what do you use for your mother??

[flyer]

i mean your mother plant with lights.
this will be my 1st time making a mother, i always just use or get clones from friends. but i got a few good strains i want to keep so im deciding to make her a mom.
i seen some use a t5 ho flo light for it and some use a 400w hps

right now she only 30 days still vegging under 400 mh

usually how many days would she need to mature for good healthy babies?


also anyone here use mother plant nutrients part a & b ?

any feedback or suggestions are greatly appreciated
thanks in advance

 

[OrganicMonkey]

Depends on your space, if it's long and you don't mind those long bulbs going out then get those. I like the compact CFL's, hence the C....I find that the long tubes tend to not always light up the way they should. It's probably the fixtures I used, the good ones are very expensive and must be shipped. The store bought 4 foot fixtures, had issues with quality even from the nice ones (still cheap).

There are spot fixtures, you can even get an attachment called a mogul socket adapter. That is cheaper than say a nice CFL wing unit, found a nice place that sells a good deal of a HydroFarm CFL wing with one free Blue spectrum cool CFL....125 Watts or pay more for a 200 Watt cool CFL.

I find that with warm CFL bulbs, roots grow like a charm for clones. It's about your money and the area that your working with, so you'll have to chime in for better suggestions.

 

[Herb Green]

Fit the light to the size mom

Fit the light to the size mom

Small moms-T5 or cfl

Medium to Larger moms-Lower wattage Metal Halide(175,250,400).
It all depends on the size mom you want.
I have 6 very large moms so I use a 1k MH and clones on the side.

In hydro 30 days is enough to produce healthy cuts for sure.Cuts can range from 2" to 10" sometimes even more.So a small mom could produce quite a few small cuts.

Gro on!
Herb

 

[flyer]

thanks guys,
now i know you suppose to feed her 24 hrs before taking cuts
anyone know how long should wait to get next cut? a week, 2 weeks?

 

[Herb Green]

thanks guys,
now i know you suppose to feed her 24 hrs before taking cuts
anyone know how long should wait to get next cut? a week, 2 weeks?

I do hydro so I can take cuts the next day.Although it is stressful for a mother to give cuts you can take as many cuts as she can give at one time.I have stripped my moms down to the bare bones essential leaves and had no probs.I believe you should always leave at least about 25% of vegetative matter for healthy regrowth.
Like I said you can take very small 2" cuts if you want also.They will root!
Gro on!
Herb

 

[High Country]

I keep my mums ticking over under a flouro. When I want clones I put a 400W HPS over them for about a week and hydrate well. I keep the mums in a standard potting mix and feed with seaweed extract.

These mums are only about 10" tall when I took clones.

 

[flyer]

HC- your baby looks very healthy!
i seen ppl veg with hps also and seems to work
but i thought you want to put her under MH lights?
mh for veg and hps is for flowering?

 

[TexasToker]

I can't find where I read it, but I am pretty sure for the best cuttings your mother should be ATLEAST 2 months old. Something to do with auxins/morphogens not being fully developed until 45-60 days.

I am not saying they will not root, just that to increase success the mother should be older.

 

[High Country]

You are correct Flyer, a MH does have blue in the light spectrum which is better for veg growth.

I just happened to have a spare 400W HPS lying around and only use it to give the mums a bit of a boost prior to cloning.

An HPS lamp can be used for the entire grow with good results.

 

[billybob911]

-have you tried Humboldt Nutrients? pretty good stuff..

 

[TexasToker]

An HPS lamp can be used for the entire grow with good results.

^truth...

I have never even owned a MH bulb and I have a convertible ballast. I guess mainly because I just use CFL's and Tubes in my veg chamber now, but when I first started growing again, money was tight and I did at least 3 crops with just an HPS.

 

[billybob911]

pretty good stuff..

 

[JamieShoes]

blue cfls over here - fluoros keep them short(er)

 

[theHIGHlander]

30w CFL rock my mother

keep it green
highlander

 

[flyer]

-have you tried Humboldt Nutrients? pretty good stuff..

i was actually looking into the humboldt roots
i heard having strong roots is the #1 propriety

there is a whole series for humboldt.. grow, bloom, micro, honey, root.
which one do you use?

 

[flyer]

right now mine is about 2 months old
shes under 400w mh reason is,
theres 5 mums im making and some is not as big as i wanted her

would it affect anything if i suddenly change the 400w mh to CFL ?

 

[High Country]

right now mine is about 2 months old
shes under 400w mh reason is,
theres 5 mums im making and some is not as big as i wanted her

would it affect anything if i suddenly change the 400w mh to CFL ?

Growth will probably slow down but they will keep ticking along on 18/6.

 

[LeenieBean]

I have 5 mums right now all under 2 2' t5 lights. They can give me a set of a dozen or more clones each every 2-3 weeks if I needed them to. I have to cut them back whether I need the clones or not because I run out of space in my cab.

 

[kstampy]

I just put my moms (about 10) in happy frog soil under a 400w hps for nice tall thick cuts. Going to just get a small E&F table so I can just do all hydro.. but the soil is super simple, just more messy and IMO soil is a pita compared to E&F. No need to even feed them for 1-2 months when planted from the cloner. Once my mothers are a few months old and ive done some massive cuts I just replace them with fresher more vigorous plants from the cloner. Al B Fuct style.

I used to use T5s with great success as well.