AusBonsai

Hey! New around here
Im very interested if anyone here has much experience with Ceiba speciosa, or the 'floss silk tree'. Ive got some seeds and am very excited to see how it goes any information or tips would be appreciated.
Cheers

Hi NickityNic. Welcome to Ausbonsai.
I don't know Cebia speciosa but hopefully someone else will have grown some and be able to help. A quick check shows it is a tropical species so that may create some issues for you if you're not in a tropical area.

What we do with plants and when often depends on the local climate. It will help get better advice if you update your personal profile to include a location so others can see whether you are from a tropical, temperate or cool area.

You will also need to be aware that growing bonsai from seed is a very, very long and tedious process. I'm talking 10-20 years. There's still a place for seedlings but most experienced growers start with larger plants and cut them down to bonsai for much quicker results.

Like many rainforest trees Ceiba are very fast growers and can thicken more than an an inch year, the thorns on the trunk are persistent and vicious and need to be kept intact otherwise the tree doesn't look right. In my climate of the Hunter Valley where I get occasional light frost it has coped well. I am growing it as a large potted tree, not a bonsai, but I have seen some photos of them being bonsai in Brazil.

My mum just picked one of these up for me, I haven't seen it in the flesh yet but she said 2m tall. I found the Nacho Marin articles on bonsai empire. Some Spanish YouTube with auto translate shows trunk chop method for development. They want to grow vertical straight to the canopy so chop and lean over pot to create movement. Cuts heal fast. The guy I was watching said to never seal the wound, let it dry. cut putty will cause it to hold moisture and rot. Also said cuttings should be left to dry for 2 weeks then planted and they will shoot like crazy? Auto translate may have lost something in the translation.
https://youtu.be/A0CejUn2jAQ

How's your tree going?