Mother plant Best system to use +rep

bricktown73

bricktown73

Well-Known Member
I want to grow 2 mother plants when I clip my clones next week. What is the best systems to use? Drip, aero, ebb and flow?

What should I contain it in? I like the 5 gallon bucket ruitin, but can someone spell it out? Or links would be cool. +rep
 
ElephantRider

ElephantRider

Well-Known Member
Is dirt and cfl's out? They just need to pop clones out. Are you talking about a perpetual personal grow or all at once style?
 
joker152

joker152

Well-Known Member
none of those three would really be best for a mother plant man, hydro and aero systems are good for growing harvest plants with big buds as fast as you possibly can, with mother plants you gotta take advantage of the cheaper and easier way to grow them and save the effort for the plants you are going to harvest. simply use some good ol soil for the mothers and stick a few cfl's on her, also put the mothers in 18-6 to prevent them from growing too big, all you want off the mother is some healthy branches and they really dont need too much for that
 
WhatWouldBobDo?

WhatWouldBobDo?

Active Member
Regardless of style, cfls/floros and dirt is the way to go for mothers. It's easy, and you don't need to worry about it. You can change the light source if you want (LED's if you have to, MH could work well), but stick to the dirt.

Hydro for mothers will just give you more growth and more problems than you need to deal with. Dirt allows you to open up the root system, trim, and replace without as many issues as with hydro, at least in my opinion.

And if you are planning on keeping a mother in a 5 gal bucket you'll get a 7 foot tall mother. I usually keep moms short. All you need to do is get cuttings off them. I usually go with a 4" square pot.


But that's just me.
 
bricktown73

bricktown73

Well-Known Member
ok, so if I get a 5 gallon bucket, drill some drainage holes, what should I put the 5 gallon bucket in? LIke a rubber maid container for the over flow? And can i use my hyrdo setup nuts for the dirt? Or do I have to get feretizer?
 
mj320002

mj320002

Well-Known Member
What I do with my Mothers is put them in 5 gallon buckets filled with granulated rockwool. You can use your same nutes. I just cut drain holes in the bottom of the bucket and put a square bucket under it to catch the runoff. You could set up a drip system but I just water mine by hand. Just make a gallon for each one and that will fully saturate the rockwool and have a little runoff. I only have to water like every 4 or 5 days until right before i take clones then about every other day.


bricktown73 said:
ok, so if I get a 5 gallon bucket, drill some drainage holes, what should I put the 5 gallon bucket in? LIke a rubber maid container for the over flow? And can i use my hyrdo setup nuts for the dirt? Or do I have to get feretizer?
Click to expand...
 
bricktown73

bricktown73

Well-Known Member
WhatWouldBobDo? said:
Why are you people using 5 gallon buckets? It's so unnecessary. All you need is a 4" square pot.
Click to expand...
Then what is the minimum size container I can use for a mother to harvest 20+ clones every 2-4 weeks?

I thought that the 5gln bucket was just convient and effective?
 
mj320002

mj320002

Well-Known Member
You could probably grow a mother in a 1 inch rockwool cube but you would just have to water it like 3 or four times a day. The 5 gallon buckets are easier because you don't have to water as often and there is more room for the roots. Also how tall are the cuttings you are taking? Just because you use a bigger pot doesn't mean you have to have a bigger plant either. If you trim them they stay short until of course you have removed all the lower branches for cutting and have to move up then it begins to gain height.

bricktown73 said:
Then what is the minimum size container I can use for a mother to harvest 20+ clones every 2-4 weeks?

I thought that the 5gln bucket was just convient and effective?
Click to expand...
 
bricktown73

bricktown73

Well-Known Member
Actually, I plan on building ( or actually started) an aeroponic setup in a 30 gallon rubber main. I though I would suspend a 5 gallon bucket, or a 4 in cube of rockwool with clay pellets or something else but not sure what would be the best for me... Maybe someone can jump in and give me their thought.
 
LoudBlunts

LoudBlunts

Well-Known Member
in my humble opinion, aeroponics would be a bad idea. lets say your power was to go out.....all your strains could die.

soil/soilless moms work good


i use tt96 floros and ebb and flow for my mothers
 
BirdTooth

BirdTooth

Well-Known Member
What if you needed high numbers of clones each pass, like over a hundred? Would soil still be a good option? Or do you just recommend it because it is painless and low-tech?
Would a person needing those high numbers do better with a different method?
 
LoudBlunts

LoudBlunts

Well-Known Member
i grow tiny bonsai moms but im still able to get at least 5-10 cuts per mom

the rest of the clones, i just experiment with (best cloning method, pruning, etc etc)
 
Revolution101

Revolution101

Well-Known Member
look up smart pots. Plant them in soil in these pots. You could keep a mother in this for 100 years and it wont get root bound.
 
ElephantRider

ElephantRider

Well-Known Member
Yeah.. I'm sayin' organic dirt, 5 gallon bucket, monster cfl's on 18/6. Do a circular LST first so you have all kinds of branhes reaching to the lights. And what these guys say is true.. dirt's the best way to go for a mom. Less issues, since you're looking to keep this thing for a loong time. There are plenty of people that keep moms for 20+ years bonsai'd in dirt. It's easy and natural. Man.. even better, go LED.
 
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