AusBonsai

There used to be a mature candlenut tree in the garden at the house where I'm living, but it was cut down about eighteen years ago. So I was fairly surprised when a candlenut seedling made an appearance. I haven't seen, or heard of, anybody bonsai-ing one of these, but I'd really like to have a go. It's only a few months old, but the trunk is thickening up very fast (it's already as thick as my thumb at the base) and it has a nice large, palmate leaf.
I'm not really sure what to do with it now though... my bonsai experience is basically nil. It's growing in a small pot (not a bonsai container.) The roots are thick, white and quite rigid - they don't bend, they just snap. The leaves are alternate and seem to grow in one at a time, so there's no real 'growing tip' to take out of it, but if I don't convince it to start branching soon it's going to grow too tall.

Can anybody give me some advice? I really like it, I would hate to kill it, or ruin it so it never becomes an attractive bonsai. I can get photos if anybody would like to see it.

Thanks!

Photos are always helpful, Laura. And welcome to AusBonsai! You will find lots of helpful advice here, and friendly folks to boot!

Glenda

Edit: How far in NQ are you?

Hey - thanks for the welcome

Cairns area - not a bad climate for growing stuff actually. With the exception of some cold-climate trees (like stonefruit, for instance) pretty much anything will grow if you can shade it.

Here's my little tree.
From above.
Close up of where the leaves are growing from.
From the front.
From the back.

One of my favorite trees but i doubt they would do well as a bonsai. The leaves are huge and I dont know how well they reduce. I also doubt they would ramify well.

On the other hand, i havent heard of them being used before. Maybe they will work and make a fine bonsai. Give it a go!

Joel

Generally to make it branch out you pinch out the bud where it is growing from. That forces the tree to put out new shoots elsewhere.

Glenda

Hi Laura,

Although I live in the Netherlands I do have 3 Candlenut trees. A friend took the seeds with her when she was on holiday and they all germinated, so she had more trees than she could use. I have got 3 of her trees and promises her a bonsai experiment. The trees are almost 4 years old. They stand in small pots now, not yet in a bonsai pot and every spring before I put them in my garden I prune them hard. Most of the time all the big leaves as well. The leaves are much smaller now and their are a few primary branches. It tolerates root pruning but pinching (the new leave removal) does not seem to help. Every time a new shoot appears almost at the same place. So I am trying now to let the branch harden and then prune back to two buds. Hoping that will do the trick. I was also planning in planting the 3 trees in 1 pot and making one canopy in the future for compensation of the boring trunk.

Hope your tree will do fine and I would gladly share our progression with the tree, because it is quit unusual as a bonsai.

Joan

Howdy Laura,

I hope everything has been growing well for you.

I don’t know if you’ll see this, but by any chance if you do, I’d love to know how the kukui nut tree turned out and if it’s still thriving?

Good luck Anthony. That thread is from 2010 so 15 years old now and Laura has not posted anything else since that post.