# "Overwintering" Plants In A Suspended Vegetative State



## WeedFreak78 (Jun 29, 2011)

Not sure if this is considered "advanced" but here it goes. I am an outside grower with very limited indoor capacities.I have 3 different strains,DP Durban Poison,BF LSD, and a bag seed. All were started under T8'[email protected] then moved ouside mid-may(13 hrs light?) and showed sex immedeatly,then reverted back to veg. I have some spindly undergrowth on these plants that Im going to trim in the next week or so before they start flowering. 
What Im thinking is try to clone what I trim(only cloned once to see if I could),and keep 1 clone(maybe 2 just incase) of each under the T8's for the winter. Id like to keep them in smaller pots-no bigger than say 1/2 gal.Im thinking heavy pruning/topping and possibly even root pruning will be needed. My goal would be to have small(8"-10" tall MAX) but stout plants with a strong root system to start out next years grow.Ive read about bonsai plants and thats kinda what Im going to try. Any tips,tricks or suggestion are appreciated.

I did this last year with tomatoes and peppers and it worked great,got a huge head start with those compared to what started from seed.

So:
3 different strains,DP Durban Poison,BF LSD, and a bag seed

1 4ft 4 bulb T8 with 2 5600k and 2 6000k bulbs,light hrs? 14/10? just to keep from flowering?

Room is a 4 season porch kept @ 60-65F all winter

Small pots- start in 16" party cups, wait till full root mass,transfer to 4" pots, then to 1/2 gal if needed


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## WeedFreak78 (Jun 30, 2011)

no one,not one opinion worth stating? maybe I should try the outdoor forum?


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## Little Tommy (Jun 30, 2011)

Your concept is sound. It is a very possible scenario. You just need to have the plan and execute. I am not so sure about the light schedule. I would go 18/6 to be sure no flowering starts.


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## ClamDigger (Jun 30, 2011)

sounds like what we did with our strains that finished well outdoor last year.
cloned and kept vegetative, under CFL's in rubbermaid totes, with 'puter fans.
kept them alive for 6 months.


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## bluemagicman (Jun 30, 2011)

This sounds like a good idea, I remember reading somewhere that the longer the plant is alive the greater potential for THC production, however do you really want to do this? Haha sounds like a bit of a pain to me because in that six months you could have grown 2 crops and than plant new seeds in the spring, I would say if the clones take leave em outside and get some more nuggatry, but hey thats my $.02.


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## C.Indica (Jul 1, 2011)

Perfect. You've certainly studied, and It sounds like you garden quite fluently.
As long as you know what will happen.
My only advice is keep them above 60*F at all times.
And I wouldn't root prune if at all possible.
Just keep pruning back shoots until you get a bush, but keep resizing the pot to get a fat root system going.
If you do it this way they will literally explode if you put them outside.


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## watchhowIdoit (Jul 1, 2011)

If you want to keep them very healthy all winter in half gallon pots then just clone the clones if they seem to be getting bound. Then flower the plants you cut from under some cfls. Keep the cycle going until spring. Would greatly reduce the chance of stunting things....


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## Metasynth (Jul 1, 2011)

I like this idea, and have already taken clones off of my outdoor plants to start mothers for a perpetual indoors and to be amply prepared for next season. I like the idea of running the lights around 14/10, I'm running mine at 15/9...That should make it easier for our plants to adapt to being moved outside without flowering next season if I'm not mistaken...since the light schedule will be closer. I also like the idea of you cloning your clones, and flowering the older ones, though I intend to start true mothers myself, but if you have space constraints, I think thats definately a way to go.


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## watchhowIdoit (Jul 1, 2011)

Metasynth said:


> I like this idea, and have already taken clones off of my outdoor plants to start mothers for a perpetual indoors and to be amply prepared for next season. I like the idea of running the lights around 14/10, I'm running mine at 15/9...That should make it easier for our plants to adapt to being moved outside without flowering next season if I'm not mistaken...since the light schedule will be closer. I also like the idea of you cloning your clones, and flowering the older ones, though I intend to start true mothers myself, but if you have space constraints, I think thats definately a way to go.


Thanks. Keeps size, costs and hassles to a minimum. And the upside is some fresh bud every couple of months during the winter. Small plants and CFLs=a happy winter gardner. Plus you can play with different nutrient schedules and really fine tune one to a specific plant/pheno, learning and rolling along the way.....and these you just cannot purchase in a bottle or find online......


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## WeedFreak78 (Jul 7, 2011)

Cool. Thats what I needed to hear. Ill give it a go, gonna make myself a small cloner in the next few days. Im going to take the advise and consider making a small flowering box, I need as much experience as I can get before I make the jump to a full on indoor setup.


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## Little Tommy (Jul 7, 2011)

That battle is won in the planning phase. Measure twice and cut once.


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## watchhowIdoit (Jul 7, 2011)

Little Tommy said:


> That battle is won in the planning phase. Measure twice and cut once.


Measured it twice, cut it twice, and the damn thing is still too short.......


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