Mr GreenJeans First Cab Grow!

[GMT]

Hey MGJ, I'd love to know more about bonsai, do they need special soil, or nutes, (I am a nooby again) do you have to let something grow big before you can get it to grow small. Can I go and snap a twig of a nice tree and put in a thimble and get intant bonsai. What stops things from getting rootbound. Can I adopt any techniques to get my other plants to grow a bit smaller? Anything I missed could you also answer please. lol.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Thanks for the replies folks!

Thanks gpb - yup, lovin lst and a big fan of your style That is toooooo funny ( my best Beldar Conehead laugh )! Do not bend fold or mutllate your plants - thanks for the laugh!!!

dubmantx - trunk growth increases with sap flow, so until she's ready in the trunk I am letting her grow like an amazon. You're right - when it's time to put her in a small pot I will probably cut her down to 1-2 feet or so and start training for a new top.

Bartender - Thanks very much man, glad you like them. Sure I'll learn ya however I can, if there's enough folks maybe we can make an ask the bonsai bum thread...

Packn - thanks man - there's yet more, but then I'd have more off topic pics than on topic pics!

PNW-grown - Hiya thanks for stoppin by! Yeah, when I started the lst to get lots of tops early on, I had no idea how much the plant would slow down. My only constraint was time - wanted to chop them by 7/12 or so as I'll be away for a bit - so I bought a coupla growbots just in case I need to leave 'em in longer.

Hiya GMT - sure I'll learn ya too! You asked for it, you got it-lol! First thing you have to decide is what size bonsai do you want - itsy bitsy, small, medium, or large. My reommendation to start is either a small leaved japanese maple, a serissa foetida, or small leaved birch. If you want to have a thick trunk, you need to put it in a LOT of soil for a few years until the trunk thickens to where you want, if you can use a thinner trunk you can put it right into a small pot. I use 1/4 potting soil, 1/4 peat moss, and 50% sand. Drainage is important because you don't have a lot of roots to start with and the plant really suffers if it gets any root rot.

The plants will get rootbound and it is your friend, keeps the plant stunted. I transplant every 2-4 years - I wait until there is so little soil left that the plant needs to be watered daily. Then I take it out, cut a third off the bottom and an inch off each side, and plant back in the same pot with fresh soil.

It's tough to get a plant that genetically has large leaves to make smaller ones. It can be done with certain types, but it is better to start off with smaller leaved plants. You certainly can take cuttings from something you think is the right size, root 'em and go from there. I also air layer branches on trees that grow around here - getting a good size trunk from the start. Here's a myrtle - the 4rth air layering I took off a friend's tree.


I took that off the mother tree 5 years ago and left it in a 5 gallon bucket until last year, when I put it in it's current pot.

Thanks for asking the questions!

 

[gift of gab]

WOW that trunk is freakin huge.

 

[Guest]

Dude that shiz is totaly amazin how the hell they stay in those containers without flipin over ? u must have them nailed down huh LOL Damn those look cool as hell, like your own tree park! Hmm smokin a phat j in my own tree park LOVE IT!

 

[Guest]

whats up MR GJ..
Just dropping by to see whats cooking.. Or should i say whats burning??
MJ updates.. yea yea.. thats it. MJ.. peace..

Sack's First Outdoor Grow
updated 1 flowering plant LQQK!!

sack :friends:

 

[GMT]

you know how things look smaller, the further away they are, dont birds and insects constantly crash into minature trees?

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

gog - hiya - yes that's a nice thick trunk aint it! The big advantage to air layering for roots instead of growing from seedling! Thanks!

Skunky - thanks for stoppin by! there's a lot of weight in the containers - most are mica or ceramic and are pretty heavy. I have had a couple of casualties over the years from plants blowin over in a winter storm, but mostly if in small plastic pots that weigh little...

Hiya Sacko... well the girls are at a stage where there's not too much difference day to day, I'll grab some pictures tonight and post 'em.

GMT - rotflmao - insects yes, birds no. The birds have to much fun screeching and chasing our cats!

Back later with some pics....

PS Have had a couple of PMs folks asking for a bonsai thread, I'll start an About Bonsai thread in the main growers forum.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Ok, just snapped some pics, gave them some pHed water.



Still puttin on the frost. The yellow is retreating, only the edges of the leaves now. Stretch has mostly stopped.

What's interesting to me is the bud growth at this stage, have nothing in my experience to compare it to, so just taking notes and letting my girls teach me something...

 

[gift of gab]

Good to hear/see the yellowing is retreating, try to keep them happy and they should start putting on some serious weight here pretty soon.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Thanks for the support gog! I'm trying Interesting that I don't see much difference looking at them day to day, but comparing the pics the difference is noticeable. Viva the digital camera!

 

[JetUsUp]

looks like you have some great "shrubs" growin there man.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Thanks for stoppin by and the positive feedback jetusup! I'm happy with my girls. Stay tuned!

 

[Guest]

Now those r bushes What do u use in ur soil? (for the herb ) I wonder if u can grow herb the same way?? It would b interesting 2 c heh. Damn fine pix !!

 

[Sleepy]

ok, Sensei...now you're makin' MJ bonSAI!!!

wow, they look great!

you are going to have so much bud, man, you'll be numb ALL the time!

you have a serious green thumb and jeans!!

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Hiya skunky
I've been using Seaweed for veg, Pure Blend Pro Bloom / EarthJuice bloom for flowering, CalMagPlus for Mg problems, Liquid Karma during veg and LK alternating with TopMax for flowering. Neem for bugs.

IMO the only 420 for the bonsai treatment are moms. Bonsai means the plants grow very little. Bonsai moms take little space, which is a big advantage for me. No special treatment - just keep the pots small, prune 'em for short nodes, and feed them only when they scream for it. Thanks for the props!!!

Hiya sleepy!!!
Thanks so much man - I sure hope so, and more than that I think so. No matter what I get it will be HUGE, my needs are pretty modest. Looking forward to full time numbness

Thanks for stoppin by!

 

[gift of gab]

I know what you mean, when you see them every day, its hard to notice any changes, but when you go back and look at a couple pictures a week or more apart, the difference is amazing. Sometimes even after just a couple days.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Day 39 Flower

Day 39 Flower

Another day of pHed water... and a couple of bud shots. I have 2 kinds of buds - some have wisped out a bit like this older shot day 33 shot


3 plants have this - looks like they're gonna need the most time to fill in. The other 3 have tighter buds and are filling in nicely, sample shots, first 2 macro, 2nd 2 with a 5x glass in front of the camera lens.



Follow up shots end of week. Thanks for looking!

 

[GMT]

If you put a Xglass in front of your lens, do you need to set the focus manually or can it stil autofocus?
Your photos have me thinking now.

 

[Sleepy]

what we have here, folks, is an artiste!

nice trichome shots!!!

they'll make some nice kif after trimming!

set vaportek to 'stun'!!

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Hi gmt Thanks! I set the camera to macro, eyeball the focus on the LCD, and the camera tries to focus. It takes 3-4 tries for me to get 1 useable picture - with the extra lens the depth of field is not that great and the focus on the screen is close but not perfect. But a few tries usually gets a good picture.

Hi sleepy
Thanks so much my friend! Don't know if I'm an artiste or an autiste Yes - I can see I'm gonna have to get a tumbler or bubble bags - gonna be a lot of frosty trim on these girls!

Amazingly the Vaportec is still set to 1.5-2, and even after I stink up the cab by handling the plants, 20 minutes later the odor is gone. for the Vaportec!