AusBonsai

Hello all

I'm new to bonsai, well that's not exactly true I have kept bonsai before but that was when I was much young and they already established and all I had to do was to look after them.

I found these jacaranda seedlings growing in my front paddock. We have a large jacaranda there. So I thought I would pot them up and bonsai them ( or at least 1 or 2 anyway ).

I still have 2 or 3 bonsai books felt from the old days, which I plan on rereading. But I could do with a little advise on which seedling might make a nice bonsai. Plus any other advise would be greatly appreciated. I have done some research and I realise that jacarandas are not the easiest plant bonsai and they don't normally flower as bonsai, but I still won't to give it a try. I also have a couple of other types of seedlings that I plan on bonsai I have a Grevillea Robusta and a ficus ( not sure what sp. It is yet I'll have to do a bit more research ) but more on those guys later.


seedling No.1


seedling No.2 this 1 has has a small side branch


seedling No.3



seedling No.4 this one has a long and twisted trunk that was buried under a lot of mulch so I planted it deep thinking the it might develop some nice roots that I might be able to expose at a later date.

Cheers
Stan

Hi drmaz,
welcome, as much as I love Jacarandas (like Pointsianas ?) they have bi-pinnate leaves, which is a huge word meaning that the little leaves you see on what you'd suppose is a branch is actually all one leaf! I made that mistake and it was pointed out to me that not many use these species to make bonsai for just that reason. You can't wire them into shape, and when they fall off you loose all that work …

Not trying to discourage you as I have no idea what you are capable of (I'm hoping you can prove that theory wrong), please note, I don't have any experience myself, being a newbie … So have a go because you never know what may happen!

Hi Drmaz and they remind me of mine which started the same way

the are somewhat difficult to work with but can look stunning. The leaves do reduce and i manage mine by defoliating them often.
See this thread of the progression of mine.
viewtopic.php?f=129&t=5621

For yours to develop, Let them grow like mad and repot every year, to tease the roots out to develop good nebari and wire them to shape before the wood hardens off. The will then hold shape well as they tend to spring back if done on older wood.

They do not heal over scars very well, but they do bark up nicely
They do backbud profusely from hard chops so just let them go mad to put on trunk girth and then trunk chop, pick a new leader then repeat

Ken