Gmelina. H - the unsung heroine / hero - anyone got one ?

Hello Folks,

just wondering, where are all the Gmelina Bonsai ?
It's an easy shrub to train, and as far as I know it is from the East Indies.

This tree is born with clip and grow in it's blood. With age the trunk will crack and the surface roots are very pronounced. Easy to grow, and down here the only pest is the parasol ant. Full sun and every 2nd or 3rd leaf will be a trident maple leaf shape. The Chinese call it the Indoor Maple.

We use it as hedge, and that's how I found it, as someone's hedge.

Here are three examples grown from seed / 3 leaf cuttings.

The first is about - 29 years old , has an approximately 5 inch trunk and is about 24 inches wide, from either seed or a cutting.

As usual feel free to comment - yay or nay.
Khaimraj



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The second is only about 15 years or so and still in training, only lifted from the grow trough 2 years ago. If you look closely you can see the ant damage.




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The third is much smaller.



You can actually go all the way down to mame' and pea sized with this shrub.
Perhaps I will show a mame' and pea sized later.
Stay tuned.

hi there khaimraj...all the three trees are very good,hard to find small ones with such character,
wish you well,
alex

Nice trees Khaimraj. Wow youve been doing bonsai that long in the Carribeans? Im very impressed, how did you become interested?

Alex,

Thank you very much.

The other name for Gmelina is Gmelina Philippensis [ spelling ? ] and since these shrubs grow so quickly, and you guys have so much ability, I would have expected many out of the Philippines.

Hey these were grown from seed or cuttings, grew so fast I never went back to the hedge, after the first trip.
I have seen them with driftwood as well, don't know if the wood would last, but with today's epoxies
who knows.

Zen,

I was in my last year of A levels, about 16/17, a friend and I stood under a Saman Samanea. I remarked that I would like to have such a great tree in my backyard, but it was way too large.
Saman's are considered 1 acre trees.
My friend whose mum was Irish and very cultured, mentioned Bonsai. I looked it up in the Encyclopaedia and was hooked.

I started the actual growing with a malpighia glabra [ which I still have - boasting ]and a tababueia [ spelling ?] Yellow Poui or was it pink. The Poui was eaten by an American Rooster in Lafayette, Louisiana.
With my second week's wage [ used to work at an Art store as a framer,], mother was given my first wage of ------ $9.00 US for 6 days of 8hrs a day --- I bought Peter Adam's book and Kamuti.
That was roughly 30 years ago.

I had to invent soil mixes [ boasting again ] and my first tools came from Mr.Valavanis's store - Masakuni - and I still have them in use.

I came across Mr.Wu Yee Sun [ Hong Kong Baptiste College ] and Yu Hunhua very early. Shifted to clip and grow, also got help from the cultural officer for China,in Trinidad.
Okay that's enough silliness.
Until.
Khaimraj

* It's a hobby, I don't sell. I start off others with the dreaded Ficus Benjamina - glossy leaf and if they last the 6 months, they will last the 3 to 5 for horticultural training.
After that I suggest a year or two or some sort of Art/Design course.

If you wish to chat about bonsai there is the General Discussion forum in which we can do such.

Khaimraj, how much have the leaves been reduced?
You have a lot of fast growing species down there!

Alexandra,

please don't laugh. I haven't been near a Gmelina hedge or shrub for years. I will have to find one, scan a typical leaf and a bonsai-ed leaf for you to see.
Give me a day, as I have to go and look for one.

The hedge I was talking about is gone, replaced with Chinese bamboo.
Stay tuned and thank you for your patience in advance.
Khaimraj

Alexandra,

as you requested a visual. The smallest are from mame' bonsai.
Khaimraj

Howzit Khaimraj,

Really nice bonsai's. Can see that you put a lot of effort in them. Good on you mate!!

A Hui Hou,
-Tim

Those are nice! I like how much there leaves can be reduced too. If you put that pic upside down you can place them in a way that would look like a monster walked away and left it's tracks......

Hey Tim mun, how yuh goin.

Thanks for looking and not laughing. The mead thingee, I kept bees a few years ago and used to make mead from honey collected in canefields, you got a pronounced rum flavour, especially after 7 years.
There will be a brief hold on my showing you, the trident maple, it needs a winter's rest and I really chopped down, as well as made a miss on the refrigeration period. To ashamed to show you. Will substitute with Hackberrys in the growing trough for now. [Runs and hides.]
Ashamedly,
Khaimraj

Pola mun,

yuh no have de plant on dat island yus leveening an ?
Well boyo, dat is ah shaim.
Yuh neds a leettle splif, mun.

That's my best rasta. Apologies.

Yes, I gather they do look like dinosaur tracks.

If you can get a shrub try it, you would probably like it.
Thanks for looking.
Khaimraj

Khaimraj, thank you very much for your effort!
Just to complete the image..., how may years did it take for the leaves to diminish from natural to mame size, please?



PS:....greek is tooooo difficult for you, should I presume???

Alexandra,

I have no link to Greek. With my really poor Italian, I at least had Spanish, Castillian I believe, V is pronounced like a B [ Belasquez to Velasquez ], but even after 5 years of study in school, I failed the subject. I tend to speak English not by parts of speech, but by rote, if you wish.

So I would end up butchering your tongue. I am a traditionally trained Fine Artist [ Think of Raphael, Da Vinci or Tiziano ] and Greek sculpture is up there.

As to the leaves, when you expose most trees / shrubs to growth in small pots, very hot sun and I - believe - a soil that is mostly inorganic , the rootlets have to subdivide continuously, the response is supposed to be more branchlets and the leaves will naturally become smaller.
[ Inorganic in my case is, crushed sifted porous earthenware red brick, and sifted sharp sand - crushed mechanically, silica based pebbles for construction use]

When I used to keep my trees in the front yard, sun from 6.00 a.m until 6.p.m on an asphalt surface, the heat and exposure gave me amazingly small leaves on every tree.
Unfortunately, the front yard, though gated, is open to all eyes, and I didn't want to lose any trees, by "accident", due to them growing legs and walking out of the yard.
So I moved them all to the lower backyard, surrounded by a Chinese bamboo hedge. Since this area is a lawn, the leaves got a bit larger.

I have plans to move the front gate to a bit lower down, and hedge the area so I can move back to the front.

I also water normally and fertilize as usual, defoliating only when the tree / shrub shows the need. I may not have the smallest leaves, but I have never had branches suddenly die on me, or trees / shrubs.
Hope that helps, and feel free to re-ask, just in case I have been as clear as mud.
Stay Well.
Khaimraj

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote: ... ... defoliating only when the tree / shrub shows the need. ... ...
... just in case I have been as clear as mud.

Everything is clear like running water! Thank you!
But this is my new question (no need to remind every now and then that I am learning and will remain like this for a long way to come....)
When is it that the tree shows it is in need of defoliation? I mean other reason than the need for achieving smaller leaves.

Alexandra,

with the elms, the leaves get dull and develop brown cracks. Images will follow this evening, my time.

As they go past the cracked stage, they become yellow and fall. If you look closely at the branch, buds will often be swelling. Because of a peculiarity of my micro-climate, probably the shape of the land [ side of a hill ] and the bamboo, tall trees, my elms sleep from this month, until around January to February. I may get a bud here or there expanding into a shoot, I allow 6 leaves and pinch /cut back to one. I don't allow those weak needle thin shoots, that you get with the bought Chinese trees, they are not really healthy, more a sign that the tree is stressed out.

I have 6 elm types, brought in for stock and not showing. One I root propagated and ended up with a specimen that only grows c curved branches. It's amusing. I don't use that tree for stock.

The one I felt sorry for had tons of needle fine shoots, and as usual all in the wrong place - hedge clipped to give an illusion of density. The tree was very weak. I gave it good freely draining soil and the shoots went back to normal.

By the way, these imports can be so very weak, but take years to fade / die. I had a sageretia do me that. 3 inch trunk and only 2 roots, it died branch by branch. The cuttings however have done very well. I kept the stump, to remind me .........


With the gmelina, the gloss dies and the leaf feels dusty, and they start to turn yellow and fall one by one. Removal at this time, with one month of pre-fertilizing, will bring on so many leaves, they will come in smaller and because of the fertilizer, they will be lush green and healthy.

I figure it's the elm stuff you are worried about.
Until.
Khaimraj

Elm stuff, yes!
Thank you!



PS: We have a saying in Greece which goes : "when the basil is being watered, the pot is watered too!"

Khaimraj Seepersad...

Pola mun,

yuh no have de plant on dat island yus leveening an ?
Well boyo, dat is ah shaim.
Yuh neds a leettle splif, mun.

That's my best rasta. Apologies.

I'm not sure if we have it,probably yes.

Alexandra here is an image of two healthy elm leaves and the rest are old and falling.
The largest leaf is an elm being grown for trunk size and the small healthy one pre-bonsai.



The ugly one I felt sorry for.



Hope this helps.
Khaimraj

Khaimraj, I see exactly what you mean. So, these are the only kind of leaves that you would defoliate.... I understand.
Thank you for all the information you provided me lately!

Alexandra,

rooted cuttings. You may wish to lighten the image on your computer.
Stay Well.
Khaimraj