COCO COIR Advice on first attempt to grow mother plants

[PhantomSulker]

Hi, I am 65 days into growing and learning as much as I can, so I wanted to reach out to the community for any help/advice as I start to grow two mother plants.

Brief summary of where I am in learning. I had some seeds from years of smoking and grew my 1st grow out of them. I ended up out of 5 with 2 that were female and they are doing pretty good. Since my 1st grow went from 5 to 2 I started trying to figure out how to get as much as possible quickly. I ended up with some clones from a friend and a few off my flowering plants. They right now are in poor condition. After seeing the clones look disappointing I decided for my next grow I would grow some Autos and try to keep the clones in vege for the time the Auto (Jack Herer from Seed King, should arrive next week) would grow. So then I was thinking that I really have 10 weeks min before the Auto grow. Well then it occurred to me why not get my other seeds I bought going as Mother plants and then as soon as the Auto's go the flower tent from the veg tent, I could grow 2 mothers at the same time in the veg tent and when the Auto's finish I can move the remaining living clones I have now into the flower tent and start taking clones from the 2 mother plants.

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/foru...163-first-time-grower-i-really-needed-a-hobby

Here is what I have for the setup for the mothers.

1 - Geloto - Seed King Fem
1 - Strawberry Banana - Seed King Fem
2 - 3 Gal Fabric Pots
1 - 1500 W LED in veg tent I know this is probably too much, but bought when I did not know much.
1 - Digital Heater keeping it around 72 at night and 75 during day
1 - Veg Tent 2x4x4
Coco Coir prepared with 4qt of Perilite and soaked in cal-mag and a bit of Maxi Grow and sitting for a bit.

I planted the seeds on Wed 2/15/19 in Root Riot pod. I have them in a egg carton sitting under a LED ceiling full spectrum I think 6500k light on a heating mat. They are sitting in a Tupperware tub and I put bags over top to keep humidity.

Last night it looked from close up that the Geloto seed looks to be cracking. Could not tell on the Strawberry Banana.

I am planning on using 2 of the 1Gal pots that the clones are in now. I live in MI and can only have 12 plants. So when these get going I have to take down the 2 weakest clones. I have 10 clones in veg and 2 flowering. After they grow

But anyway I really want to grow these as long term mother plants and start taking clones as soon as I harvest the 5 Jack Herer Autos. I would appreciate any advice and will post progress often as they go along. I have learned so much and read a ton of stuff but applying it and sifting through all the different opinions out there is a lot of information and only 65 days into this hobby I want these plants to stay with me for a long time.

 

[Toker1]

Look up bonsi mother plants techniques. Allows me to keep 4 mothers going at once only using a 2x2 square area for the mothers to grow in. I can pull 50-75 clones per month off a cheap Mars Hydro 130w (actual draw) LED.

 

[PhantomSulker]

I read about that and it looked really interesting. I have room for one more tent or build a area under the stairs in my laundry/grow room to keep them in with a small light. I haven't quite decided. Right now funds are tight so I can't afford to buy another setup.

 

[Toker1]

I made the mistake of trying to use cfl lights my first time. It was a huge pain because you need to adjust the height to fit the plant size. Penetration sucked. Moving to LED was a huge time saver. So you are ahead of the curve already with LED IMO.

 

[PhantomSulker]

This was the best article I found so far it looks the same as the one on here, but downloadable PDF.

http://www.cannabase.com/cl/index.html

 

[Toker1]

Great read. I removed over inch off each side of a rootball on one of my moms once. It totally killed her. Wish I would have seen that first. Lol

 

[PhantomSulker]

What type of pot are you using for it? Seeing a taller pot than usual I am wondering if I should plant in something other than my fabric pots.

 

[Toker1]

I have them in 1 gallon fabric containers. One thing I noticed is that the fabric containers are a bit tougher to remove the mother plants than the plastic ones are. But you only need to remove them to cut the root ball like twice per year at most.

 

[PhantomSulker]

Cool, I was thinking that it would much easier to handle the plants, but maybe I will get something else since I will hopefully be proud and show them off.. Thanks Toker1.

 

[PhantomSulker]

Last night before bed looked at them, nothing. This AM my tent lights go on and I was up at 6 to check. The Geloto seed (1st photo) is sprouting and the Strawberry Banana looks like the Geloto seed did last night, it looks bigger than yesterday. It was exciting, I read a bunch more on the bonzi technique and I am leaning towards that unless anyone else besides #Toker1 input thinks otherwise. I actually quit drinking (which has been a problem all my life, 4 days sober today, I did not realize how much of my buzz I was wasting being drunk!) so now I have been up till 11 or midnight instead of passed out by 10. Anyway, I think the Bonzi approach will give me more to do with my girls.

In addition, instead of adding a 3rd tent to my small laundry room, I am going to build a room under the stairs for the Mom's. Maybe make it like a Spa for fun for the Mom's to get a way from the kids. But seriously I figure I can vent the veg tent to the mom room and then from the Mother's Spa to outside, that the heat and humidity can heat and humidify the Spa for the Mom's? Thoughts. My buddy at work said to make sure to seal the room so moisture does not get in the wood, that was a good thought. I am going to look at articles on building rooms. Since I am still only 66 days into growing, I skipped all the articles on building since I had only planed to use tents. I will take lots of photos of the space and any progress I make this weekend but might not get new posts till I get to work on Monday.

Question to anyone, since i know we don't want Mom's to grow expediently what type of minimal lighting should I build? I have not researched that either yet but will but anyone have any input I would appreciate it too.

Thanks.

 

[Toker1]

I use the gas lamp routine to keep the electric bill and heat down in my mother room. Light comes on at 8pm and turns off at 8am. To keep them from flowering I use 1 hour of light to break up the dark cycle. So instead of 12 hours of darkness, the get 5.5 hours in the dark, one hour of light, another 5.5 hours in the dark, then 12 hours of light before the schedule repeats itself.
Hope that makes sense.
Check out this article. I use this for my mother room. Still experimenting with veg and flower... so no comment on those so far. But I have been using this technique in my mother room for a few years now.
https://www.cannabisni.com/2101/grow-bigger-and-better-saving-30-50-percent-on-your-energy-cost

 

[PhantomSulker]

Very interesting read, that is the first I have seen that but still learning a whole lot thanks again Toker1! That would be so easy to setup I use KASA smart plugs and can program any scheule right out of my smart phone as well as turn on, off and monitor energy usage. I am such a geek that I have plugged all my devices into them and measured the average energy usage. I can tell you how much my dehumidifier, each heater, humidifier, light etc use when on now.

 

[Toker1]

Same. I can check room temp/humidity, soil conditions, light conditions, from anywhere in the world that you can find an internet connection. Plus turn on/off plugs too. This was not the case when I first started growing. The modern grower has many advantages that past growers did not have.

 

[PhantomSulker]

Yeah, I am in IT by trade so using technology to grow is awesome. Over the years I am sure I will automate everything! I get off in 15 min can't wait to get home to play with the girls.

 

[Toker1]

Nice. Check this out then. I’m sure you will dig it.
https://www.growtronix.com/cart/

 

[PhantomSulker]

Yes that is very cool and expensive, but that would be right up my ally in the future, I bookmarked that page!

 

[PhantomSulker]

Well it was a busy weekend as I mentioned I quit drinking last Wed, and amazing how much more time and energy I have now. Saturday when I got home I started setting up everything to build the Mother's Spa under the stair case. I will post some photos of the setup tomorrow as I forgot to take a finished picture of my Laundry/grow room.

Sat when I went to bed around 2 am, the seeds had not sprouted.

Sunday when I got up to look in on them, they were coming popping out of the Rot Riot cube.

I was over at my parent house and saw in the garage one of my Mom's old Ott Lights and recalled from her sewing days these were very expensive and put out natural light, so I grabbed it and put it over my heat mat and moved over on top of the Dryer. The seedlings continue to grow up fast all day.

In the evening I looked closely and the Strawberry Banana seedling looked to have 2 stalks. I looked closer and took some close up photos and zoomed in on it. Yup 2 stalks coming up. When I planted them I thought I lost a seed because i had 5 and only 3 in the container. When I planted them I thought I dropped one and had looked everywhere for it on the floor table etc. Well don't smoke a lot before planting because I realized I must have planted the first one then put in the Geloto seed and then put another Strawberry Banana seed in the same cube. Not quite sure what to do now?

Any input would be greatly appreciative. Since I am going to make a Bonsai Mom out of it I was thinking about getting a big fancy pot and a rock to grow the plants around and have them join together around the rock? That might be really cool. I have lots of time, I am going to start them in 1gal fabric pots so a few weeks to figure out. My other thought would be to get them growing for while and split them and grow one as the mom and the other one to grow with the Autoflowers that should be in the mail this week.

 

[PhantomSulker]

Well I got an answer in the need help fast section, I got this message. "BlueBudz commented Today, 02:54 AM I’d tear the root riot in half and separate them before they get tangled!" OMG saved the day I hope. I teared the Root Riot apart very carefully and as I got close the roots slid out of the Root Riot. Got to the center and separated the 2 seedlings. Put them in a 3" Coco pot with the coco soil I was going to plant them in eventually. Will see in the AM it is almost 1AM in Michigan and time for bed.

I am really starting to get my Grow Room / Laundry Room / Office setup I will post some photos this weekend still moving lots of stuff around. As long as they grow I can now stop worrying about them. HAPPY!

 

[oldjarhead100]

hey Phantom I saw this and just wanted to say those root riots look dry to me I soak mine in voodoo juice then cut them in half as well, when you soak them see how dark they become ,I try and keep them that color instead of the lite brown that you have , I find keeping mother plants is hard for me ,I usually only get one round out of them then they are so big I just have to bloom them lol

I try not to be a doom sayer and really dont like it when someone says dont do that or that wont work ,cause so many things do work ,I'm just saying what I do and why good luck

 

[Mr.furley]

I'd like to jump in on this thread.
we all find something new to try and sometimes it works and sometimes, not so much. I have yet to keep a mother plant and as I get settled in to a new Grow home this is my next to do.
I what to keep strains that impressed me and work for me with out the burden of pheno hunting seeds and regret I'm letting a strain go, my biggest challenge is size, I do not as of right now have a lot of room and what I have been reading on is Bonsai mothers, so here I go.

my goal is to keep each plant in a 4.5 or 5.5 square pot
going to try to keep six strains for now.
my biggest question is can I use coco and liquid nutrients or is soil a must.
Toker1 you mentioned using led over cfl/t5, have you anything to add about using MH?

anyway this is the thread I have been reading and looking at for guidance.
https://www.growweedeasy.com/mother-plants-how-to-keep-a-bonsai-mother

here's my first one, GSC. I transplanted to the round pot before read about the square pot idea.

after the first cut

any advice is welcome