Bonchi = bonsai chilli plant the beginnings

This is my first attempt at beginning the chilli plant to bonchi changing process.
Stage one clearing off the roots to allow them to become woody


This is a white hab which will start its transformation slowly over time from roughly november onwards. Also were going to be transforming or attempting to all of the plants from this years grow!!

 

Excellent idea. Chillis are technically perennial shrubs so it should work if you can keep it warm enough through winter and keep pests off it.

 

Im using one of my favourite breeds chenzo which are specifically engineered to uk weather conditions

 

James do you rekon I`m still in time to grow one from seeds and have a try as well?
I was readyng about herbs and spices , bonsai , but completely forgot about chilli.

rosemary

basil

salvia

 

From seed if under light maybe, but dont rate the chances im afraid however as recommended by fatalli.net im growing mine as big as possible 1st maybe a local garden centre end of season chilli plant would be more ideal.
Its my first attempt at bonsaiing so feeling my way through the darkness so to speak

 

And theyre some awesome looking bonsais too

 

Sso thought idd updat the quest for the bonchi...

Woodings going extremely well with some new roots uncovered today .
Scotch bonnett

Apache

Turbo medina


Only a couple more months and itll be hacked down....i mean loveingly trimmed and repotted

 

Hows the process going ... I think I'll have to have a go a this next year. Also loving the bosai herbs, never though of that before.

 

Chillimad , unfortunatly I started really late , one of my bonchi is still alive , but my mistake was that I didn`t choiced the right vaiety of chilli ....second mistake was
that mint will die inside , while I should have kept in the greenhouse , but if I wouldn`t have tried before I may have done the same mistake again.....
will start again this year , but defnetly a must try ......apparently if the chili plant will survive the first year should be fine next year .

 

I gonna have a go next year too. Thyme/lemon thyme also a good herb to use aswell as its woody and has small leaves. Theres a nice vid on youtube of someone turning lemon thyme into a bonsai.

 

hello all sorry only just seen the posts on this just recovering from an uber busy end of season :D The best advice i had on this came from a website called fatalii.net he has a bonchi growing guide on there. One of the things he advises trying is forcing the plant to grow extremely leggy and tall and giving it as much root space as possible in year 1, then following this chop it down to overwinter it and restart the growth, whilst the plant is growing as i showed above, begin exposing roots to allow them to wood off and get the "tree" look in there early :D Im working on a new project with miniature bell peppers this year got some nearly 1ft tall already about 2 months ahead of schedule so going pretty well! (they're only supposed to grow to around 24" and they're about 8 weeks old and many have mini bell peppers on already) ref the website above, would recommend not buying any of his special "bonchi" seeds, as although yes they have come from bonchi plants it won't mean you will get one over night :D And ref those plant's above, had a severe infestation of mealy bug so everything got shredded unfortunately! apart from white hab, so when i get laptop back up and running will take some more piccies of it but lacking much time at mo still :(