can you prune a female and have her for years?

[mjboy]

I have about 6 plants growing right now and its my first small grow. My girls mom has been doing this for a while but she really doesnt know much about it either. My girl said her mom had a plant for about 2 or 3 years and she just use to prune it and keep it growing over time.

is this possible ?? to my understanding once the plant reached a certain age then it would have to be cut (killed) and hung up to dry.

is pruning possible?

[shivaganesha]

Originally Posted by mjboy

I have about 6 plants growing right now and its my first small grow. My girls mom has been doing this for a while but she really doesnt know much about it either. My girl said her mom had a plant for about 2 or 3 years and she just use to prune it and keep it growing over time.

is this possible ?? to my understanding once the plant reached a certain age then it would have to be cut (killed) and hung up to dry.

is pruning possible?

It's perfectly possible. She could have kept it as a mother plant, and the pruning your friend speaks of points to cloning.

Your friends mother could also have flowered the plant and then regenerated it to flower all over again.

[mjboy]

Originally Posted by shivaganesha

It's perfectly possible. She could have kept it as a mother plant, and the pruning your friend speaks of points to cloning.

Your friends mother could also have flowered the plant and then regenerated it to flower all over again.

why not always do it that way then? or is it just easier to grow a new plant every time?

[teflon]

I had a mom plant for 2 years before she got sick and died. I wish I had some pictures to show you. I pruned it like a bonsai tree. The main stalk was about 1.5" in diameter! I had her in a 5 gal bucket and she was about 30 " tall.

[mjboy]

Originally Posted by teflon

I had a mom plant for 2 years before she got sick and died. I wish I had some pictures to show you. I pruned it like a bonsai tree. The main stalk was about 1.5" in diameter! I had her in a 5 gal bucket and she was about 30 " tall.

wow thats great . so i take it they are called mother trees/mother plants.

Now my questions still go , why not do all the trees like this? wouldnt it be better to harvest more since the trees are full growth and theres no wait for the stems to reach a certain height?

any senior grower? im a spunge trying to absorb as much as possible.

[dexorated]

a plant will stay in veg as long as it's not in the dark for more then 12 hours. If you keep you plant in veg in will just keep growing leaves and branches and never die. It only dies after you flower it(more then 12 hours of dark). It's not good to flower a plant that has been pruned a lot because pruning creates a bunch of small little nugs instead of fewer big nugs. Also, most people want their nugs asap, so therefore the shortest veg time possible, not years.

[shivaganesha]

Hi, I believe i would qualify as a senior grower. The reason people do not regenerate their plants as the norm is because of the difficultis in doing so. Some plants may take 5-6 weeks to develop new shoots after being chopped down.

In fact after harvest your plant is not dead, so long as it has a stem and roots the plant is actually still alive. A large proportion of the root system will die after after the 'fattening' stage of flower, but enough root will be left to help the plant produce new shoots after harvest.

[shivaganesha]

It is also worth pointing out that most strains will flower with 11 hours of dark time... the 12 hour thing is merely a safety net.

There are certain strains that will flower with just 9 hours dark, which is why the 16/8 schedule during veg is not recommended.

[mjboy]

great information here and thanks to all that are contributing .

[thebeatles069]

i didnt see anyone post on here about re vegging

she could have been revegging and that is when you cut the buds off and leave a few main leaf sets on the stalk and the plant will re veg but chances are she was taking clones

[teflon]

Originally Posted by mjboy

wow thats great . so i take it they are called mother trees/mother plants.

Now my questions still go , why not do all the trees like this? wouldnt it be better to harvest more since the trees are full growth and theres no wait for the stems to reach a certain height?

any senior grower? im a spunge trying to absorb as much as possible.

Size is one problem. She was about 30" tall plus the height of the pail = 50" in veg. If I had switched over to 12/12 she could have stretched to 80" tall!!!! I have a big grow room but it's not that big!

I was using her for clones. That's why she is called a mom.

I am moving 3 mother plants outside in about 2 weeks to finish vegging and flower on their own. I will post pics and info in another thread. You can see what happens.