Bonsai Mothers

[Big Eggy]

I thought i'd start a thread about this as when i was a Micro Grower this helped me a hell of a lot.

I used to be a 1 Sq ft 70w hps grower due to living in a small flat and had some sucsess early on but soon realized that i was going to have better results if i used clones and flowered them as soon as they had rooted.

I developed this technique after reading an old thread by Oldtimer1 on overgrow, he used to grow big bonsai moms and i thought surely i can do this on a smaller scale.

It's really jsut a form of LST so here how i did it.

Firstly take a rooted cloan and pot up into a light compost as normal.



Then top the cloane and tie down shoots to encorage latral branching. if i wanted to slow down top growth i would leave a lower shoot to take over apical domanance.







After time woody stems will form and you will find that all you need to do is trim of your top growth to promote a bonsai type MJ plant.



The only light i gave these was 2x10w floros in a white painted box with a 10cm hole cut in the bottom and a 12v PC fan circulating air.

feeding nutes was just a baby bio and occationally some high nitrogen lawn feed.

once the plants about 3 months old i would routinely give them a root trim. The root ball was about as big as my fist and i would take off 2cm from each side and the bottom with a sharp bread knife and then repot with fresh compost.

the oldest bonsai mother i had was about 2 years old.. and then it was spider mites that killed her off.

Hope this inspires someone else to give it a try was great fun.

Eggy

 

[ASMA]

exactly what im going to try out on some of my plants. i started just yesterday with my two oldest clones. thanks for the post big eggy. once they settle in though how routinely is the root trim taking place?

 

[Big Eggy]

Hi ASMA,

Thanks for stopping buy.. I find the longer you can leave the trim the better, some strains will need it sooner than others but generally about 2-3 months is normal. As with most aspects of growing you'll get to know when it needs doing, gereneral growth is slowed and older dark leafs will start getting random rust spots on them ect.

i did have photo's of root triming but lost them but you can be fairly brutal they soon bounce back.

hope that helps.

Eggy

 

[ASMA]

im in a small space so i was looking into ways of keeping all my plants for mothers,grafting seemed perfect but seems like its out of reach for novice growers so ill be getting into bonsai moms then later on maybe try the grafting.

 

[Big Eggy]

yeah i though about trying do to a multi strain bonsai but turned out to be reall hard.

There is a good tech in Robert Connell Clarkes MJ Botany book but it's not very practical on the small scale.. but hey its worth having a try.

here some more of my old pics i've just recycled.

AK48


Lifesaver


Family


Very Basic Veg Box

 

[ASMA]

are cuts harder to clone? i mean the clone taken from a small bonsai even with 3 node must be small,dose that complicate them rooting? did you clone right into soil?(smaller brow pots on the dvd). looking at your pics make me think ill be able to keep all my strains for a while

 

[Big Eggy]

I should have mentioned that.
When you want to take clones you just let the mother grow for a bit.. She'll send up shoots like a normal mother maybe am inch between nodes stain depending. I used to take small clones just below the 2nd node maybe 2in tall. Rooting time was normally 2 weeks. Best results in small rockwool cubes in a propergator. The ones in the picture were in soil and failed, it was the only pic I had of the veg box.
Eggy

 

[gloryoskie]

Good post, you can count me in as a believer. I have three mums in my veg box, 96 square inches under a 23 watt cfl. Clones start off slow and small, but I got time.

 

[Big Eggy]

Thanks Gloryoskie,

Sadly i know longer grow indoors so this is not something i do anymore.. I am toying with the idea of trying to establish one over the summer (outdoors) and then trying to nurse it through the winter to spring for the 2012 season. It'll have to be natural light and what ever it get from inside the house.. a long shot but time will tell.

Eggy

 

[Waynes]

Thanks for putting this together. I'm currently starting from seeds, but would love to try this as seeds are expensive and can take forever. +rep

 

[Big Eggy]

No problem Waynes.

yes seeds are a pain in the neck.. especaily when grown on small scale lots of stretch early on and needing to mature before put into 12/12.

using clones over a 1sqft i could flower 4 in 3litre drinks bottles as soon as they had rooted and ended up with bud on a stick type plants.

C99 was the best i had for doing this.. she buded from the bottom up.


FMS C99 @ 8weeks - 70w hps






Eggy

 

[Veno.Amana]

nice plants, they look very dense


Veno.A

 

[MrStonerMan]

Great info in here! Thanks for posting. I am very interested in this so I will be keeping an eye on it

 

[Big Eggy]

Great info in here! Thanks for posting. I am very interested in this so I will be keeping an eye on it

Thanks for your intrest..

This was work i did about 5 years ago so there wont be anymore from me.. if others want to add there efforts i'll be more than happy to give any guidance i can offer.

Eggy

 

[elemtee]

nice thread Big Eggy. great timing too. a fresh take on bonsai moms versus an older thread i had b'marked. thanks.

just threw a 24w pll in a pc case, will get a couple clones of this nl soon and will try this.

do you run lights 24hrs?

 

[Big Eggy]

i did run them on both 24 and 18.
Both worked great but found that clones in with the moms rooted quicker under 18hrs.

 

[messn'n'gommin']

AK48


Lifesaver

That just plain crosses over into the traditional Japanese style of bonsai!

They're what? 30-40cm? 20?!

This will help a lot of people...lol...namely, me! Thanks for posting this!

 

[Big Eggy]

Hey Messn'n"gommin,

I'm glad people like you ask for the details i forget.

They are about 25cm including the pot when mature.

I start them in 8x6x6cm (HxWxD) pots and they end up in 10x8x8 pots.

I'll upload a photo of the pots and how they compare in size in a bit... both the above pics are the small [first stage] pots.

Eggy

 

[Big Eggy]

here's the pic of the Pots as promised.



I'm sure any pot will do though.

I've updated the first post with a picture of the original clone used as it was fairly leggy and gives a better idea of how the plant was established.

Eggy

 

[ceylon]

...I used to be a 1 Sq ft 70w hps grower due to living in a small flat and had some sucsess early on but soon realized that i was going to have better results if i used clones and flowered them as soon as they had rooted...

great ceylon