InTheShed Grows Inside & Out: Jump In Any Time

Saturday night update: the one where I take a box saw to my mother plants!

It was a hot one today, so I had to wait for the sun to get lower in the sky before I tackled the overgrown mother plants. Even though they are in cloth pots, there's only so much room for roots, so I gave the root balls a trim, replanted them in new expired ProMix HP, trimmed the tops, and watered them with the Orchid Fertilizer at 100PPM nitrogen (at the suggestion of my guy at PremierTech - ProMix's manufacturer), which is supposed to help make up for the aging process of the mix.

Those of you who were here a year ago August will remember me doing this before (here is the post in case you want to see it), but I'll do a quick rundown again.

I pulled the plant out of the pot:
20200905_162047 Root ball.jpg

20200905_162047 Root ball.jpg

  • Media owner InTheShed
  • Date added
Mother root ball

Got out my box saw and took off the bottom third or so:
20200905_162123 Root ball shorter.jpg

20200905_162123 Root ball shorter.jpg

Sawing off the bottom third

This is all done with pretty dry soil BTdubs. Then I square the sides by taking off about an inch on four sides:
20200905_162242 Root ball squared.jpg

20200905_162242 Root ball squared.jpg

  • Media owner InTheShed
  • Date added
Mother plant after sawing

Back they went into their original pots with room for new roots, and I proceeded to take a ton off the tops! Here is the before and after pic:
20200905_185142 Mothers before-after root and top trim.jpg

20200905_185142 Mothers before-after root and top trim.jpg

  • Media owner InTheShed
  • Date added
Mother plants before and after root and top trimming

Then I sprayed them with neem for bugs and PM.

I don't even need the Fruit Punch as I have more fem seeds of that, so I may flower this one out at some point. And I'll be adding a Carnival clone to this mother collection tomorrow.

Floppy flowering two tomorrow. Carry on with what I hope is an enjoyable weekend! :cool:
 
We'll see, together!
 
Bionic Chronic NZ said:
Wow that's unreal..... pretty dang clever!
Click to expand...
Thanks Bionic and :welcome: to my perpetual hangout! Credit for this (as I mentioned in my linked post) goes to @Pennywise, @Dutchman1990, and @ProfessorFlora. I can't remember now who specifically talked about the root trimming ( :sorry: ), but all three of them had great tips for mother plants. Also, there is a great old thread on keeping small mothers that does mention the root trimming I did:

Bonsai Mothers

This article was originally written by OG member Oldtimer1, I take no credit for this, except for finding and sharing the information with you guys. Part 1 MAKING, MAINTAINING, AND RENOVATING BONSAI MOMS This Article was originally published on 27/6/2000. Revised and archived 20/10/03 by...
www.420magazine.com
 
Thanks for the shout Shed. I can't remember who said what but I think it was a collective effort.
Root pruning is essential for keeping plants in pots for extended periods of time. That goes for almost all types of plants as I have found out this year. Almost all are treated in the same way. Remove plant from pot, remove roots from plant and put plant back into pot. for many years I was sold on the idea that roots are fragile and delicate but I have found this not to be true. Not too long ago I had serous root rot and many of my plants ended up with no roots whatsoever. Out of maybe 16 or so, only a couple didn't make it. I was washing them in a 1/10 mix of toilet bleach to try and kill the rot and it kind of worked. The rot was caused by root bound plants and fungus gnats spreading the infection which effected almost every plant in my grow room, even spreading to plants in different tents. It is all good now though and most of those plants are healthy and flowering.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to do some more pruning though lol. We don't want to go down that road again.
 
ProfessorFlora said:
Thanks for the shout Shed. I can't remember who said what but I think it was a collective effort.
Root pruning is essential for keeping plants in pots for extended periods of time. That goes for almost all types of plants as I have found out this year. Almost all are treated in the same way. Remove plant from pot, remove roots from plant and put plant back into pot. for many years I was sold on the idea that roots are fragile and delicate but I have found this not to be true. Not too long ago I had serous root rot and many of my plants ended up with no roots whatsoever. Out of maybe 16 or so, only a couple didn't make it. I was washing them in a 1/10 mix of toilet bleach to try and kill the rot and it kind of worked. The rot was caused by root bound plants and fungus gnats spreading the infection which effected almost every plant in my grow room, even spreading to plants in different tents. It is all good now though and most of those plants are healthy and flowering.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to do some more pruning though lol. We don't want to go down that road again.
Click to expand...
Really good info man......
 
InTheShed said:
Thanks Bionic and :welcome: to my perpetual hangout! Credit for this (as I mentioned in my linked post) goes to @Pennywise, @Dutchman1990, and @ProfessorFlora. I can't remember now who specifically talked about the root trimming ( :sorry: ), but all three of them had great tips for mother plants. Also, there is a great old thread on keeping small mothers that does mention the root trimming I did:

Bonsai Mothers

This article was originally written by OG member Oldtimer1, I take no credit for this, except for finding and sharing the information with you guys. Part 1 MAKING, MAINTAINING, AND RENOVATING BONSAI MOMS This Article was originally published on 27/6/2000. Revised and archived 20/10/03 by...
www.420magazine.com
Click to expand...

I cut clones regularly on my mothers for upkeep. This helps control their size and growth rates! I have only root pruned a few times but find it a PITA! I rather just cut a new clone root it and restart the mother. The only time I keep my mothers larger is if I am going to be cutting multiple clones from her for a run! Otherwise smaller mothers the better for storage and genetic longevity
 
Highya ITS,

Love your explanation on how you pruned your mothers! So commom sensical. I love that. Yeah, lovely mothers too (healthy). Happy Smokin'
 
I was looking at my getting larger bunch I'm keeping for a while and was going to try that. so thanks for the live tutorial.
 
InTheShed said:
Saturday night update: the one where I take a box saw to my mother plants!

It was a hot one today, so I had to wait for the sun to get lower in the sky before I tackled the overgrown mother plants. Even though they are in cloth pots, there's only so much room for roots, so I gave the root balls a trim, replanted them in new expired ProMix HP, trimmed the tops, and watered them with the Orchid Fertilizer at 100PPM nitrogen (at the suggestion of my guy at PremierTech - ProMix's manufacturer), which is supposed to help make up for the aging process of the mix.

Those of you who were here a year ago August will remember me doing this before (here is the post in case you want to see it), but I'll do a quick rundown again.

I pulled the plant out of the pot:
20200905_162047 Root ball.jpg

20200905_162047 Root ball.jpg

  • Media owner InTheShed
  • Date added
Mother root ball

Got out my box saw and took off the bottom third or so:
20200905_162123 Root ball shorter.jpg

20200905_162123 Root ball shorter.jpg

Sawing off the bottom third

This is all done with pretty dry soil BTdubs. Then I square the sides by taking off about an inch on four sides:
20200905_162242 Root ball squared.jpg

20200905_162242 Root ball squared.jpg

  • Media owner InTheShed
  • Date added
Mother plant after sawing

Back they went into their original pots with room for new roots, and I proceeded to take a ton off the tops! Here is the before and after pic:
20200905_185142 Mothers before-after root and top trim.jpg

20200905_185142 Mothers before-after root and top trim.jpg

  • Media owner InTheShed
  • Date added
Mother plants before and after root and top trimming

Then I sprayed them with neem for bugs and PM.

I don't even need the Fruit Punch as I have more fem seeds of that, so I may flower this one out at some point. And I'll be adding a Carnival clone to this mother collection tomorrow.

Floppy flowering two tomorrow. Carry on with what I hope is an enjoyable weekend! :cool:
Click to expand...
root trimming makes sense. i may need to do this for my mothers. Thanks!
 
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