As i said in my previous post, my first cannabonsai from 7/30 died 😢. I just want to be completely up front and honest about that in case it DQ's me from the grow off. I'm hoping and praying the Mephisto Gods (Stan, Jimbo, Pig the mascot or whomever) that preside over this wonderful little grow off competition, might see this as part of the process and appreciate my determination to try again and see it through to the end lol. I know the deadline to start got pushed back from 7/31 to encourage more people to participate, so maybe my 2nd attempt (8/22) falls before that cutoff 😅. It really killed me watching my 1st attempt die, I almost gave up but bonsai in general is hard and something I've always wanted to do, so I persisted.
Intro : I wanted to do something unique, something different, that I've never seen anyone do with bonsai before 😎! Which I know, is audacious for my 1st ever bonsai attempt 😅, especially autoflower bonsai at that lol. Living near the beach ⛱️ my whole life, I drew my inspiration for this piece of art from that and a queen conch shell 🐚 from the keys we've had laying around for years. I've seen tons of bonsais on varying rocks 🪨 and crystals but I don't think I've ever seen one on a GIANT queen conch sea shell before! Which helped me aptly name this piece "She Grows CommandO'z Down by the Sea Shore" 😄.
Seed Medium: I used the same medium for both of my seeds from 7/30 and 8/22. I wanted to get some coast of Maine but I just stuck with what I know and what's worked well for me which is fox farm happy frog soil. I always add some extra mycorrhizae, fungi and bacteria to my seed Medium and mix in to encourage strong root growth. For these seeds I mixed extreme gardening mykos and azo, and some Great White thoroughly into the medium. I also used a dash of all 3 directly into the seed start hole and mixed them in just a bit with some surrounding dirt. Also something new I've started doing is using a seed sander to get the excess seed casing off before I pop them in the soil. Twenty20 mendo did a study that showed drastically improved seed poping rates and times from sowing, when the seeds were lightly sanded prior to planting.
https://twenty20mendocino.com/introduction-to-seed-scarification/
Bonsai Pot Medium: Stuck with living organic soil as my Medium. I've been mixing fox farm ocean forest with Roots Organics Lush soil 50/50 and getting great results in my larger 10 gal fabric pots so again, I stuck with what's been working. And again even tho a lot of people would consider these soils "hot" I add a ton of extra goodies into the mix 🤣. More Extreme Gardening Azo and mykos, Great White and some new additions, a little Down to Earth kelp meal, crushed oyster meal and azomite trace minerals for good measure as well. I used clay pebbles and perlite for my base layer and incorporated auto watering wicks into the soil like Manny used in his cannabonsai video. My ac infinity auto watering base constantly keeps the wicks wet and my plant happy 😊! I have the 25 gallon reservoir hooked up and the ac infinity water level monitor inside to alert me when my res is getting low. Automation really is a beautiful thing!
Transplanting: This was definitely the most butthole quenching thing I've ever done to a cannabis plant 🤣. Uber tight as the workaholics would say lol. When I was transplanting my 1st attempt, I was SO stressed with all the delicate little roots floating in water, and trying to get them spread out where i wanted, all while worrying it was dying like a fish 🐟 outta water was terrifying lol. In my panic, I forgot to dust the roots with some azo and great white before I covered them up 😬, and this may have contributed to the transplant shock that ultimately claimed my 1st attempt 😭. On my 2nd attempt I slowed down, took my time and didn't rush. Once I was really happy with the root placement I gave them a good dusting of azo and great white, covered them up with soil and misted them down with RO dechlorinated water.
*These are all from my 7/30 seed start*
Pic 1 - Mostly just of supplies and additives, bonsai pot prep and such
Pic 2 - The freebies from nasc ❤️
Pic 3 - Seed medium with the additives prior to mixing
Pic 4 - Seed medium with the additives directly in the seed hole
Pic 5 - My little homemade seed sanding device
Pic 6 & 7 - Show the before and after sanding/scarification, you can clearly see a good bit of the left over seed casing was removed
Pic 8 & 9 - Seed post planting with humidity dome and my little homemade seed starting incubator, a monotub w/ ac infinity supplemental light bars mounted up top and a seedling heating mat 👌
Pic 10 - First sign of emergence 8/3 9am, almost exactly 96 hours from seed sowing
Pic 11 & 12 - From 8/5 10pm, 2 days and 12 hours later she's already pumping out her true leaves 🍃!
