Bonsai moms

Ok, I finished a grow a little while back, trying out hempy. Not bad, works for me. So I popped some beans recently to try some more strains. None of my seeds are femmed, so I have to wait and see....


I'm now in a position where I will soon need to get my house appraised & a new furnace installed (right next to my grow room) so instead of starting a full grow right now, I want to just grow them to the point that I know I have a girl, and keep one of each strain as a mom, to clone. That way, I'll be able to (relatively) easily move them to another location whilst someone pokes around my house.


Problem is, I've never grown non-fem from seed before. If I recall from other threads, it takes a while to find out (6-8 weeks? can't remember?) and by that time they're a pretty good size.


I want these girls to stay small - I want to bonsai them and pull clones as necessary.


Soooo.... my question is: When I figure out the girls, can I prune the absolute shit out of them to get them to a small size, or should I pull clones and keep those as my moms, so that they're super small? (no more than a foot or so tall. I think Ras had an old thread about bonsai moms...)


Thanks!!!


GTWT


:XXhippylove:

 

I don't really know shit about bonsai plants but the guy that taught me to grow weed in the islands would do them all the time. He would trim the roots to keep everything small. I've seen entire plants at full bud that are the size of a bic lighter.

 

I've root pruned my houseplants before, for the same reason, to keep them small. I'm not too worried about the actual bonsai trick, seems pretty straightforward. I'm just wondering how much you can/should cut a bigger plant back.


I think I'll clone a few off each after sexing. I've been pretty successful at cloning so far, and that way they'll be nice and small, and girls.


GTWT


:XXhippylove:

 

yeah long time no see gtwt

 

It's easier to bonsai clones. Going from seed, they will get bigger. I would do as ofo suggests. When you get some branches, cut and clone. and put the moms into flower.


Remember, though, bonsai's need lots of attention. The soil dries out very fast.

 

...The soil dries out very fast....on that note I would agree....I have been cloning perpetually for right at a year now and the bonsai clones so to speak(clones that I mother so to speak) are tighter noded for sure and as these mother bonsai clone plants grow they really get their drink on...so close eye there...I have been having good luck just mothering a clone every so often for future cuttings to keep the forward perpetual thing going...happy to report that is working out quite well...little story I'll share right now as I just thought about it...was trimming some nugs this morning from yesterday's harvest and ya' know how sticky them professional scissors can get sometimes...and ya' know the thumb and forefinger I use on my left hand to grasp aforementiond nugs well check this out...I was noticing how my fingers were getting stickier and stickier and at one point ya' know how it feels when you accidently spill super glue on your fingers and they get stuck together...well that was how sticky it got...it was like pulling my fingers apart from having just spilled super glue...same dang sensation...blew my mind...thinkin' i should call this strain "bond'' dazechain bond...I like it!! lmao...cheers GK!!:coolbounce:

 

DC You're a hoot! I've been there, fingers stuck together, and nothing at all gets that shit off either.


Hi guys, I've been a bit absent lately. Busy messing up my life with stupid men. Or letting them mess my life up, I should say. No more, back to 'me' time! And time to get busy with my favorite hobby!


Yeah, I'm gonna clone, then mother. I screwed up my seeds because I'm a moron, and I ended up with about a half a dozen different strains, no femmed, and only 2 or 3 of each kind, because I accidentally cooked my sprouts with a heating mat. :BangHead:


Whatever. So I'm just hoping for at least on female out of at least half of them. I have SSH, crit mass, Rooie, Killing Kush, and jesus hell I"m too stoned right now to remember what else. I have my toes crossed especially for the SSH - I've heard so many good things about that one, and I'm antsy pantsy to try it!!!


GTWT


:XXhippylove:

 

I've been toying with the idea of making a stealth (ish) mobile mom box. I've got a move coming up soon, and I'd like to be able to take my genetics with me, and then just plunk 'em down somewhere and plug it in, without constructing a full grow space or setting up a tent. After a month or two I can figure out my next move.


If I get your drift, you want something smallish and mobile so you can get them outta sight when the work is being done? Wouldn't have to be big to accommodate my stable. This space is about 35"(L) x 22"(W) x 17"(H) and currently houses 4 strains, including a precious Fusion Lemon Thai


The trick would be light proof venting, which wouldn't be an issue running 24 hrs on, except from the outside for stealth reasons you might not want the thing emitting light. If I build something I'll post it up.


DR those stems are fake. I think you made that outta pvc and painted it green. Taped some sprigs on :kidding:

 

A portable box would be pretty cool if you could pull the whole show off - lot of micro engineering into it though.


I've always been super lazy when it comes to moving shit like that. I will seriously open a closet door, run an extension cord in, and plug in a cheap clip light for a few nights and I'm set. I stress my plants more than I should though, because I'm not paying attention enough.


Question - do most people keep moms in soil? Wondering if I should throw 'em in dirt, or keep hempy, which is what my grow will be, just for ease of mixing shit up....


GTWT


:XXhippylove:

 

I've got three moms in 1 quart hempy pots. They've been in the same cups for seven months, as kind of an experiment to see how long they'll last. This one, a Killing Fields green pheno, is getting to where the perlite and roots are a rock solid mass that's hard to water. The water pretty much sits on the surface of the root mass as a thin layer of perlite floats for a while. Flushing is also quite tedious and marginal. The plants need trimming every two to three weeks to keep them from outgrowing my mama cabinet. Still, she's been putting out good cuttings that mostly get thrown out, since I have nowhere to put them at the moment.


I'm not sure that I'd recommend doing hempy moms unless you intend to keep them only for a short while, maybe 3 or 4 months. I keep clones of this one going, so if she gives up the ghost, it's all good. She's definitely deteriorating, maybe has another couple of months left. This is not a plant that could ever be flowered in this condition, without having a lot of problems.


This particular plant needs watering every 12 hours, which might be more attention than than it's worth.


The experiment continues...


OS

 

solo flyer


seeing as how I can have 18 under a foot tall I keep them in solo cups and keep them under a foot any direction they get pretty root down day and keep themselves you're getting very big around but they'll get tall and spindly so just keep topping them

 

The one mom I have right now, Strawberry Anesthesia, I threw in some of my 3 part garden mix (vermiculite/peat moss/compost) and she's just fine. well, relatively. I've got her under a single '100'W cfl in a cold corner of the world, water every now and then. I think I fed her a weak bit one time. I seriously can't understand how I haven't killed her yet. I'm a terrible plant mom.


So I'm thinking that's what I'll do. It's worked so far, and as long as it's small and tidy, and makes babies, I'm all good.


GTWT


:XXhippylove:

 

That veg box looks alot like the one I made.


Don't lose that SA. All I have right now is SA and RM. SA when cured is the shit :thumbsup:

 

Ya know the easiest thing would be to just grow em as you would, and move the whole shebang upstairs while they inspect your furnace, or throw em in the attic, or wherever they won't go. Just not in the car :danger:


Depending on when you have to tuck em away, they prob won't be that big right? Keeping them smallish is never really my prob :coolbounce: making em big is. I mean shit I could tell you a thousand ways to make a plant grow slow and stay small. No 1 on the list is have ME grow it. :roffl:


Seriously, keeping them a little cold will slow em down. Can you time when you will have to move them?