May is the month to celebrate those who nurture and cultivate the best qualities in others. For us at Team Trella, “mothering” means caring for plants, including mother plants, and the planet as well. 

The timing seems just right for us to announce our newest Elite R&D Membership with Terrapin Farms. 

Based in Franklin, Massachusetts, Terrapin Farms is run by Linda Noel and produces heirloom tomatoes for the local community as well as hemp. Linda began as a Cannabis (hemp) activist long before hemp cultivation became mainstream.She is not only a mother to the movement, she also has a long history of hydroponic farming and understands the value of healthy mother plants and maintaining mother plant health. Terrapin Farms will be using our Model 6 (shown above), designed specifically for automating mother plant cultivation.

For those of us who may not be familiar with the practices of commercial cannabis grow operations, a mother plant is exactly as it sounds. It is a female plant that is kept and cultivated for its consistent (and plentiful) offshoots (“clones”), which are then cut, transplanted, and cultivated for harvest. Cannabis farmers, in particular, may utilize this method of propagation for its various advantages, as it guarantees that no male plants will sneak into your crop and turn it all to seed. 

We recently spoke with Linda to learn more about mother plant propagation and how she believes automating her hydroponic farming operation with TrellaGro LST™ will solve some of the challenges that hemp cultivation from mother plants often poses.

See what Linda shared with us in the video below:

Here are four ways that TrellaGro LST™ can help with mother plant maintenance:

• Reduces the vegetation time of mother plants - for a mother plant to yield enough cuttings for a commercial operation to prosper, she is  often in the vegetative state for several months. TrellaGro LST™ cuts that time down to 2 months without sacrificing the number or quality of clippings.

• Produce more clones from a single plant - Of course, a shorter veg time will result in more frequent harvests and lots of viable plant material for cultivation.

• Protects the health of the mother plant by reducing plant maintenance time - Every time you touch or adjust your plant, you run the risk of causing unintentional harm. Outside pathogens and small insects can easily hitch a ride on your skin or clothing and wreak some serious havoc on your indoor crop. Likewise, damage from accidental breakage is certainly a risk. With TrellaGro LST™, low stress plant training automation eliminates the need to constantly manipulate the mother plant and keeps it safer from biotic and abiotic stressors. 

• Stackability reduces the amount of space required for mother plant cultivation. This is important to indoor growers and indoor farmers because space is a major challenge. When TrellaGro LST™ units are stacked, indoor propagation space is maximized to accommodate even more plants. This provides the grower an opportunity to increase crop yield and, ultimately, increase revenue.  

Automated grow technology not only gives us the freedom to grow what we want where we want, but it gifts us with more free time and cash to enjoy reaping what we sow. So, how will you automate your grow this year? If you're interested in learning more about automated plant maintenance, click below.