Young Jacaranda

[ben the barbarian]

I picked up this jacaranda for a few bucks the other day at a school fete.

06112012_007.jpg

It's about a metre tall and pretty straight, but what caught my eye was the nice movement in the lower trunk, and the cluster of low branches near the base. There's not a lot of taper there, but I thought it was worth a shot.

06112012_008.jpg

I have not had much experience with jacarandas before, and would appreciate any advice. I'd like to cut the trunk right down to those low branches, and give it a re-pot.

Just wondering how I'm going for time-- would it be safe for me to attempt that now? If so, is there anything I should be careful of, or aware of with this species?

Any advice much appreciated.

[siddhar]

I did attempt a jacaranda bonsai many years ago, but it failed for me. I may have put it into a bonsai pot too early, rather than progressing from nursery pot, to training pot, to bonsai pot

[ben the barbarian]

I did atempt a jacaranda bonsai many years ago, but it failed for me. I may have put it into a bonsai pot too early, rather than progressing from nursery pot, to training pot, to bonsai pot

Thanks for the heads up, Siddhar! I'll keep that in mind

[time8theuniverse]

I brought more than 10 Jacaranda into my club and it became the Great Jacaranda challenge. So I have a little experience. Some of which is that they aren't recommended for bonsai. The branches will die back when they are cut, usually just to the next green leaf. They can just drop all their leaves. Getting branch structure is difficult. They can also take a long time to get them to produce flowers for the first time.

But my club comp Jac is in a pot now and looking good. I have another that I have got leaf ramification with and a few more to play with. They can deal with wet soil. They back bud. I have root pruned 5 now and only killed on by taking more than 4/5th out.

So the tips are; tip prune to control the growth, defoilate for ramification, only work the roots when it has growing tips, plan any cuts carefully.

Getting them to flower is something I don't know about yet.

They have been fun for me so far and I will post them one day.

[kcpoole]

do search for mine, should be on AB somewhere as it has been posted quite a few times

I repot and root prune the end of winter and defoliate thru the summer to remove the larger leaves.
Tip prune to get ramification and wire when young, but do not let the wire cut in.

trunk chop hard to generate taper and the scars take ages to heal. Use cut past to stop the rotting.

Re the flowers, have a look a t them growing in real life, and you will see that they only flower on the end of the new growth, As a bonsai, we keep cutting these off so thus no flowers.
There is vibrant discussion as to whether a Jac will ever flower in a pot. Some say they can do so but many will swear they never will. As a bonsai i doubt they ever will but one day maybe be proved wrong.

Fertilise and treat like any other Deciduous trees and they will thrive.

Ken

[kcpoole]

Found the thread for mine here
viewtopic.php?f=129&t=5621

Ken

[ben the barbarian]

I brought more than 10 Jacaranda into my club and it became the Great Jacaranda challenge. So I have a little experience. Some of which is that they aren't recommended for bonsai. The branches will die back when they are cut, usually just to the next green leaf. They can just drop all their leaves. Getting branch structure is difficult. They can also take a long time to get them to produce flowers for the first time.

But my club comp Jac is in a pot now and looking good. I have another that I have got leaf ramification with and a few more to play with. They can deal with wet soil. They back bud. I have root pruned 5 now and only killed on by taking more than 4/5th out.

So the tips are; tip prune to control the growth, defoilate for ramification, only work the roots when it has growing tips, plan any cuts carefully.

Getting them to flower is something I don't know about yet.

They have been fun for me so far and I will post them one day.

thanks a lot for the info. I look forward to seeing pics of your trees some day

[ben the barbarian]

do search for mine, should be on AB somewhere as it has been posted quite a few times

I repot and root prune the end of winter and defoliate thru the summer to remove the larger leaves.
Tip prune to get ramification and wire when young, but do not let the wire cut in.

trunk chop hard to generate taper and the scars take ages to heal. Use cut past to stop the rotting.

Re the flowers, have a look a t them growing in real life, and you will see that they only flower on the end of the new growth, As a bonsai, we keep cutting these off so thus no flowers.
There is vibrant discussion as to whether a Jac will ever flower in a pot. Some say they can do so but many will swear they never will. As a bonsai i doubt they ever will but one day maybe be proved wrong.

Fertilise and treat like any other Deciduous trees and they will thrive.


Ken

thanks a lot for that, very helpful. I really like your tree, by the way. Nice one!

[MattA]

The search box at the top right of page is your friend... Heres 2 of my Jac's
viewtopic.php?f=129&t=5221 & viewtopic.php?f=129&t=5137