Moms...how can you keep them small(er)

OldG

Elite Hobbyist
Well I never thought i would ever want to know how to do something a little smaller but...things are getting out of control and i have 4 moms i want to hoard and keep forever.

7 gallon planters are clearly the wrong approach :)

Ideally to keep clone moms and make it as easy as possible on myself i was thinking either 1 gallon or 9 litre moms (2.3 gallon). Now it has been more like take cuts...take them faster...bloom it or something and then the off spring repeats the process.

For a light timer what timing do you use if its just moms and dads (I will probably clone males to keep them smaller too when i find my godbud and starfighter keeper). I might be able to gather the pollen but we will see (so far i am way too ogrish or something).

how much light ? like 5k 10k lux ?

I can make any amount of light with some of the weird veg lights i have made so its just a question of best practice so i can get going in the right direction and save my room for veggers. I had to take cuts to get wakanda to get down in height.. and then it rebounds in 2 days.

I will be getting 3 more moms in the next few days and might add a godbud too.

IMG_1184.JPG
 

JL2G

Jesse Loves 2 Grow
Staff member
Moderator
Q-36 Space Modulator
For keeping my moms I've found that around 1 gals work the best for my lazy grower methods. lol. The less work on my part, the better. lol.
I keep em in the back corners of the veg room where the light is the least amount, and trim them back every so often to keep them on the smaller side. Typically I'm able to easily keep them for 6 months to a yr, eventually sending them to flower after an up pot, and having made a new mom or three beforehand. Takes up some space, but is super simple and low maintenance.
Another route I've done before that works great too, but requires more work put into it is to keep them in small pots, but to keep a couple of them just in case of death, and constantly clone them. I have a small 5 led 60w bulb powered grow box I made out of a small cabinet that works really well for this. Small 4" or 6" square pots work well for this method, just keep taking clones as they get too tall for the mini grow area. Grow them bonsai style, and just keep making more as you go, tossing the ones as they get too big, or up pot them to flower out. Can keep many moms in a 1 x 3 footprint with this method. Very space saving imho.
 
I searched for this a while back and found the bonsai mom trick 1 gal or smaller pot 2 to 4 branches and root pruning under low light with low feed I kept 2 plemon moms like this for a year or so, just lost one and transplanted and root pruned the remaining gal the one I lost was my fault it needed root pruned and some fresh coco and perlite but I slacked for 4 months and paid the price ???? there is some youtube content on it just search bonsai mother plants
 

JL2G

Jesse Loves 2 Grow
Staff member
Moderator
Q-36 Space Modulator
Heat and light makes plants grow.

I grew this
View attachment 102730
With this.
View attachment 102731
Deprive them of what they need to flourish. Really throws an anchor on growth.
I also employed good old fashion dirt. Clay soil allowed me to water only twice a week.
Yep, just like that, what he said. ?
It's bulbs just like that is what I use in my little grow cabinet. Currently using it to grow out some microgreens to eat healthier, and have fun doing it.
 

Turpman

In Bloom
One thing is to keep them trimmed short. If you let them get away they will loose the growth points down low and you have to keep them tall. That’s if your shooting for Bonzi. I have good luck in 1 L containers. I just veg normal with everything else. I need to set up a separate area to slow them down. Less light. Lots of trimming back and I have a hard time throwing out something clonable LOL. My graft mothers worked well till I went on holidays and had my caretaker water every 2 days. They were in coco and they needed every day watering. They never recovered from the dry spell. Guessing the roots died back and rot took over before I root pruned.
Did see a guy on riu that was running mothers in a 4” tube 4 feet longish low pressure aroponics. I may try that out as you can leave it for a week or more once you get it up and running with no care.
 

Willie

🍓 Crush Genetics 🍓
At the tone.............I will have 35 moms/clones in solos on a shelf 8' long. I have a plug mold attached to the ceiling and then household led's plugged in to that...on 18 hours. I never and I mean NEVER trim the roots. I want to keep them in a spot where I can bring them into play if I want and if not I want them small.
ECSD.....I've had it since 2019ish. The 2020 outdoor.that plant did 2 lbs. So, I had very little need to run that inside, my cupboards were kinda full :). Scroll forward to spring of 2021 and I got a couple of cuts off the tiny mom...I put one outside and again..2lbs. There is no way I'm running that again until 2022 outside.....so there it sits in the cup waiting on me. It's ugly but very alive.
It's a process that involves pruning the top. Some plants want to go, go, go.....that slows down once they are root bound and then they are simple to keep. They eat very little.

Males do not like being in those cups at all. They are twice the pruning and re-cutting work the girls are.
 

MtRainDog

In Bloom
At the tone.............I will have 35 moms/clones in solos on a shelf 8' long. I have a plug mold attached to the ceiling and then household led's plugged in to that...on 18 hours. I never and I mean NEVER trim the roots. I want to keep them in a spot where I can bring them into play if I want and if not I want them small.
ECSD.....I've had it since 2019ish. The 2020 outdoor.that plant did 2 lbs. So, I had very little need to run that inside, my cupboards were kinda full :). Scroll forward to spring of 2021 and I got a couple of cuts off the tiny mom...I put one outside and again..2lbs. There is no way I'm running that again until 2022 outside.....so there it sits in the cup waiting on me. It's ugly but very alive.
It's a process that involves pruning the top. Some plants want to go, go, go.....that slows down once they are root bound and then they are simple to keep. They eat very little.

Males do not like being in those cups at all. They are twice the pruning and re-cutting work the girls are.
This is my experience too. Not all plants play nicely as bonsais. I take a cut or a few cuts, let them grow. Some will go into flower, and some will be a mom. Moms have cuts taken until they get too big and grow too many heads. At that point I will either flower her out, or just cull her depending on what’s going on in general.
 

Willie

🍓 Crush Genetics 🍓
Heat and light makes plants grow.

I grew this
View attachment 102730
With this.
View attachment 102731
Deprive them of what they need to flourish. Really throws an anchor on growth.
I also employed good old fashion dirt. Clay soil allowed me to water only twice a week.
That's a stackin bulb :) I have a few flavors of those and they more or less run the veg side of things here.
 

OldG

Elite Hobbyist
Bonzai Moms

Thanks man that is beauty !

I think i will set up a 20 x 36 tent to hold my mothers and my cuts. BANZAI !!!

Adventures_of_buckaroo_banzai.jpg
 

OldG

Elite Hobbyist
I will split a 20 x 36 tent in half and run it for moms and cuts. I just need to build a stand to split it in half.

:D It is going to get a lot tougher popping beans with rooted cuts all over but i will see what i can do.

It is actually the same timing as me figuring it out. I have a 2 x 2 tent with 2 litre squares and i keep it lit with 2 X 50 watt floods at about 75 watts total. It is SLOW MOTION vegging but its nice to have a few examples of them. And they just kind of stall. Eureka or what.

The mom library is building. My cloning is improving. I want to be great at it before i drop 400 on a fancy cut.
 
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