Sinatra Mesquite ! ID HELP please !

so, the retired guy that got me interested in bonsai a few years ago (by giving me my 1st 2 spekboom cuttings) walks into my office today looking to get a rooted cutting from my tiger bark ficus and says he has something to trade me for it...

the story goes that his daughter was at frank sinatra's house about 10-15 years ago and grabbed a couple mesquite seed pods from his yard (and didnt get her legs broken in the process), gives them to her dad and he ends up growing a tree from the seeds and gives me a cutting from that very tree...

i love it when a tree has a story !

see pictures









so, i'm wondering if anyone knows what type of mesquite this might be and any tips for making it thrive...
naturally i already plan to winter it indoors here in wisconsin, but was wondering about best time to re-pot, pruning advice, etc...

and although it is just a stick in a pot, i'm also specifically wondering if it would be safe to wire the trunk a bit to get some movement in it now before it gets too stiff (just want to accentuate the movement it already has started) and the best way to address the current foliage...

i looked at the previous thread on mesquites, but that is really the only info i could find out there in interwebland and the guy i got it from had to leave to pick up his grandkids before i could pick his brain more...

any help appreciated !

thanks jim... i saw the phoenix page but that is pretty minimal and aimed at, well, phoenix az
and the wiki page doesnt really delve into pot culture...

How cultured can pot be?

David,

did that one just go up in smoke
Really baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddd.
Later.
Khaimraj

Precarious wrote:How cultured can pot be?

now-a-days ???

hell, you'd be suprised !!!

it aint like the acapulco gold from the 70s, i tell ya that much... or so i have heard.

Yeah right. I've also heard that same thing. I think. I can't remember really.

but in all seriousness, if anyone can ID what variety of mesquite this is, i'd be much appreciated !!!
(i think i found what i needed for basic care)

Hello Kevin - your tree sure looks like Prosopis glandulosa (Honey Mesquite) to me. It is very common in the Palm Springs area where Sinatra's house is located. They like heat (and I mean Palm Springs type heat - 7 month or so at 100 to 120 each day!) It will also require very well drained soil. They are usually thought of as slow growing, but in the right circumstances they can really boom. My parents have a home in Tucson AZ where a seedling honey mesquite grew to 25 feet or so in about three years, but it had abundant access to water (it's roots invaded a backyard pond) and had plenty of desert heat. In containers (large nursery boxes for landscape planting) they can be fast as well, but they typically resent having their roots disturbed. I have seen a few as bonsai, generally large scale because of the compound leaves, but I have not seen any grown successfully in small pots as they like root room. I would have suggested that you give this a few years in the ground, but given your location and climate I don't think it would work because of wet and cold winters.

And speaking of wet winters, I need to get back to preparations for the coming flood - we have had a foot or so of rain the the past few days and the river is rising fast. Drought one month, floods the next...

Best of luck with the mesquite!
David B.

well thanks DB !!!

i have heard that about the roots, so i think my best best would be to slip-pot it into something a touch larger, and just let it grow...
(considering it was only rooted spring 2014)

luckily i do have a VERY sunny yard, so we will see how it likes wisconsin over the next growing season.

after which, i'll do it "myyy waaaaaay"
(couldnt resist)

i heard about the rain situation out there, so good luck with that !
(can't complain on this end though as that same jet stream is bringing us some very mild temps)

thanks again, david !

I venture to guess she didn't get her legs broken because they were in the air!

wlambeth wrote:I venture to guess she didn't get her legs broken because they were in the air!

now, THAT was a good one !!!