S
Serrated Edges
There is a technique you can use to keep your plant counts low and not keep mothers. During veg, only clean out the bottom fan leaves, not the lower shoots. Veg your plants normal otherwise, topping if prefered. 2 weeks after the flip, when your plants are towards the end of the stretch period (when most people clean out the bottoms of their plants), take clones from all the bottom shoots.
The clones will be nice and long, and shouldn't be woody at all. This is due to the hormonal stretch that was induced, but the clone is cut before bud production begins. The clone will still reveg, but only 2 weeks into flower causes no stress when revegging.
Some say you can take clones up to 21 days into flower, but I don't know about you guys, but I have some decent looking pistils by 21 days, not clone worthy. And I would worry about stressing the clones and needing a very long reveg period.
The reason these clones will produce a bushier plant when grow out is because of the hormonal change in the plant from being post-stretch, nodes and shoots begin to form asymmetrically and closer together. This combined with topping every generation will hormonally produce a bushier, higher yielding plant.
My personal belief is that bottom clones root better, not only because the stalk is softer, but because they are already some what ignored and nutrient-starved in the system of the whole plant. You are doing them a favor by cutting them and giving them their own environment and nutrient supply, they reward you by giving you roots. The upper shoots are already getting everything they need, if you take a cut from them, you are taking away from their needs and getting less as a cutting then they would when they are on the plant. I have no scientific basis on this, but if you don't believe a plant has a hormonal memory, go read the threads on trying to clone auto-flowers. The healthiest and fastest rooting clones (IMHO) come from the bottom ignored & deficient shoots of the healthiest plants.
This technique doesn't seem to work with mothers, however. Mothers get too big and bushy after repeatedly taking clones and being topped, and all those deficient shoots no longer get light and become necrotic. Those don't make for good clones. So cloning from mothers, you have to take top clones.
So the advantages of taking clones in bloom are keeping your plant count low, better rooting success, and bushier plants with every generation, resulting in higher yields and also more bottom shoots for future clones.
