I have an unknown strain that I was given which has grown insane this year, it looks fabulous and I have no ability to get more seeds. I successfully grabbed 3 clones during veg which are healthy but I logistically cannot grow inside and the winters here are cold. My question is how can you maintain a mother plant through the winter and grow it at the slowest possible rate and smallest size as I am tight for room? My thoughts are 1) 2800K cfl 2) Regular pruning 3) LST Any help appreciated.
You can keep them small by regular pruning of the top and also root pruning. Along with a low nutrient Program pruning will slow it’s growth. I keep my moms in a bonsai state. moms on the left, cuttings on the right. Moms are more than a year old. Let’s work together to make your plan work. Send me photos of the plants along with soil type and a description of the space you will grow your moms. Next season you will need to grow them out enough to take cuttings.
Rooting in hydroton? In the 80s I rooted in foam rubber cut into cubes. In the 90s I used rockwool. After that I ran a power cloner Aeroponic type system. Last year got tired of the power cloner and went back to rockwool cubes. Then I remembered the pH hassle. So now the hydroton. The wicking and capillary actions of hydroton are what will make this work. Applying standard rooting procedures is required. I’m 4 days in to it. The photo is day three. No evidence of wilting. I've been vegging and flowering in hydroton for years. I Veg in #1 air-pots and bloom in #3 air-pots. Why did I decide to try rooting in the pellets? I wanted to have a consistent growing medium throughout to clone-veg-bloom cycle. This will result in less stress during transplanting. Also it means I will not have to stock rockwool cubes anymore. The pH thing with rockwool can be a hassle. I always have hydro pellets. I wash them and the sterilize them in the oven. I made a screen from 1/2” hardware cloth and screened the pellets to remove the largest pieces. This will create more points of contact for water to move from pellet to pellet. From this point it’s the same as other methods. Prepare the mother for cutting. Take cuttings, put in water to hold while getting more cuttings. make a final end cut at 45 degrees just below a node. Dip in root gel. place cutting in middle of a 2” net pot, carefully pour or place the small PRESOAKED pellets around the stem. place net pot in tray, bottom of the tray should have about 1/4” of cutting solution for the net pots to sit in. Put cutting solution in a squeeze bottle and top squirt the pellets to charge them with the solution. Using dechlorinated water, mist the foliage daily. Place dome cover over tray. Allow to breath a few minutes each day. Cutting Solution: 1 gallon H2O 3ml Hormex 15 ml Clonex 1 ml Bloom
Thank you for the kind offer I use peat pellets to clone and germinate, then peat/perlite grow medium, I am a seasonal grower and the plants respond best in the ground. (Canada x 4 plants legal) This has worked well with root and foliar feeding with Marine phytoplankton The plant I described is 9.5 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter. Below are the 3 clones, they have been topped once since I clipped them in late July Appreciate your time
bobkjun, Yes we can work with those. We’ll do this in steps over time. 1. Confirm you can maintain a light cycle for veg. 2. 1/4 strength veg feed from now on. Keep the nutrient to a minimum. 3. On the two plant with the tall central stems, remove that tall growth. Follow it down to where it emerges from the main crown. This will stimulate the lower side stems to grow. 4. Later we will shorten each side stem to their second node. Probably will be ready to do that step in a week or two. Your photo shows the plants are in a shed or something. You will need to maintain a good environment from the plants. 1.Heat or cooling to 68-73F Air circulation with a small fan set on low. 2.refresh the air daily, simply open the door for a moment as long as it’s not to cold outside. 3. The fluorescent light will be enough. 4. you may need to put it all in a smaller enclosure if the room is hard to maintain a good temp. A large box should work. You would try to moderate the room temps and fine tune temps in the box. Visit my Grow: HOME GROW BUILD links #1 & 2 GROW ROOM BUILD #3 GROW ROOM BUILD #4 HOME GROW BUILD #5 HOME GROW BUILD
Thats awesome, I grow in dwc so that would make cloning easier skipping the rockwool. So with the 1/4 inch of solution that the pots are sitting in, is the bottom of the cutting sitting in the solution I'm assuming, and you've consistently gotten roots and no dead/rotten clones? Sent from my SM-N986B using Tapatalk
Great questions GrizzyGrizzly, To be clear, I’m running this cutting idea for the first time. Compared to rockwool at 6 days in, this is better. No wilting. Strong turgidity (internal hydraulic pressure). I’m confident in that I will be able to show you roots in a week or less. They’re looking awesome. I made a 45 degree final cut below a node. Dipped in root gel covering the node. The point of the end cut barely touches the bottom of the net pot. Using PRESOAKED small hydroton carefully place the pellet around the stem as you fill the net pot. Follow procedures previously listed from this point.
Thanks for the advice, the grow is in the furnace room of my small house, temp and humidity are not a problem. 1st pick shows the small usb fan and 2 plants pruned, I am giving them 15ml of Marphy per liter once every 2 weeks and water as needed. I am unsure where to cut the 3rd as it appears to have 2 stalks, thoughts? Thanks
Go ahead and cut back the two longest ones. The red stem and the stem just below. Cut back to one node. On Weds I did a severe pruning on this 6 month old mom from a clone to prep it for Harvesting cuttings. Also as I prune I plan for rejuvenation for future cutting. here is the mom after the prune. There are a good eight possible cuttings we can get from her this time. 2 days later you can see the lower nodes showing new growth. Those lower growth point you will conserve when you take these cuttings. Notice the “open vase” form of the stem structure. That’s ideal. Here’s another mom of the same strain. Check out the this stems on the bonsai mom. Below is a Blue Dream mom that gave cuttings for 3 years. Never more than 10” high by 12” wide in a #1 Air-Pot.
Your plants look amazing, sorry I'm new with the jargon. I've labeled the attached numerically so perhaps you can give me further guidance on where to prune. Thanks
We’ve got a good start. The plant is well balanced and ready to develop the future compact form. Step 1. Remove the branch labeled #1. Remove above #4. Remove above #5 Remove above #7 Post a pic when done. Now we give it time to grow shoots at the remaining nodes. Maybe ready for more selective pruning in 2 weeks. Maintain a balanced low strength nutrient program. Keeping it healthy but not pushing aggressive growth. 1/4 strength will work. monitor for bugs in the soil and on the plant. monitor for color or texture changes, and let me know of the slightest change. Also send photo of any issue you may be concerned about. Keep your light close enough to prevent stem stretch.
Great thanks for the detailed advice, I have pruned as directed (pic 1), I have a 2nd plant that might have stretched (pic 2), it is in a fabric pot and requires water twice as often. I have decreased the distance from the lights (pic 3). No bugs to speak of and 1/4 nutes every 2 weeks is holding a nice green colour.
I’m sure if you put the #2 plant in a plastic pot the evaporations through the sides will be minimized. Do you want to prune #2? Placing your lights further from the plants will cause them to stretch.
Are the lights not close enough? I would like to prune #2, I thought the fabric pot was better than plastic, I don't mind watering, I noticed yours are in air pots.
On #2, remove some of the lower fan leaves so we can see the lower branch structure. Then take two photos, each side please. This one will require more of a detailed prune. There is nothing wrong with the fabric pot, just need to stay on top of the hydration of soil and plant. Looks like you've got a got handle on that. Yes, I use Air-Pots. Just a reminder, I'm running a hydroponic system that flows 24/7 constantly. No need to schedule watering and no drought.
OK I have uploaded both side of plant #2 and removed some lower foilage. I have also included a pic of a leaf with white powder on it, the plant these came off of developed wpm so not sure.
Been away for awhile battling some wpm. I have this survivor and am looking for continued pruning help. Thanks.
I'm back too. I don't know why I missed your last post 10/19. Hope you have the PM under control. I've have good control using GreenCure. Some strains are noted for being resistant to PM. Controlling the enviorment may help reduce the thresholds that PM proliferates. The remaining plant looks awesome. Nice training. What size is your tent or space and what light are you using? You may have mentioned that but I don't recall.