There seems to be a little confusion on a couple of things about moms.
First off, lets talk about starting from seed.
IF, you start from seed and want to keep a mother from that particular strain, here is what I do.
Start your seeds, veg em up to the size you want to flower them at.
Take a few cuttings from each plant. Lable them as to what plant they came off of.
As you flower, obviosly, toss the males (unless you plan on breeding).
Watch your plants flower out. With a pack of seeds, there will be slight differences in each plant, even though they are the same strain. This is what is called "a Phenotype" Choose which "phenotype" you like best and keep the appropriate clone from that particular plant. Raise that clone up to make a Mom from THAT.
Now, you have the strain you want, and the exact phenotype you choose.
I hope that made sense.
As far as light for your moms, you do not need HUGE light to support them. I find, and many others, that T5's work GREAT for mothers.
There are many ways to keep a mom. Soil,Hydro,DWC to name a few.
I keep mine in shreaded rockwool. I feed them jusice once a week, and plain water the rest of the week. So far, I have had my Kush moms for along time.
My biggest moms, which are the Kush, are in 3 gallon pots. Not root bound at all. Still going strong. I actually stated them in 1 gals, went to 2 gals, now they are in 3 gal. I just increse the pot size as needed.
Here is a few pics of my Mom set-up. Right now, I just have Kush and SourD moms. I have some SFVOG and C99 getting up and running,, more to come on those!