how to keep motherplants small

Hello,
id like to ask what happens if you cut the mainstem of your motherplant? I want to keep it small enough so she can live in my cupboard. 2000ml airpot. Now cutting and trimming fanleaves and sidestems should be no problem. But how can i limit the height to 25-30cm? From topping i know it will grow 2 stems. If i cut the mainstem, will it just grow one of the stems on the side really large? Would look weird.

The best way to keep them small and healthy is just to grow a new one every 4-6 months. I keep them in 4" pots, with 5-8 growing tips. I also like to keep them under t5s, and not super close to the bulbs, keep them at least 6 inches away to slow down the growth. They are easy to keep small for few months without much hassle, but it's a good idea to trim 1/2" off the roots every couple of months, and replace it with fresh soil or coco. Anytime the plant starts looking unhealthy you can trim the roots. Making a new mom every few months keeps the growth all fresh and healthy.

I go clone to clone
After a while the plant either has to be allowed to bush out then trimmed aggressively or take clips and keep them in an aero cloner

man i almost thought i messed up again. have 2 clones, they didnt grow for almost 3 weeks. 1 was only redundancy .Now suddenly over night one grew 2 tiny leaves and you can see the whole plant is very alive at once and moving his leaves like a little sputnik. My first try sucked. Followed a Youtube video that said all you have to do is put them in a glass of water...didnt work for me.

mannitu77 said:

man i almost thought i messed up again. have 2 clones, they didnt grow for almost 3 weeks. 1 was only redundancy .Now suddenly over night one grew 2 tiny leaves and you can see the whole plant is very alive at once and moving his leaves like a little sputnik. My first try sucked. Followed a Youtube video that said all you have to do is put them in a glass of water...didnt work for me.

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You can root clones in water, i wouldn't recommend it as a method but it's doable.

To keep them compact i like to take the mother plants 4-5th week in flower.

Some were cut back in February.

Taking them in flower, keeping them in small pots, defoliating, trimming, fimming and lower temps all helps slow things down.

mannitu77 said:

Hello,
id like to ask what happens if you cut the mainstem of your motherplant? I want to keep it small enough so she can live in my cupboard. 2000ml airpot. Now cutting and trimming fanleaves and sidestems should be no problem. But how can i limit the height to 25-30cm? From topping i know it will grow 2 stems. If i cut the mainstem, will it just grow one of the stems on the side really large? Would look weird.

Click to expand...

When it's topped the new growth will create 2 new main stems, and they will grow equally, not only on one side.

After topping, a common practice is to use low stress training (LST) to guide the new growth. This basically means using garden wire or string to tie down the new growth.

Lots of people will do what's called a mainline, which means basically growing the main's horizontally from the LST, allowing you to continually take clone cuttings from the lower growth as they sprout along the mainline.

Cannabis is quite resilient, you can cut down and it will keep growing back.


As for the cloning a new mom every few months, that's one way and more for just being cautious in case your mom gets a desease or otherwise you lose it. I've read stories of some who have kept the same mom going for 20 years.

That bonsai tutorial^ works great and can be a lot of fun too. But i never know how often i should root prune. Clone to clone seems to be a good way to keep the vigor up at least in my experience

Not the sexiest girl band, but I keep mine in solo cups. Been in the cups since February this year. I will soon be taking a cut from each & starting a new set of moms. These will have the roots pruned, and then transplanted for flower soon. Still have one more run to do of the cement shoes before that happens.
I keep taking cuts, even if I don’t want them. Only to keep them small. If need be I would chop everything except one shoot to minimize.

You can do several things and combinations of things, ruru had a great point for one very common way.

I personally enjoy rotating moms out here and there.

However I like to pull moms out of their pots cut their roots back and re pot them in fresh medium of your choice. Kind of a Bansai mom trick that some people will do.
In conjunction I sort of mainline them a little and prune them back regularly so they grow slower. I also will use T5s IF I want the to grow extremely slow as well. Typically they are under something like a 65w led or a 100w.

i think i messed up...my motherplant did produce some small flowers. I didnt make a real 16/8 or 18/6 cycle, i was thinking my roomlighting at night is enough to stop it from flowering...seems it wasnt.

Star Dog said:

You can root clones in water, i wouldn't recommend it as a method but it's doable.
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I've rooted cuts that way a couple of times but have never managed to go from that to the pot and have it survive. Seems the roots when in water are very fragile, either that or I just suck at transplanting!

greatfern said:

That bonsai tutorial^ works great and can be a lot of fun too. But i never know how often i should root prune. Clone to clone seems to be a good way to keep the vigor up at least in my experience

Click to expand...

You don't need to mess with the roots if you keep the plant small. I have one year old bonsai plants in 4" rockwool cubes and have never pruned their roots.