Hey all, I recently saw a post by Wiegarts on 99 cent bonsai auction page for a Ceiba speciosa (Silk Floss). It brought back the my first memory of the species when I saw Nacho Marín’s thorny monster of a Silk Floss http://bonsaibark.com/tag/nacho-marin-bonsai-artist/
Does anyone know of any resources on when and how to manage growth and development of what is mostly pre-bonsai stock in the US market.
Here’s the 2 best ones I’ve found online:
http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/courses/enh101/Favorite%20Tree/JuliaPollex.pdf
I’ve had mine in a large container for 7 years in SoCal. It was/is a patio planting for the enjoyment of the flowers, so I’ve let it grow mostly unpruned with long internodes. I have not had new ‘thorn’ growth and I suspect that is a feature of young vigorous growing trunks. It appears to back bud well, so growing out and trunk chopping would be a fast trunk development strategy. Mine sets flower buds in the early fall and blooms into winter as it drops its leaves (we have winter lows of ~40degF). The surrounding landscape trees bloom earlier in the fall. I have never had a seed pod develop. I have only repotted once, before bud break. But for major root work and pruning a more ‘tropical’ approach might be more advisable. Mine is fairly drought tolerant in a pumice and organic potting mix. It has tolerated lows of 34degF. I also had a weird twig dieback fusarium (?) a few winters back that the local extension agency could not identify. I removed the infected area, sprayed copper fungicide and watered in granular Clearys 3336. There was no further spread and it hasn’t reoccured. That’s all I got!
