If you ever saw the movie “The Karate Kid” (the original 1984 or the 2010 remake) then you already know about the famous bonsai and that millenary technique that needs to be perfected in order to successfully grow this kind of plants.
We won’t judge you if for some reason you didn’t see it (but you definitely should), anyway it’s quite likely that you’ve already seen one, or at least heard of them somewhere else.
Has it ever crossed your mind, how great it would be to be able to display a purple weed bonsai tree at home? No doubt you would make a splash with your stoner friends!
The idea of planting weed bonsai is something that crossed the minds of many cannabis enthusiasts some time ago, however, it is something that has become very popular in recent years.
The reason seems quite obvious, bonsai have always been considered decorative plants that denote a lot of glamour and sophistication. However, for us stoners, the reason goes far beyond aesthetics.
For us, bonsai weed plants not only denote glamour and sophistication, but also help us to produce more clones while saving space.
So, if you want to liven up a space in your home with a bonsai, why not do it with a cute purple weed bonsai? Here we’ll show you how to set up and maintain your beautiful pot bonsai.
What is a Bonsai weed plant?
The word “bonsai” translated directly from Japanese, means “planted in a container” and despite what most people think, it does not refer to a specific species of tree, but a cultivation technique used to keep trees in this small size.
The main objective of this ancient technique is nothing more than to create a healthy, mature plant identical to those you could get in nature, with the only difference of limiting its size so that it does not grow more than a few centimeters.
Because bonsai is based on Zen concepts, much of the world’s population has the mistaken belief that this planting technique originated in Japan.
However, the truth is that it has its roots in ancient China and is believed to have started more than a thousand years ago!
This technique involves using a lot of wire, perfecting your pruning skills, and greatly limiting the amounts of fertilizer you will use. Not to mention the patience, peace of mind and time you will need to spend to successfully set up a plant with this beautiful look.
Therefore, a bonsai weed plant is nothing more than applying this ancestral technique in the planting of cannabis, thus achieving a miniature version that maintains proportion and asymmetry, without leaving any trace that it was manipulated.
To achieve this, it is necessary to plant the weed in a small container, while using very detailed pruning techniques that will result in a beautiful miniature weed tree.
So, since we usually spend an enormous amount of time and effort to plant our cannabis, it doesn’t seem such a bad idea to take the opportunity to give our next planting a more attractive look and turn it into a bonsai weed.
Weed bonsai trees: a hoax?
Basically any plant can be called a “bonsai” as long as it is planted in a pot, which certainly includes the marijuana plant. So, this is not a hoax!
Of course, for a bonsai to be as perfect as possible, it is necessary that the plant complies with some basic characteristics such as: having a woody trunk and having quite small leaves (or failing that, they can be reduced without major problem).
So clearly, there are some species of plants that are much more suitable to become bonsai than others!
Although the different strains of marijuana are not usually plants that develop woody trunks, they can be manipulated to limit their overall growth and achieve that luxurious look of traditional bonsai.
Why did bonsai weed become a trend?
Weed bonsai trees have become a trend thanks to the exponential growth that the marijuana market is having in the United States as a result of legalization in many states of the country.
A cannabis bonsai will not only be a beautiful houseplant that highlights an area of your home, but it will produce a lot of marijuana clones and save a lot of space!
In addition, it is incredibly easier to make a bonsai from weed than from any other plant. To the point that any amateur gardener with enough interest is capable of doing it.
Techniques to plant bonsai weed trees
When it comes to growing plants there are many different ways to do it and the same is true when we talk about planting a weed bonsai. In this case, there are basically only two methods to do it: Tying and Trimming.
Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages, so we are going to explain both of them in a very brief way but we will tell you that the best one for a weed bonsai tree is the low stress method known as tying.
Tying method:
As we already mentioned, this is the method most used by weed bonsai growers to give the desired structure and height to the plant.
This method consists of bending or tying the branches and the stem with wires, with the intention of making the plant grow with a desired shape.
Trimming method:
Some people prefer to use this technique to encourage lateral growth of the plant, however it tends to put the cannabis plant under a great deal of stress which increases the chances of the plant dying.
Despite being a method that requires less effort, it is undoubtedly the one that takes the longest time to be done to perfection. That is why we always recommend starting in the world of marijuana bonsai with the tying method.
How to grow a bonsai weed plant?
You now have all the necessary information about weed bonsai and it is natural that your desire to grow one has been awakened. So we are going to teach you with this step-by-step guide how to do it successfully!
For this you will need the following materials:
- A young cannabis plant.
- Electric drill.
- A clay pot.
- Wooden stake.
- Gardening twine.
- A bonsai pot.
Drill the clay pot:
The first thing you will have to do is to take the clay pot and with the help of the drill, make a lot of holes around the pot (at the top), which you will then use to pass the gardening string and make your bonsai weed grow in the desired direction.
Try to use a drill bit thick enough to allow the gardening twine to pass through them without problems and thus avoid the need to go through them again to widen them.
Position the wooden stake:
One of the most important steps in getting your cannabis plant to grow with that traditional bonsai look is to drive a couple of wooden stakes into the soil.
Once you have stuck your weed plant in and have its roots covered with soil, it is the perfect time to drive the wooden stakes next to the trunk.
It is important that you do this very gently to avoid damaging the roots of your plant!
Now make sure to tie it with the gardening twine to one of the closest holes you have previously drilled in the clay pot.
Tie the branches:
Now that you have a clear idea of what you want your bonsai to look like once finished, it’s time to tie the branches of your plant in the same way you did with the wooden stake.
If your plans are to make those branches grow horizontally, be sure to tie the branches tightly to the holes you drilled. This way you force the plant to grow in that direction.
Branch pruning:
This is where we invest the most time. As your weed bonsai develops, you will need to limit the number of branches and the directions they are taking by pruning.
The idea is to be able to achieve that custom look for your bonsai while at the same time taking care to keep your cannabis from getting damp and moldy.
Be careful not to make a mistake by cutting an important branch when pruning, this could slow down the whole process of your plant’s growth.
Moving it to the bonsai pot:
Once you have the look you wanted for your bonsai weed plant, it’s time to move on to a bonsai pot to match the beauty you have achieved with your cannabis.
Now you just need to decide where you want to display it so that all your stoner friends will be impressed with what you have achieved!
And of course, you should continue to prune it from time to time to keep its appearance intact, but I’m sure you already had that in mind.
Conclusion
The art of making a marijuana bonsai goes beyond what the plant has to offer you once it grows. The real reward will be being able to appreciate the beauty you have created with so much time and effort.
Growing a bonsai weed tree will undoubtedly be a time consuming hobby that you will need to learn a lot about in order to achieve a truly beautiful bonsai!