Can you keep a mother plant alive outside forever?

avillax

Well-Known Member
I grow on my balcony. Let's say I have a strain I really like, can I keep it as mother plant alive forever outside? without a controlled environment?
 

thenasty1

Well-Known Member
I grow on my balcony. Let's say I have a strain I really like, can I keep it as mother plant alive forever outside? without a controlled environment?
theoretically, if you have supplemental light to stop if from flowering, and your local climate doesnt ever get cold or hot enough to kill it, and you prune/train it appropriately, i dont see why not. it would be far less hassle to just clone it though
 

avillax

Well-Known Member
theoretically, if you have supplemental light to stop if from flowering, and your local climate doesnt ever get cold or hot enough to kill it, and you prune/train it appropriately, i dont see why not. it would be far less hassle to just clone it though
Well, that too, but can you keep cloning it forever outside? How would you do it for this to work?
 

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
grow the plant until its too big for your space, take a couple clones, grow out the nicest clone, repeat. as long as nothing kills it, i dont see why you couldnt keep it rolling like that indefinitely
I second this. I kept a clone only strain going for almost a decade with no mother plant. Just took a few nice clones in late veg to root and veg while the donor plants where flowering.
 

NanoGadget

Well-Known Member
Well, that too, but can you keep cloning it forever outside? How would you do it for this to work?
Unless you live someplace where the days never get short it is going to flower on you. As stated above, you would need to put it under artificial lighting to keep it in veg mode during the seasons when the days get short.
 

avillax

Well-Known Member
Unless you live someplace where the days never get short it is going to flower on you. As stated above, you would need to put it under artificial lighting to keep it in veg mode during the seasons when the days get short.
And if it flowers is that a problem? Does it mean it will die eventually die if it flowers? Can't be a donnor anymore?
 

Magicole

Member
You can still clone in early flower(first 1 to 2, 2 1/2 weeks) it’s called monster cropping I believe. You could also try to reveg it so flower it out cut the top 90% off and during if you leave small buds at the bottom and put it under 24 hours of light the plant can revert back to veg. If you do this It also helps to use bees wax to seal the cut stems and down sizes the pot by 60% to 75% as long as you don’t go under one gallon. This just helps reduce the stress on the plant. At the end of the day you can keep this one plant alive under 18 hours of light forever with the right training. Look into bonsai techniques theres guys on Instagram that’s really good at it. Get.slothed... not the one I was looking for but close.
 

avillax

Well-Known Member
You can still clone in early flower(first 1 to 2, 2 1/2 weeks) it’s called monster cropping I believe. You could also try to reveg it so flower it out cut the top 90% off and during if you leave small buds at the bottom and put it under 24 hours of light the plant can revert back to veg. If you do this It also helps to use bees wax to seal the cut stems and down sizes the pot by 60% to 75% as long as you don’t go under one gallon. This just helps reduce the stress on the plant. At the end of the day you can keep this one plant alive under 18 hours of light forever with the right training. Look into bonsai techniques theres guys on Instagram that’s really good at it. Get.slothed... not the one I was looking for but close.
And by downsizing the pot do you also cut roots?
 

DarkWeb

Well-Known Member
Some people have the same haircut forever......But why do that? Evolve.....try new things, remember the good times, look foward to the next! Mullets are still cool though! LOL
 

Dougnsalem

Well-Known Member
Great thread! Good info being passed out here too.

The easiest for me has been to let the plant flower (and harvest the whole thing), but take some cuttings to clone, and grow them over the winter. Like said above, you really need some extra light. Not much. Toss your clones in a closet or wherever, with a couple screw-in CFL or LED bulbs on a 18/6 timer. I spent under 50 bucks to make a DIY aero-cloner, and it works every time. 100% for me. Heck, now I'm doing roses and other shit with it. Fun stuff!

(And yeah, I understand you said outside. For me, inside has been WAY easier, and it really doesn't take up much space. No smell either. Just something to think about....)
 

avillax

Well-Known Member
And if I don't want to spend a lot of money on wattage for the mother plant, can I place it outside receiving natural light and just put a 2 watt led light on top to grant her 12 hours of light? (it's main light source would be direct sunlight and the 2 watt led lamp on a timer would be just to prevent her from flowering, there's a wall division in my balcony, so this would not affect the other plants.
 

Magicole

Member
And by downsizing the pot do you also cut roots?
Yes but they are going to die anyways because the about of leaves left won’t be able to support a big root system. By cutting them you increase the amount of initial stress but you save the plant weeks of long drug out stress when it already has enough trying to break nature. That’s the way I look at it. Just keep doing research, the more you know the more you’ll grow!
 

avillax

Well-Known Member
Member
And if I don't want to spend a lot of money on wattage for the mother plant, can I place it outside receiving natural light and just put a 2 watt led light on top to grant her 12 hours of light? (it's main light source would be direct sunlight and the 2 watt led lamp on a timer would be just to prevent her from flowering, there's a wall division in my balcony, so this would not affect the other plants.
 
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