Difference between plants when using seeds....

Hey Everyone,

I'm just trying to work out what to do about future grows, whether to go with a mother plant and clones, or stick with seeds. To be honest, adding another tent, light and hydroponic system for a mother plant would be a pain in the ass (but do-able...)

Originally I was using seeds with no issues, until I used some my friend gave me (Double Grape autos from Mephisto Genetics) the plants ended up vastly different, a couple of them as tiny little plants that finished only about 30cm tall, the others completely opposite, around 100cm+)

This totally messed with my OCD as I really wanted a crop that ended up as uniform as possible with the same height, etc. They also flowered at totally different times, so this will be the last time using autos.

Anyway, I have 10 Northern Light (feminised, photos) seeds here from Sensi seeds and I'm wondering how different these will end up? Is it a safe bet to think that a well developed strain like this will end up pretty identical? Or is it possible I could get a similar variation?

Thanks,
J.

I think using a mother plant is a solid plan, but getting another tent set up for just sustaining it is a mission if you are looking for a more easy path.I tend to take clones from my best looking plants after a 2 month vegetative cycle, I make sure the cutting become established clones.Then proceed to putting them into the vegetative tent, but have switched the 2 month plants to the flowering stage.This ensures that you can harvest the plants that have been previously in the two month vegetative stage (obviously when they are ready for harvest ), but the clones are developing into gorgeous trees in the other tent.This way essentially cuts out the need for sustaining a mother plant, the results have been great so far from just recycling this process.The benefits to clones and mother plants are that you get faster results as clones are basically mini plants, by-passing the early development of the seedling (eg. pre-vegaative stages where roots are being developed in the grow medium.) thus faster vegetative growth to a degree.It is also cheaper than buying feminized seeds every grow.I am currently running two tents with 600 HPS lighting in both and I'm loving the results.

Hope this helps and Happy growing.

JAMO_Grow said:

I think using a mother plant is a solid plan, but getting another tent set up for just sustaining it is a mission if you are looking for a more easy path.I tend to take clones from my best looking plants after a 2 month vegetative cycle, I make sure the cutting become established clones.Then proceed to putting them into the vegetative tent, but have switched the 2 month plants to the flowering stage.This ensures that you can harvest the plants that have been previously in the two month vegetative stage (obviously when they are ready for harvest ), but the clones are developing into gorgeous trees in the other tent.This way essentially cuts out the need for sustaining a mother plant, the results have been great so far from just recycling this process.The benefits to clones and mother plants are that you get faster results as clones are basically mini plants, by-passing the early development of the seedling (eg. pre-vegaative stages where roots are being developed in the grow medium.) thus faster vegetative growth to a degree.It is also cheaper than buying feminized seeds every grow.I am currently running two tents with 600 HPS lighting in both and I'm loving the results.

Hope this helps and Happy growing.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I plan to do!
Build a bubble cloner box and make a "station" for it.
I have a tent with a rdwc setup in it now ill use as my flower tent. Part of the reason I want to do this is because this setup is total overkill for 2/3 of a grow cycle lol.
Im going to make a much more compact system for veg that will be easily transferable into the large system to flower.

Yeah, I just find sustaining a mother plant is not as efficient as the system I mentioned previously.But I love having two tents one for veg and the other for flower (I also have a really small tent that I house the clones in under T8 lighting). All I have mentioned is just a suggestion, underlining that there is an alternative to having to sustain a mother plant in a another tent, I do think starting from seed is definitely fun, but not nearly as efficient with regard to time and development in growth. (I love the seed to smoke grow journals).

Happy growing.

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I'm not to worried about the time/development in growth - my main concern is the plants will vary wildly due to different phenos. Like I said, the Double Grape plants were drastically different. I'm hoping these Sensi Seeds Northern Lights will all end up similar height/build.

I look at it from a different perspective. I want different plants. I don't want a bunch of the same strain. I like having more than a dozen jars of different strains. When I have the flower tent running there is always multiple strains growing.

For instance. These are just pretend numbers. You have four plants and get 3 oz's off of each one. Would you rather have 12 oz's of the same strain or 3 oz's each of 4 different strains?

Nothing wrong with mothers and clones. It's just depends on what you want. Do you want a bunch of the same or a variety of different. Either way is good. I don't have OCD so it's no issue for me to start flowering different strains where one is short, bushy, and goes 8 weeks and another is tall, lanky, and goes 13 weeks. I just chop them when they're done. I don't even record the date they go into flower.

Years ago I cloned the same strain for almost two years. I got so sick of that weed. I couldn't smoke it anymore. Now every grow is something different and that's why I grow from seed. Plus I'm making my own crosses and smoking stuff nobody else has.

As far as your feminized Northern Lights from Sensi, it's hard to say. Chances are they will all be pretty much the same. I've been happy with everything I've gotten from Sensi.

Justin Freidman said:

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I'm not to worried about the time/development in growth - my main concern is the plants will vary wildly due to different phenos. Like I said, the Double Grape plants were drastically different. I'm hoping these Sensi Seeds Northern Lights will all end up similar height/build.

Click to expand...

Yeah , if the concern is height and a better collective similarity of all the plants then clones would also be a solution due to the clones all starting at the same stage.Thus the germination and sprouting variation that makes some plants seem to be delayed in height is for the most part removed from the equation.(that is if you make your clones, similar sizes.)

Hope this helps.

You could always just SCROG and control it that way for uniformity.

xtsho said:

I look at it from a different perspective. I want different plants. I don't want a bunch of the same strain. I like having more than a dozen jars of different strains. When I have the flower tent running there is always multiple strains growing.

For instance. These are just pretend numbers. You have four plants and get 3 oz's off of each one. Would you rather have 12 oz's of the same strain or 3 oz's each of 4 different strains?

Nothing wrong with mothers and clones. It's just depends on what you want. Do you want a bunch of the same or a variety of different. Either way is good. I don't have OCD so it's no issue for me to start flowering different strains where one is short, bushy, and goes 8 weeks and another is tall, lanky, and goes 13 weeks. I just chop them when they're done. I don't even record the date they go into flower.

Years ago I cloned the same strain for almost two years. I got so sick of that weed. I couldn't smoke it anymore. Now every grow is something different and that's why I grow from seed. Plus I'm making my own crosses and smoking stuff nobody else has.

As far as your feminized Northern Lights from Sensi, it's hard to say. Chances are they will all be pretty much the same. I've been happy with everything I've gotten from Sensi.

Click to expand...

Hey Buddy, thanks for the reply. One of the reasons I want the same strain is that they're all on the same hydroponic loop/setup. A couple of grows ago, I mixed strains and it became an issue as one of the strains didn't do to well on the nutrient mix but the other one flourished. I want to keep everything as uniform as possible. I'm not worried about variety as I just look for a heavy indica I can vape on a night after work to chill and sleep.

I'm looking for short bushy plants for maximum light penetration - plus my grow room is in a remote area so I don't want to be managing the plants too much (i.e. scrogging them) - I just want to top them once or twice during the whole grow.

Thanks again for all the comments, they're really appreciated. I think I'll just drop the seeds and see how they go, if there's a plant that is growing crazy and looks amazing compared to the others, then I'll clone it and work out a system to keep a mother going.

If you want a true sea of green grow, you *need* a mother plant from which to take cuttings.

Justin Freidman said:

I think I'll just drop the seeds and see how they go, if there's a plant that is growing crazy and looks amazing compared to the others, then I'll clone it and work out a system to keep a mother going.

Click to expand...

Why would you select a mother from a plant for its vegetative growth properties? I think you're missing the point. The reason strains have names like GG#4 is bc someone popped a bunch of seeds, labeled them (GG#1, GG#2, etc), flowered & veg'd some cuts from each, and only AFTER they had flowered, selected the most ideal plant to keep, ditching the others. You can have a plant veg fast and be a turd in flower.

xtsho said:

You could always just SCROG and control it that way for uniformity.

Click to expand...

That.

I've never been able to understand why people grow 10 plants for small yields rather than just grow 2 or 3 to get the same amount.

TacoMac said:

That.

I've never been able to understand why people grow 10 plants for small yields rather than just grow 2 or 3 to get the same amount.

Click to expand...

TAT

Major Blazer said:

If you want a true sea of green grow, you *need* a mother plant from which to take cuttings.



Why would you select a mother from a plant for its vegetative growth properties? I think you're missing the point. The reason strains have names like GG#4 is bc someone popped a bunch of seeds, labeled them (GG#1, GG#2, etc), flowered & veg'd some cuts from each, and only AFTER they had flowered, selected the most ideal plant to keep, ditching the others. You can have a plant veg fast and be a turd in flower.

Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't know this. I assumed a plant that grew faster and more vigorously than the others would be better in flower as well. I'll take your advice and take a cutting from each one and see which turned out the best. Thanks for the good advice.

TacoMac said:

That.

I've never been able to understand why people grow 10 plants for small yields rather than just grow 2 or 3 to get the same amount.

Click to expand...

Maybe some people don't have the time or patience to mess around with the plants - they just want to plant and leave them to grow. I have a remote grow room which is over an hours drive my house. I have automated it as best as possible. I only need to visit every 2 or 3 weeks to mix up a new nutrient solution. I just want to plant and leave them.

Justin Freidman said:

Maybe some people don't have the time or patience to mess around with the plants - they just want to plant and leave them to grow. I have a remote grow room which is over an hours drive my house. I have automated it as best as possible. I only need to visit every 2 or 3 weeks to mix up a new nutrient solution. I just want to plant and leave them.

Click to expand...

That's the entire point: you've just stated you try to make them all the same size. That's an exercise in futility. Scrogging doesn't take any more effort really in the grand scheme of things. You simply tuck a stalk once in a while the first few weeks to spread them out, then you let them grow upwards.

You use less soil, less nutrients, fewer seeds, less water, less time. Instead of carrying for 10 plants in a half-assed manner, you care for only two or three and actually take more than 30 seconds with them once a week.

If you're too lazy to do even that, why bother at all? Just buy your shit from somebody that delivers.

TacoMac said:

That's the entire point: you've just stated you try to make them all the same size. That's an exercise in futility. Scrogging doesn't take any more effort really in the grand scheme of things. You simply tuck a stalk once in a while the first few weeks to spread them out, then you let them grow upwards.

You use less soil, less nutrients, fewer seeds, less water, less time. Instead of carrying for 10 plants in a half-assed manner, you care for only two or three and actually take more than 30 seconds with them once a week.

If you're too lazy to do even that, why bother at all? Just buy your shit from somebody that delivers.

Click to expand...

Interesting.... I thought there was extra veg time involved in scrog? I'll start to read up on it. I'm growing 8 plants in a a 8' x 4' space, with a HLG 550V2 over each 4' x 4' space (containing four plants). If I were to scrog, how many plants would I need to cover that area?

If done properly, a single plant will completely occupy a 3 foot by 3 foot square area with relative ease. I've seen people take them larger than that.

TacoMac said:

If done properly, a single plant will completely occupy a 3 foot by 3 foot square area with relative ease. I've seen people take them larger than that.

Click to expand...

So I could probably fill my entire grow area with maybe 4 plants?

With ease. Yes.

TacoMac said:

With ease. Yes.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I will learn about this method.