Thanks for joining me in Part 2 of my Micro Growing series! Part 1 left us off after an introduction and a brief word about the inspiration behind an outdoor micro-grow in the summer of 2019. In this post I'll show you my journey in raising a Blue Cheese plant through heavy training.
I'll show most of this in pictures, to keep the reading to a minimum. This Blue Cheese clone came home with me in the beginning of March, 2019:
My intention was to get as much as possible from one, outdoor plant so I pinched it every time I could. Here's the first pinch:
After a few rounds of pinching, the plant began only producing 3-finger leaves. It would do this for some time, but always showed strength. In early April I bent it over to begin training, and it moved to the garden.
At this point it began showing real promise: it responded well to the sunlight and fresh air. Notice the big stem developing once it got in the 2 gallon pot, where it would spend it's whole life:
At this point it began showing real promise: it responded well to the sunlight and fresh air. Notice the big stem developing once it got in the 2 gallon pot, where it would spend it's whole life:
The training was going well. I knew Blue Cheese would respond well to training, but I was honestly surprised by this plant's resilience. As an aside, pipe cleaners are great for pulling on branches.
Branches started reaching straight up at this point, as June approached, and I noticed we were back to 5-finger leaves. This praying mantis came to hang out, too. I kept bending the branches down, but the bush kept getting bushier.
The stem kept growing, too. It's hard to tell in this picture, but it's probably about 1/2" here.
To keep with the bonsai inspiration, I wanted to do something unique with the branches, and something more than random scrogging or bending. I wrapped everything clockwise, as you can kind of see here:
In the end though, the bush took over. With full days of sunlight, this plant was ready to grow. I read some accounts of Blue Cheese farmers stating that plants can stretch 3x upon flowering! That's unsustainable in my back yard garden, but it began:
In late July it was clear that I couldn't keep the branches down anymore. I figured if they got too tall I'd work out an alternate plan. 
One week later those branches grew well over 2 feet, and the bush finally took its ultimate form, with no shortage of 12 tops (which are basically each full plants). In this picture it's about 5' tall:
By my account, these pistols indicate the beginning of the flowering stage. This photo was taken August 5th, 2019:
Thanks so much for following along! If you like what you see please be sure to stay tuned for more of this series. Next up will be flowering for this plant, but I'll also be revealing my plans for an indoor micro-grow to keep busy this winter, and a shopping list so you can do it at home too!