Mother plant from seed or clone??

raindog

Member
I have six feminized plants from seed doing really well in veg. I'm coming close to a point where I begin my veg/flwr rotation and also select a mother, so from next generation on I am dealing with clones. Does anyone have any feedback if all things were equal, would a plant started from seed (w/tap root) or a clone from this plant make for a better Mother Plant? (same sized plant).

Pros cons? Thanks This is my first real grow and I am learning all I can.

Raindog
 

bostoner

Active Member
Ok well I know a clone can be cloned and the clones clone can be cloned and so on. So it is fine on that respect. With that said I have heard that the structure of a plant from seeds root system is a little different from that of a clone. Technically the plant from seed has a better connection from the roots to the top of the plant because of the seed having the one main tap root and the clones having a bunch of different roots. The plant from seeds top has a more direct connection with the root system because of this. But this in no problem unless the plant gets huge. Like I'm talking outdoor huge so indoors on a mother with a set root base in a pot shouldn't be a problem, but what do I know I never kept a mother long, just flower then after cloning. But I think your main pro for doing it from clone would be you get to see which plant is your favorite first. You can see what plants you like in veg but you wont get to see genes like calyx size, bud density, yield, feeding needs in flower, harvest times, and bud to leaf ratios. Unless your growing a very homogenous strain like an IBL mendo or something, then they should all be similar.
 

raindog

Member
Thank Bostoner! I hear what you are saying about the tap root not being all that important on a closed potting situation.
I am doing a strain (Jack Flash) that has two different main phenos so I think I should finish all six. I will make clones of each and see which I like best, then concentrate on getting this one into mother shape (I need perhaps 9 plants per run) for taking clones. My aim is to fill out a 5x5 scrog with the sativa pheno. Hey I can practice my scrog technique on the seed plants. thanks for the advice.

Two other questions: Leaf size and growth size being equal, is the amount of leaflets on a sativa different from Indica...generally? I have one plant that has 11 leaflets on the fan leaves and the rest have 7 or 9. Looking for that sativa:)

Second totally newb question is: Should I Ph the water if I do periodic flushes with clean water? If it won't harm the plants it would be much simpler for me to flush with water directly from my main RO tank. Any thoughts? My RO ph is 7.5. Ebb/flow in 3 gal smart pots with coco/perlite.

Thank you!
 
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