Mother Plant Nutrients

[The Mayor]

Hi everyone.

 

This is only my second post but I've been lurking around here for several months and am jumping in now with a question.

 

My mother plant has been doing well under a big 4ft T5 fixture. She is about 5 months old now, and I've heard but haven't seen much on special mother nutrients. I've been feeding her Fox Farm nutes at half the dosage, and was about to up it to full (thinking I have been under feeding) but then heard that there are specific formulas just for mothers.

 

I'm growing a strain called Lemon Paw, which is a Lemon Skunk/Monkey Paw (with the buds that look like a paw). So it is a sativa/indica mix. It is a real tough strain that grows fast and bushy.

My mother is in a 5 gal bubbler stand alone unit. Her branches have all gotten pretty woody in the past month. Not a lot of softer stems that are good for cloning. I don't think the plant is dying, but it isn't thriving either. It tends to often look like it is just starting to fade a bit near the bottom, but doesn't advance really. The top looks great.

If I can get her to last until I have the room, I'm likely going to put her in to flower. I just need to make sure I keep her healthy until then.

 

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, there is a lot of helpful information being shared here.

[Grow Thread]

where to start..........

 

ok first, mother plants in hydro is not a good idea, and yours is the poster case as to why. mother plants should be in soil, and in as small of pot as possible. only using larger pots when absolutely necessary. even then, roots are trimmed in a bonzai fashion to keep the plant small, new, and fresh. plants in hydro grow fast. REAL fast. and big. thats why we grow hydro in the first place. i have seen mother plants that are 3 years old, less than 2 feet tall, and growing in a pot no larger than a coffee can. with fresh green soft stems.

 

a cannabis plant will not live forever. everything dies naturally eventually. humans, redwood trees, everything. cannabis plants have an extremely dedicated desire to reproduce before they die and will do crazy things like stress themselves into producing a male flower for pollen, to mate with itself before dying, thus continuing the lineage. likewise, eventually, they will force themselves into flower regardless of light/schedule. most cannabis strains judge their own age by size and not by days of life like us.

 

i assume your plant is huge by now. 5 months vegging in bubbles.......... sounds like a MONSTER (and a picture i would love to see) if i were your plant right now i would be thinking "hmmmmmmm, i am getting pretty dang big here..... and it aint stopping.......... and i am strong as hell..... bet i could hold up some huge sticky buds that could collect tons of pollen and i could make seeds!!!"

 

put her in flower, reap the HUGE benefits, and grow another mom of the same strain in some dirt.

 

 

just my early saturday morning 2 cents..... so i would value it at about a penny and a half.

[The Mayor]

Thanks Bubblegrower. That makes perfect sense. I've been trimming back the plant and I am sure that has added to it's suffering. It's about chest high if you include the pot it's in. So it is not as big as it could have been.

 

I will take your advice and flower it. The branches are all very woody, so I'm sure it will hold up whatever it produces just fine.

 

Thanks!

[NaturalMedication]

I use mother plant nutrients by hd on all of my mothers and see clones rooted 2-3 days quicker then on standard grow nutrients. I was told it had to do with the fact grow nutrients is not as stored as a higer phos/potass food. Plus other additives to help repair. I would suggest using one mother plant for as long as possible to keep from genetic drift. I used clonex for years but never considered changing the mother plant food from a grow to a bloom until I used mother plant nutrients and had such great results. Unlike the foxfarm MP nutrients is 2 part and packed with calcium. Just my 2 cents,

 

Natural