Restricting growth early on by the use of small pots is widely seen in the Bonsai art of growing. Basically getting a plant mature at a very small size. They also use forms LST and HST to achieve this, BUT the key thing in getting a miniature bonsai tree to stay miniature is pot size. All successful bonsai plants are never really started off in big pots, they are usually small and shallow as roots tend to grow DOWNWARD.
Restricting this downward growth in turn restricts its vertical growth. Now it takes years to achieve this bonsai with regular plants, but with cannabis you can cut corners as it's a weed.
Here is what a traditional Bonsai Plant looks like:
If you do an internet image search for "bonsai", you will notice that they all have ONE thing in common: a small pot size!
Basically what I am saying is, a smaller pot size won't necessarily prevent growth from happening, it will just slow it down as cannabis is a fighting species, it's a WEED!
For example if you were to start off in solo cups, you could still get a plant that could reach 1-2 feet in height without any form of training. Now growers who start their seedlings in their FINAL pots have the disadvantage of this type of control. Given the available root space , they have the ability exceed whatever the 'height-to-pot size' ratio is.
SAMPLE EXPERIMENT
Once again, I conducted multiple experiments on these lucky bagseeds that I had at my disposal
I planned on transplanting all 3 of the bagseed into ½ gallon containers from 1 pint clay pots they were in.
I had planted the weakest (shortest and slowest growth) into a ½ gallon container a couple days before.
The pictures below show the size of the weakest bagseed plant compared to the biggest of the 3 bagseed that was just recently transplanted. NOTE that these plants were transplanted 6 days a part
This shows nearly 2 inches difference in growth (width-wise) from 1pint to ½ gallon containers in 6 days. Exponentially, the rate of growth of the ‘weakest bagseed’ would have far superseded its mates.
Although I did not record height, the transplanted bagseed was taller, this was all due to more vigorous growing with the available space for roots.
APPLICATION
Now in order to gain the most benefits out of this technique, one should start of in the smallest container viable for growing. But lets not get too ridiculous about this now! Be logical. If you have under less than a square foot of space to work with, I would start off in 1 pint containers, as I did.
Now I would get my hands on multiple size containers that increase in size incrementally. The more variety in size you have at your disposal, the more control you will gain in overall plant size.
As for transplanting, don't worry here as soil is also forgiving about this. The soil holds the root mass together and whatever doesn't make it get decomposed back into the soil. I have ripped roots all the time to no ill affect, they will bounce back.
Now the problems with transplanting start to arise when a grower transplants in the middle of a deficiency or lockout. THIS could be fatal and cause the plant to completely halt growth until equilibrium is reached with available nutrients the plant can uptake.
Which now leads me to my next entry: "Common Deficiencies for the Average Hydro Grower: and how to spot them before they escalate!"
Once again, Good Luck to all
Restricting this downward growth in turn restricts its vertical growth. Now it takes years to achieve this bonsai with regular plants, but with cannabis you can cut corners as it's a weed.
Here is what a traditional Bonsai Plant looks like:
If you do an internet image search for "bonsai", you will notice that they all have ONE thing in common: a small pot size!
Basically what I am saying is, a smaller pot size won't necessarily prevent growth from happening, it will just slow it down as cannabis is a fighting species, it's a WEED!
For example if you were to start off in solo cups, you could still get a plant that could reach 1-2 feet in height without any form of training. Now growers who start their seedlings in their FINAL pots have the disadvantage of this type of control. Given the available root space , they have the ability exceed whatever the 'height-to-pot size' ratio is.
SAMPLE EXPERIMENT
Once again, I conducted multiple experiments on these lucky bagseeds that I had at my disposal
I planned on transplanting all 3 of the bagseed into ½ gallon containers from 1 pint clay pots they were in.
I had planted the weakest (shortest and slowest growth) into a ½ gallon container a couple days before.
The pictures below show the size of the weakest bagseed plant compared to the biggest of the 3 bagseed that was just recently transplanted. NOTE that these plants were transplanted 6 days a part
This shows nearly 2 inches difference in growth (width-wise) from 1pint to ½ gallon containers in 6 days. Exponentially, the rate of growth of the ‘weakest bagseed’ would have far superseded its mates.
Although I did not record height, the transplanted bagseed was taller, this was all due to more vigorous growing with the available space for roots.
APPLICATION
Now in order to gain the most benefits out of this technique, one should start of in the smallest container viable for growing. But lets not get too ridiculous about this now! Be logical. If you have under less than a square foot of space to work with, I would start off in 1 pint containers, as I did.
Now I would get my hands on multiple size containers that increase in size incrementally. The more variety in size you have at your disposal, the more control you will gain in overall plant size.
As for transplanting, don't worry here as soil is also forgiving about this. The soil holds the root mass together and whatever doesn't make it get decomposed back into the soil. I have ripped roots all the time to no ill affect, they will bounce back.
Now the problems with transplanting start to arise when a grower transplants in the middle of a deficiency or lockout. THIS could be fatal and cause the plant to completely halt growth until equilibrium is reached with available nutrients the plant can uptake.
Which now leads me to my next entry: "Common Deficiencies for the Average Hydro Grower: and how to spot them before they escalate!"
Once again, Good Luck to all
