Will she die if I don't harvest her?

I've been growing White Widow for my first grow this year. I have 3 plants, but one is HUGE, has thinner leaves, and is the only of the 3 not in flower. It's always looked a little different from the other two. I'm worried it's a mislabeled sativa, and unfortunately my region has too short of a warm season if this plant that hasn't flowered at all. Because this one is my biggest plant and I just might not get a harvest out of it, I'm interested in keeping my one that I had in a 15 gal pot over the winter and turning her into a mother, so that next year and through the winter and I maybe keep a small indoor grow and have new plants for my garden without buying more seed. I have 2 greenhouses on my property, and wanted to try my luck at keeping clones in one this year, anyway.

How would I go about keeping this lady alive, now, as a mother? I am having trouble finding any definitive information online and there is nothing in any of the book I've bought. I know that people do keep mothers for years, and I want to be one of those people.

About the potted plant: She's relatively small, especially compared to the two in the ground. Will I be leaving her buds on her and putting her in a green house? Or do you have to remove the buds so that they don't hermie on you? Will she die if I don't harvest her?

I checked the newbie forums and searched about mothers for a while before I posted here. My apologies if you've seen this question a million times.

Welcome to RIU

You can cause a photoperiod plant to revert to and/or stay in veg mode forever by limiting the length of dark periods. It's the continuous length of dark period that causes it to flower.

If you keep the plant in a greenhouse, assuming you can control the humidity in there, you can supplement light to make at least 18hr day lengths. If it already started to flower, it will eventually revert to veg growth, making some weird looking leaves for the first few weeks until it reverts to regular veg growth. Just trim her back and keep under supplemental light, or you can root some cuttings from her and make those into the mothers, leaving the plant you have now to flower.

I do clones under 24hr light. I'm veging right now under 20/4 light/dark.

For the budding potted plant, you plan to harvest those buds I assume? If you have to put it in the greenhouse, the biggest concern is controlling excess humidity. Too humid can increase probability of mold/mildew. If it's a flowering photoperiod plant, don't expose it to any artificial light during the dark period. The plant dies after flowering is complete, unless you leave some leaves on her and put her under supplemental light. If you do that, she will revert to veg growth.

Good luck! Peace

Tracker said:

Welcome to RIU

You can cause a photoperiod plant to revert to and/or stay in veg mode forever by limiting the length of dark periods. It's the continuous length of dark period that causes it to flower.

If you keep the plant in a greenhouse, assuming you can control the humidity in there, you can supplement light to make at least 18hr day lengths. If it already started to flower, it will eventually revert to veg growth, making some weird looking leaves for the first few weeks until it reverts to regular veg growth. Just trim her back and keep under supplemental light, or you can root some cuttings from her and make those into the mothers, leaving the plant you have now to flower.

I do clones under 24hr light. I'm veging right now under 20/4 light/dark.

For the budding potted plant, you plan to harvest those buds I assume? If you have to put it in the greenhouse, the biggest concern is controlling excess humidity. Too humid can increase probability of mold/mildew. If it's a flowering photoperiod plant, don't expose it to any artificial light during the dark period. The plant dies after flowering is complete, unless you leave some leaves on her and put her under supplemental light. If you do that, she will revert to veg growth.

Good luck! Peace

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I would like to harvest her, but I wasn't sure if I could because she really has so few leaves after pruning. Thank you for the great tips. I feel much more confident that she can make it now.

legendofganja said:

I would like to harvest her, but I wasn't sure if I could because she really has so few leaves after pruning. Thank you for the great tips. I feel much more confident that she can make it now.

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Let it go fully mature before you harvest. No sense in taking harvest prematurely.