A Guide for Caring and Maintaining Cannabis Mother Plants

[0:06] What's up my cannabis connoisseurs and cultivators? I'm your friendly neighborhood stoner man, Chronic from the Cannabis Chronicles on Instagram and YouTube, and I'm back to bring you all an amazing episode of the "Homegrown Podcast." Remember, this podcast is made possible with the help of Homegrown Cannabis Co. where you can head over to www.homegrowncannabisco.com to browse the most
 

[0:33] top-notch cannabis seeds available for your cultivation journey. In today's episode, I'll be discussing what mother plants are and how to look after your mothers. So if you haven't lifted off into smoky clouds yet, go ahead and get to puff, puff passing that piece to your lips, or drop a dab so big you're coughing for days, and let's break into
 

[0:53] some cannabis content. Let's do this. In this first segment, I'll be breaking down what mother plants are for you growers out there. This segment really doesn't require much to answer that, so I'll be discussing how to grow out your mothers, tips and tricks for trimming, and some early training techniques to help grow a mother plant to her fullest potential for cloning later down the
 

[1:15] road. To begin, a mother plant is a female cannabis plant a cultivator keeps in vegetative phase or makes sure the plant produces vegetative hormones for a prolonged period of time that will allow the cultivator to trim or take cuttings, otherwise known as clones from this plant. Mothers are the plants in which the clones are taken from. The clones are considered the first generation of clone cuts, and with the clone
 

[1:38] cutting, there is a major impact in potential quality and terpenes if you continue to create mothers from clones and continue the generations. It's usually not recommended to use a clone as a mother that is after the third generation of cuts. What that means is if you are at a clone store and you purchase a clone, you have the first generation of clones.
 

[2:02] If you take your first-generation clone home and create a mother plant out of it, now any other clones that come from that mother will be second generation. It's not ideal to take clones or cuts and turn them into mother plants once you're in the third to fourth generations, as you begin to see terpene changes, potential potency losses, and varying factors.
 

[2:25] Mothers are best kept as close to the original F1, F2, F3, or S1 genetics as possible. Which if you haven't listened to previous episodes where I discuss F generations and S generations, F1 means filial first generation, which is the first-generation offspring or the original offspring that created the strain from parent plants that hold both male and female chromosomes. S1 means self to first
 

[2:52] generation, which is where a plant self-pollinates, and this is the terminology used for feminized plants and their offspring. This also includes plants that only hold XX chromosomes. So mothers are generally the absolute best when they are the original plant that you are taking from, whether it's the F1 generation, F7 generation, or S8 generation. So when purchasing clones from a dispensary or breeder, it's
 

[3:18] best to mother that clone and take your cuttings from that mother that's as close to the original as possible. If you end up mothering that clone and take cuttings to re-mother and flower out the original plant, you'll be further from the original mother genetics, and you can begin to notice slight variations that can actually be negative, like potency
 

[3:40] loss. Now, how long can a mother stay alive? Well, mothers can survive as long as you provide adequate environments, food, and root protection from diseases and such pest. I've heard of mother plants surviving over 10 years, which is insane. Now, if you're planning on growing out a mother plant, I highly recommend doing a lot of low-stress training to the branches early on
 

[4:04] to develop very thick branches and topping as many times as your space can allow, creating a nice wide manifold like bush shape that will help when taking clones. Topping and low-stress training mixed with Kushman chiropractics are my favorite forms of training I do to my mother plants early on to get them ready to be cloned. Now the key to keeping mothers growing is to
 

[4:26] not use techniques like lollipopping as you don't actually want to skirt your plants. However, you can do a few early schwaze trainings or defoliations to help the light penetration and help clear out your canopy to help the airflow and prevent any PM or mold buildup. These are all techniques I use to grow out my mothers to have good successful clone cuts from them later on.
 

[4:49] Now there isn't too much else for this first segment, so be sure to follow along on whichever platform you're tuning in from so you don't miss out whenever we post an episode of the "Homegrown Podcast." Now stay tuned as we take a short commercial break, and when we come back, I'll go over how to look after your mothers once they are viable for
 

[5:08] cloning and how to properly trim them. Stay tuned. Hey, Kyle Kushman here. Sorry to interrupt such an amazing podcast, but I got to tell you about one of Homegrown's latest cultivars. We call her Purple Jazz. She's a cross of Granddaddy Purple and Dosido, so you know you're getting your hands on some genuine cannabis royalty. As blue-blooded and aristocratic as it gets.
 

[5:36] She's great for beginners and delivers anything up to 19 ounces per plant outdoors, the same per meter squared indoors. Great yield, sure, but what I love about Purple Jazz is the colors, the smells, and the flavor. It's a totally sensual plant, as in all your senses will be going wild. Her 22% THC is awesome for seasoned tokers, but newbies might
 

[5:57] want to wait a few minutes between rips. You know what I mean? Jump on Homegrown, type in Purple Jazz, and may your next few months be euphoric. I'm Kyle Kushman. Never stop growing And we're back from that amazing break. If you haven't gotten stoned already, go ahead and inhale some of that wonderful smoke or enjoy your favorite edible as I tell you all
 

[6:23] how to care for your mother plants and I teach you how I trim them. Let's do this. Now, in the first segment, I explained what mother plants are and some early tips and tricks to help your mother plants grow properly. Now, in this segment, I'm going to go over how to care for your mother plants once they are viable for cloning and how
 

[6:43] I trim my clones. The first thing I will discuss is feeding your mother plants. You want to use a very dialed-in feeding that produces small fading on the leaf tips that shows the plants are eating and not full of nutrients. This will help when cloning to utilize all those nutrients in the leaves without being locked out or toxic to
 

[7:06] produce roots. And once your clones get into their medium with a first meal, they'll be happy to uptake your feeding. I like to tell growers to use a quarter to half dose feedings during a time they're going to be cloning, and when they take their clones to feed their mother plants a lot heavier of a feeding to make up for
 

[7:25] the damage and regrowth that will take place. This keeps your mother plants free from being nutrient toxic and makes sure that the growth will stay consistent for them. Another major tip or trick to consider doing is to grow your plants to double the height you wish to maintain, and keep what's known as a hedge line to your mother plants where you only trim above that
 

[7:46] hedge line for clones. This way you keep healthy, happy mother plants that have plenty of viable nodes for cloning, and you don't run into an issue of not having any nodes left if you trim too short or too low. Also, this keeps your plants rapidly responding after being cut and will allow them to bounce back from training almost instantly. You'll be able to take clones a
 

[8:09] lot more quickly if you didn't keep a hedge line, so hedge lines are definitely a helpful way to keep mother plants for longer periods of time. Using compost teas that have humic or fulvic acid are very important as well if your mother plants are in grow mediums that aren't hydroponics, as these mediums over time can develop bacteria or build up salts. And humic or fulvic acid can
 

[8:32] really help keep your roots clean and clear of root diseases and those issues, which is the number one problem with long-living plants. If you keep your root moisture correct and your root zone happy, your mother plants will never have issues. Another big tip which I mentioned in the first segment is to do regimented Swayze trainings or defoliations
 

[8:51] every so often to help clear up your canopy to allow new fan leaves to stretch out. This will immensely help your mother plants. However, don't do this too often beneath the hedge line, but during the growth of the top of the canopy over the hedge line, you can plan on doing some defoliations which can help increase the growth of the vegging
 

[9:11] stems nearby. One thing about mother plants as well is the fact that you don't need much light to grow out vegging plants. You just need enough of the right spectrums to reach peak performance and you're good. So dialing in your lights to exactly what your plant really needs to be most effective can save you a ton of money on utility cost.
 

[9:30] Also, keeping your environment proper is very key to having happy plants that will thrive for many months or years to come. If you haven't heard the other podcast on dialing in environments, I definitely suggest giving them a listen. Environmental issues are a cause for a lot of headaches in many novice growers' gardens. Now, there isn't too much more I can really
 

[9:50] talk about for mother plants, as you really just take care of them the same way as you do for normal plants, it's just that plant's not really ever flowering or won't flower for many months. Keeping your feeding dialed in, consistent, and not too heavy is really the best advice I can give. I personally like mothering plants in
 

[10:10] hydroponics and soil mediums. Coco coir seems to be a little more finicky for the novice grower. However, if you are a coco grower and you use something like ProMix, it makes for an amazing medium for mother plants. That's pretty much everything I have for you amazing listeners on mother plants and what they are. The last little tip I'll give you is to remember to always use
 

[10:30] isopropyl alcohol on your tools when taking cuts, so you don't give your plants an infection on the actual locations you're taking cuts from. If you growers have any questions for me, you can head over to www.homegrowncannabisco.community and sign up for free where you can tag @Kronic, that's K-R-O-N-I-C, and ask me any questions you all have. I hope you all enjoyed this episode of
 

[10:53] the "Homegrown" podcast made possible by Homegrown Cannabis Co. Remember to snag your top-notch cannabis seeds from www.homegrowncannabisco.com. You could stay up to date with the latest Homegrown Cannabis Co. news by following @homegrownworld on Instagram. If you haven't already browsed the various episodes of this podcast, definitely do so and follow along on whichever platform you're on so you never miss out on
 

[11:15] these amazing episodes. I am your host, Kronic, from the Cannabis Chronicles on Instagram and YouTube, and I'll be back every single Wednesday to bring you all some of the best cannabis content available. I hope you all have an amazing day. Much love, happy growing, and peace. If you enjoyed this video and want to learn more about growing your own cannabis at home, hit that like button, subscribe, and turn those notifications on to keep up to date with the amazing marijuana content Homegrown Cannabis Co. has to offer. See you next time.