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Bonchi.. Again

LordHill

LordHill

Here we are. The end of my second year growing peppers. Last year I grew my first pepper. Last fall I gave it the bonchi treatment. This spring I transplanted it. It exploded with pods. Now, its pods being pretty much done for the year, it is time to bonchi it again. I did the same process as last year. Last year was a huge success so I did it step by step again. If it takes, I should get the first pepper I ever grew to year #3.

My process.. Trim the hell out of it and water with high nitrogen fert. Let it rest a week and get the shock of the trim under control. Then remove it from its pot, root trim it down until it fits into my bonchi pot. Layer of small pebbles in the bottom of my pot for drainage. Thin layer of the years chicken poop compost from this spring coop cleanout. The plant with freshly trimmed roots. And top it off with some new soil (worm castings, potting soil, compost, perlite) ... fingers crossed, we will see if it survives this time.

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I trimmed all of mine down and was planning on giving them a whole week to chill out. Looks like we are going to be dipping to the low 40s this weekend. Do you think 5 days is enough before I trim the roots?
 
Probably. Only thing i would watch is when root trimming there is one main root that comes down. Try to leave that root alone. My practice plant i snipped that and it swiftly died. This one i left that and trimmed everything else and you would have never known, never dropped a leaf
 
In bonsai they say to keep the plant young even if its old and thats exactly what you are doing is keeping it young. The pruning of old growth and roots to form new growth and roots constantly keeps the plant in a younger state. Real bonsais only look good (like in pictures of them) for about a month, the rest of the year they are in training and allowed free growth to thicken branches and strengthen the plant for its next round of tourture so to speak. Sorry I'm kind of a bonsai nerd lol.. keep up the good work man. Curious how long you can keep it going :-).
 
Try doing a pepper with smaller leaves so the scale is better, like a thai ornamental. That way it will look more in scale with itself if that makes sense. I should stop because I could go on about bonsai stuff and techniques for hours lolol.
 
If only I had the time and patients.. between work and 4 kids im just happy my peppers survive the winter

I have 3 more peppers to bonchi for winter.. maybe if they days get boring i will do some extra pruning
 
why not keep in bonchi state after first season, then every march  take clones! never have to buy seeds, and you already know what your getting unlike non-isolated seed planting! that's what i plan on doing. you could keep one plant, and graft different strains onto the one plant too, just have to label each branch.  Hmmmmmm..... :think:  i might have to give it a try!
 
Sure, those are good ideas, but it is a great plant and gave me earlier and more pods this year than anything else I grew. Bonchi is a good way to over winter, and very easy to up pot in the spring. I will buy some seeds for things I dont have yet, but I have seeds coming out of my ass lol.. im going to bonchi my brown moruga and one of my ot heim peppers as well. The moruga is almost ready, couple more pods to ripen
 
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