Good point franco they can also get preflowers which are anathema to cloning,if this happens go towards the bottom of the plant and pull a new mom with zero pistils.

here is my bonsi moms they are ready and waiting to be cut back so they look a bit tall all are in three gallon bags i can get about 5-9 cutting per plant abaout every three weeks..they are about 9- 11 inches tall ....awsome info about cutting the roots cant wait to try next time i re-pot

ok i have been a bad gardener i allowed our mother plant to become way to over grown here is some before and after pic she was 34" from top of soil

thats a five gallon pot she is in well we are keeping 2 of each strain but these 2 girls have just grown way to big taking up way to much space so we decided to test it on one first and just keep trimming the second one for now well we took 20 of the best of these trimming and put into jiffy-7 and throw out probably 40 more here is what she looks like now




now next question is when ( or should i have done it the same time) i trimm the roots ? was wanting to put her in maybe a 2 gal container if possible
i also left 2 more branches then i thought i should on it as this was my first attempt at this figure when she gets over the shock of this i will cut the other 2 branches
any and all advice is much appreciated

Keeping moms are a pain in the tucas.

walkabout - If you are looking to reduce the size of your mother plants I would suggest taking a clone of your current mum and then following OT1's tutorial on the first page of this thread. Since they are already contained in 5 gallon pots, it would be very hard to keep them small because they have so much root room in such large pots. If you take a clone and begin making a bonsai mom from that she will stay small with little more than regular mantenece.

Best of luck

guerilla

would it be possible to just slowly reduce the pot size? if i keep the top trimmed up?

[jojajico]

has anyone used copper hydroxide to limit plant size? jorge cervantes says in his book that it causes the roots to once they reach the edge of the container (lined with copper hydroxide) that the roots turn around back into the container. this produces a very dense root strucutre and the plants foliage grows quickly because of it.... or something like that. i was wondering if this would be a good way to keep mums as the container can be small but it would produce alot of clones.

Originally Posted by walkabout

would it be possible to just slowly reduce the pot size? if i keep the top trimmed up?

I can only give my opinion as I have no experience doing this.

It does seem feasible to use root trimming to decrese pot size in order to create a bonsai effect, however I would be worried about the plants health suffering as a result. The roots on a plant that large in a 5 gallon pot are very large and more than likely encompass the whole pot. It seems like ti would be difficult to trim enough of the roots to make it fit into a small 1 liter pot while still maintaining the roots that the plant need to live and thrive.

On the other hand, as long as you first trimm most of the top growth leaving only a few shoots and leaves, then trim the roots, its seems possible that the plant would respond as if it had been that size all of its life and grow back as such.

As I said I have no experience with this so please do not take my opinion as fact. Im sure there are many other growers here that could give you a better awnser. Maybe franco from greenhouse will chime in as he has helped many growers since he got here with hard to solve probalems. I will send him a pm and see what he says.

Sorry I couldnt be of more help, but either way, you will always have the option of starting a new clone and using that as a bonsai mom.

guerilla

Originally Posted by jojajico

has anyone used copper hydroxide to limit plant size? jorge cervantes says in his book that it causes the roots to once they reach the edge of the container (lined with copper hydroxide) that the roots turn around back into the container. this produces a very dense root strucutre and the plants foliage grows quickly because of it.... or something like that. i was wondering if this would be a good way to keep mums as the container can be small but it would produce alot of clones.

Thanks for the post jojo. I have not heard of this method myself but it seems like a great tool that bonsai growers could use if it is true. Most of the techniques that I have tried from jorge have been great so I have no reason to think that this wouldnt work. I'll have to do some research on it and maybe even give it a try out in my OP.

guerilla

hey bro this is all a learning experience for me i figure there is no failures just lessons of what to do or not to do the next time
and ty very much for helping answer these question