Among the many uses of the marijuana plant (recreational use, medicinal use, culinary use …) there is an option that is not usually talked about so frequently and that is its decorative application. You only have to look at the morphology of this species to realize its great potential as a decorative plant in a well-chosen corner of the house.
The problem is that most varieties tend to reach a size that can be impractical when it comes to use marijuana as a decorative element. But the solution to this problem is very simple and you always have the option of making your own cannabis bonsai.
Your miniature marijuana plant
As you will already know the word bonsai is a Japanese term that refers not to the size of the plant (the belief that it means dwarf tree, and it is not like that) but to the cultivation technique. Good it means tray Y sai means cultivar. And from this art of growing in trays these little plants are born that retain all the properties of their life-size version.
The bonsai admits all kinds of plants and even fruit trees, everything is a matter of acquiring the necessary knowledge and having a lot of patience to give it shape, limiting its growth and making it possible for it to develop with a much smaller size than natural size without losing the appearance that characterizes it.
It is also possible get a miniature cannabis plant and guarantee you a very long life. Not surprisingly, bonsai was used in ancient Chinese culture as a link between the earthly and the spiritual: whoever was able to grow his little plant on a plate would have the opportunity to earn his piece of heaven.
We do not know if these tricks will help you get your slice of Paradise, but of course they will be worth it so that a marijuana plant destined to acquire a size of approximately one meter (standard size of a plant indoors), ends up developing in a very limited version, perfect to put it in that corner of the house that you would like to decorate with a very personal touch.
The needs of a marijuana bonsai and how to model it
The main problem that we find when making a cannabis bonsai is the very nature of the plant. Being an annual species, outdoor plants have a limited life due to their natural cycle. It germinates, develops, bears fruit and dies when winter arrives or when temperatures begin to drop. What then is the secret to having time to design a bonsai that lasts more than one season?
One has to induce the plant to a vegetative state that allows it to prolong survival beyond its usual cycle, and this is achieved by modifying its photoperiod. We will do it in a small room (better if it is in a closet for mother marijuana plants) and of course with artificial lighting.
As you already know, the usual photoperiod of a marijuana plant begins with 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness, but since we do not want the plant to have a development that is neither very accelerated nor very explosive, we will change that proportion to leave it in 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkness.
Also for this reason it is important to use bulbs that are not excessively powerful. The energy saving light bulbs between 150 and 200 watts They are the most recommended to avoid damaging the plant and also to prevent it from gleaning in search of light. In this sense, we must also take into account that we must control its size by using a small pot (between half a liter and a maximum of three liters) that will prevent the roots from developing normally and therefore the size of the plant is also more limited.
I already have the grow space ready, but which plant do I choose?
The good news is that in this aspect you have it very easy. Any variety of cannabis, whether male or female, sativa or indica, also supports miniaturization, so that you can simply choose the type of marijuana that you like the most.
Of course, it is not recommended at all to start growing a marijuana bonsai from a seed. Remember that everything has to be small and that in this case the genetic development of cannabis plays against your objective. Luckily for growers who use their plants for consumption, marijuana is a fast growing species. But for a person whose goal is to make a cannabis bonsai, this is an aspect of no interest at all.
Choose a cutting from a mother plant that you have previously had your eye on for its potential. You already know that for this you only have to make a cut below a node to ensure that the plant will branch again without problems from this point on. Then transplant the cutting into the small pot that you already have prepared with a spongy and well oxygenated substrate but little fertilized, to avoid the explosive development of the plant.
Shaping your cannabis bonsai
The miniaturization process of a marijuana bonsai plant does not present great difficulties, but it does require a lot of patience. This is precisely one of the characteristics of obtaining a bonsai of any kind: you have to dedicate time to it and never be in a hurry to achieve your goals.
At first you have to let the cutting develop a little, but as soon as it shows a main stem with some branches, it is time to tutor the plant. For this, on the one hand the growth of the trunk is limited used a wire to wrap the main stem and make it become pore a little more woody.
The branches have to grow in width, not in height, so with other pieces of wire we will tutor them towards the sides in such a way that the cannabis plant gradually develops a squat shape. On the other hand, and since we do not want the cannabis bonsai to fill with leaves, we will have to prune them as they appear without losing sight of what the bonsai needs. have a compact overall look. The trick of this pruning is to always leave at least two or three nodes for each branch and cut according to a logical scheme: the branches should be thicker towards the base and finer at the top.
Finally, you should not forget that every so often you will have to prune the roots so that they are reoxygenated and the plant can continue growing, even if it is in such a particular and controlled way. The root pruning of a bonsai is not very different from that of a normal marijuana plant (carefully remove the plant from the pot and make a tangential cut at the base and small longitudinal cuts on the sides), only in this case we will not transplant the ‘tree’ to a larger pot.
As we already mentioned, the marijuana bonsai is not ready to bear fruit because it remains in a vegetative state, but at any time you feel like it, you can induce its flowering state and respect its usual cycles so that the plant develops normally again and get a small but excellent harvest.
