Mother plant management — keeping a clone-only cut alive

A mother plant is a plant you never flower — kept in indefinite veg so you can pull clones whenever you want a new run.

• Light: 18/6 or 20/4 is plenty. 24/0 stresses the plant and accelerates aging.
• Pot size: large enough that you're not transplanting every 6 weeks. Most mothers live in 5–7 gallon pots.
• Feed: light. A mother in production veg burns through nutrients; a mother held for cuts barely needs anything.
• Trim: regular topping keeps her short and productive. Goal is many cut-able branches, not one big main.
• Refresh: most growers refresh a mother every 12–18 months by re-clonging a fresh start from her own cut. Aging mothers lose vigor over time.

Connect this to CannaForge

• Open the [Lineage Atlas](/lineage) to see how strains relate to one another.
• Switch to the [Genetics Map](/lineage?tab=map) to visualize parent → child trees.
• Use the [Trait Matrix](/lineage?tab=matrix) to filter by family, terpene, or classification.
• Browse verified [Breeders](/breeders) and the [Available Genetics](/shop) directory.