Ideally, we recommend feeding mother plants with organic fertilisers (like vermicompost or compost teas) to promote healthy microbial life in the soil, which in turn will help clean the plant’s medium and prevent salt buildup in the root zone. You can feed your mother plant like you would any normal vegging plant.
What do my mother plants need to survive?
Your mature mother plants need to receive sufficient nutrients to stay alive and healthy. The nutrient ratio must further be optimized to favour vegetative growth and abundant branching.
What is a good mother plant fertilizer?
A good mother plant fertilizer should provide enough Nitrogen to support a healthy root to shoot ratio, but not so much Nitrogen that the plants has to burn up most of its stored sugars just to assimilate the nitrates. What Is A Mother Plant? Mother plants are stock plants specifically raised to provide cuttings for starting new plants.
When should I start feeding my mother plants?
If you have selected your mothers from clones, feed them nothing but water until they have clearly begun to sprout new growth. From seed, wait until the first true leaves have sprouted before giving your plants nutrients (although this not necessary, and may not be for some weeks).
What is a mother plant used for?
A mother plant has one job: To provide healthy branches for you to cut and replant. These branches are known as clones. By replanting and growing clones of a mother plant, you know exactly what to expect in terms of size, quality and harvest yields.
How do I keep my mother plant healthy?
You can keep it manageable by keeping your mother plant small. Pruning branches regularly will encourage new branches to grow. The more branches your mother plant sprouts, the more clones you have to replant in your garden. Pruning the top will also keep the plant from growing too large.
What is mother plant fertilizer?
MotherPlant nutrients are a two-part nutrient line that provides the ideal diet for mother, or stock plants. Mother plants do not need excess nitrates, and MotherPlant nutrients account for this. They contain the nutritional needs of mother plants without excess nitrates.
Should you top mother plant?
Topping is essential for managing the size of your mother plants. Top your mothers early on, roughly two weeks into their vegetative phase. As its new branches grow up towards the light, use pinching and LST to bring them down towards the soil and create an even canopy.
How long can you keep a mother plant?
between 6 months and 3 yearsYou can keep a mother plant for anything between 6 months and 3 years before the plant starts to break down and lose its vigour, yield, smell or other characteristics. At this point you need to find fresh, new, vigourous stock from seed and start the process all over again.
What Should I Feed My mother plant before cloning?
Foliar feeding mother plants a mixture of fulvic acid and seaweed 2-3 times per week for a couple of weeks prior to taking cuttings also makes for stronger clones.
Do mother plants need CO2?
Healthy plants need a supply of carbon dioxide (CO2) just as they need nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, or any other required nutrient.
What kind of light do mother plants need?
Lighting for the Mother Plants Therefore, a good full-spectrum lighting system with a fair amount of blue spectrum light works best for mother plants. Most growers opt for a metal halide or fluorescent lighting system as both technologies contain a good amount of blue spectrum light.
How old should a mother plant be before cloning?
Take clones from mother plants that are at least two months old and in the vegetative growth stage. Clones from mother plants that are less than two months old may develop unevenly and grow slowly. Clones taken from flowering plants root quickly but require several weeks to revert to vegetative growth.
Can a clone become a mother plant?
Clones can be mother plants. They are no different from the mother plant they originate from, to begin with. Genetically they are identical and will be able to produce several clones every couple of weeks. Clones as mother plants will guarantee the reproduction of your crops stay consistent.
How many cuttings do you get from a mother plant?
Get about four cuttings from each plant if you can. Once you have your clones ready to go, rooted and guaranteed to survive, you can then move them to a growth area where they can also be put under 18h of light, and then begin flowering your original seeds.
Can you veg a plant too long?
Vegging a plant for three months is a waste of time so think of it as something with diminishing returns when you overdo it. I usually recommend a week of veg time for every gallon of growing medium (ie: a plant grown in a 5-gallon bucket should get about a 5 week veg).
How many times can you clone a mother plant?
As long as the plants are kept healthy, there's no real foreseeable limit to how long they can live and produce cuttings. Even when a clone is taken of a clone continuously, each subsequent clone should have the exact same genetic potential as the first.
Can a clone be a mother plant?
Clones can be mother plants. They are no different from the mother plant they originate from, to begin with. Genetically they are identical and will be able to produce several clones every couple of weeks. Clones as mother plants will guarantee the reproduction of your crops stay consistent.
How old should a mother plant be before cloning?
Take clones from mother plants that are at least two months old and in the vegetative growth stage. Clones from mother plants that are less than two months old may develop unevenly and grow slowly. Clones taken from flowering plants root quickly but require several weeks to revert to vegetative growth.
How do you make a mother plant for cloning?
Water your mother plant a few hours before you plan to take cuttings. This ensures that the cuttings will be well nourished and hydrated, preparing them for successful cloning. Spray Clonex Mist on the chosen donor sights a few days before taking clones. This will help to stimulate root development in your cuttings.
What is the best light for a mother plant?
Mother Plant Lighting Long light periods are recommended, for many species an 18/6 (on/off) lighting schedule maintains vegetative growth. Although you can use LEDs or HIDs (HPS/CMH), it's far more cost-effective to use CFLs or fluorescent lighting.
🌱 How Many Clones Can You Take From a Mother Plant?
This depends on the size, health, and age of your plant. We recommend taking only 2–3 clones at a time from small, young mother plants. Large, bush...
🧫 How Many Clones Can a Mother Plant Produce?
Mother plants can produce a virtually unlimited number of clones. However, it is important to allow a plant at least two weeks of rest between clon...
🌲 Can You Clone a Plant Too Many Times?
The genetic profile of a mother plant won’t change over time, so there’s no real limit on how many times you can clone her. As long as she’s health...
đź’ˇ How Many Watts Does a Mother Plant Need?
Mother plants don’t need much light. We recommend giving around 150W of light to keep her growing healthy. Some growers opt to give their mothers l...
How to grow a mother plant?
Topping is essential for managing the size of your mother plants. Top your mothers early on, roughly two weeks into their vegetative phase. As its new branches grow up towards the light, use pinching and LST to bring them down towards the soil and create an even canopy. Continue topping the plant regularly to train it to grow within the confines of your grow room/tent.
What is a mother plant?
Mother plants are ideal sources for infant plants when using the sea of green (SOG) technique. Similar-sized clones will create a homogeneous canopy with no tall or short phenotypes to consider, thus optimising light exposure and yield potential. Mother plants can be as big as you need them to be.
What to look for in a cannabis plant?
Vigour: Pick plants that germinate quickly and show vigorous, healthy growth during both their seedling and vegetative stages. Root health: A healthy root network is the heart of a healthy plant.
How many clones of a plant can you take from a mother plant?
This depends on the size, health, and age of your plant. We recommend taking only 2–3 clones at a time from small, young mother plants. Large, bushy mother plants, on the other hand, can easily tolerate having 6–8 clones taken from them at a time.
How much light does a plant need to grow in a permanent vegetative cycle?
Mother plants need to be kept in the vegetative phase of growth indefinitely. This means they need to receive more than 12 hours of light every 24 hours. If they are in a vegetation chamber, they will be getting the standard 18/6 day/night vegetation cycle.
What is the benefit of cloning mother plants?
The Benefits of Using Mother Plants. When timed right, cloning mother plants can mean harvesting one day and having more plants ready to go the next . With overlapping growing schedules, you can always have plants in flower—with more ready at a moment’s notice.
What to look for when choosing a mother plant from seed?
Here are a few things to look for when choosing a mother plant from seed: Stress threshold: After taking cuttings from your plants, keep tabs on which were the best or worst at dealing with the stress of pruning. Rooting potential: Check to see which of your cuttings rooted the quickest.
What is the nutritional need of mother plants?
Mother plants require a balanced nutrition specifically formulated to slow down excessive vegetative growth and increase the carbon to nitrogen ratio in the shoots.
What is a mother plant?
Mother plants are stock plants specifically raised to provide cuttings for starting new plants. The cuttings, also known as clones, are genetically identical to the mother plant, and if grown in a controlled environment will develop into daughter plants with the same superior characteristics as the mother plant.
How does calcium help plants grow?
Calcium is taken up through the roots and transported to the new growth, where it forms the calcium pectate “glue” that bonds the cell walls together. A calcium-rich mother plant with stronger cell walls can take up water and nutrients more efficiently, allowing more sugars and nutrients to be stored for future use.
Why is calcium important for plants?
The calcium is then used to build strong, new cell walls and to improve the plant’s natural resistance to environmental stress and disease. Higher levels of calcium also tend to restrict the transport of excess nitrates to the shoots, producing plant cells with smaller, but thicker cell walls, ideal for vigorous clones.
When to spray seaweed extract on mother plant?
Therefore, it is beneficial to start spraying seaweed extracts on the mother plant a couple of weeks before cuttings are to be taken. Foliar sprays, when used in conjunction with a well formulated mother plant fertilizer, can be thought of as “stage zero” of plant propagation from cuttings.
How does bio-organics help plants?
The use of bio-organics in a mother plant formula can dramatically improve the mother plant’s uptake of calcium and other essential nutrients. In conventional hydroponics, calcium ions are dissolved in the nutrient formula and are taken up into the roots through simple osmosis.
What happens if a plant is fertilized with too much nitrogen?
If a mother plant is fertilized with too much nitrogen, it will grow quickly, but it will produce soft tissues with poor carbohydrate reserves. About 25 to 30% of a plant’s energy is used to change nitrates into an organic form of nitrogen used for vegetative growth.
What is a mother plant?
A mother plant is a plant from which a grower cuts clones, which are new plants that are genetically identical to the mother plant. To create a clone, the grower cuts a branch from the mother plant and places it in a substrate, where it develops roots of its own.
What traits do you look for in a mother plant?
When you choose your mother plant, pick one that fits your preferences, as well as exhibiting universally positive traits, such as: Strong roots. A strong stem. Resistance to pests and fungi.
How to keep a mother plant from growing too tall?
The more branches your mother plant sprouts, the more clones you have to replant in your garden. Pruning the top will also keep the plant from growing too large. Keep in mind that when you cut a stem near its top, two new, divergent stems will grow from the point at which you cut.
How to grow clones?
As a grower, working with mother plants and clones can help you improve your crop. Even if you’re a beginner, you can make growing mother plants and trimming their clones part of your grow strategy. In this guide, you’ll learn: 1 The process of growing a mother plant for clones 2 How to trim a mother plant 3 How to keep a mother plant small 4 Mother plant care 5 The mother plant life cycle
What is the vegetative stage of a plant?
The vegetative stage is the stage of a plant’s life where it does the bulk of its development. Appropriate nourishment at every stage is key to a successful harvest, but the choices you make while your plants are in this stage can make or break the crop.
How to keep plants in the vegetative stage?
To keep your plant in the vegetative stage, keep providing that amount of light. This is a lot easier to do if you’re growing your plants indoors, because you can control the exact amount of light it receives.
When to take cuttings from mother plant?
When your mother plant’s branches have matured to the point that they can survive on their own, it’s time to take your cuttings. There are a few different types of cutting you can take to make your clones. No matter which you choose, always work with sterile scissors.
What is the basis for selecting mother plants?
Selecting your mother plants. The basis for selecting your mothers should always be health, strength and vigour. Beyond that, you may have various considerations such as terpene and cannabinoid profile, flavour and aroma, yield, drought-resistance, and height and branching characteristics.
How long can a mother plant live?
This means they must consistently receive more than 12 hours of light per 24 hours. If you would like your plants to vegetate quickly to maximize the number of clones, mother plants can be left in an 18/6 day/night regime.
What is the most important nutrient for vegetative growth?
Plenty of nitrogen is essential for vegetative growth. Other important nutrients include calcium, which is important in maintaining hormonal balance, and magnesium, which facilitates photosynthesis and production of sugars vital for growth.
What is the best light for vegetative growth?
The best light for vegetative growth is in the blue spectrum. For this reason, metal halide lamps are preferable for mother plants. This mimics the natural daylight in spring, when plants are typically undergoing vegetative growth.
Why is it important to prune your mother plants?
It is always important to prune your mothers regularly, and to be selective about how you approach the task so that the maximum number of healthy, vigorous new branches are produced. It is very important to ensure that your mother plants grow short and bushy rather than tall and spindly.
Can you cultivate mother plants?
With good genetics and basic equipment, you can cultivate healthy mother plants that will spawn many generations of great cannabis. Any cannabis grower interested in perpetuating good genetics must have a good selection of mother plants. If they are kept well maintained, clones can be continually taken from mother plants for years.
Can you harvest mother plants all year long?
Benefits of cultivating mother plants. If you can get your timing right, you can be planting and harvesting all year long, especially if you are growing indoors. Essentially, by the time you harvest, it will be time to take new clones from your mother plant. Clones taken from mother plants are homogenous in terms of size, ...
What is a mother plant?
A mother plant is a cannabis plant that you keep in the vegetative stage, from which you can get cuttings or clones and these clones will grow identically to the parent.
Can you run out of weed from your mother plant?
There are several benefits to selecting and having your own mother plant, the most important of all is that if you time it correctly, you’ll never run out of weed.
Can autoflowers be kept?
Now that you’ve found the perfect mother plant, it’s a good idea to top them, have in mind that autoflowers cannot be kept like this so you will have to use photoperiodic strains to do this.
Can you cut clones when growing plants?
Now that you have decided if you’re growing 20, 10, 5, or whatever you can fit in your grow space, you have to grow them like you normally would and cut some clones once your plant has grown a bit , you don’t want to take the clones when they’re too small.
Do all plants need fertilizer?
So, first of all, all plants need to eat and with mother plants, it’s the same; There’s no such thing as the best fertilizer for mother plants because they are kept in the vegetative stage for a long time.
Why are mother plants kept in their vegetative state?
Cannabis mother plants are usually strong, vigorous plants that are deliberately kept in their vegetative state in order to produce cuttings that grow and develop quickly.
What is the main nutrient in cannabis?
Sulphur is another key nutrient for developing cannabis plants. It is responsible for the production of proteins in the cannabis plants, as well as the formation of chlorophyll. Plants with sulphur deficiencies usually grow slowly and develop small, mutated leaves that curl upwards.
What is the role of manganese in cannabis?
Manganese. Manganese is, like sulphur and magnesium, also plays a key role in the production of chlorophyll in developing cannabis plants. Plants with low amounts of manganese will display yellowing chloroplasts and white or grey-spotted leaves which eventually die off.
Why is calcium important for cannabis?
Calcium is very important for cannabis plants as it forms parts of the walls of the individual cells in the plant, making it a vital nutrient for the plant in it its growth phase. It also helps plants develop strong stems, branches, and roots. Plants with calcium deficiencies will usually display distorted leaves with yellow/brown spots.
Can you grow cannabis from seeds?
When growing cannabis plants from seeds, it's not unusual to find that one plant outshines its siblings, even if they share the same genetic blueprint. It might be the plant’s unique structure and ability to flourish in your unique grow environment, or it might simply be the taste, smell, and effect of the buds its produces.
What is the best organic material to use for fertilizer?
Banana peels can be a source of up to 42% potassium and up to 25% phosphorous. There’s also the additional calcium, magnesium and sulfur in banana peels, which is why it’s among the best organic material to use to make a homemade fertilizer.
How to make banana peels into fertilizer?
What is a good idea is to puree the banana peels, or soak the peel in water inside a sealed mason jar for a week, then drain it with a sieve and use that water as fertilizer. Alternatively, you can bake the peel and then grind it down to mix into your soil. The video below shows you how….
Can you put eggshells in mulch?
Mostly calcium, but they’re also sources of selenium and nitrogen. You can add eggshells into your mulch, but a faster way to get the same benefits is to crush the eggshells up and boil them. To make an eggshell brew, you only need a pot large enough to boil a gallon of water and just 30 grams of crushed eggshells.
Do weeds have nutrients?
Weeds are the envy of many a gardener, but they can all be put to a greater use. Think about it… they are living and growing, so they have nutrients there that are suited to the plants you want to grow.
Can you use coffee grounds in soil?
Using coffee grounds in your soil isn’t as simple as some green and eco tips you might learn about online would have you believe. You see, used coffee grounds have had some of their acidity reduced to nearly neutral, sometimes lower, other times higher. It depends on the brand.
Can you use gelatin in indoor plants?
3 – Gelatin as Indoor Plant Fertilizer. Gelatin will only be effective if it’s unflavored. Flavored gelatin has added sugars, which can be damaging to plants. Unflavored gelatin is used to make low-calorie recipes, and if you have this in your kitchen cupboard, you have packets of nitrogen rich fertilizer ready to go.
What Is A Mother Plant?
Plant Nutrition Needs of Mother Plants
- The plant nutrition requirements of mother plants are significantly different from those of production plants raised for optimal yields. Mother plants require a balanced nutritionspecifically formulated to slow down excessive vegetative growth and increase the carbon to nitrogen ratio in the shoots. If a mother plant is fertilized with too much nitrogen, it will grow quickly, but it will pr…
Bio-Organic Compounds and Seaweed Extracts
- The use of bio-organics in a mother plant formula can dramatically improve the mother plant’s uptake of calcium and other essential nutrients. In conventional hydroponics, calcium ions are dissolved in the nutrient formula and are taken up into the roots through simple osmosis. But if organic biostimulants with a blend of specific amino acids are a...