After growing for a couple plus years from seeds and never knowing what phenotype or depending on seed type male or female is gonna show up I’m going to expand my horizons in my small closet. So I built a nifty clone/mom cabinet and I’m hoping by this time next year to have a few bonsai moms. I am limited to a 2 1/2 by 2 foot gorilla tent 7 feet tall for veg, flower and drying. I usually run 2 smart pots that hold about 9-10 gallons, one plant each, of my own soil which is a version of most of all the type’s of soil recipes that’s seen a couple cycles and been amended between. It seems to serve me well. Here is the new plan. Maybe. I figure I have room for 5, three gallon smart pots. Plan to drop 6-7 regular sex seeds ). Pick best 5 looking ones and up pot after a couple weeks from small 4 inch pots to the 3 gallon bags. Veg 2-3 weeks more depending on size and take a couple cuts from each and flip. Let them finish and see which phenotype is best of them and you guys know the drill from there. My concern is smaller 3 gallon bags being able to have enough nutrients to make it all the way even with smaller plants. Anyone run this size pots in anyway similar style? I want to be able to recycle the soil so salts is out of the question. And just as a test current grow this time, cuttings taken and future mom coming along, I used one of my bags filled with one full bag of coast of Maine Stonington Blend. It’s doing fantastic. My other plant from fem seeds went hermi and was culled. First hermi for me. Ran these seeds before with good success. On in particular was superb which pushed me to consider the whole clone part of growing.
I suggest you use a diy clone bubble machine Lets Build a Clone Machine *Step by Step* by our man Rumple the deal really is to have the clone up in running in under 10 days never underestimate soil so you have to know organics for that I use nettles in veg and comfrey added to my soil mix in flower and often add my own 'nutes, organic naturally via foilar including my own urine when required (no biggy) but much of organics will make your head swim ...lol at 3usg you are expecting a min of 3ft tall plant come harvest ph'ing ur water 3 times a week is a good idea and see you as the weakewst link here more space please so through the lounge suit and tv out ..lol good luck
With no veg time and assuming a short flowering strain you might be able to pull it off in 3g but don’t expect more then a few grams dry per plant. You will also have to reamend the soil each cycle so no notill. I have ran plants a few times in 2 gallon pots for the soul purpose of making seeds since you get plenty of beans even from a tiny plant.
I’m not 100% sure on how long I will veg them. First time doing this flying by the seat of my pants for me but just getting them big enough to produce buds to compare for a pheno hunt. I suppose if I have to feed them I could use something like Neptune’s harvest fish fert. I’m sure others have been down a similar road just doing phenotype hunt. Then get the favorite cuts big enough to become a bonsai mom and then run some full-size plants. Hopefully some more cloners and phenotype hunters can offer advice.
If you are using reg seeds and want 5 females to run I would go ahead and run all 6-7 seeds that you plan on popping. You'll be luck to get more than 3-4 females. Also you mentioned taking clones before flipping...that's counter productive. Flip first to find your females. No sense in taking male cuttings. Good luck -LB
The idea is to keep the cloned cuts in veg while the original plants start to flower and then deciding which clones to keep after the sex is reviled. It’s actually faster to do it that way then it is to take cuts, sex the cuts and then put the confirmed fems in flower.
I do like this ^^, but to keep *male* clones in veg for a seed run later with the clones of the ladies you like. LOL, once the males go into flower there's no holding them back. Got to the F5 gen for the backcross when the broad mites happened and the seeds were ruined. So, now I start my sibling (S), crosses with the F4's and need the males and another few years. Wet
I personally would never flower until a plant has reached sexual maturity. One could take cuts and force them to flower to determine sex, but I'm usually not that ambitious. Id forget keeping mom's and use the space for veg for the next run. Take cuts right before the flip. If you feel like they may get too big by flowering time, let them sit in red cups abit until you see a lil yellowing. I try not to do this but sometimes it's necessary for timing issues. Just recently I acquired a Deathstar plant from a friend of mine that was a lot bigger than my veg plants. I let the Deathstar suffer even though I knew it was hungry. Lo and behold, my veg plants were able to catch up and the Deathstar got some love before it was transplanted into the raised beds. Id stick with the biggest pots possible and only grow a plant or two. RD
Yup. My goal at this point is have a bonsai mom for a few really good strains that will allow me to focus on dialing in a strain. A good glue family mom which should come out of the seeds I just got, a nice sativa which I’m going to try H after the G and later a nice indica to cover most of the spectrum. I know that many personal growers find what they like and get off the treadmill of chasing the latest and greatest strains. The current grow I’m doing is E and I have started a clone potential mom. See how this harvest goes and the quality of the grow. I have room for 3-4 bonsai moms and room to get a couple cuts from a mom going to get big enough to throw in the tent.
I have a question about your method of letting specific plants suffer so that others catch up. I'm new to growing but I've been in this position you describe and was wondering if the plant that intentionally left to suffered needs to be brought back to 100% before flipping to flower? what I mean is do you give time to let that single plant recover after the others have caaught up, or have you ever just let the plant go straight into flowering and that plan had no problems?
It is a pretty rare thing for me to do intentionally. I have an incredibly small veg space as opposed to flower. Timing each veg cycle to coincide with harvest can be challenging. Your plants should be as healthy as possible before the flip. Anything else will likely effect yield and potentially quality. RD