opinions on using mothers vs cloning clones

gotigers0420

Active Member
So ive always just taken clones and had alot of success. I am curious why should I use a mother plant vs cloning my clones? What are the advantages? And if I decide to keep a mother, in soil what would anyone recommend for nutes and can I keep her under 24/0 as that is all I have available and thats how I veg. How much light does she need up close if i want to slow down her growth? Basically just looking for suggestions on why and how to use a mother plant. Thanks​
 

boneheadbob

Well-Known Member
They both have pros and cons. It comes down to what is best for each grower in each situation.

Sub says that he takes clones and puts mom into flower and he is so confident in the skills he has aqquired over the years that he does not wait for clones to root. He knows they will.
 

*BUDS

Well-Known Member
If you keep the mum under 24/0 mh you can take a batch of clones every 2 weeks or so. Use veg nutes and keep one clone (best one) for a future mum. Rotate the mum every 3 months or so when she starts to look scraggy and woody. Adv of having mum is you have a vegging plant of that strain growing separate. The clone of clone way is risky in case you fuck the batch and lose all clones, in turn the strain.
 

gotigers0420

Active Member
They both have pros and cons. It comes down to what is best for each grower in each situation.

Sub says that he takes clones and puts mom into flower and he is so confident in the skills he has aqquired over the years that he does not wait for clones to root. He knows they will.
Thats kinda where im at. I have 100% success with cloning so i am not sure if a mother is worth it. That and I tend to veg a little long, so im not really sure if I need to. But i am hoping that cloning clones will not degrade the strain. Thanks for your thoughts.
 

Jack Harer

Well-Known Member
I take clones from my vegged clones just before they go into flower. No need for me to keep a mother around.
 

*BUDS

Well-Known Member
And it shouldnt get too tall as you are topping the crap out of it every couple weeks.
 

Destillat

Active Member
If you like taking large clones, mothers are the way to go. I've found that the quality of my clones is better from mothers
 

Jack Harer

Well-Known Member
True, but cloning really isn't hard. There seems to be a lot of myth and mystery surrounding the process.
 

matthebrute

Well-Known Member
yes i agree people put way too much emphasis on the complexity of cloning.

this summer with my outdoor grow i decided to give it a try so i cut a few branches and tried all the hocus pocus people say to do on here and failed.

i cut a couple more and stuck them right in some plain jane dirt and they rooted in a couple days. the trick is to not over water them as they need to get to a certain moisture lvl before they start to say "crap water is drying up need to go deeper lets make some roots" (if that makes any sense /shrug, makes sense to me lol )

anyways, i dont clone much and have only done one grow BUT if i were to grow i dont think i would want to keep a mother around, i would just clone my clones.
 

NoGutsGrower

Well-Known Member
I dont think mothers are always needed, but they are nice if you need a lot of cuttings or more than once or twice a year. I grow my mothers just like my veg plants but I keep the N low, seems to help with rooting. I've heard that seed plant and clones from seed plants grow better and after that they start to fade, I've taken clones at least 5 or 6 steps from the seed mom and they grow just as fast as the first clone! It's hard to compare seed plant to clone growth for me, I don't touch seed plants but I lst clones. I also don't use a seed mother, I use a clone from the seed plant, I like to leave as much on the seed plant as I can and see what it does.
 

Jack Harer

Well-Known Member
I had a rotating crop going with clones rooting, vegging and flowering at the same time. At harvest time, the vegging ones went into flower, the rooting ones went into veg, and I took more from the ones vegging. Harvested every 60 days. I did have a pretty high plant count, but then, what's the difference here where I live?
Rooting powder, Jiffy Peat Pellets, and a warm low light environment works every time for me. I do believe that you have to have good, strong genetics for a good success rate tho....
 

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
Mothers add an extra layer of security to your grow. While cloning is indeed ridiculously easy, lack of attention and a clone will be dead a whole lot faster than a mother will. If you have the space, i say keep a mother. Also means there are always clonnes available instead of having to wait for a veging clone to grow up enough to take one off of it.

at the end of the day it works just fine either way.
 

Superman44108

Active Member
i would recommend using a mother plant until one of her clones is clearly stronger than the others at which point you can start taking clones from that one. and start your 3rd gen. the basic point of having a strong mother plant is all about genetics. the mother plant should be the strongest of your plants in the initial grow. if you take the strongest clone of the strongest plant then you can flower your original mother plant and begin taking clones from the strongest "child" plant. eventually you will have a set of super clones. there will always be a few plants that are stronger than the rest even if you treat them all equally. just keep taking clones off the strongest plant. if you are growing indoors, space may be an issue in which case you'll have to flower the mother when she reaches the max height/size she can in the space provided. then just start taking clones off the strongest 2nd gen clone and so on and so forth
 

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
i would recommend using a mother plant until one of her clones is clearly stronger than the others at which point you can start taking clones from that one. and start your 3rd gen. the basic point of having a strong mother plant is all about genetics. the mother plant should be the strongest of your plants in the initial grow. if you take the strongest clone of the strongest plant then you can flower your original mother plant and begin taking clones from the strongest "child" plant. eventually you will have a set of super clones. there will always be a few plants that are stronger than the rest even if you treat them all equally. just keep taking clones off the strongest plant. if you are growing indoors, space may be an issue in which case you'll have to flower the mother when she reaches the max height/size she can in the space provided. then just start taking clones off the strongest 2nd gen clone and so on and so forth
I'm a bit lost on this one. If you take a mother, and take 2 clones, one clone might be bigger, but they are both identical genetics, there is no "stronger" clone which which you can then get super clones, only that maybe one of the clones was a bit straighter while rooting out or was a larger cut. Still both the same plant.
 

Destillat

Active Member
They are the same genetics, but environment plays a big role too. You will notice differences between clones based on environmental reasons and could still get better and better clones from the best of each grow.

Also, another reason I keep mothers is I can break down my room in hours in case of an emergency and simply move my two mothers. This way I will always have the ability to start over in a matter of days with a full clone rotation.
 

Jack Harer

Well-Known Member
I've done over 14 gens and haven't found the genetic limits. It's true tho, that a mother will keepsafe the genetics should shit hit the fan.
 
Top