Any tips on keeping a mother plant?

[Tictok]

Hey GR420

I have a small 60x60x140 veg tent. It's currently packed with 8 small clones and one long in veg plant that maybe male or female, which will get culled or moved to flower in another 8 weeks.

The clones are of the More Cowbell (Bodhi) I have in the flower tent.

I will eventually whittle down the clones to one, picking the strongest one and keep it vegging as a mother.

Does anyone have any advice or tips in keeping a mother plant? I cannot grow it too big as I'll want to veg out other plants eventually.

Questions so far include;

Is pot size relevant? Can you keep a mother in a smaller pot so it stays smallish, but doesn't screw up getting pot bound?

Lighting? I have a 150w draw led with red and uv, but I'm running it on 1/4 power due to the clones. Can I grow a mother slowly at this level or will it stretch too much? The bigger plant I don't know the sex of is a notoriously slow growing pheno so it's doing fine.... the clones though are from a pheno with vigour!


Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Greenfingers]

Following this also

[Dabbedout]

dont keep her for more than 6-12 months
always grow from seed i find best
Thanks

[Keeno]

dont keep her for more than 6-12 months
always grow from seed i find best
Thanks

Hey buddy,

That link had nothing to do with the post, I've deleted it
If you want to advertise here contact admin please.

[Tictok]

dont keep her for more than 6-12 months
always grow from seed i find best
Thanks

Hey buddy,

That link had nothing to do with the post, I've deleted it
If you want to advertise here contact admin please.

I'm not sure it's correct anyway is it? I've heard of some mothers being kept for years. Happy to be corrected.

[seymore_budz]

It depends on all sorts of factors including genetics. There are posts online and stories of mothers being kept for many years. Personally, I wouldn't keep a mother for more than 12 months. Some people disagree but I much prefer to take cuttings from cuttings.

To answer some of your questions, you can indeed run it on a low wattage and in a small pot as well as use some other techniques like root pruning and cutting them back etc but it all seems to be dependent on the plant whether they respond well or not. You'll just have to jump in head first and try it.

IMO, the only sure bet for preserving genetics is the same way nature does and make seeds.

[bigbadbillybob]

yu don't have to change them every year, not at all, a mate of mine has had a mother for over 15 years, and it still produces the goods. the trunk on it is about4-5 inches thick, its no more than about 18 inches high, if that, and he keeps it bonsai.

Anyway mums, yes keep it in a 6 or 8 litre pot. when it gets overtly rootbound remove it from the pot and cut back the roots a couple of inches. it wont harm the plant at all.
keep it in a tent with a light that doesn't draw much wattage, or you will just end up chopping it back all the time. said mate above keeps his under 60watt of blue cfls. don't overfeed it before taking cuttings, cant think of anything else just now

[Tictok]

Thanks both, I'll just give it ago. If my monster More Cowbell goes full cycle I'll have enough percy to last so I could flower out a male and collect some pollen.
I think the low wattage is the thing. I'm findi g it suprising how low you can go in veg.

[seymore_budz]

Good luck Tictok! Keep us posted on how it turns out.

[bigbadbillybob]

ive kept plants alive with 20 watt cfls before now. they just don't grow so much, er obviously.
good luck with the bodhis