heady's maine adventure: gavitas, blumats, and the wicked lobstah soil mix
- Thread starter heady blunts
- Start date
aphotic has been asking me about how i keep my bonsai moms, so i thought i'd share my response in my thread here so others can check it out/i can reference it later.
here's some diagrams i drew up to illustrate:
the timeline will obvi vary greatly depending on your growing style and environment.
not sure why i added the extra "i" in that last one haha
here's some diagrams i drew up to illustrate:
the timeline will obvi vary greatly depending on your growing style and environment.
not sure why i added the extra "i" in that last one haha
i hope you don't mind if i just requote this. i think it's answering the same question.
the bonsai's are the back ups. anytime i can take cuts from veg i prefer to. but with all the variety and seed hunting we do in our relatively small garden there's a lot more to keep backed up than can fit in veg at any one time.
Bonsaii
Bonsaii
Thank you heady, that's exactly what I needed!
I'm kinda bummed I was planning on working on transferring all my moms to bonsai this week, but with my fungus gnat epidemic, I put it on hold, on a brighter note I unknowingly transferred predator mites into my grow rooms, and are currently kicking some major ass, my beds are almost clear of larvae, fingers crossed.
About grafting several strains onto one super mom. We had a conversation about this on another thread, and I had mentioned genetic information being exchanged. While normally this is restricted to the graft site, every so often it will spread, and you will end up with a chimera, if those grafted branches are the only backup of those genetics you have you can lose them, not to mention the risk of spreading disease between strains. I've been searching for the research paper where I read about the genetic mixing, but I save so many such papers on multiple devices, it's taking me a while to find. As soon as I find it I'll send you the link. I've seen serveral grafted apple trees that have turned chimera, it's actually pretty cool. With all that being said, I plan on making a grafted mother, but will be sure to have backups.
What are you using light wise for your moms? Oldtimer mentionec using shop lights to keep his, this seems pretty attractive to me, as I don't require many cuttings from any individual strain at any one time. I've been keeping them under 600mhs, and there's just too much growth, I spend a great deal of time pruning them every other week.
Bonsaii
Thank you heady, that's exactly what I needed!
I'm kinda bummed I was planning on working on transferring all my moms to bonsai this week, but with my fungus gnat epidemic, I put it on hold, on a brighter note I unknowingly transferred predator mites into my grow rooms, and are currently kicking some major ass, my beds are almost clear of larvae, fingers crossed.
About grafting several strains onto one super mom. We had a conversation about this on another thread, and I had mentioned genetic information being exchanged. While normally this is restricted to the graft site, every so often it will spread, and you will end up with a chimera, if those grafted branches are the only backup of those genetics you have you can lose them, not to mention the risk of spreading disease between strains. I've been searching for the research paper where I read about the genetic mixing, but I save so many such papers on multiple devices, it's taking me a while to find. As soon as I find it I'll send you the link. I've seen serveral grafted apple trees that have turned chimera, it's actually pretty cool. With all that being said, I plan on making a grafted mother, but will be sure to have backups.
What are you using light wise for your moms? Oldtimer mentionec using shop lights to keep his, this seems pretty attractive to me, as I don't require many cuttings from any individual strain at any one time. I've been keeping them under 600mhs, and there's just too much growth, I spend a great deal of time pruning them every other week.
we keep them in 8 sqft under a few hundred watts of fluoro. this keeps them alive but not exactly thriving.
as i mentioned before the cuts off the bonsai moms under insufficient lighting take longer to root and longer to take off once transplanted than the same genetic material cut from 18" plants in 10 gallon containers happy in veg.
it's a back up genetic library to be used in case of emergency.
if we want to put something back into rotation, we usually take a cut from the library, get it nice a healthy in veg, then take more cuts off that plant.
a few times a year we sit down to a somber culling ceremony. anything subpar is obviously cut first, but we also make head-to-head considerations with stuff that fills a similar niche. for example we culled the chemx we had last year when we found the white jeep. both have a strong chem high but the jeep grows a thousand times better.
as i mentioned before the cuts off the bonsai moms under insufficient lighting take longer to root and longer to take off once transplanted than the same genetic material cut from 18" plants in 10 gallon containers happy in veg.
it's a back up genetic library to be used in case of emergency.
if we want to put something back into rotation, we usually take a cut from the library, get it nice a healthy in veg, then take more cuts off that plant.
a few times a year we sit down to a somber culling ceremony. anything subpar is obviously cut first, but we also make head-to-head considerations with stuff that fills a similar niche. for example we culled the chemx we had last year when we found the white jeep. both have a strong chem high but the jeep grows a thousand times better.
I think I get it. I was just curious because I have limited space as well so that's why I don't keep moms and just take cuts of cuts. Never usually have any issues, and the rare time one doesn't root I take one from the plant in bloom and since it's only wk 1-2 it's still no issue. But I guess the time it doesn't root that way either I'll be really sad to lose a lady.
That's about what I do as well. If push came to absolute shove then I would try one last reveg Hail Mary.
Hopefully good cuts are spread around your circle though so in the worst case a good buddy would still have a cut for you?
oh yea we have lost some gems in the shuffle. in the last year and a half i've revegged maybe half a dozen plants and rooted cuts from even late flower more times than i care to admit
we do our best but sometimes things slip through the cracks or, worse, fate takes them from us despite our best efforts.
the little bonsai library is an attempt to hedge our bets.
RustyShcklfrd
Member
...get it....hedge our bets lol...sorry couldnt help it. Hope alls well Heady
oh yea we have lost some gems in the shuffle. in the last year and a half i've revegged maybe half a dozen plants and rooted cuts from even late flower more times than i care to admit
we do our best but sometimes things slip through the cracks or, worse, fate takes them from us despite our best efforts.
the little bonsai library is an attempt to hedge our bets.
Lol I absolutely HATE when im banking on a reveg for a prized lady, nothing is more stressful IMO. I sit there willing the girl to grow, fearing if I take my eyes off her she'll shrivel up and die on me. Especially if she's really special.That's about what I do as well. If push came to absolute shove then I would try one last reveg Hail Mary.
Hopefully good cuts are spread around your circle though so in the worst case a good buddy would still have a cut for you?
And I definitely try to back my girls up with friends, it's just a little tougher for me because I don't have anyone very close by (driving distance) so if I'm not on top of my game and don't get it out to someone quickly enough disaster can strike
makes me wanna take your approach heady n make a couple bonsai momma's myselfI'm guessing ho T5s, I'm ok with things taking a little longer, I'm always running behind anyways. If at some point you get more room I highly recommend the fabric pots inside milk crates, that will give you 8-9 gallons per plant, and each plant only takes up a little over a square foot of space, the crates have built in handles. You can pack them tightly together and the crates provide airspace between pots, and I keep the plants pruned to fit inside the pots footprint. Ideally if I had more space I'd stick with that.
another option that I thought of just of just now, would be to use the metal storage racks, like you see in restaurants, that way you could have 3-4 levels of plants, and just mount the t5s under each shelf. With my low ceilings I could triple the amount of mothers my room could hold.
Here's the Wikipedia entry for Chimeras, grafting can create "graft hybrids", but they can only be propagated through cloning, so they're not considered a true hybrid, if you try to sexually reproduce the hybrids they will revert to the closest parent.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)#Plants
I started a Bonzai space in the last few months and I am so glad I did! I kept cloning off of vegging plants for over 10 years and only lost one cut, Grape God, that I'm still hating today. If anything, having the Bonzais around is a major piece of mind. It's lowered my stress level tons! Lol
I got them in a 4x2x8 space and need to get one of those shelves Aphotic just mentioned. That way I can throw my cloners on it.
Guess I'm rambling!
I got them in a 4x2x8 space and need to get one of those shelves Aphotic just mentioned. That way I can throw my cloners on it.
Guess I'm rambling!
Cool thread man!
alright folks, i'm sad to say it's time to close this chapter in heady's story. my time in maine has been an incredible adventure, but once again lyfe has different plans, and i'm going with the flow.
the garden grows on. when we started the build out last year, my garden partner was a total noob, never grown canna, but the guy is a wicked fast learner, and these days grows some of the best herb around! he's taken full responsibility for the garden and our patients, and continues to produce clean meds of the highest quality. the pheno hunting we've done is backed up and some of our cuts are growing in others' gardens.
i got him trained up on the rosin press too. that big dake with the timewizard_greyfox platens is staying with the garden. i built myself another HMK press but i'll definitely miss that glorious squish machine!
i made some great friends up there. it was super awesome having an IRL group of gromies to talk shop and sesh with. i'll miss hanging out but at least we can stay in touch on here and IG.
it's a shame that prohibition is such an obstacle to that kind of socializing in less friendly states. it gets me really pissed off and ranty to think of all of my peers that should be networking and collaborating and creating but instead are isolated and paranoid and antisocial.
i'm reunited with my family in another med state, although a much less progressive one. regardless of the legitimacy of my medical need, i am not protected here, so i won't be able to share with the same brazen freedom i was afforded in maine.
i intend to continue treating myself, so i think i'll create a hang out thread so i can still nerd out and talk shop with my friends here.
thanks to everyone for the amazing support and encouragement throughout this thread! i loved sharing the adventure with you all, and i am super grateful for the mistakes and missteps avoided thanks to the sage wisdom and advice offered so generously from our experienced members! the accumulated expertise here is invaluable.
on to the next adventure!
lazy
cush x white lotus
LUIG13
the garden grows on. when we started the build out last year, my garden partner was a total noob, never grown canna, but the guy is a wicked fast learner, and these days grows some of the best herb around! he's taken full responsibility for the garden and our patients, and continues to produce clean meds of the highest quality. the pheno hunting we've done is backed up and some of our cuts are growing in others' gardens.
i got him trained up on the rosin press too. that big dake with the timewizard_greyfox platens is staying with the garden. i built myself another HMK press but i'll definitely miss that glorious squish machine!
i made some great friends up there. it was super awesome having an IRL group of gromies to talk shop and sesh with. i'll miss hanging out but at least we can stay in touch on here and IG.
it's a shame that prohibition is such an obstacle to that kind of socializing in less friendly states. it gets me really pissed off and ranty to think of all of my peers that should be networking and collaborating and creating but instead are isolated and paranoid and antisocial.
i'm reunited with my family in another med state, although a much less progressive one. regardless of the legitimacy of my medical need, i am not protected here, so i won't be able to share with the same brazen freedom i was afforded in maine.
i intend to continue treating myself, so i think i'll create a hang out thread so i can still nerd out and talk shop with my friends here.
thanks to everyone for the amazing support and encouragement throughout this thread! i loved sharing the adventure with you all, and i am super grateful for the mistakes and missteps avoided thanks to the sage wisdom and advice offered so generously from our experienced members! the accumulated expertise here is invaluable.
on to the next adventure!
lazy
cush x white lotus
LUIG13
On to bigger and better things then 
I hope it all pans out for you, I'm sure it will.
No matter what though, don't disappear and become a stranger.
I hope it all pans out for you, I'm sure it will. No matter what though, don't disappear and become a stranger.
May the forwinds blow you safely home..
Hope fully you will still be showing some of your amazing work.
Hope fully you will still be showing some of your amazing work.
