Lemon Kush Mini Experiment - My Attempt At A Canna-Bonsai

GreenThunder · Nov 15, 2017

I germinated a Lemon Kush bag seed we got from a friend for a mini grow. She is growing in coco and was started in a solo cup; repotted into a 1 gallon at 3 weeks old - it took that long for her roots to reach the bottom of the cup (is that normal?) Nutes are GH Flora trio.

She is now 34 days old and has just this past week used up her sugar leaves - I'm going to use "she/her" because I am optimistic. . Growth is tight and beautiful, though a bit slow (I planned to grow her slow and small, but I didn't think she knew that already!) I topped her a few days ago so I guess 'spog' is out for this one. I want to bend and twist her into a little bonsai but will try to let her take the lead as much as possible.

For now, she is in the closet under a T5 florescent. I will transition her to 12/12 by the end of the month; and she will live as a hanging plant in the tent.
The tent is 4.75x4.75x6.75 feet with a 1000w HPS; 6" inline fan for cooling the light and feeding the carbon filter and another 6" fan for exhaust (should the filter be connected to the exhaust instead of at the end of the intake??) There are also 2 fans circulating air in the tent as there are 3 beautiful ladies in week 4 or 5 of flowering (I am confused on when to start counting "flowering")

After I topped her I noticed that I accidentally cut one of the top fan leaves too so I cut that off. My desire for symmetry makes me want to cut the other off too but idk if that's necessary or damaging? Also, if I don't cut the other side off, should I bend her toward or away from the side that's missing?

Looking at the pics again, I think I could/should have just taped the barely cut stem... ?

Baby pics:

Thank you to everyone here who's been so generous in sharing info, knowledge and encouragement.
⛈

InTheShed · Nov 16, 2017

I'm in!

InTheShed · Nov 16, 2017

Besides flipping early, what training are you going to do to keep her small? She looks bigger than I thought she would be! No spog® this one.

I'm pretty sure from an airflow standpoint the carbon filter goes on the exhaust side if smell reduction is the concern. And if symmetry is an OCD issue for you then you will have to take off the corresponding leaf. But since small plants trained as bonsai or LST are never symmetrical I would let it go.

Flowering starts when you flip for photos, and whenever you feel like starting in autos. I never bothered counting for my autos because it doesn't matter in the end!

GreenThunder · Nov 29, 2017

InTheShed said:
Besides flipping early, what training are you going to do to keep her small? She looks bigger than I thought she would be! No spog® this one.

I'm pretty sure from an airflow standpoint the carbon filter goes on the exhaust side if smell reduction is the concern. And if symmetry is an OCD issue for you then you will have to take off the corresponding leaf. But since small plants trained as bonsai or LST are never symmetrical I would let it go.

Flowering starts when you flip for photos, and whenever you feel like starting in autos. I never bothered counting for my autos because it doesn't matter in the end!

I've given her a couple of good pulls and think I should have stated her to one side of the pot. I guess there's still room for growth to potentially wrap around and fill the empty space.

She may end up bigger than planned. I thought I'd veg her soon but now I'm thinking to let her wrap around a bit more.
If I hadn't noted the lack of symmetry, I wouldn't have even remembered as I can't tell at all - and as you said.... it just isn't there any more

InTheShed · Nov 30, 2017

Doesn't look like a bonsai so you might as well take the opportunity to practice training techniques! See if you can get a complete circle around the pot

GreenThunder · Nov 30, 2017

InTheShed said:
Doesn't look like a bonsai so you might as well take the opportunity to practice training techniques! See if you can get a complete circle around the pot

Plan C

GreenThunder · Nov 30, 2017

InTheShed said:
See if you can get a complete circle around the pot

She's in a 1 gal..... I'm wondering if I should bump it up to 3?

InTheShed · Nov 30, 2017

Probably depends on how long you're going to veg for. If you want to get all the way around I'd go at least 3 gallons. Even in that not-to-scale drawing you can see how much room you need to get there.

GreenThunder · Dec 30, 2017

My little experiment has been neglected yet she continues to grow . Gave her a little super cropping to open things up a bit... the man-handling did her some good and she seemed to enjoy it .

Will be cleaning out the tent this weekend then she and the clones will move in. I think I'll drop the watts down to 600 and let them veg at that for a few days; then up to 750 for a few more days before flipping.

InTheShed · Dec 30, 2017

Not so mini any more but it was obviously supercrop day at the Thunder household

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GreenThunder · Dec 30, 2017

I didn't notice it before because she's tucked in the corner behind a clone, but do I see a bit of a deficiency of some kind?

1.jpg

Amadeus Forzin
Apr 15, 2018

2.jpg

Amadeus Forzin
Apr 15, 2018

GreenThunder · Dec 30, 2017

InTheShed said:
Not so mini any more but it was obviously supercrop day at the Thunder household .

I confess.... I'm addicted to super cropping! .

InTheShed · Dec 30, 2017

It seem like just yesterday you had to talk your hub into it and then did it by accident first!

The leaves look a bit taco'd and pale. Is it getting the same nutes as the clones? Put them all on the same feeding plan and bump up the light on it.

GreenThunder · Dec 30, 2017

InTheShed said:
It seem like just yesterday you had to talk your hub into it and then did it by accident first!

EXACTLY!! He has come to see the light and though he doesn't want to do it himself (still afraid to hurt them) but never grumbles about anything I want to do to them anymore! .

This lemon kush gets the same feed as the clones (keeping it simple) but maybe it's time to bump up the dose .

InTheShed · Dec 30, 2017

And the light!

GreenThunder · Dec 30, 2017

InTheShed said:
And the light!

Would it be to much to put her under the 1000w HPS? .

InTheShed · Dec 30, 2017

I'd go up slowly. Start by moving it directly under the T5s and then into the tent with the clones, which you said you were ramping up over time.

GreenThunder · Dec 30, 2017

InTheShed said:
I'd go up slowly. Start by moving it directly under the T5s and then into the tent with the clones, which you said you were ramping up over time.

Yes I did say that didn't I? I'm in a bit of a pickle... we've partially harvested the mother that the clones came from and put the rest back in for more growth. Sooooo.... Would she suffer much if I drop her light to 600 while the babies adapt? Or maybe it's time to rig up better lighting in the closet? What would be better but on a tight budget (and available at the depot for homes)?
Hubby wants to give the mom another week under 1000w...

InTheShed · Dec 31, 2017

Going from 1000 to 600 just means slower growth and maybe some stretch (not so bad for a mother...easier to take cuttings) so it should be fine. Like a week of cloudy days. Plants do that all the time!

Happy new year! :party:

GreenThunder · Jan 6, 2018

Got Lemon Kush and the clones moved into the tent.

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Amadeus Forzin
Apr 15, 2018

LK really doesn't look very good .

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Amadeus Forzin
Apr 15, 2018

She gets the exact same nutes as the clones... but I mixed a higher percent of perlite into her coco (nearly 50/50) . I wanted to try a hempy but it looked weird being just perlite so I did the mix. . I'm guessing that's part of my problem - treating this mix the same as coco? I think the extra perlite means she needs to be fed more often?

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Amadeus Forzin
Apr 15, 2018

The bucket is 3 gallons, not 5 so I added the lighter for scale. Is she hungry, not getting enough of something? I'm tempted to toss her and start over but something tells me to keep going just a bit longer. She's an experiment and I don't think it'd be fair to myself to simply bail at the first sign of trouble.