Should I keep a mother plant, or re-veg after harvest?

For most home grows, neither one is the place to start. Take your cuttings before you switch to flower, and you won't need a mother or a re-veg. Keep a mother when a plant has proven herself and you'll grow her again and again. Re-veg when you found a winner late and never took cuttings. They solve different problems.

Re-veg is a rescue, not a routine.

The simplest option: cut before you flip

Before you switch a plant to flower, take a few cuttings from the lower branches and root them while she flowers. By harvest you have young plants of the same genetics ready to go, and nothing extra to keep alive in between. If the plant turns out to be ordinary, you toss the cuttings and you've lost very little.

Keeping a mother

A mother plant is a plant you never flower. She stays in veg and gives you cuttings whenever you want them.

What you get: cuttings on demand, normal healthy growth, and runs that repeat. What it costs: space and light every day, care every day, and a long commitment to one plant. And a pest on the mother ends up on every cutting you take from her.

How to keep one:

• Light: a veg schedule, 18 on and 6 off (16 to 20 hours all work), with normal veg light, 300 to 600 PPFD. Starving her of light makes her stretch, not stay small.

• Size: keep her small by taking cuttings and trimming her often. A small mother is easier to light, water and keep clean.

• Pests: scout her as closely as anything in flower. She's the source of everything that follows.

• Renewal: when she gets woody and slow, root one of her own cuttings and let it take over.

A mother earns her space when the plant is a keeper you've already grown out and judged. Keeping one "just in case" is a lot of daily work for a maybe.

Re-veg after harvest

Re-veg means putting a harvested plant back into veg so she grows again. It's how you save a plant you didn't know was special until the end.

How it works:

1. Harvest the top, not the whole plant. Leave the lower branches with healthy green leaves and a few small flower sites on them. A bare stump is very unlikely to come back.

2. Put her back on a veg schedule: 18 on and 6 off.

3. Feed lightly at first and keep the room steady. She has very few leaves to work with.

4. Expect several weeks of odd growth. Single smooth leaves and twisted shoots are normal while she switches over.

5. Wait until she grows like a normal veg plant again before you take cuttings or flip her. Rushing her back into flower is where most re-vegs go wrong.

Skip it if the plant finished stressed, sick or weak, or if she was just okay. Re-veg is a big stress, and it only makes sense for a winner. Don't stack it with a topping or a heavy prune either; give big stresses 3 to 7 days apart.

When it happens by accident

If a plant in the middle of flower starts pushing single smooth leaves out of the flowers, she's trying to re-veg on her own. That's almost always a light leak or a timer that slipped. Flower needs 12 on and 12 off with an unbroken dark period. Check the tent with the lights off for any glow, and check that the timer is holding its schedule.

What not to do

Don't re-veg a plant that finished sick. You'll spend weeks bringing back a problem.

Don't flip a re-veg too soon. Let her look like a veg plant first.

Don't keep a mother you never cut from. Then she's just a plant taking up space and light.

When it's something else

• Cuttings that won't root: see How do I take cuttings that root?

• Light hours and the dark period: see How many hours of light, and how high should the light hang?

• Timing the switch to flower: see When should I flip to flower?

On our shelf in Worcester: Rooting gels, plugs, trays and domes are in Seed starting & cloning. Call (508) 459-9609 or get directions.

Keep going

Watch the episode: Re-veg Explained Re-veg vs Mother Plants Quality Yield and Stability on MyRemy Live.

Domes, trays, cubes, heat mats and rooting gels: see our seed starting and cloning department.

Keep the keepers, cut before you flip, one change at a time. The whole system for a steady grow is written down in the free Stability Playbook. Get the free Stability Playbook

More answers: all grow guides. Every shelf guide and maker feed chart: Grower Resources.