Bonsai Mothers and Root Pruning

dstroy

dstroy

Insanely Active Member
CrimsonEcho said:
Hi everybody.

In this thread i want to share what i have been doing and what has worked well for me.

First of all, some of you might have heard about bonsai mothers and some probably haven’t yet. For those who haven’t, bonsai technique is a japanese art of keeping plants in tiny containers and making them grow as miniature versions of themselves by restricting their roots and shaping their growth. For bonsai mothers, i replicate a similar technique.

Secondly, for those who have heard of this technique, i’m gonna say mine is the easiest. I know that this technique involves multiple transplantations. Mine doesn’t. I think its just a way of complicating things when you have to transplant numerous times. I never done it and can’t complain.

Now, what are the benefits?

I see lots of posts around about how to keep a mother. Some indoor growers don’t have a lot of space which they can dedicate to full grown mothers. Or they can only keep one and they have to smoke the same cultivar. Which gets a bit boring after a while. Thus people refrain from keeping mothers and just buy new seeds for every grow.

Now there is nothing with that. You can definitely buy new seeds for every grow but sometimes, you find the dankest dank! You know something rare. You will want smoke that stuff again and again. Thats why its always good to get clones and keep mothers so you can regrow that fire whenever you like.

Another reason for keeping mothers is that every plant is different. Every plant likes different amount of different things, different watering, different fertilization, different light intensity.. so to get the best out of your plant, you may need to grow it again. Maybe again.. and again. And with every grow, you’ll see that you are doing better and plant is doing better and better.

You will get accustomed to its likings and its gonna get accustomed to its environment and to you. So even if you don’t have any space to keep mothers, or if you think that mothers are just big wastes of energy and space which you have to take care of constantly, bonsai mothers are just the opposite.

How to implement?

As i stated above, my technique is much simpler than the ones i’ve seen around. Its just as simple as getting a rooted clone and sticking it into a 0.3l pot. Which is tiny tiny.

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Now as you can see. This is a tiny pot. This plant has been in this pot for the last 5 months. I haven’t pruned the roots since the original transplant. As you can see, there are some symptoms on the leaves which indicates deficiencies and general unhappiness. Now what i do is i’m gonna take half of the root mass off. 4 sides and the bottom.

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This is what i ended up with. Now this plant will go back to its pot with a little bit of fresh soil. In a week its gonna be super healthy again and will be very happy.

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Here with the new soil. Will do an after pic in a week.

The space requirement.

This technique requires only minimal space and it can be set up in the most oddly shaped spaces. For example here is mine. 60x60x60 tent. A literal tent. Who thought this design would work for any plant is beyond me. Thats 2x2x2’. A very small space. I got 21 bonsai mothers and couple of other things as well. Now i’m pretty sure i can fill 40 in there if i take all the other stuff out. So thats pretty good. 40 mothers in a 2x2. Or 20 in 1x2 etc. etc.

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So even if you are a small scale hobby grower you can keep these miniature mothers. When it comes to flowering they will not disappoint and you can get many clones to replace the now flowering mother. Keep the same strain for years without losing any space.

Finally, this is just what i’ve been doing and getting good results with. You can also post what you have been doing in the department of keeping bonsai mothers. I hope you all enjoy it and benefit from it in some way..

Wish you all bountiful harvests!
Click to expand...
We use the same pots for our moms.

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crimsonecho

crimsonecho

Self-Proclaimed Don Quixote
I pruned the roots of these bonsai today. Since the other gal went into a bigger pot there is not much to see at this point. Tho it is perfectly healthy and sexy, its not a bonsai mother anymore. So i’ll post updates of these. I only use straight water for my mothers. Thats why in a couple of months they get yellow leaves and all but using liquid ferts for these seems kinda wasteful to me. Especially when a bit of ewc and fresh soil can get the job done.

95BA507B-3449-4A7B-87CC-DED1BB6958D9.jpeg
 
crimsonecho

crimsonecho

Self-Proclaimed Don Quixote
BB191F59-FB52-42A7-BF48-431AAD4FBC37.jpeg8EF39652-300A-4341-BDE3-82A0A62053D1.jpeg

You see they are regaining their vigor. I pruned them, thats on me. The new growth was much vibrant but my vertical space is limited so i have to prune it constantly. Especially after root pruning.

Normally, i’d give them a good kelp extract and fulvic acid foliar to kick start their system but i’m also trying to see how well my ewc works. So they are gonna have to work for it a bit.

But overall, eventho the light washes the details off of the photos, they look healthier, greener and gonna keep getting healthier. I’m gonna post updates on them.

Also here are the bonsai mother that got transplanted into bigger pots. They looked very beaten down but they pick themselves right up with a rich soil. And kelp and fulvic acid helps too :D

EAA10464-5C4D-41FB-8D43-A0AC70801EAA.jpeg

Pruned multiple times to keep them short.
 
Old ST1R

Old ST1R

Grow Yer Own Stone
CrimsonEcho said:
View attachment 11481View attachment 11482

You see they are regaining their vigor. I pruned them, thats on me. The new growth was much vibrant but my vertical space is limited so i have to prune it constantly. Especially after root pruning.

Normally, i’d give them a good kelp extract and fulvic acid foliar to kick start their system but i’m also trying to see how well my ewc works. So they are gonna have to work for it a bit.

But overall, eventho the light washes the details off of the photos, they look healthier, greener and gonna keep getting healthier. I’m gonna post updates on them.

Also here are the bonsai mother that got transplanted into bigger pots. They looked very beaten down but they pick themselves right up with a rich soil. And kelp and fulvic acid helps too :D

View attachment 11483

Pruned multiple times to keep them short.
Click to expand...
Looks like you’re re- vegging that back right one ?
 
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