How to grow Canna-Bonsai Mother Plants

If you're growing indoors, likely, you don't have a lot of growing space to keep several mother plants. Bonsais are very small, meaning you can maintain great genetics even in a small area. How to grow Canna-Bonsai Mother Plants Another advantage of these little clone givers is that a single CFL light is all you need to sustain them, saving you money.

Bonsai mothers will be good for many cuttings, and you can, in principle, keep them around for many years. However, for optimal results, I would replace them with clones of themselves every year to benefit their health. Bonsai mothers will produce dozens of cuttings every 3 weeks under a CFL grow light. Use an HID, and they'll grow even faster, enabling you to take cuttings every 2 weeks.

So, how do you create a Bonsai mother? Select the cutting you want and transplant it into a small (5–7cm) seedling pot. Let the plant grow for the first few days and establish its roots. At this point, start trimming the top back, leaving only 3 or 4 side shoots. Your cutting will already begin looking like a small bonsai tree!

As your mother grows, your left side branches should naturally form an open "hugging" shape for an excellent, symmetrical plant with a hollow centre. Cut off or pinch the two top components at the tips, just above the leaf nodes, when they reach about 12cm.

This way, the below branches will catch up quickly. After a couple days, you can then pinch these off too. As the side branches develop, you should cut those that want to grow toward the centre.

Maintaining a "hugging" shape maximizes the number of clones. It makes it so your plant can grow optimally even in low light intensity. When the sprouts are 10–15cm long, you can take them as your first cuttings!

At about the same time, you should also move your Bonsai mother to a slightly bigger pot with around a 10cm diameter. As these are tiny plants, you won't need to re-pot again.

As your plant grows, you may notice shoots that look like they want to grow inwards. You can just cut these off. This supports the open structure of your plant for a maximum amount of nodes to take clones from.

You should take cuttings every 2–4 weeks, even if you don't actually need them. This way, you maintain an open shape and minimize the number of nutrients you need to administer. You don't need to feed your mothers very often. Nutrients given at half strength twice a month should be more than sufficient.