Bonsai Mums Help Needed

JSB99 · Jan 13, 2018

This is my first time growing plants to mum up. I've been following the old-timer's guide, but the pics are confusing me a little.

In the three pics that show the initial topping, the plant has around 9 shoots, and looks to be in a 4" pot.

But in the pic that follows, the left-most plant looks like it's topped in a 2" pot.

I just posted a couple pics in another thread, and it was suggested that it was time to transplant them. So I'm not sure if I should transplant them, and the mum them up when they get bigger, or keep them in the 2" pots until I top.

Also, it states, "The top 2 will grow the fastest and when they get to about 5 inches pinch or snip out their growing tips to just above a leaf node. This will allow the second pair to catch up in a day or so, then pinch them out as well. This will encourage side shoots to form, any that grow into the central cup shaped space pinch out."
Is he just talking about fimming here?

vostok · Jan 14, 2018

Why not ask the guy over at the 'mag its his thread you are following ....right?

JSB99 · Jan 14, 2018

vostok said:
Why not ask the guy over at the 'mag its his thread you are following ....right?

Oh yeah, huh! LOL

JSB99 · Jan 14, 2018

vostok said:
Why not ask the guy over at the 'mag its his thread you are following ....right?

The thread is really old, but there were enough pics, and posts, to figure it out.

vostok · Jan 15, 2018

Old Timers thread on IC from 2006 and on a guest account

2 years later on GC at 2008 revamped by Nugglord

picks are missing since their recent shitty update link here

https://forum.grasscity.com/threads/bonsai-mums-a-guide.291687/

Here is the original thread from way back

http://www.cannabase.com/cl/index.html

1.5Mb .pdf

(http://www.cannabase.com/cl/book/Bonsi Mums.zip)

please don't loose ...lol

good luck

JSB99 · Jan 15, 2018

vostok said:
Old Timers thread on IC from 2006 and on a guest account

2 years later on GC at 2008 revamped by Nugglord

picks are missing since their recent shitty update link here

https://forum.grasscity.com/threads/bonsai-mums-a-guide.291687/

Here is the original thread from way back

http://www.cannabase.com/cl/index.html

1.5Mb .pdf

(http://www.cannabase.com/cl/book/Bonsi Mums.zip)

please don't loose ...lol

good luck

Right on!

Thanks, Man!

Anothermeduser · Jan 19, 2018

When i bosai, i do to keep small, and be able to produce clones, i found i liked the 4" square taper pots, i could make a small plant produce about 10-15 nice shoots in a month or so, cutting them back to a few small shoots, i would top now, keep in the small pot for awhile yet

JSB99 · Jan 19, 2018

They're still pretty squat, so I'm not sure if I should let them grow a little more, so that I can get to the middle a little better, to top. What I'd really like to do is take 4 to 6 clones from one, to grow out, when I do top. Is that doable, or do you usually have to let them grow a bit, after they've been topped?

BTW, if you keep your mums under T5's, how far away do you usually keep the light? I've been hovering between 4" and 6" (10cm and 15cm).

Here are some pics I just took.

JSB99 · Jan 19, 2018

I went ahead and topped them. Everything looks great! I posted some pics on one of my other threads here.

Anothermeduser · Jan 27, 2018

JSB99 said:
I went ahead and topped them. Everything looks great! I posted some pics on one of my other threads here.

As long as theres some shoots left to grow your fine, i like to cut them back to just a few growth shoots as the less old plant matter IMO the better for pest evasion.

JSB99 · Jan 27, 2018

Anothermeduser said:
As long as theres some shoots left to grow your fine, i like to cut them back to just a few growth shoots as the less old plant matter IMO the better for pest evasion.

Thx! I've cut mine back as well, and took my first set of clones, which were the very bottom shoots, below the manifold. They are still a bit bushy, but when the fimmed tops grow out some I'll prune them back heavily. Probably over a couple days, so I don't shock them.

JSB99 · Jan 29, 2018

I posted the following in another thread, but I thought I'd copy it here, since this thread's about keeping mums.

Today, I tackled my bushes! They're so bushy and squat, that it's hard to water them. I've also got two of them with six main nodes, and I wanted to trim them down to four. Also, the Gorilla Cookies really took off and had gotten way too tall. So I topped the four main branches. I'm not worried about how long their recovery time is, I've already got my cuttings. And now, I have many more

Girl Scout Crack - Trimmed two nodes
Before:

After:

White Widow - Trimmed two nodes
Before:

After:

Gorilla Cookies - Topped the four main branches. I originally fimed these, but she had already grown too tall.

Before:

After:

JSB99 · Feb 1, 2018

These mums are growing like crazy! I just topped four branches, on two of these, and they've already recovered!

Once the upper manifold, consisting of eight branches, have grown out, I'll be cutting their food, and raising the lights. I haven't been skip-feeding with these. I don't even know if I'm supposed to use water every other feeding LOL! But I do flush once a week. I'm going to clip the big fans back, like I did with the one in the back, so I can fit them all without overlap.

I still don't have my outer two T5's going yet. The CFLs are covering a pretty large area, fairly well. I'm going to add 2 more CFLs at the left end of the hood, since it's open and doesn't have any mylar to reflect the light back.

JSB99 · Feb 3, 2018

Trimming the mums way back, today. They got really bushy again, so I removed most all the big fans, and left the smaller leaves on the nodes. Now, I have room to fit three to five more, under the hood. Still don't have my outer T5's running, but the cfl's are doing a hell of a job! I just messaged the seller again, to see if he'll send me a ballast. If I don't here from him, I'll probably just buy one. I've already got the one I need ready to go. It'll be less expensive to have those going, compared to the cfl's. It's 48w with the tubes compared to 184w with the cfl's. I guess I could turn some of them off, now that I've got them so compact.

White Widow
Before:

After:

Gorilla Cookies
Before:

After:

Girl Scout Crack
Before:

After:

Lots of room now!

Joint Monster · Feb 11, 2018

You cut those girls back really well. Do you have a rule of thumb for how much you defoliate/lollipop?

JSB99 · Feb 11, 2018

Joint Monster said:
You cut those girls back really well. Do you have a rule of thumb for how much you defoliate/lollipop?

When I'm vegging, I do a lot less trimming than with the mums. I'm trying to grow the the main branches, but I get a lot of quick growth with the leaves along the way. I trim back the leaves to get air flowing through the plants, and to fit them all under my T5s

This is after one week, from the last pics

JSB99 · Feb 12, 2018

Trim time! Time to trim off the unneeded branches, so more energy is put into the the top eight branches of each manifold. I had a plan going into this, which was to trim off any branches that weren't on those to eight. Everything I trimmed off are perfect for cloning, and more will grow out of those spots I trimmed. I don't need any more clones right now, but when I do, I should be able to take around 24 clones, once the top branches grow.

White Widow:
Before:

After:

Gorilla Cookies
Before:

After:

Here are two into four of the top eight branches on the manifold

Girl Scout Crack
Before:

JSB99 · Feb 12, 2018

After:

Much more room:

SoCal Calyx · Feb 16, 2018

Really enjoying this thread JSB. I'm about to pop some seeds to grow mothers and plan to go the bonsai route. You're doing great with this.

JSB99 · Feb 16, 2018

SoCal Calyx said:
Really enjoying this thread JSB. I'm about to pop some seeds to grow mothers and plan to go the bonsai route. You're doing great with this.

Thanks! It's a little bit of work, and it can be really nerve-racking when you're chopping up your perfectly healthy plants over and over again! But after the first few times, you really become aware of just how hardy these plants are. They may not actually be a "weed", but they sure are persistent like them.

I might regrow the Gorilla Cookies, so that I can grow a shorter version of her. I've learned a lot, since I first started, and I think I can get some better results the second time around.

Stay tuned

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