How tall mother plant

Because even in the best of conditions, not every seed germinates. How will you know if a plant will produce quality clones? Take a look at the plant itself. Rather than choosing a clone to be your mother plant, we recommend growing yours from a seed. In fact, we recommend growing a few plants from seeds to potentially become your mother plant.

This will give you options to choose from instead of having to settle for the plant your seed becomes.

Remember, this is the plant that will comprise your entire garden. Just like people, every plant is genetically unique. Two seeds from the same plant can exhibit very different phenotypes, or traits. Choosing a plant with the right traits to clone is largely a matter of personal preference. When you choose your mother plant, pick one that fits your preferences, as well as exhibiting universally positive traits, such as: Strong roots A strong stem Resistance to pests and fungi A large harvest yield Steady, easy maturation.

Once your plants reach the vegetative stage, take clippings of each of them. Label them so you know which is which.

This plant will spend its entire life in the vegetative stage. Mother plants can live much longer than plants that are permitted to progress through their natural life cycles. Some plants live for only one season, while others progress through their life cycle, year after year, with dormant periods between these cycles. Adding some B-vitamins helps prevent shock in both the mother plants and the cut stems during the process. You can add the same solution to a clean water glass or flower vase as well.

Raise the lights or shut off any high-intensity lighting sources and give the mother plant s a light mist. Next, give the donor branches a final inspection, then cut off portions of the stem longer than you intend to root.

Put the cut end into your water glass or vase filled with solution right away. Gather up several branches or stem pieces like this until you have enough to fill a tray or as many as desired. With your rooting medium neatly beside your cutting area, and with holes for the cuttings pre-poked to a depth of at least three-quarters of an inch, you can strip away excess foliage and growth sites from the cut material, leaving a clean stem with a 2-toinch-diameter crown of foliage at the top trim any excess with scissors.

Finally, place the stem down flat on the board and make a degree cut to the final length for rooting. Finally, stick the dipped cut end into the rooting medium.

First making sure that your fingers are clean, gently firm up the medium at the top of the stem to ensure good contact. Give the cut clone a very light mist and continue until the tray is full or you have sufficient cuttings prepared. Cover the tray with the humidity dome and keep under constant, gentle full-spectrum lighting. Lift the dome off daily and wipe it with a clean paper towel, then place it back on top. Use your best judgement, being very careful not to overwater and create stem rot in the warm, moist environment.

Some strains will root faster than others; however, you will usually start to see roots in 10 days following these directions. Also, keep plants with small root systems away from strong breezes or ventilation. Just like a serious high-performance engine or a well-trained athlete, aeroponic cloning takes advantage of oxygen boosts to ignite a faster and stronger rooting process.

Rockwool is melted rock that has been spun into a fine thread, and it has terrific airflow and moisture retention. You can find any of these cubes at most grow stores or online. The clones will go in the cubes, the cubes into the tray-cells, and all of that sits in a tray which will hold water. To keep in humidity, make sure to use a dome over your tray, and you may even want to use a heat mat. Another method is to use an auto-cloner. There is an initial cost for buying an auto-cloner, but if you plan on cloning a lot, they are worth it.

Auto-cloners cut down on the amount of labor needed to care for clones. Using aeroponics , these machines spray the bottoms of your cuttings with nutrient water at set intervals to promote root growth. Experiment to see which setup works best for you. Whichever method you choose, make sure your new clones get plenty of light—preferably 18 hours—and humidity.

For more info on cloning setups, check out our Guide to cannabis cloning equipment. When selecting a mother plant to clone from, look for plants that are healthy, sturdy, and at least two months into the vegetative cycle. This will allow nitrogen to work its way out of the leaves. When you take cuttings, an excess of nitrogen in the leaves and stems will trick your clones into attempting to grow vegetation instead of diverting energy to rooting.

Check your clones daily to make sure they have enough water by checking the bottom of the tray or auto-cloner. To increase humidity, you can spray water on the leaves with a spray bottle. If you have an east facing window, your Mother of Thousands will thrive there. Keep in mind that from early June until late September, south and west facing windows will provide too much heat for your Mother of Thousands — consider finding another location for the plant in your home during the summer months.

There will be large spaces between the leaves, making the plant look a little sparse and worse for wear. Not only can the direct heat damage the leaves, it can dry the plant out too fast. The roots of your Mother of Thousands are quite delicate and do best when air can circulate around them. The best choice is a terracotta pot that has holes at the bottom so that any excess water can easily drain out. You can improve the drainage system even more by putting some pebbles or a few small stones at the bottom of the pot.

Place the pot into a tray so the excess water can drain out — then make sure to empty the tray when water starts to collect. If you let the Mother of Thousands stand in water, the roots may start to rot, causing damage to the plant. Your Mother of Thousands likes to be planted in small pots.

The larger the pot is, the bigger the leaves will grow and the taller the plant will get to be. For bushier plants, stick to planting each Mother of Thousands in a smaller pot, changing size as the plant gets bigger. The Mother of Thousands does best in sandy soil that drains well. A potting mix designed for cacti is a good choice. Just add some course sand to regular potting soil. Avoid using soil that has a mix of peat moss, humus, or loam. With any of these in the potting mix the soil will take too long to dry out, keeping too much moisture in the pot.

Water the soil of your Mother of Thousands thoroughly. Before watering again let the plant dry out so that the top 2-inches of soil are completely dry.

When watering, always use water that is room temperature. The roots of the plant are extremely sensitive to temperature. Another tip for watering your Mother of Thousands: water the soil only and avoid getting water on the leaves.