Acacia burkei

[lennard]

I received this tree from a friend as a gift beginner's tree two years ago. It's a nice species to use as bonsai because it grows very fast and is very hardy.

The drawbacks of the the species is long internodes and compound leaves.

This is the tree in August 2010 just before spring growth started:

aug 2010.jpg

To try and get shorter internodes, smaller leaves and back budding I have defoliated the tree today. This is the first time I have defoliated an Acacia and don't know how the tree will react to it:

January 2011 (1).jpg

The back side?

January 2011.jpg

(Pot by Plascon Paints)

Now that the branch structure is clearly visible I will wire the tree to bring the twigs growing up to the horizontal. I don't want to do a typical Acacia flat grown - rather an open umbrella style.

Any advice and comments welcome.

Lennard

[kcpoole]

Again I think I prefer the Back view.

shows really nice trunk and branching. Nice

Ken

[lennard]

Again I think I prefer the Back view.

shows really nice trunk and branching. Nice

Ken

Thanks. The tree could have two possible fronts - will see how it looks after a year or two.

To get some taper and building the nebari I am leaving those two lower growths as sacrifice branches. Will update on the tree by the end of autumn.

Any other advice or comments still welcome.

Lennard

[shibui]

Quite interesting to see some of the African plants being used as bonsai - a bit out of my range of experience for advice though.
Why are you opting for umbrella canopy? I have admired many of the South african 'savanna' style flat tops in the past as striking representations of the wild species.
There have been several attempts to give our Australian 'Acacia' cousins of your plant a new genus name but as they are iconic species to most Aussies the attempts have been howled down and unsuccessful so far.

[Andrew Legg]

There have been several attempts to give our Australian 'Acacia' cousins of your plant a new genus name but as they are iconic species to most Aussies the attempts have been howled down and unsuccessful so far.

I believe that Acacia renaming thing got quite thorny at one stage!

Sorry - Couldn't resist!

[lennard]

Quite interesting to see some of the African plants being used as bonsai - a bit out of my range of experience for advice though.
Why are you opting for umbrella canopy? I have admired many of the South african 'savanna' style flat tops in the past as striking representations of the wild species.
There have been several attempts to give our Australian 'Acacia' cousins of your plant a new genus name but as they are iconic species to most Aussies the attempts have been howled down and unsuccessful so far.

The open umbrella style, where the width of the canopy is wide and it's height only one third the height of the tree, is typical of a few Acacias in RSA:

http://www.google.co.za/images?client=f ... =&gs_rfai=

Almost the same as the example of the Pierneef style as described by Charles Ceronio.

I do have a few typical flat top Acacias in training and don't need this one to be one also.

I don't like people changing names just for the sake of changing it. In South-Africa we call the Acacia family Thorn trees or in my native language(Afrikaans), Doringbome.

Lennard

[Damian Bee]

Is that an open bottom on that pot?

[lennard]

Is that an open bottom on that pot?

The bottom of the "pot" is actually the lid of the 20l paint container.

I use the bottom and the top part of these containers to grow my trees in training in.

Lennard

[lennard]

The latest pic:

October 2012 a.jpg

The tree was cut back once this season. As soon as the buds swell I am going to defoliate the tree. After this the canopy will be left alone except for regular pinching. There are two twigs growing lower down that will be left to grow freely to thicken up the base and create a little more taper.

The tree will be slightly repositioned with the next repot so that the new back branch will be more visible.

Comments and advice welcome.

Lennard

[MWid]

Hi there Im also growing an acacia galpinii, would you say that defoliation will help ramification and reduce internode length?

[Andrew Legg]

Hi Lennard,

I think you've done a great job. Well done mate. I don't think there is too much advice to give and I think you have made a really nice convincing tree and image. Shot boet!

Cheers,

Andrew

[lennard]

Hi there Im also growing an acacia galpinii, would you say that defoliation will help ramification and reduce internode length?

Yes. Along with a lot of sunlight.

To prevent a weaker twig to die back I normally wait to see the new buds swell after the latest cut back.

Lennard

[lennard]

Hi Lennard,

I think you've done a great job. Well done mate. I don't think there is too much advice to give and I think you have made a really nice convincing tree and image. Shot boet!

Cheers,

Andrew

Thanks.

Lennard

[Andrew Legg]

Hi there Im also growing an acacia galpinii, would you say that defoliation will help ramification and reduce internode length?

Yes. Along with a lot of sunlight.

To prevent a weaker twig to die back I normally wait to see the new buds swell after the latest cut back.

Lennard

Ahhhh . . . . . Acacia dieback - the most annoying thing in the whole world ever! I have one that is slowly dying back. Swapped it for a lekker olive thinking I could stop it, and for the life of me I just can't seem to get vigour back into the branch! It's driving me nuts! I'm thinking of cutting the rest of the tree back HARD and see if it gets some vigour into the sick branch.

Cheers,

Andrew

[lennard]

Ahhhh . . . . . Acacia dieback - the most annoying thing in the whole world ever! I have one that is slowly dying back. Swapped it for a lekker olive thinking I could stop it, and for the life of me I just can't seem to get vigour back into the branch! It's driving me nuts! I'm thinking of cutting the rest of the tree back HARD and see if it gets some vigour into the sick branch.
Andrew

Yes, cut back hard the rest of the tree and keep the new growth pinched regularly on the strong branches. It also helps if the weaker branch can be bend a little bit higher than the rest of the branches - branches that are in the shadow of others do die back easily. That it the reason why Acacia should rather be grown in a flat top or open umbrella style - all the twigs get the same amount of sunlight then.

Good luck on getting that branch healthy again- luckily with this species a new branch can be grown within two seasons if that one dies.

Lennard