Fem Forge: Crafting the Future Strain

Phase I : Creating Identical Mother Clones

First and foremost, the mother plant must be completely healthy, with richly green foliage; the cleaner and healthier the mother, the faster and more reliably her cuttings root. Our goal is to establish at least 10 final mother trees per variety. Given an expected 90–95% clone‑take rate, we still take an excess of 30–40 cuttings per variety to provide a buffer — roughly 20 clones will be planted out per variety for the next round of selection, ensuring that the retained clones are true, identical copies of each other.

Phase 2 — High Humidity, Short Vent Cycles

For the first week, we keep humidity under the dome as high as possible. Since the cuttings don’t have roots yet, they rely on foliar uptake of moisture and micronutrients through the leaf surface. Every day we wipe off the old condensation from the dome and mist the clones with a low‑EC solution (around 0.4 - 0.6) adjusted to a pH of roughly 5.7- 6.0. We spray lightly but regularly so the leaves stay hydrated without being constantly soaked, helping to prevent rot while still supporting foliar feeding.

Phase 3 — First Roots

Around days 7 - 8 we start to see the first roots poking through. That’s our signal to open the vents on the propagators and increase fresh air, slightly dropping humidity under the dome to push the roots to work harder. 

From this point the clones begin to wrap the medium with roots and dry out the sponges much faster, so we watch them closely and re‑moisten as needed - making sure the medium never dries out completely, but also doesn’t stay waterlogged.

Phase 4 — Transplanting Rooted Clones into Coco

Substrate: 90% coco, 10% humus
Feed: EC 1.0–1.2, pH 5.6–5.9

Males : 2‑gallon pot to give them extra root volume and higher growth potential
Females : 1‑gallon pot for compact, manageable structure and easy maintenance

Once we clearly see well‑developed, bright white root systems on the clones, we transplant them as soon as possible. The goal is not to lose time and not let them get cramped in the starter plugs; instead, we want all that energy redirected into building a strong root system in their final bags.

For transplanting, we make a hole slightly larger than the plug, add a pinch of Azos + Mykos into the hole, then lightly pre‑moisten it with our feed solution. We gently place the clone into the hole without damaging the roots; when the roots are long, we sometimes give the plug a slight twist so the roots wrap in a spiral, reducing the chance of breakage. Right after transplant some clones may droop a bit due to the climate change stress, but in our experience almost all of them bounce back by the next day.

Seventeen days later

Seventeen days in, all plants are looking strong and have put on solid growth. The future mothers stayed in the main room, where they will remain for the rest of the cycle, spaced evenly to make the most efficient use of the available area and light.

Males

The future males have been moved to a separate room, where they will be treated with STS and flipped to flower earlier than the mothers according to our protocol. In this photo timeline you can see how these future fathers change every 3 - 4 days - from the first stretch and early structure formation right up to the pre‑pollen stage, before any visible pollen sacs appear.

What’s happening with the female plants?

Our female plants, the future pollen receivers, have put on a serious amount of growth and now need some shaping. We reduce leaf mass and clean up the structure to improve airflow and prevent pockets of stagnant air and moisture between branches, which is critical before the canopy gets any denser. It always feels at first like “I’ll knock this out in an hour,” but experience quickly reminds you it takes much longer to do it properly and on time.

For you, it will be about a one‑minute walkthrough, but behind that short clip are roughly 3 - 4 hours of focused, meticulous work on each table. Enjoy the transformation.