Care for a mother plant

fineas

fineas

New Member
Hi everyone,
I usually grow from seeds, Want to create a good environment for a plant that I have chosen to be a mother. I would like to keep her in her own home and sharing the lights with some other plants I have growing in 18 hr lighting.. She presently is in a 6in pot with hydroton, fed in a flood table .
OK so what HP systems do all yall like to grow a mother in? Should she keep the same nutrients that I use when I have plants in veg? I want to give this future queen the best home possible to give her the healthiest life I can.
Please folks give me any and all suggestions regarding anything you wish to contribute on this subject or send me links too.
Thanks in advance for all yalls replies
 
The mums are unique beasts that require a special space. As such, I generally find it easiest to run her d2w, and to not use a recirc system at all. If you continue in 6-7" pots & use coir/perlite (what I'm used to), you can grow her to 2-3' and get away with nuting once per day, though she will be leaning towards dry by then, but not quite. So, if you bump her to a 3gal pot, you should be able to maintain her very well with little overall maintenance on a d2w. Hope this helps. Best.
 
I had thought once of going to soil but dont want the problems with it. But it would be a good system once a day nutrient feed. Do you give your mother special nutes or just a grow nute, how to additives work in coco? Do any pest like coco? I have been considering using coco in the future and have been looking a bit into it, but I dont know feeding times in that medium. But I will search....
 
I love coir, but see the benefits of other mediums as well, so try to understand that my info is attempting to be impartial...

Drain-to-waste (top-fed) with coir is just about the easiest (most trouble free) medium I've used. There are issues/tricks, especially if you are to recirculate, but straight top-fed it is E A S Y. The only "trick" in this set-up is to never, ever let the coir dry out. It is very easy to rehydrate (one of the best attributes actually), but the pH will drop severely (under 5.0) & your ppm's will skyrocket. That is the only bad thing I can think of when used as stated.

You will hear a lot about the cations (Ca, Mg, K & the like) and yes this is very important to address if not understand when recircing. If you get any quality coir brand (atami is my fav over canna, ccgro, cctek), the first week or two of run-off & soil chemistry won't be ideal, but you shouldn't really notice anything. I can explain further if you want, but good enough for now. What you should be doing is running 1ml per gal of CalMag+/SensiCal/or the like. This is in addition to your balanced base nutes.

I like to add LKarma @ 1ml/gal, DiamNectar @ 2-3ml/gal, MZyme (H&G) @ 2-4ml/gal. All pH'd to 5.8-6.3 & you will be perfectly fine. Another trick, though not that big of an issue, is to run your pH at 6.5 for the first 2 weeks & then back down to 6.0. Coir will easily handle a swing of .5 or more from 6.0 without blinking an eye. This is another favorite characteristic of coir- once the initial pH balances out, it is very stable. Almost forget about it, along with flushing/salt build-up. It is great.

Can grow huge plants in small containers, just have to keep up on the watering. Beneficials love the coir as well as the plant roots. With bene's tossed into the above mix, the plants just eat & eat & eat & eat (grow & grow & grow). Great medium.
 
BTW, yes, soil mites & springtails love coir. These aren't a problem for the plant, but a major nuisance/annoyance. Do not ever use CocoDan Croutons, or any of the related coir products. You will get several bugs from this product, including nematodes. They just "fresh water" rinse, which is really huge piles of degrading coir exposed to all the elements including rain water (hence the fresh water rinse). All sorts of microorganisms are in this product... unless they've radically changed things over the last year.
 
Hi, gio77,
I actually have been contemplanting using coco on my next grow in the fall. I am anxious to learn all there is about it too. I thank you for your input. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me. You seem to be an expert in this medium. I hadn't thought about using this for the mother I am trying to keep. Thanks for your input!!
fin
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Thank you!
 
Hello Pitviper,
Just saw a show about viperologists who study well, vipers cool...
What happened when you let your plant "go"? Did they want to go to seed? What hints do you have using this system. DO you grow mother just like a plant in veg? And feed them similarly? Do you change the nutrient solution every 2 weeks? I was also thinking of a hydrofarm for it as well. What ,in your opinion, are the benefits of using this? I think I like the single plant system, sound ideal for a mother..
Thanks kindly for your suggestions and advice.
 
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