The Importance of the Mother Plant in Cannabis

Growing and maintaining cannabis mother plants is a great way to keep your favorite cannabis genetics alive for years down the road.

If you want to regrow a specific phenotype that you loved, mother plants can be a bountiful source of high-quality cuttings.

Cuttings, which can produce clones, are cut-off branches of a vegetative female cannabis plant. Cuttings grow to have the exact same characteristics as their mother plant.

These plants will have the same aroma, flavor, structure, and look as their mother plant.

If you’re interested in enjoying more of your favorite cannabis genetics, our in-depth guide shows you the importance of the mother plant and how it can provide you with an endless supply of cuttings.

Benefits and Importance of the Mother Plant

Growing healthy mother plants offers numerous benefits for growers. A cannabis mother plant can be an excellent source for clones throughout the year.

You can take cuttings immediately after harvesting your last batch of clones, so you can keep the cycle going.

Clones grown from mother plants will have the same size, appearance, and aroma, providing growers with consistent quality and traits.

Additionally, using clones eliminates the risk of growing male plants, which can pollinate females and reduce yield.

Clones also allow for faster growth since they bypass the germination and seedling stages, saving time and money.

Overall, growing clones from a cannabis mother plant can be a great way to enjoy your favorite strain for years to come.

How to Choose a Mother Plant

Since your cloning project relies on the genetics of your mother plant, it’s important to spend some time identifying the traits that meet your needs or growing environment.

This process requires growing several different strains, cloning them, and searching for your desired traits.

Characteristics of a Healthy Mother Plant

• Tolerant to pests and diseases
• Free from pests and diseases
• High-yielding
• Fast-growing
• Excellent aromas and flavors
• High trichome density

Taking Cuttings

Mother plants can provide you with a plentiful supply of cuttings throughout their entire life. Here is exactly how you can take a cutting from a mother plant.

What You Need

• Mother plant
• Scissors
• Razorblade
• Rooting solution
• Gloves

How to Take a Cutting

1. Select a branch with an alternating cluster of nodes.
2. Take a cutting close to the plant’s primary stem with a pair of sterilized scissors. Make the cut at a 45-degree angle. The cutting should be 5-8 inches long.
3. Immerse one-third of the cutting in water to prevent air bubbles from forming in the exposed part of the cutting. This can prevent nutrient uptake.
4. You may make controlled cuttings using a razorblade on the exposed area to increase the surface area of the cutting to the rooting hormone.

Learn more about the cloning process with our blog post: Learn How to Clone Marijuana in 5 Steps.

How to Maintain a Mother Plant

Maintaining a healthy mother plant takes time and patience. If you do it right, you can keep a mother plant alive for years. However, improper care and maintenance can cause nutrient deficiencies, light damage, disease, and other issues.

To keep your mother plant around for a long time, follow these mother plant maintenance tips:

• Regularly top your mother plant and use LST to improve the light exposure of the canopy and create a bushier plant structure.
• Grow in a fabric smart pot to “air prune” the roots. This allows you to keep plants in the same pot for longer while reducing the risk of developing root rot.
• Keep your mother plant in a constant vegetative cycle with 18 hours of light and six hours of darkness. Some growers use a 14/10 schedule to slow the rate of growth.

Selecting Mother Plants For Marijuana Cloning

Let's say you've just received a new batch of cannabis seeds. Once you've started cultivating them and notice the plants are growing as desired, it's time to take cuttings from the individual plants.

When should you do this? Typically, it happens during the vegetative growth stage, which lasts about a month.

Take those cuttings prior to the pre-flowering phase. Similar to their donors, clones possess identical biological age. Therefore, when you take the cuttings from the flowering cannabis plant, it will still flower, whether they are just a few inches in length or not.

Taking the clones from the mother plants during the vegetative phase allows the grower to have more control over the results.

The Cuttings

Now, label all the cuttings that you made so that it corresponds with each of the donor mother plants. You could keep your cuttings in one room as you would the donors and do so under 18 hours of lighting. Once your marijuana clones have been established, you can then separate them from your donor plants.

Start to flower your donor plants by adjusting the lighting, making it 12 hours lighting and 12 hours without lighting.

Keep your cuttings on a light cycle while in a vegetative state. Once you see the male plants appear, these should be immediately removed along with the corresponding clones. You won't have any use for these.

The Flowering Phase

If your cannabis strain has a lengthy flowering period, then your marijuana clones might turn out to be too large and unmanageable and they will forcefully try to get into the flowering phase.

If you find this happening, just take your clones from those clones and continue in the vegetative phase for the second generation of clones.

As the donor plants develop during the flowering stage, you will be able to choose which ones interest you and which ones you prefer and which ones have the qualities that you like.  

The most important categories to consider are vigor, aroma, taste, yield, appearance, phenotypes, and potency. Reject the clones prior to the flowering phase.

Learn How to Grow Cannabis Clones at Home with CTU

Cannabis Training University provides students from all over the world the opportunity to learn from the best growers, doctors, lawyers, budtenders, and extraction technicians. Learn how to create the perfect environment for your mother plant and start growing clones today.

Learn more about mother plants and clones by visiting the Cannabis Training University and enrolling in our marijuana growing classes.

Luis Cordova

Luis Cordova is a distinguished author, and renowned expert in cannabis cultivation, who possesses a Master's degree in Plant Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Science. As a valued contributor to highly esteemed publications such as Cannabis Training University and Maximum Yield Magazine, Luis has emerged as a trusted source of guidance and knowledge in the cannabis industry. Having written thousands of informative articles, Luis is widely recognized for his comprehensive expertise on cultivating cannabis, both indoors and outdoors.