keeping a mother fresh/soft

[stoner]

for a number of years now i have grown autos for 1 reason - i am gash as getting my cuttings to root, my mother plants branches always seem to be hard and not soft which i believe to be my problem, it doesn't matter which part of the plant i take them from, so what am doing wrong that makes them hard?

[MonkeyMaster]

my cuts are taken from fresh shoots 3 or 4 inter-nodes long

the older parts of the mum are silver and stick like

the fresh shoots are green and supple

hope that answers your question

MM

[madgiz]

To keep mothers long term you need to prune often even if you don't need cuttings and this keeps the plant perpetually generating top growth..

The new growth will be the best place to take cuttings and to keep your mother manageable then keep the roots restricted by using the bonsai method and grow her in a small pot, root pruning twice a year..

Edited January 28, 2014 by madgiz

[Growing my own]

@@madgiz

So keeping a mum in lets say a 3.5 litre pot will only need a root trim twice a year,what happens when the compost in that said pot runs out of nutrients? Is it just a case of feeding her with a veg nute every so often or would it be every time you watered her? Thanks in advance....

@@stoner

Sorry too but in here mate...

Take your cuts from fresh growth mate...

[madgiz]

I keep mine in 1 litre pots and feed daily 1.5 ml per litre..

[Clay Davis]

I keep mine in 1 litre pots and feed daily 1.5 ml per litre..

Do you not run a wet/dry cycle with your mothers @@madgiz?

[Sun Tzu]

You can always do a little root pruning on the mums, a little fresh compost in the bottom of the pot, and back in she goes. Every so often (maybe once a year) I like to do quite a heavy top prune. I prefer keeping the number of shoots off the main stem down to roughly twice the number of cuts that get taken each time. The main stem gets very woody, but the new growth is always just that, new, not starting to get small and spindly through over-crowding.

Just my tuppence-worth

[madgiz]

Do you not run a wet/dry cycle with your mothers @@madgiz?

Yes mate and fully established mums in 1 litre pots will easy drink 1/2 a litre a day..

[dannychoo]

1.5ml? seems an incredibly small amount?

Edited January 28, 2014 by dannychoo

[Biltong Bob]

1.5ml? seems an incredibly small amount?

For a mother plant?

[Mephitis]

1.5ml? seems an incredibly small amount?

1.5ml of feed in a 1/2 litre of water I am guessing.

[Biltong Bob]

I keep mine in 1 litre pots and feed daily 1.5 ml per litre..

1.5ml/l of grow is adequate to keep a mother ticking along. You could probably get away with less, depending on the strain.

[Greengrocer]

Make sure to sing to her.. Gently. Daily too!

She stings less when touching her up rubbing against her.

[dannychoo]

1.5ml/l of grow is adequate to keep a mother ticking along. You could probably get away with less, depending on the strain.

Ah, of grow.

I think I accidentally read it as 1.5ml OF mixed/water per mother as in just 1.5ml - less than a teaspoon .

So how many ml of water do you give each mother then ? 20% run off? or 500ml each?

[Biltong Bob]

So how many ml of water do you give each mother then ? 20% run off? or 500ml each?

Yes mate and fully established mums in 1 litre pots will easy drink 1/2 a litre a day..