How Do You Keep Yo Mommas?

[Irish]

Well, it's time for the old nature girl to learn some new tricks.

I've never been accused of not being able to grow some decent shrubbery, though nothing I do is techie at all. Nothing. Herein I am challenged, for indoor cultivation has never been my forte and I've never forced myself to do so for the past 35 years. However, times they are a changin' and I feel the need to keep my own Mothers now, rather than shoving a seed into the ground and praying to the Goddess to spark it with Her likeness as in olden days. *LOL*

So I wanna start them from seed, indoors, under lights, and keep them in veg to perpetuate further grows with their clones.

What works for you guys?

Humbly,
Irish

[Be IRIE]

I grow the seed, take clones, then sex the momma and if they are female then I pick the one or ones I like and will keep them as moms and clone them... The momma from the seed is grown out and smoke tested to make sure she should be carried on...

[Irish]

Originally Posted by Be IRIE

I grow the seed, take clones, then sex the momma and if they are female then I pick the one or ones I like and will keep them as moms and clone them... The momma from the seed is grown out and smoke tested to make sure she should be carried on...

*nodnodnodnod* Okay. So keep the best clone as the Momma and grow out the plant the clone came from as a test of the genetics. Gotcha. Why would that matter--growing out the original instead of one of Her clones? Educate me please.

And...

Would a T5 setup work for their light accommodations?

[BWC BayArea]

So keep the best clone as the Momma and grow out the plant the clone came from as a test of the genetics. Gotcha. Why would that matter--growing out the original instead of one of Her clones? Educate me please.

I was wondering the same thing. Y not flower the cutting and keep the orginal mom so all clones would be F1s?

[Be IRIE]

It is a personal choice, Not enough room to keep mommas for to long. I don't keep the strains for long so I don't mind cloning a few gens in, then we move on to another strain.. I grow from non femm'd seeds, and collect all the pollen from males, so if I really want the strain I will make seeds.. These days its so easy to get clones there is not much of a reason for me to worry about keeping mommies to long.. I have cloned clones a few times and never noticed an bad effects..

[BWC BayArea]

I didn't think that anything would go wrong Be Irie. Its just that I've heard on a couple of occasions that the plant from seed is most desirable in just about every aspect of growing. I can see flowering the original mom to get a bigger harvest and moming the clone. I've read it takes many generations of cloning from clones b4 adversely affecting genetics (or however it works).Actually I've read both sides of the argument. I was just looking for clarification of the rationale behind ur method. Thanks.

[Be IRIE]

It really comes down to plant count and trying to try as many strains as we can.... A lot of my clones come out better then the mom as I usually learn a lot about the plant growing it and can pass that on to the clones...

[Irish]

Originally Posted by Be IRIE

It is a personal choice, Not enough room to keep mommas for to long. I don't keep the strains for long so I don't mind cloning a few gens in, then we move on to another strain.. I grow from non femm'd seeds, and collect all the pollen from males, so if I really want the strain I will make seeds.. These days its so easy to get clones there is not much of a reason for me to worry about keeping mommies to long.. I have cloned clones a few times and never noticed an bad effects..

Now see, there is the reason I want to keep Moms of the varieties I want to see in the garden in coming seasons. Getting the clones I want is not easy, and I missed out on several I would have grown this year if I had kept some Mommas. With all the knee jerk reactions from cities in my area, selling/distributing clones has been banned in one already. I can't drive all over god's green earth trying to find what I want to grow, and I don't want to have to settle for strains I wouldn't have grown otherwise because I can't find what I want.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by BWC BayArea

I didn't think that anything would go wrong Be Irie. Its just that I've heard on a couple of occasions that the plant from seed is most desirable in just about every aspect of growing. I can see flowering the original mom to get a bigger harvest and moming the clone. I've read it takes many generations of cloning from clones b4 adversely affecting genetics (or however it works).Actually I've read both sides of the argument. I was just looking for clarification of the rationale behind ur method. Thanks.

I can't imagine plants much bigger than the clones I grew this season, or a higher yield. *LOL* I was just looking for clarification too, since I didn't want to miss a valuable tidbit of information that could help me become a better grower.

Originally Posted by Be IRIE

It really comes down to plant count and trying to try as many strains as we can.... A lot of my clones come out better then the mom as I usually learn a lot about the plant growing it and can pass that on to the clones...

*nods* Thanks for explaining further. I have a huge curiosity to try as many strains as I can also, but I can only flower out 6 at a time. So I like to keep the one or two that I depend on in the garden, and try new varieties in the other 4 holes.

[Screwnuts33]

T5 lights should work great for maintaining mom's. No heat to worry about and great light coverage. I just vegged under 6500k T5 and they did an incredible job. Even had some leaves grow around a bulb with no burn at all. The Sun Blaze 48 is a great light.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by Screwnuts33

T5 lights should work great for maintaining mom's. No heat to worry about and great light coverage. I just vegged under 6500k T5 and they did an incredible job. Even had some leaves grow around a bulb with no burn at all. The Sun Blaze 48 is a great light.

Thanks Screwnuts! Finally, an answer to my question.

Got my seeds yesterday and still haven't settled on a light. I am slightly leaning towards LED, but I feel more confident with the T5 lights. I'd rather not have to pay PGE any more than I have to. I've been looking at the Sun Blaze, both 2' and 4'. How many watts will be needed for the correct amount of light from a T5? Watts will have a heavy influence on my decision....

[Screwnuts33]

Irish,
My two T5's have 8ea 54 watt bulbs per light. So each light is 432 watts. They do have dual switches so you can run half the bulbs or all the bulbs. You can also get the 46" bulbs down as low as 23 watts each which would drop your watts down to 184watts.

[Droopy Dog]

Originally Posted by Irish

Thanks Screwnuts! Finally, an answer to my question.

Got my seeds yesterday and still haven't settled on a light. I am slightly leaning towards LED, but I feel more confident with the T5 lights. I'd rather not have to pay PGE any more than I have to. I've been looking at the Sun Blaze, both 2' and 4'. How many watts will be needed for the correct amount of light from a T5? Watts will have a heavy influence on my decision....

It should. Moms and clones just don't need that much light. Not speaking of the Sun Blaze, just watts in general. Right now, my moms and clones are under 4 40w T12 bulbs in 2 shop lights and are doing fine. That's not very much light.

You don't want your moms to do too much growth or you will soon run out of room. Just enough growth to take clones when you want them and even then might need pruning to keep the size down.

I have to move mine into a tent for a bit, and for that I'm looking at 2 125w cfls with the reflectors. Found 2 mortar mixing tubs at HD that are ~3'x2', 1 bulb/tub. This should fit just right in my GL120 and not give me too much growth, but is still way more than what I am using at the moment.

Like I said, this is for moms and clones. For vegging and flowering, the more light the better because you want strong growth then. Different ballgame.

In this case, something like the Sun Blaze might work well by running just a few tubes (lower watts), to maintain the moms and kicking it up when you want the veg growth before flowering.

BTW, I flower out the clones until the mother gets too big then she gets flowered. By then though I have already started another clone to be a mom. Usually one that is just extra nice with good growth habit along with some LST and a couple of months before the mom gets flowered so it can offer enough clone sites when needed.

Also, I nute my moms very lightly, never over 1/2 strength and usually closer to 1/4 strength. I want them healthy, but not vigorous growth. Bloom nutes have worked the best for me, giving strong stems for cuttings.

Hope this helps some.

DD

[Irish]

Originally Posted by Droopy Dog

It should. Moms and clones just don't need that much light. Not speaking of the Sun Blaze, just watts in general. Right now, my moms and clones are under 4 40w T12 bulbs in 2 shop lights and are doing fine. That's not very much light.

You don't want your moms to do too much growth or you will soon run out of room. Just enough growth to take clones when you want them and even then might need pruning to keep the size down.

I have to move mine into a tent for a bit, and for that I'm looking at 2 125w cfls with the reflectors. Found 2 mortar mixing tubs at HD that are ~3'x2', 1 bulb/tub. This should fit just right in my GL120 and not give me too much growth, but is still way more than what I am using at the moment.

Like I said, this is for moms and clones. For vegging and flowering, the more light the better because you want strong growth then. Different ballgame.

In this case, something like the Sun Blaze might work well by running just a few tubes (lower watts), to maintain the moms and kicking it up when you want the veg growth before flowering.

BTW, I flower out the clones until the mother gets too big then she gets flowered. By then though I have already started another clone to be a mom. Usually one that is just extra nice with good growth habit along with some LST and a couple of months before the mom gets flowered so it can offer enough clone sites when needed.

Also, I nute my moms very lightly, never over 1/2 strength and usually closer to 1/4 strength. I want them healthy, but not vigorous growth. Bloom nutes have worked the best for me, giving strong stems for cuttings.

Hope this helps some.

DD

That helps alot. Thank you! +Reps! You gave me a good feel of keeping moms in that post and much to mull over, along with the info on light requirements. I am in no way an indoor grower, nor have I cloned very many plants, so I'm gonna have to finally learn some things more technical than what I know now.

Was looking at the T5 units and the LED lights at the hydro shop the other day. Lots of watts are bad for me this time of year, as some of my heating is electrical, though most is woodstove, but anything over what I already have going can put me in a higher tier where the energy bill skyrockets. I thought that even the 2' lights were expensive at just under $200, but I just about choked when I saw the 90w LED lights pricing--$499???? Jeeze Louise! But at the same time though, I saw that the energy efficiency of the LED was just what I need in my circumstance (approx. half of T5's), and sufficient wattage (touting equivalency to 400w hps), I would hope, for my new endeavor.

500 bucks. Sheesh.

Just couldn't shell it out this close to Christmas, so went shopping online. Found the exact same light at auction and got it for $131.50 brand spanking new, free shipping. It'll be here next week.

And so the journey begins....