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Taking cuttings from long-term moms

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DangerP

Member
I've read this thread about bonsai moms, but while it's a great article, it doesn't deal with a question I have. It looks, from the pictures, like the author has had more than one clone grow from a single node. In my experience, though, once you cut the branch from a node a new one doesn't grow back. Do the plants regrow a new stem from a node that has been clipped?

I've heard about pollarding, which is pruning trees or shrubs back to "branch collars." The branch collars are supposed to produce new growth after pruning, but I can't find any information on weather or not marijuana has those structures. The core problem seems to be how to get an annual plant to act like a perennial.

Without dealing with it somehow it seems like you'd have to cut each set of clones from successively higher nodes, which would be a problem is you're planning on using the mom for many years.
 
Albert Hofmann

Albert Hofmann

Member
with my long term bonsai moms, I like to trim them up fairly high so they are easy to water and because height is not a concern for me. Once you have the plant trimed up as far as you want stop taking the absolute lowest growth and have a rough mental picture of what you want the plant to grow like. As the plant ages you will have to do regular root pruning. When you do this you are lowering the profile of the plant and burying a little bit of the previously exposed main stem everytime in fresh dirt. Eventually, you will lower the plant enough that you reach the original topping and main branch off shoots, at which point you can split the plant as each offshoot will have its own root system.
Here are some quick shots of my moms.




This is what they should look like when you are done pulling clones








albert
 
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DangerP

Member
Awesome! That is exactly what I want to try to grow. I'm thinking more that size than the typical bonsai size myself. I guess what I'm wondering is, if you cut a clone from one of your main limbs, does that mean no more branches are going to grow from that node? If not, do you need to let those limbs keep growing longer and longer so you can cut new clones from new nodes on branches that grow out of the ends?

I think I'm phrasing this badly. Maybe I'll get motivated and draw some pictures.
 
Albert Hofmann

Albert Hofmann

Member
DangerP said:
Awesome! That is exactly what I want to try to grow. I'm thinking more that size than the typical bonsai size myself. I guess what I'm wondering is, if you cut a clone from one of your main limbs, does that mean no more branches are going to grow from that node? If not, do you need to let those limbs keep growing longer and longer so you can cut new clones from new nodes on branches that grow out of the ends?

I think I'm phrasing this badly. Maybe I'll get motivated and draw some pictures.
Click to expand...

Tell ya what...I have to pull a bunch of clones in the next couple days...I'll snap a ton of pics of the whole process start to finish and post them up...hopefully that will help.


albert
 
Albert Hofmann

Albert Hofmann

Member
alright dangerP...as promised

Large mom (5'+) ready to fork over some clones


After pulling 45 clones from her (she could have given 80-90, but I only needed 45 from this mom...which allowed me to take only the best cuts)


After cleanup pruning

as you can see, there is still plenty of lower growth...I didn't trim up from the bottom at all.

This is what an average cut looks like when taken by me


I rotate between 2 bowls for the clones...so, I will pull about 40 and put them in one bowl, let them sit in the water while I fill the other bowl, when done I empty the first bowl into the cloner and so forth


Here are all my large moms after cloning and cleanup pruning






THe fruits of my labor



albert
 
Krakatoa

Krakatoa

Member
Albert Hofman has an awesome big setup, but here I'll show you a small setup. I have my Bonsai mom producing about two clone shoots every 10 days or so. The mother plant is Purple Kush from the Blue Sky cafe in Oakland, CA.

I think "pollard" is the correct term for what I'm after. I just keep clipping new growth at a certain point in the plant, and a little fist develops that keeps producing new shoots. I've been gardening so long that I don't even know the terms or the real science behind it. I just work with the plants and its really a lot easier than it looks if you have a good eye and a feel for plants.

I prune everthing back so that there are only two shoots coming from each of the two main stems. I alternate each stem, so when I cut two clones from one of the stems, the other stem is already halfway toward producing new cuts. This alternating harvest works for my little setup.






 
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JACKtheREFFER

JACKtheREFFER

No Longer a Human Watering Can
Veteran
i know this isnt alberts thread but....... damn nice mother collection albert ..how old r those moms ?
 
D

DangerP

Member
Krackatoa, I'm actually asking this question specifically because I'm growing a BlueSky PK. My lucky day. You don't happen to know how tall she gets when flowered right from clone, do you?

The pollarding thing is the issue I've been confused about. I wasn't sure if new growth would start where old growth had been clipped. Perfect.
 
blackone

blackone

Active member
Veteran
Very interesting! I always thought that new branches in the cannabis plant could only form in a leaf node - I've never seen them anywhere else. But I guess you prove me wrong there:)

Krakatoa said:
Albert Hofman has an awesome big setup, but here I'll show you a small setup. I have my Bonsai mom producing about two clone shoots every 10 days or so. The mother plant is Purple Kush from the Blue Sky cafe in Oakland, CA.

I think "pollard" is the correct term for what I'm after. I just keep clipping new growth at a certain point in the plant, and a little fist develops that keeps producing new shoots. I've been gardening so long that I don't even know the terms or the real science behind it. I just work with the plants and its really a lot easier than it looks if you have a good eye and a feel for plants.

I prune everthing back so that there are only two shoots coming from each of the two main stems. I alternate each stem, so when I cut two clones from one of the stems, the other stem is already halfway toward producing new cuts. This alternating harvest works for my little setup.






Click to expand...
 
Krakatoa

Krakatoa

Member
Blackone, I think we're talking about the same thing. It's true that new growth is going to only come from leaf nodes, so the trick is to trim just above the leaf node every time so that new growth emerges every time.

The node gets kind of bulbous and thick, but it keeps shooting out new growth as long as you don't cut into the node. You don't want to cut into the node, but you also don't want to cut very far above it because then you'll have dead wood and that's an entry point for pests and disease.

Hofman's picture's show the story a lot better than mine. That's the beauty of working with plants, that they have certain simple properties that make them easy to work with. New growth will only come from nodes, so you just choose which nodes you'll allow growth to come from. You stop new growth above your chosen node by cutting off all old wood above your chosen node. You stop unwanted growth below your chosen node by pinching off new growth as it comes up. When you have all your growth emerging from your one or two chosen nodes, you now have a bonsai mom!

So I guess the trick is to find the node where you want all you new growth coming from, and just don't allow any old wood above that node. The node will keep producing new shoots for a long, long time.

I also trim growth below the growth node because I really want to control the location of the plant's energy output.

Danger, the Purple Kush from Blue Sky is a slow vegger, and it's not a heavy yielder at all. The upside is that everyone who has smoked my Purple Kush says it's some of the best weed they've ever smoked, both for taste and effect, and all they want is more, more, more.

You'll get almost no stretch from the Blue Sky Purple Kush. However big the plant is when you put it into flower, that's about how big it will be at the end of flower, so you have to plan ahead for the volume you want to produce.

To be specific, when I place my Purple Kush into 12/12, the newly-rooted clone is about four inches tall. It grows to about 10 inches tall by the time I see the first signs of flowering. At the end of flowering the plant reaches about 12 inches tall. So when flowering starts, that's pretty much as big as the plant is going to get. I consistently get 12-inch single-cola plants when I go 12/12 from newly-rooted clone.

The Blue Sky Purple Kush is perfect for SOG, because you can pack a lot of plants in a small space. They grow single cola when you put them into 12/12 from your first rooted clone. Each plant won't produce much, but a lot of plants could produce a lot of weed.

Purple Kush = Quality over quantity.
 
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blackone

blackone

Active member
Veteran
Ah but you can still get multiple branches shooting from the same node, if you keep cutting them? That's also good news for sure. I've seen something like that in bubblegum - a very tiny branch formed in the place where preflowers usually are.
 
S

Stalldaworld

Member
albert- Are those cloners just big ass bubble cloners?
confirm this for me please...

what kinda plugs are holding the clones?
are you using any type of rooting hormone?
whats the temp of the water?
whats the water level in relation to the stem of the clone?
how long are you leaving them in the cloner?
any nutes in the cloners?

great looking setup and great looking mothers btw
 
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