Unruly moms in coir, how much too cut?

[One Love 731]

I have a bunch of 2'6" moms that were not topped and trimmed (as much as they should be) as they were growing. To get them were I want them, I'll have to cut back quite a bit. My question is how much can you cut a plant (at one time) before you cause major stress or death. I have read Bonsai Moms and got a lot of info on creating the perfect mom, which I have a few in the works from seed. I took 90 6" clones off of 15 moms, am I just expecting too much? How many (good) clones should you be able to take off a established mother? Karma, One Love Happy Halloween

 

[bdomina]

I would say that as long as you keep her healthy an established mother can produce countless clones. I have a mother plant that got root rot bad. I literally cut almost all the roots off her, as well as almost all the foliage. i left only a few small leaves here and there . I physan20'ed everything and started her off slowly. in 2 weeks she had an entire vibrant white root system. within a month she was full of new growth and ready to clone again. I decided to flower her to make room for a new strain, and that is where she is now.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Cut one of them way back...to almost nothing and see for yourself how it comes back and how many more clones you will be able to take.

That still leaves you 14 moms...so even if complete disaster strikes (and it won't) you can still get 90 clones taking 7 clones off a few of the mothers (6 out of the 14 can give up another clone, right???).

Truth be told 3 mothers that size, properly bushed out, will be more than you need for 90 clones every couple of months.

Best way though...prove it to yourself with a trial...seems to me there is very little if any risk in doing so.

 

[One Love 731]

The Moms look great 4 days after taking cuts, the cuts look as they were just took. I have a Afghan Kush mom that is struggling, her roots don't look healthy. I am thinking about giving her zone and a 2 gal pot of fresh botanicare coco. Should I cut some of the root mass back? I will also be cutting 1 of the cheese moms way back to see how it works out. I guess its time to pay better attention to the production line, I'll take the best clones and add them to mom stock and trim more effectively so as to take more cuts off of each mom. Thanks to all that have helped. Karma, One Love