👨🏽‍🌾 Farmer Pigeonman (OR): How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Indoor Growing

That’s crazy looking. They look cartoony! Aren’t you the one who I said their plants looked like something out of Dr Suess from the lollipopping too?

My Mothers = YES!

"MENDO BREATH S1: The Bonzaiining"
(or )
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO THAT POOR PLANT PIGEONMAN!?!??!??!! :open_mouth: "

Well it’s day 98 since seed for this Mendo Breath S1 “miniature tree”. Since it’s birth it’s been up potted once, defoliated once, and in a months time will get a root trim.

Today was the big day to FUCK IT UP REAL GOOD. :+1: :scissors: :man_scientist: :crazy_face: :seedling:

Hey @neb , check this out! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

There is so much vegetive density here y’all are gonna freak out soon :smiley: .

And now to take off the largest branches for clones for a few ideas for such fire.

And now the cray-cray level defoliation which is rather odd coming from a guy that hasn’t had a hair cut since 1995.

Now to put in the tie down staples; the same ones you use to hold down weed cloth. I get them at the dollar store.

I find that most of the training is doable with at least 4 points of contact. You can always use more if you need depending of the level of fuckery involved.

Now is the fun part. I used my thumb, index and middle fingers to create a “crushing jig” which I move up and down the branch from its base while adding pressure to the very tip of the branch to see how elastic it gets before a snap or “peel off” the main trunk.

It’s very hard to describe otherwise and I don’t have a tripod for my phone. So imagine your fingers doing this:

image

All in all it works; take a look at the bottom branches vs the top.

Closeup of the bends. Since using Silica as an additive for all my plants from the very start there’s always very strong fibres going in and up all my plants.

Almost done.

Done.

Y’all can see looking straight down the trunk the training involved to train this beauty as a tree.

Now it’s been heavily fed, and put back into the 2x4 tent with all the other small plants. It’ll stay tied up like this forcing all the branches now bent horizontally to send shoots vertically.

You learn a lot about a specific plant when you do something like this… and I’m seriously now thinking that this plant could make for a strong “Espaliered Cannabis Tree of Un-woe”. :thinking:

In about 1 weeks time you’ll see the photo’s and question if I even removed any leaves. :rofl:

:comet: Thanks for checking in! :comet:

:hugs: :metal: :globe_with_meridians:

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That plant looks ready to be stacked with buds top to bottom :heart_eyes:

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@Pigeonman EPIC! :smiley:

Hope you don’t mind if I post this gif
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Those is so cool to see step by step, and it’s really awesome to watch OTUG’s GIF putting it all together!

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Cannabis Bonsai :heart:

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Technically, anybody who grows in a container is practicing bonsai. The literal translation is just “potted plant”, it’s just naturally associated with training. :nerd_face:

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This is awesone! Thanks @Oldtimerunderground !!!

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:heart: Thank you @Pigeonman :grin:

I did one of the training, but I don’t feel like it turned out as good as the “haircut” gif :joy:

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:thinking: Maybe if I just take out the fade between pics

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What’s the purpose of your double scrog net? The 2nd level is just for support?

With your DWC is a strong air pump required or can I get away with a cheapo small one for the same size bucket you got. I do know I’d need to get a Magdrive water pump for flow & extra oxygen exchange. Heyyy mabye I can just use a shitty air pump going inline into the water pump “Venturi” style … think that would work out alright?

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Love the experimentation adventures @Pigeonman, what’s the longest you’ve kept a cannabis plant going for bonsai? I had one that I did two outdoor seasons with, bringing it in under lights for winter. I didn’t do any root pruning and it eventually couldn’t take any water. I’d love to try it again but my space is declining daily :joy:

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With those pots you are using, you can slip a small tiewrap up thru the molded-in label holder for an anchor point (instead of the large metal inserts.

Cheers
G

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Thanks @Qtip! My Gelato 33 is my oldest Cannasai running at 2 years + 21 days today:

Twice a year the Cannasai’s get a root trim; and once a month they get a defoliation and trim. They are fed constantly veg week 3+ nutrients, and are run on a 18/4 under shop lights with mixed colour temperature of 3000k/5600k.

In case anyone’s scratching their head at “Cannasai”:

I tried that but after a while the plastic snapped :rofl: . The staples are my go-to, and I DO use the label holders as secondary tie-downs if I run out of staple space :smiley:

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That’s a great tutorial Pigeonman. That’s going to fire up a whole bunch of folks to try some bending and tying!
Well done. :slight_smile:

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Love this and will be employing this tech! Thanks for sharing.
I have a cut of the ST that needs to stick around for a while.

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I’ve been in situations where the plant stretches beyond the scrog net so this is my catchall net. If it doesn’t grow that tall i can easily remove it :+1:

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@CADMAN I’m not a DWC grower, but it sounds like you’re looking for a waterfall setup that will add oxygenation and flow. I have seen @Ttystikk talking about this kind of setup before and success with it

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Just saw your bonsai’d cannabis plant and you mentioned one of my favorite words; “espalier”.

The only significant difference between what you’ve done with your plant and what I do with mine is scale; I’m doing it to a plant that’s filling in a 4’ wide x 6’ tall trellis.

I top mine about 3’ high from the netpot and limit the number of side branches, then let those side branches grow across the expanse of the trellis. Rather than zip ties, I use vine clips as they’re easy to work with and highly reusable. Once those side branches (another favorite word incoming; meristems) approach the edge of the panel, I pinch their ends off too. This causes all the growing tips along the branch to take off and that’s how I get all those buds that fill in the panel.

One question for you on your small bonsai; do you do this to preserve your strains or for other reasons?

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I’m a complete convert to the use of waterfall style aeration; from all the research I’ve done, they’re more effective than air stones, they handle circulation, they cause splash to wet roots above the waterline, they churn the surface to prevent scum buildup and they mix the water to circulate nutrients through the root ball. The evaporative aspect of them can be leveraged to help keep the DWC water cooler than ambient, as well.

IMHO, air stones are worthless.

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