Growing regs/picking mothers in small spaces

[fourTwenty420]

Sorry if I've already posted this somewhere else this morning, I thought I had but I now can't find it, wake and bake has really thrown me off today haha

but anyway . . .

I was going to get a whole new set up but circumstances say that I have to stick with what I've got..
I'm using a DR60 and have a little cabinet that I'm going to turn into a home for a few mothers of my go-to strains under T5's.

So, what I wanted to know is, whats the best way of picking a mother plant in such a small space?

My thoughts were;

Plant all 10 regs in 1L pots.

Root out, trans to 3.5L's.

Wait for sex, kill any males, let the 4 strongest plants survive and take cuttings from them.

Trans to 6.5L's, lst/scrog, flower asap.

Test smoke, pick a favourite, flower the other 3 clones.

I've heard you should wait for the plants to reach a certain level of maturity before you clone/flower, but I've seen people flower plants after 2-4 weeks veg with no issues. . . .

Does anyone think that this will work, or have any other ideas/methods that they use?

Sorry if this has already been asked and thanks in advance!

Edited January 23, 2016 by fourTwenty420

[~nobody~]

I plant my seeds into 3"pots, then transplant to 1l after ten-14 days. I then grow my seed plants out to roughly six weeks or until they get alternating nodes, usually potting up to 3l at around 4 weeks and at that point move them out of my little mum/clone cab into my drobe. At 6 weeks/alternating nodes I take cuts (3/4 per plants) and flip the seed plants to flower. Once I'm sure of sex I discard the males (seedlings and cuts) and let the female seedlngs finish flowering in the 3l pots. Once dried, cured and smoked I then pick the best pheno to keep.

[nughead]

I was using dr 60 but managed to cram in 80x45 in same space, it's a struggle with lack of space eh, but I have a small veg dept, what I did with last lot and have got in habit of is topping before knowing the gender at around 5 -6 internodes according to the stength/characteristics of the plants) and number the plants and cuttings.

This way round you can chuck males soon as you know (unless u want to keep for breeding) and it gives you a head start because the clones/tops will be rooting while the donors/mothers are flowering.

In your scenario I would top them prob a week b4 potting up into your 3 litre pots.

I chop them to bits to be honest, hack off lower leaves and nodes and tie branch's down to the pot edges with garden wire to keep them low and force the tops cos I'm under led, you can get good true 140 watters with 5 watt leds for £58 quid now.

Are you using any sort of scrog net cos that will up your weight which is my aim in pixie tents, having said that this time round I'm not scrogging just to see what happens because leds don't have the light penetration of hps. but looking ok at the moment. A bit of leaf dieback underneath but I always put that down to lack of light it never seems to effect the buds/plants.

I will put a pic up of how I train/hack them later on when urgoyle throws the switch's.

Edited January 23, 2016 by nughead

[nughead]

RAPED BENT TIED AND TWISTED.........You will get the general idea @@fourTwenty420 it's to fill out the space as best as possible and to get the light to shine on just the tops.

[fourTwenty420]

yo, thanks for the replies, appreciate it! nice to hear i'm on the right path

i'll be topping and training them as if i was just growing them normally and I've got a scrog net for the tent now to keep the height down.

Though I think I will have to choose the strongest 4 and discard of the others, but i'll have to wait and see how small I can keep them

@@nughead that plant has been truly brutalised haha

do you think it will be worth starting in a smaller pot before the 1L's generally? a little off topic but thought id ask anwyay

[lazi]

There are many good fem seeds available now and expense aside, they are a good option for keeping plant numbers low and have less risk of a strain becoming boring to you.

If you are going to the trouble of getting a mother plant, might as well get the best mom you can. This means F1 seeds. Start the seeds and take cuts when they're big enough. When you have 2 rooted clones from each, cull the seed plants and veg the clones until you see alternating nodes. Then put one set of clones into flower. Cull males as they appear plus the corresponding clone that is kept in veg.

After harvest, do a smoke test on each clone and decide on a mother plant.

On average, 1 in 4 females from F1s will make a good mother plant so it is possible that you are unlucky and 4 females isn't enough. This is why some prefer to flower 8 or more females for mother selection. F1 breeders like Mr Nice sell seeds in packs of 15 to give you a good chance of having 8+ females to select from.

[fourTwenty420]

@@lazi thanks for that info mate thats really really useful!

that could save me so much space! thanks a lot dude

[lazi]

Searching for a mother can get hairy wrt plant numbers.

Be a very good boy and annoy nobody while on a keeper hunt.

[fourTwenty420]

I've decided to hang off the mother hunt for a bit until I've got a bigger space as I'm moving house in a few months.

Thanks again though @@lazi that's some really good info!

For now I'm just gonna grow two regs out and flower the females.

Is it good practice to leave them in the 1.5Ls until they show sex?

Or should I pot them up as the roots fill out?

[fourTwenty420]

I was thinking of potting up to 3.5 after 2 weeks, hopefully they will show by 3rd/4th week, where id top and pot up to 6.5 for another 2 weeks, then train into the screen before flowering..

I feel 11L might be a bit overkill for my space and would need another week or 2 for the roots to fill out?

Edited February 25, 2016 by fourTwenty420

[Guest UK Caregiver]

This isn't the best way, but I did this. Ordered myself a pack of regualr seeds from Dutch Passion Powerplant. Germinated them, left them on 24-0 for 2 weeks and then flipped to 12/12. The males showed 1st and I binned them. The female's... I just picked out the most vigorous fastest female and slaughtered the rest.

Like I said, not the best way, but that plant I kept is a beauty I've had her 6 months, but only just flowering her out. I have taken 3 successful clones from 5 tries. Here she is flowering out in my dr60 scrog + 3 rooted cuttings that were taken about 2 weeks ago. I just know she was the one, first to show, just grew faster than the other females.

I have No regrets doing it this half arsed way