Moms and Clones advice?

[Young Coli]

Love this site, been reading up here a lot but never posted until now...

I have a lot of friends who grow medically and they need me to provide them with more clones than I can even produce currently. I only have two T5 8 bulb light fixtures. I'm trying to figure out what size moms in what size pots can give me the most clones each month.

I thought about growing 6-8 moms in 10 gallon fabric pots, 16-20 moms in 2 gallon fabric pots, or jam pack 64-80 moms in 1 gallon fabric pots... Which of the three options would you guys think could make the most babies each month?

Since I have only florescent lighting I was worried that they wouldn't be able to penetrate the bushiness of moms in 10 gallon pots and they wouldn't thrive for the best results... If I could get 6-8 clones off each 1 gallon mom every month I'd be pretty close to my goal.
Can six to eight 10 gallon moms do better than that under florescent lighting? And the 2 gallon idea is just in the middle so I figured I'd write that too...
These are my thoughts. I'd love to hear ideas.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Richard Richardson]

Take a lower branches from a female plants that have already started flowering. When these grow roots and undergo re-veg, you will have monster mother bushes to chooses hundreds of mature clones from.

Gentle, 24 hr fluorescent lighting is great

 

[Young Coli]

Thanks Richard.. I thought taking from plants that are flowering grow roots faster but then grow a lot slower? Also, u r saying they will have more nodes or cuttings available cause they are from flowering moms? Any idea about the size pots for max cuttings with my limited 2 lights? Anybody else have any ideas ? Thanks !!

 

[Richard Richardson]

From cutting til rooting/revegging takes about 1 month.

From each calyx grows a stem/potential cuttings.

Everything after that is exponential.

 

[Young Coli]

1 month and where will they be at? Further along than cutting taken from a vegging mom?? I'm confused... Also, what size pots do you think are best in my situation? Thanks bro!

 

[Richard Richardson]

I am talking about using initial cuttings, from established plants, as new moms for your friends' clones.

The clones that you give to your friends will come in abundance from these moms later on.

Because your lighting is fluorescent, I am assuming that you would want small, but very productive moms. You can keep a mom in a small pot and the cuttings can be rooted/kept/transported in solo-cups, stored in crates.

The cuttings for your friends can be taken from the mothers after about 2 months. The moms are in veg when you take the cuttings to clone for your friends.

The fastest way to get roots is by using an aero cloner, You can make this yourself - Cloning using a DIY Aerocloner

 

[Richard Richardson]

Thanks Richard.. I thought taking from plants that are flowering grow roots faster but then grow a lot slower?

No, it is actually the other way around. They may take a little longer to root initially, but the plant also has to re- veg, which is a transition that simply takes some time (few weeks). The plant may seem to be stalling at this stage, but afterwards it explodes with exponential vegetative growth compared to a normal plant. They call it monster cropping for a reason.

After the first week and before the end of the 3rd week of flower is the best time for taking this kind of cutting. This timing ensures that the roots establish themselves quickly.

Also, u r saying they will have more nodes or cuttings available cause they are from flowering moms?

Exactly - Each calyx grows a new stem when it re-veges. Each stem grows many potential cuttings.

 

[Young Coli]

So 80 1 gallon pots and clones from flowering moms is the best way you are suggesting Richard??? 1 gallon pots cause I have fluorescent lighting? Is that because fluorescent can't penetrate thru big moms that might be in a 5 gallon pot? 80 1 gallon pots can produce more than 16 5 gallon moms on a monthly basis???

 

[Richard Richardson]

80 small flowering clones as moms will probably produce more cuttings faster than a lower number of bigger moms in the same amount of space, regardless of lighting choice. However, looking after 80 plants would be a nightmare for me!

Personally, I would go for bigger moms, scrogged in 5 gallon pots; one of each strain, maybe 2 each of more popular strains.