Techniques for mother plants?

The last time I kept mothers I just kept cutting growth back periodically until the point it was like a hedge, really thick growth but too woody for decent clones.
Occasionally I'd dig it out and trim the roots and foliage it would then produce nice fresh green stem ideal for clones again.

This time I'd like to apply some methods/techniques for keeping mothers at there best for the longest period, what to leave on what to take off, basically some sort of plan/guidelines to follow as opposed to just randomly trimming it.
It's only 3 months and already thick growth.

Normally I'd trim any lower growth for flowering but I'm thinking maybe I should leave it for when the all of the tops are cut off for clones or to make space when it gets to big?

This lower growth, do I leave it for future or pinch it, tip it, something completely different?


It's a pia using the holes as fixings for lst so I made this up to give me plenty of points to fix to, it'll work on any pots and takes less than a minute to make.

Even if one member gets a use it's worth the posting.

I noticed today it wasn't looking 100% I'm not sure if it is that bloody led again to bright or its a bit hungry, it's about a foot from the biggest plant at 50% power...
Anyone?

Once I get this lot sorted out into whats being kept

I'll only need 4/6 clones per crop, I'm also intending to use a D90 clone tent 3x2 3ft high so compact is paramount for mothers.

I use a 2x3 tent for my mother/clones.
I used to keep the mothers in 1 gal soil pots and it worked ok, but it was challenging keeping them happy.
I switched to coco/perlite in the same size containers and they are much happier.
I tend to keep the mothers underlit until I need some cuts to slow down their growth. That tends to produce a bit more stretch so the stems are more viable.
I will flower out old mothers and reset a new mother after about 3-4 months just to ensure they stay healthy.

You could make a new mom everytime you take clones

spliffendz said:

You could make a new mom everytime you take clones

Click to expand...

Yeah the only downside I have found with this is if you need another round of clones before the new mom has time to grow enough that it can produce what you need.

I guess another downside is if your clones fail to root and your source plant is too far in flower to get a legit monster cropped clone.