april.
Now with that being said.
I've been doing nothing except for keeping them right beside small T5 light system on a gas lantern routine veg cycle. The light is placed on a wall vertically. Plants right up next to it. It's a 2x2 with 8 bulbs. I keep it set to only have 4 bulbs running. Bulbs are 23watts. So it's not a big power drain.
When they get too tall. Around a foot or so pot included. I just chop it strait down and trim it up so there's only one single growth node left to push out growth from. If I felt inclined I have a good 6-8 inch cut I could root if I wanted. . And the cycle starts all over again. I only have to do this like twice a month. Every 3-4 weeks.By the time they're that large I'm generally having to water them every 3-4 days. I consider that a pain in the ass considering for the first week after their big chop I literally don't even look at them for a week.
They bounce right back from a huge pruning and keep on chugging with their rootmass. There's no time loss at all.
And I feed them maybe once every 3 weeks or so. I do it right in the middle of their growth cycle before they're going to get chopped. So it doesn't burn it when it's just a little tiny runt of a plant. And it pushes it to where it needs to be chopped. After messing with them and dialing my little personal system is I know what these cuts can take and what they can't. And I've been keeping them 100% healthy.
Since they're rootbound AF watering them is a little odd cause the liquid kinda shoots to the bottom. I just stick them in small tupperware container. Fill it up with water. Then hit them with a few shots of water up top to completely hydrate the medium (promix)
So you can take from this post what you will.
It's just a small system I've personally dialed in keeping a lovely 2015 pheno alive for a 2016 run.
I'd say I spend 30 minutes a month messing with them.
It's
Open closet.
Are my bulbs still burning?
Yes.
OK.
Do they need water?
No
Shut door and come back tomorrow.
If yes then water them and put them back. Chop them if I have to water them too often.
Click to expand...
This is great stuff man! That's exactly what I want for me.
For the moment I want just 1 plant and only to preserve the very nice pheno I got this time.

Would you mind sharing some photos? :-)
 
MonkeyGrinder

MonkeyGrinder

Well-Known Member
badtorro said:
Would you mind sharing some photos? :-)
Click to expand...
Nah man I don't do photos. I'm kind of a paranoid mofo with good reason. I don't actually grow dope. It's that degenerate ass Monkey in my avatar that does. He just makes me post here. He allows no photos. I try my best to keep him out of trouble but what can you do?

But my little method would feasibly work though. Like I said I have to give them a haircut semi frequently. It'd be fine for what you mentioned. A single t5 strip or maybe 2 would keep a small mother alive and well. Just rig them up vertically on opposite sides of the plant. If I were you I'd actually put them in soil though.
So what strain did you find a winner with anyways?
 
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