[Natural] Brachychiton rupestris - Jan

[Jan]

This plant continues to thicken and the shoots develop.
It has graduated into a brown unglazed oval bonsai pot and been dressed with native osmocote

20210201 172613 Bottle tree (2).jpg

[Stu]

Is it naive to ask if you have a Karrajong in training?

[Jan]

Is it naive to ask if you have a Karrajong in training?

I did have two, Stu, but nothing I could do with those particular plants would convince them to produce decent branching so both have been grown on as full size trees in my current garden.

Kurrajongs were rare in my area (previously lived on the eastern side of the Snowy Mountains) so I didn't have the opportunity to look for one which might have the natural tendancy to finer branching.

Others seem to have had some success with them.

Regards

Jan

[dennismc]

The Brachychitons are very unusual trees. Extensive branching is just not their thing even in nature! Actually I have found that they usually get to only 3 branches on the trunk when in a pot. Each year they put on some extra branches, but by the end of the warm weather they lose some back to just three. Sometimes the older ones are sacrificed. At other times it is the newer ones that die or even a mix of the two.

Interesting instead of getting a thickened trunk they get excessively thickened roots when grown in a pot. Allowing the production of an unusual bonsai in a literati style (almost).
Dennis Mc

[Jan]

20210406_122203.jpg

This little bottle tree looks to have recovered after being some creature's snack earlier in the year, powering on since the repot.

[Jan]

Well, it's time for "Show and Tell", not much change in this one. It has grown well and put on some size sas can be seen by the 50 cent peice in one of the images.

20210916_165911 Bottle Tree.jpg

20210916_165958 Bottle Tree.jpg

20210916_170016 Bottle Tree.jpg

20210916_170211 Bottle Tree.jpg

I think the leaf size will be more in proportion in a larger potensai, so, now that the Comp is concluding, I will probably slip pot this one to a larger pot to grow on as a larger tree (not too large as there is only so much that I can lift ).

[Jan]

20220427_114330.jpg

While this tree has progressed, growing a few more branches, it's leaf size is not coming down much and I can see that it is not really suited to make a small bonsai.

It has been very forgiving of repeated chops, root pruning and has regrown leaves after bug attack turned them to lace so the species may suit as a larger bonsai.

Unfortunately, large bonsai is not the way for my future. While I will persist with a few favorites, I'm moving to smaller plants/pots that I will be able to better manage as time goes on. Bonsai is not a short term undertaking but my lifting ability will be .

I will pot this plant on to build both the frame and root system, finally planting it as a specimen tree - we have the space and other brachychiton do well here. It has been an interesting experiment and I look forward to enjoying this tree in the garden.

Jan

[Jan]

The cuttings I took have started to grow and roots are showing out the bottom. I will transplant in the warmer weather and see how they go. It will be interesting to see if the branch cuttings develop the swollen base.

20220521_155927 Bottle Tree cuttings.jpg