Optimal soil for productive mother plant

[Android]

I have been browsing and searching forever and the more I do it - the more I am getting confused...

Nobody talks much or there is not a dedicated topic specifically dedicated to best conditions for mothers.

Right now I have a rooted clone in a 12oz Solo cup which I want to make a mother herself for clone production. but it will need to be transplanted soon, and I am having questions about what is the way to go...

Here are my ??:
1) Will growing the mother organically produce enough clones for my needs or will it bee to slow? I need ~4 clones every week.
2) Can I transplant from a solo cup straight to a big container ~3gal
3) How do I make sure it won't start to flower (besides having a 24hr light cycle)

If anyone could please help me with these questions or link me to a topic that explains specifics of growing a mother and not just vegetative stage - I would appreciate that. I cannot find such a topic! I swear - I spent like 3 hours already - and nothing

 

[Droopy Dog]

There is a reason you can't find anything. Host plants don't need anything 'special'. They are just plants kept in a continuous veg state.

For mine, I use less lights, less nutes and a 18/6 light cycle. This set is close to a year old.

I would only transplant to a 1 gallon container for now. You don't want your host plant growing too much and getting too big.

If you haven't yet, top it to start more growth/branches. First cut you make, you get 1 clone, but 2 new branches. Then 2 clones and 4 branches and so on.

4 cuts/week is nothing once the host is grown out a bit. I probably throw 75% or more of my cuttings away just doing trimming/pruning maintenance. I would guess there are 20+ tops after all this time and LST/Bonsai techniques and I need to prune it back every couple weeks or so.

I would really suggest checking out LST/Bonsai for moms.

HTH

DD

 

[Droopy Dog]

2 things I've found especially useful for moms soil, since they are in it so long.

AZOMITE and Powdered Dolomite Lime. Both are pretty much essential. Get them ASAP.

I do organic also and add a lot more stuff, but to me, those 2 are 'must have'.

DD

 

[datrippp]

Like droopy stated, mums dont really need anything special, I keep mine in 1 or 2 gal pots, and since I switched to the "mother plant" nutrients from hydrodynamics international, Ive noticed my clones have been much easier to get going. I usually get 98-100% success, and its not uncommon for me to start seeing roots as fast as 4-5 days. I also Fim them a few times, so they can be short and bushy. Ive taken as many as 20 clones from 1 mum at a time before, and had excellent results. If you can find, "Greg Greens, Cannibus grow bible" he's got some good info on mums in there.. Good luck, and have fun with it, You cant go wrong that way...

 

[Android]

To give you guys an update, my mom is doing more than fine.
I am actually struggling to keep her at bay - it seems like she is trying to persuade me to change my plans and put her in chicken wire and SCROG - I have no doubt she would soon occupy the whole 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 room all by herself.

I initially transplanted her in 2 gal smartpot, but she grew out of it in 2 weeks. Now she takes the 5 gal 13" pot (with inverted cone- shaped depression with holes on the bottom. Her height is 17", and that's with weekly the topping and trimming... She doesn't seem to need to recover from massive cloning at all - in a couple of days she shows even more growth than she previously had.

I am not doing much to her, besides cutting her hair, doing her nails, turning the pot and soaking her wet in plain water once she's completely dry. FFOF seems to be really good soil for a mom by itself (until she uses it out of course). I do feed her with bottle-recommended dosage of "mother plant" fert 2 days before taking clones, but go back to plain water 1-2 days after taking clowns.

My grow store did not carry azomite, but I mixed in some gypsum pellets with dolomite powder when repotted. I also put a layer of perlite on the bottom so the irrigation holes would not clog with dirt. Other than that - is is straight FFOF.
Thanks, guys
Here she is: