Bonzai plant?

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OldSkool

Stubborn as an ol' mule..
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I've read alot on the net about bonzai marijuana growing and it seems like alot of bull. You don't 'grow' bonzai weed, it just happens.
You can't 'make' a plant bonzai like a tree or a bush. You have to critically stress the plant to the point of near-death to get one to exhibit dwarfism
and massive bud formation.
I dropped the overhead lights on a grow twenty-five or so years ago and killed most of my crop of sativas. Most of them got snapped off at the base near the soil. One plant got snapped off just above the very first internode, which at that point was a pretty sorry looking two-leafed original growth node. I almost pitched it with the rest, but after I smoked a doobie and sat awhile looking at it I decided to give it a shot. After all, it was still alive and had actual growing leaves.
Well, let me tell you. This plant never did grow upwards again. But, it DID grow. It was already flowering when I attempted to raise the lights. Being stoned, I screwed that up big time!
Thge plant went crazy bonzai on me. By that I mean it just flat out budded. From a single set of leaves with a full root system, it had all the potential for a nice sativa harvest. Only with two leaves! It just budded and budded on top of itself until it got to be a giant mushroom looking plant all covered with resin and white crystals like you had poured corn syrip on it and dipped it in a bowl of sugar! It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I took pictures of it and when I finally harvested it gave most away to friends for free so they could sample the extreme head high that the plant gave you. I have never seen it before, or since.

Most of what I have seen on the net about 'bonzai' is actually just training.

I almost want to snap one off at the base to see if it will happen again...

Just my viewpoint.:smoke1:

Pldskool
 
hmmmmm well maybe if it inst a "true" bonzia it still keeps the small stature of a bonzia like plant..with just pruning . but what do i know.. im about to attemp my first set of "bonsia" moms..
LH
 
A true Bonzai requires root pruning not just topping and I don't believe that is possible with a annual but I have never tried it.
 
its possible and there is an amazing thread on this site about it. They guy doest the root prunning as well as trimming of the leaves and shoots. O
One cool thing he does is when he trims the roots he burries the stem down deep so that the stalk is pretty much renewed every so often.

Here Check it out, its pretty insane actually
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39946&highlight=Bonzai
 
bluealein56 said:
its possible and there is an amazing thread on this site about it. They guy doest the root prunning as well as trimming of the leaves and shoots. O
One cool thing he does is when he trims the roots he burries the stem down deep so that the stalk is pretty much renewed every so often.

Here Check it out, its pretty insane actually
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39946&highlight=Bonzai

I admit multifarious's work with the clone is COOL! But he will be the first to tell you it's not true bonzai.
For a plant to be considered bonzai it needs to have greens in relationship to it's size, among other things. I'm no expert, just sayin'. Little bitty leaves on little bitty stems on little bitty plants. ;)
 
Ok, I decided to try an experiment. I took one of my full size plants and busted it off about 5 inches from the soil in a one gallon pot. The idea is to try and duplicate what happened to me some twenty-five years ago by accident. Well, I added a special touch this time. I clipped the rootball to fit inside of a one quart pot and picked back all the branches to simulate a severe gnawing by a deer or some other wild animal. So far it is alive, still green, and growing little tiny leaves...
I watered it with some of the solution I made up for my ladies in flower.
1 tsp miracle grow along with 1 1/2 tsps big bud mixed in with 5 gallons of water.
This was one of the plants I had taken outside to grow as I was running out of room inside my cab. It is the only plant that had not displayed it's sex yet, and I figured why not?

I'll keep you posted.
 
bonsai bull huh?
:stoned:
and yep...those are mine...much better bonsai growers on here than me ;)
none of em were autoflowers...Blue Mystic, Afghan Dream x Godbud in those pics. I've done C99 full ht the size of a lighter....finished and was healthy just tiny. and some others. These in pics were vegged and flowered just controlled ht. and size. Same strains grown big as well in 3 gall. buckets and grew 3'+ C99 4'
Blue Mystic was done in 1" deep of soil. From clone....flower didn't work out so well on that one. The others did fine. BM was vegged too long and didn't have the roots pruned.

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:hubba: very nice mutt, now if we could only get you away from the icehouse and on to spmething better, maybe a Newcastle.;)
 
bluealein56 said:
:hubba: very nice mutt, now if we could only get you away from the icehouse and on to spmething better, maybe a Newcastle.;)
LOL sometimes only got a few bucks in the pocket after work at the conv. store...and I just got to have a beer....mainly its pete's wicked ale for me :hubba:
 
Oldskool said:
For a plant to be considered bonzai it needs to have greens in relationship to it's size, among other things. I'm no expert, just sayin'. Little bitty leaves on little bitty stems on little bitty plants. ;)

How your going about doing it is not true bonsai. How I learned was reading on bonsai'n evergreen trees and such. Starting from a clone is almost a must. I've done it with a seed start and its super hard. Clones are easier to manage the root system. Also....low light. just enough to keep it going healthy but not the 3000 lumen rule. more like 1500-2000 lumens per sq. ft. 32w CFL worked fine for me. Also not much ferts either...again just enough. Trimming/pruning/tying all apart of it. Pot size as well controls overall size.
You can bonsai anything if you have the knowledge of the plant. Flowering a bonsai is a totally different beast and really not worth it :eek: But I would recommend em for just providing clones and never leaving veg. I just screw around a lot in my grow closet :p
 
Ok Mutt,
I hear you. All I was saying was simply, it's not true bonzai.

"bonsai (bōn`sī), art of cultivating dwarf trees dwarf tree, in horticultural practice, a tree artificially kept to a smaller size than is normal for average members of the species. This is usually accomplished either by limiting its root space and food and by careful pruning or by grafting it on the rootstock of another plant.
Bonsai, developed by the Japanese more than a thousand years ago, is derived from the Chinese practice of growing miniature plants. In bonsai cultivation, woody plants are kept small and in true proportion to their natural models by growing them in small containers, feeding and watering them only enough for healthy growth, pruning, and training branches in the desired shape by the application of wire coils; the term bonsai also refers to the plants dwarfed by this method. Weathered trees in harsh climates serve as natural models for aged-looking, gnarled, bent, and overhanging miniature trees. The selection of containers, the position of the plant in the container, and the choice of single plants or plant groupings are important aesthetic considerations. In Japan, various native evergreens, i.e., junipers, spruces, and pines, as well as many flowering deciduous trees, are cultivated; in America many native species have been found suitable. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City houses an extensive bonsai collection. "

You can grow a walnut tree in a dish too, for a while ;) but,
"In bonsai cultivation, woody plants are kept small and in true proportion to their natural models"

That means little bity leaves on little bity stems on little bity plants. That's all.

And Multifarious, I said, and I mean, your work is COOL! I bet it hard work too. What I personally was saying about the "bonzai" plant that happened as an accident to ME 25 years ago was that it stopped growing upwards, and just started to bud with little bity leaves all around in a circle on that 4 or so inch tall busted stem with just a few leaves left on her. It was the closest thing I can relate as Bonzai. But she was not a true bonzai either, she died after blooming. She was an accident. A freak of natural survival of the species genes. Simple stress caused her to profusely bud so tighly around a small growing stem that she appeared to be exploding. Small leaves on a short MJ plant was the wierdest thing I and my friends had ever seen. But that was also 25 years or so ago.

I still say bonzai has to have proportionate sized leaves to be a true bonzai.
If the plant lives for years in that state then I would have to conceed that it's a bonzai, not just a mutilated MJ plant in a pot, or on a plate.


I'm not taking away any of the really cool and amazing plants you fellas have grown or how hard it must be to train and baby a plant like that to keep it alive. :)

You guys can call it bonzai if ya want!

I hope someone DOES show me a plant covered with branches and leaves proportionate to the size of the plant. That would be killer man!

Peace all.
 
OldSkool said:
I hope someone DOES show me a plant covered with branches and leaves proportionate to the size of the plant. That would be killer man!


I can :D

To bad its not MJ

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I thought I'd logged into MP, not semantics anonymous.
 
Hey smoky, heh, heh. Ya got me.
I know, but you run into the same semantic junk with polyploids.
Anyway, I checked out the Bonzai thread started my Multi and found it very freaking cool. It made me want to jump in and join all you fine folks and try one of these bonzai lookin creations myself!
So I started my own clone in an ashtray about 3" across and less than an inch deep. It's kind of mutated to small leaves anyway so it should serve the purpose well. I'll post a pick tonight when the lights come on.

I'll just join you all in this ok? :)
 
Enjoy :) you will find it is somewhat proportionate..but realize your growin a weed not a tree ;) Vegin it is a cake walk its when you flower all hel breaks loose :p
 
It looks cool already! Just like a little miniature palm tree leaning with the wind on an ashtray island! ;) I'll post a pic later!
 
Yo,

:watchplant: I loved the whole Bonsai thing. I guess there are folks that love to grow just for the enjoyment of growing. Some folks have natural green thumbs and every thing just goes nuts growing for you.
I loved it when this was said, "but you run into the same semantic junk with polyploids."

May I suggest that you try the bonsai route with a 180* degree phyllotaxy, That ought to keep you feeling warm and fuzzy all over. LOL :rofl:

Just playin


smoke in peace
KingKahuuna:cool:
 
Hey King!
180* phyllotaxy huh, you mean dicussate? Too ordinary. Triploid, nah.
I think I'll try for FOUR leaves per node! A quadraploid bonzai! :p

I promised you all some pics. Here they are:

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