Too much growth for my mother plants... help how much can i cut them down?

Grow Support
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I have 3 plants in my 4x4 tent. 2 Zkittles and a Super skunk. I want to keep them as clone mothers and i figured they were finally big enough for me to take some clones from so i took like 25 clones. I also cut the Dead large fanLeaves off from the potassium deficiency I had and literally overnight, the growth exploded and now they’re actually pushing against the walls of a 4 by 4 tent 2 days later. Less then a week ago I moved them into this tent from my 3x3 and they were barely bigger then the outside rim of the 7 gallon fabric pots they are in.

Idk how much I can cut off or defoliate before I hurt/kill the girls. What should i cut off, fan leaves or branches? I would be surprised if i really cut these girls down, they will double in size in the next week. Also, im going out of town for 10 days soon so idk how they will do when I’m gone…

I am not planning on ever flowering these girls.

I had no idea they could grow that fast and now I’m kinda scared… this is my first grow in like 20 years so this is suprising to me and idk what to do…

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They are tougher than you might think, to keep my mother plant compact I just top every branch and within a few days she is growing new shoots.

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Good cloning to you. 25 will run you out of tents, we hope.
Eviction night at my house. Somebody must go, My clones need the space.

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Going back to the subject, what is the right way to get/keep these monster mothers under control? How much can you cut before you hurt them?

Should i reduce the lights?

At least its good to know that if I need to, I can fill a 4x4 tent easily with 1 or 2 plants if i keep doing what im doing…

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I’d suggest super cropping… you will have way more success out of your plant doing it that way than cutting… in my humble opinion cutting/chopping is a total waste… super cropping is the way to go :muscle:

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Keep your light super low, feed rates low, cooler temps, and prune them small :metal: that journal tag up there has a ton of info. But it’s worth the time

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7 gallon container is pretty big for a mother try around 2 or 3 at tops an use a plastic container. The idea is to keep the plant small, like under feeding & watering, low lighting. Hellraiser used to take them out & cut off some of the roots as you’ll see in the post @Underthestairs suggested reading (good read too) but anymore he just takes a new cutting & clones it & flowers the old mother, which I think I would do if I were in your shoes.

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I’m just worried that I would lose genetics with cloning too many clones Through genetic drift

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@Silverfd I hope you have a caretaker while gone for 10 days. you may have a couple of really sad ladies.

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Ten gallon cloth was good for my self respect as a grower. 4or 5-gallon buckets don’t perform as well as cloth (maybe). However, at my age (SS) and after this year, I tried 3-gallon bags (lifting issues necessitated smaller, they are in use currently). Final answer 5-Gallon cloth bags, 2/3 full (leaves room for top dressing). Breathes well, avoids excess watering (if above drip pan). Bigger and fewer would be a recommendation for others.

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Hello
Those mothers are pretty big
I personally would just take a new clone off of each mother and start all over again.
Hope this helps happy growing :+1:

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