AusBonsai

Here is a Jacaranda after approx 10 years growing from the side of rockery stairs.

Every now and again I would chop it down to 10 or 20 cm and get a nice fern like bush shooting.

Getting interested in bonsai I dug it out - managing only to get minimal roots and put it in a large pot. As you can see from the first picture I have accumulated an amount of dead wood at the base. The Jacaranda has powered on over the course of one year.
Some questions are -
1. Can I at some time (and when) carve out the dead wood at the stump ?
2. The initial ferns have now turned into branches with ferns of their own -- I assume I can cut them back (and at what time of year) to get new branches where needed.
3. How do these trees wire
4. Tempted to check roots and repot into a large but shallower pot or is this too soon ?

Thanks

David

Hi David, The Jacarandah has certainly recovered from the transplant!

Carve dead wood any time - It is dead so working it will not affect the live part of the tree!

Prune pretty much any time but I'd avoid pruning frost sensitive trees like jacaranda in autumn in case it puts out new shoots just in time for frost (probably not too much of a problem for you close to the coast?) All trees will produce new shoots (and therefrom branches) when pruned. The more often you pinch new growth the more ramification you will get.

The tree has recovered well and should have plenty of roots in the pot. If you just want to repot into a shallow container without cutting roots then anytime is ok but I expect you might want to shorten and rearrange all those new roots so I'd wait until spring to repot but you might even get away with it this time of year up there.

Have never wired a jacarandah but all trees can be wired. Some are just a little more prone to marking than others and others are more brittle but don't remember jacarandah being a problem.

Nice Stump David.

As I was told on Saturday, that My Jacarandah I had on display at the show was the only ever that has been seen on display and moreso because it actually looked like a tree
Check out my thread on it here viewtopic.php?f=129&t=5621

Getting to your Questions
Yes you can carve the base, but the wood is soft and easy to rot. You will need to preserve it with Earls wood hardener. Wounds in mature bark sections are SLOOOOW to heal.

The leaves are not ferns, but are called compound leaves. They will shoot and continue to enlarge mostly as they do not really reduce that much ( only about 1/2 normal size).

They take wire Very easily, and do not take long to set into shape. Wile them as the branch starts to Lignify ( loses the Green surface). If done before then they are easy to break off.

Putting into a smaller shallower pot, will help to Control the growth on the top. I repot in Early Spring before bud break.

Cut the back hard and they will readily shoot on old wood and then let each bracnh / Shoot extend ( they wll tend to go straight up, and then apply wire and bend to desired shape. As each new shoot extends, I allow 2 sets of leaves to form, then pinch out the growing tip and the outside leaves. This will leave only 2 opposing leaves and at the base of each a shoot will form giving the ramification. Let the new shoot extend and repeat.
As the leaves continue to grow bigger, remove them as needed.

They are easy to look after and are thirsty, but mine stays in full sun all year, but they do need Frequent work to keep under control.

Ken

Thank you both for your well targeted advice.

Will study the tree a bit more in the meantime and take action with your advice early spring.

Cheers David