Illawarra Flame tree

[LeonR]

have recently beeen given this tree, grown from a seedling, can I bonsai it, what is the process and when should I do it.

Leon

[shibui]

There are quite a few threads dealing with Illawarra flame tree already on Ausbonsai. The search button top right will help you find them.

There are quite a few growers using various Brachychiton species, including acerifolius, as bonsai. They all seem to tolerate root pruning in warmer weather so now would be a good time. All the species I know of sprout new shoots pretty well after pruning, even when cut back to bare wood.

[Milo]

Hi Leon.

Sorry about the slow response . watering, wire on, wire off, and pruning , you know how it is.

Not sure how big your tree is. but if it is still small wire and put some shape into it . Keep in shade with wire on and remove and rewire weekly till it holds shape.

Flame trees are semi Deciduous ( Brachychiton acerifolius ) and can be leaf pruned 2 to 3 times a year to reduce leaf size, if not you can have leaf size as big as your hand.

Dec 2016.jpg

Oct 2017.jpg

The leaves are only replaced at the end of each branch and branches need to be finger thick before cutting back to induce ramification.

All branch cuts need to be sealed

Best of Luck


Milo

[Alfio90]

Hi guys! I’ve been following this forum about bonsaing Illawarra flame trees because I’m trying to do the same thing. I’ve been struggling to find any video material on how to prune considering the fact that at this stage of life every single branch has only one big size leaf. I know that now is not the right pruning time but I’m still doing some research to be ready at the right moment. In the meantime I started to curve the trunk to give some shape. Can anybody be kind to send some tips to encourage small growth leafing and also to contain the height of the trunk?
Thank you.
Alfio

[dansai]

Brachychiton species (Which include the Illawarra Flame Tree) all can be chopped hard and you can expect a few buds to form on the trunk. Unfortunately the branching rarely divides on its own so you need to constantly cut back to 2 or 3 leaves and hope. Over time, as you get more branching and more leaves, the leaves will get smaller. But they will always be pretty big. If the leaves are a long way out from the trunk you can cut the branches back, or cut them off and start again.

Whether now is a good time to cut or not depends on where you are. Putting a location in your profile means you won't have to tell people each time you ask a question. I recently did a trunk chop and have been cutting back branches to 2 or 3 leaves hoping to get more branching. Response has been good and what I expected.

You can put a picture if you want more direct advice. And I don't think you will find any video advice. Not a common species to work with.

[Alfio90]

Hi Dansai.
Thank you for you nice reply.
This is the photo of my not so little flamey tree…
What you guys would recommend me to do at this stage?

[DangerousDave]

The first thing I suggest you do is consider some specifics of this species (as others have already provided a bit) - which may also involve (or benefit from) learning a few botanical terms/features. There are no branches on your plant - those are the petioles, which are part of the structure of each individual leaf and that’s why you can only have one leaf on each. At the base (the end nearest the trunk) of each there will be a bud - new growth (ie branches with multiple leaves) can only shoot from there (or older ones on the trunk where there are no longer leaves).

We’re talking lobed palmate leaves for this species.

It’s hard to imagine the species obtaining the sort of branching and ramification similar to traditional bonsai styles, but that doesn’t mean (to me, at least) that you can’t style the tree in an artistic fashion that suits you.. and grow it in a bonsai pot. I’d also note that naturally these trees typically grow straight up and have a fairly cylindrical trunk. All just things to consider when trying to be realistic about what you can achieve.

Hope that helps to give you some species-specific considerations.

Good luck

[Alfio90]

Thank you Dangerous Dave for the detailed specification.
I really appreciate the explanation and now I realise that this beautiful species has a different growing cycle than the one I was thinking of.
Anyway that’s the reason why I posted on this forum, to understand and improve in this really cool journey.
You are absolutely right about following the characteristics of the the growth of the tree. I totally respect what you said about that and the next time I absolutely try my best to follow that principle.

The question now is when is the best time to hard prune and shorten the height of this little tree?

[dansai]

Now is fine. There is still growing season left so you should get a response fairly quickly. As I mentioned above, you will most likely get shoots close to the cut site, and only slight chance further down, so if you are going to chop, go as low as you'd like a first branch.

[Alfio90]

Thank you Dansai.
I’ll proceed with this .