Growing with aesthetics in mind

[JD1stTimer]

I am wondering if anyone here is using pruning and training techniques for aesthetic purposes in addition to yield or size restriction. Like bonsai mothers except with a real emphasis on the bonsai aspect. I am wondering this because I think this is one of the most beautiful plants in both foliage and flower in the world.

I think that discovering the breeding of hemp for different/showier flower characteristics and odor profiles has been one of the greatest developments in traditional (ie without genetic recombination techniques) plant breeding of the past 30 years, and I think growing with the appearance of the vegetative plant in mind would be a nice way for hobby growers to add some more challenge to their grows. I would love to have an old mother with a thick woody trunk that looked appropriate in a nice clay flowerpot on the coffee table.


I'm going to prune and train from now on with this in mind. I'll keep this log updated with pics of my mother's development. Right now I have one mother of known good quality (assuming that you can tell by appearance alone, haven't sampled it yet), one that hasn't sexed, and two of dubious quality. I will post photos of the mothers sometime this week, with commentary about what qualities I want to emphasize as the plant grows. If anyone else is already doing this or thinks it would be interesting I'd love to see some pics on here and some commentary. :rasta:

[Rusty Trichome]

Every leaf you remove, is a storehouse of nutes, and potential photosynthesis the plant loses. Every incision you make is a wound that must heal. Every wound that needs to heal, takes from the vigor of the plant and will add time to the project.

Were there a Better Homes and Growrooms magazine coming to do a spread, perhaps I'd worry about aesthetics. But after a few years of growing, adding more time to my growroom chores is out of the question, lol. (and I'm the only one that sees them anyway)

Plus, making them look better does not make the psychoactives stronger nor will it make them smell better. Genetics, lighting and nutes controlls most of this.

However it would be cool if you could train 'em to a nice topiary scene.
Google Images - Topiary (http://images.google.com/images?q=topiary&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGIC&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=_7lISp7fLIWMtAPwpf2QAQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=557282081)

But if not growing for a dispensary, and you have enough personal to tide you over...there's nothing wrong with playing in the sandbox, lol.

[JD1stTimer]

Right, I don't intend to be chopping up my plants JUST for looks. What I mean is that I will think about the future growth patterns when I'm taking care of them normally, like when I take clones for instance to try to shape the plant.

[Rusty Trichome]

My only rule is to not take crappy, underdeveloped cuttings. I've never put any thought into shaping the mom. I figure she'll be beautiful no matter what she looks like. :thumbsup:
I guess if you were doing a SOG you'd want to take all the cuttings from the top centerpoint, and work your way down, though.

[JD1stTimer]

Yeah, I have been just always taking cuttings from the tallest stems, without really thinking about what it will look like later. I may just start over with new clones so I have a clean slate, and flower the mothers. In fact there's two females I think I will get rid of anyway. It's strange to feel an attachment to my plants, I will kinda hate the thought of disposing of them.

[dejayou30]

Maybe if it were legalized (as it should be) and I could grow a row of "shrubbery" cut into the shape of animals out in front of my house, hahaha. But until that glorious day, max yield is more of a concern than having sweet looking plants. :jointsmile:

[JD1stTimer]

That's true, which is why I am going to do this with mother plants. I will take clones for flowering and that's where I'll care about yield. :) Plants that are put in flower are usually discarded after harvest anyway, so it wouldn't make much sense to care about the form of the plant besides for yield reasons.

Here are the four plants I have currently, The first is a sativa-dominant, very graceful but the nodes grow little donuts around the stem. To me it makes an interesting contrast. The next picture is of Audrey III, and whoever gets the reference gets ten free points! The next two are a couple of other plants I'm not too sure of quality. I think one may be easily hermed and I may get rid of it. They are nice and symmetrical. I thought I already posted this but I guess I forgot to actually hit the button. :)

[phatsesh101]

i started to keep more of a hedge like structure with my moms a few years back cause after taking cuttings if the dom stem remained dom it would take off and mess with spacing not to mention after years of being a mother they start to look kinda funky

[Rusty Trichome]

The next picture is of Audrey III, and whoever gets the reference gets ten free points! There is no Audrey without Seymour. (Little Shop of Horrors...?)

[JD1stTimer]

Ding ding ding! I've been doing some thinking about how my favorite plant is a lot like Audrey II. "A mean green mama from outer space" lol.