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ALL ABOUT BONSAI MOMS/MUMS

that is a darn healthy looking mom you got there.

how often do y'all feed your moms? and with what? also, how much light does everyone keep their moms at in terms of watts/sq ft.?

i don't really take too much care of my moms. i try to keep them slow growing since i don't take too many cuts very often. i do take cuts to keep the size down as well as cut off about 1" of roots all the way around and re-pot every few months. i have around 25-30w/sq ft on them of mixed spectrum (65w fluorex and 2 cfls in a bathroom fixture) and usually feed with about a good tablespoon of something like happy frog starter dry mix every 6-8wks or so and just water with brita filtered tap water. moms are in 6" square pots and plant is about 8" tall. they're on an 18/6 cycle. there is also a tiny squirrel cage blower that circulates the air. i used to not feed with dry ferts but lately i've been lazy...usually feed with some earth juice every 3-4 waterings. usually they do pretty good and i haven't had any problems except i've killed several moms which i'm bummed about, but it's a learning process. my 'ultra dank purple bagseed' mom died from dehydration. my hogsbreath mom died from taking too many cuts and too much root pruning and then dehydration in the summer.

I've kept moms up to 2yrs old this way, but this summer i ended up taking cuts of all my moms and then putting the moms outside to flower. i find older moms require a little bit more effort in their maintenance when trying to keep them in homeostasis...also the summer was hot and hard to keep up on watering when you're out and about.
 
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I am quite eager to start growing and eventually plan to keep the best strains i can get as these mums, and also hope to have a neat little bonzi setup such as those i see here and in the little competition! very informative, thanks for the tips!
 

THCforus

Member
I've got 7 mom's right now and there all about 2 ft. tall.They take up the whole closet there in, so this information is key. Thanks for making my growing experience all the better. :jump:
 
if you've grown one of these Bonsai's with a closed pot (no drain holes) let me know! or if you think it'd work let me know, plan on using a fairly big "pot" just want to know if it will work, or if i need drain holes?
 

Hans Blix

Member
JJonahJameson said:
Growing Bonsai Mums
Tip-toe through the twisted gardens of our resident admins JJonahJameson and Ain Sof. [...]

Do I create a bonsai Cannabis plant in soil/soil-less medium or can I do it in a hydroponic/aeroponic medium?

For the purposes of this FAQ we recommend soil or soil-less mix like Promix, Coco, etc. The reason is we're not looking for heavy, quick growth - we're looking to slow down the process of growth over time. [...]
It would be nice to see pictures and hear experiences of bonzais done in soilless mediums.
 
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Luckygreenhand said:
if you've grown one of these Bonsai's with a closed pot (no drain holes) let me know! or if you think it'd work let me know, plan on using a fairly big "pot" just want to know if it will work, or if i need drain holes?


Yeah, I've done bonsai in a closed container. I used Miracle grow soil mixed with 40% perlite and fertilized with Miracle Grow ferts. It was my first grow so I wasn't really all to with it if you know what I mean. Every time a problem arose (under watering) I'd usually remove the plant from its container and look at the root ball. Eventually it became rootbound and I trimmed the roots. Wow did it perk up after that.

My advice is watch your watering close. You won't have to water as often as other growers do if you water right with a closed container. Perhaps every 3-5 days.
 

Natagonnaworrie

If you love life, don't waste time. For time is wh
Veteran
Here is my Bonsai moms after they yielded me a bunch of nice cuts. Thanks to everyone who has contributed. i would never have know to attempt this if it weren't for IC. My moms used to overtake my 400w veg room. Now i just use 1 (or sometimes 2) 125w CFL. The strain is OG x Master Kush.






 

magiccannabus

Next Stop: Outer Space!
Veteran
Keeping the lights and temps real low is a big secret to bonsai moms. I kept one plant for nearly 4 years before losing it to a thief(very long story, and he killed it anyway). It's pretty easy to keep a plant as a mom, but it can be annoying how the undergrowth dies and eventually you get this plant with a lot of dead bare space at the lower parts and full bush at the top. This can be avoided, but it's tough. Keeping the leaf loses low is important, and using kinetin(cytokinin) spray helps restrain the vegetative growth and encourage branching.
 

Boevo

Member
Proud

Proud

What I've learned in one year from fellow members.
My moms

Mom 1 year old and furture mom

All it takes is alot reading and more reading!
EDIT O and thanks.
 
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swampdank

Pull my finger
Veteran
I am attempting another round of bonsais. I found that not all strains will perform well under these conditions.

My SOL BLuebonic, and all of my Dj strains have a tendancy to autoflower when the plant gets rootbound. I had to drop those from the bonsai list. I would recommend that you keep another cut just in case this happens.

Oh, putting the plants into a larger pot instantly fixed the preflower problem.They just grew right out of it.
 

Uncle Remus

Member
Haven't really read this thread all the way thru, but...Anyone had success keeping mommas in a hydro setup?

I'm thinking of keeping a few in some small DWC buckets and working on a modified nute schedule...Then I can simply ramp up the nutes, and crank up the growth when its near cut time

I'll have to do some more research but I'm hoping to get this running shortly

Comments?
 

Cannasta

New member
This thread is brilliant! I'm totally inspired.

Someone mentioned about halfway back through the thread about preflowers being counterproductive for cloning. My question is don't all plants start preflowering automagically a couple months after they start growing? Is there some trick to keeping them from preflowering?
 

Boevo

Member
My TrainWreck mom is always in flower mod. She had 24/7 light too. Its just the strain.
And it takes longer to get my clones to start rooting! At lease 14 days or longer.
 

Boevo

Member
Rin,
They due start to smell after watering. But as long as you have other plants in the house its not to bad. Alittle Green smelling.
 
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