Brazilian Raintree Flat-top Progression. Lots of Pictures - please wait to load

Beautiful work.
Shabbat Shalom Luciano.

This year on the right side I was focusing on fattening up the secondary branches and next year I'll repot and focus on ramification. I would have made this into a 360 type video but I don't know how. Feedback is most welcome, especially from our Brazilian friends who are doing such a fine job with their Raintrees.




































I like the second picture as my front. The wire on the left is anchored to a root that will be removed next year. Two gorgeous replacement roots are underneath this one. I've started weakening the top root by scraping the cambium off the top part a few months ago. We had a major hail storm and I had some damage on the roots on the right, so I applied some cut paste, although much more than I needed just to be safe. That's the big greenish blackish blotch you see on the right.

Have a great week!!!!
Sam

The tree is developing very well. There is some more front view on your pictures. You gotta be carefull with that "knee" there...it could reverse the taper. Cant wait to see new nebari. Keep us posted Thanks

Khaimraj Seepersad wrote:Sam,

nicely done so far. Thanks a million for posting images.

A question - what is that soil mix in the last images?
Thanks in advance.
Khaimraj

Hey Khaimraj,

I just realized I never answered your question. My apologies. Thank you for the compliments.

What you saw on top of that picture was a lot of Osmocote (Fertilizer). The top dressing is Turface but most of the soil underneath is a mix of Lava Rock and sifted Pine Bark. In my climate I haven't had very good luck with straight turface. It dries out too fast. I was watering 3 - 4 times a day in the heat of the summer and I still had issues with leaves drying out. Next year I plan on adding some sifted Pine Bark to my mix to retain some more moisture. We'll see how that works.

Have a great week!!!!
Sam

luciano benyakob wrote:Beautiful work.
Shabbat Shalom Luciano.

Thank you Luciano. You guys are doing some amazing things with Raintrees over there. We're light years behind you guys.

Have a great week!!!!
Sam

yamasuri wrote:The tree is developing very well. There is some more front view on your pictures. You gotta be carefull with that "knee" there...it could reverse the taper. Cant wait to see new nebari. Keep us posted Thanks

Thank you, I appreciate it. There is another root in the back of the tree that I haven't exposed yet either. He's pretty small and I'm hoping he'll gain some size nexy year if I don't prune it at all during repotting.

I'm sorry, I don't know what a "knee" is. Do you mean the long curvy root on the left?

Thanks again!!!
Have a great week!!!!
Sam

Thanks a million Sam.

This is why I time my repotting for our Dry Season and can still use compost/cocopeat in my mix. The trees appreciate the extra water and later as the rains return the roots have already mastered the container, so the bucket a drop water has no effect on them.

However, I still water by watering can and observe the wet to dry soil cycle as well.
Best to you.
Khaimraj

One word! Fantastic! Getting better and better!

I love the trunk. I love the bark. I love the foliage. And ever since I saw the acacias on the African savannah, I've been fixated with "flat tops" and I have difficulties resisting the urge to shape all of my trees in that way!

Nice work on the tree, I like flat top trees also, I see you must have a bird problem with the pond there... I know that feeling also..

Wow!!! VERY nice work!! I'm new to the bonsai art, yet i have 53 of this lovely tree! 3 of the 53 are older, and the 50 are seedlings, with some months old. I have collected seeds from a C. tortum near my neighboorhood, and i sowed them all!

Good luck with your C. tortum! he's doing very well!

I love seeing progression and seeing what can happen with a bit of patience.

I had a little bit of time today for repotting and recently I came across a GREAT slab that I could use for the tree. I think the lower right branch will be removed in the future but I'm keeping it for now. Still needs a lot of development.





Sorry for the poor photos but it's the best I could do in the short time frame.

Hi my friends!
I like the style you have been doing for this kind of tree. I think this style is most typical for this tree.
Thanks and continue looking for your update!

Interesting design...any more recent photos?

I agree, updates would be great. Have you shown this tree yet. (State Fair is coming up soon, time now to register.)

I've enjoyed your BRT evolution photos and am frankly amazed at the speed of growth- some of that is climate, but skill must account for quite a bit. I am wondering about the bottom branch you pulled down (on the right in your most recent post). In lowering it you've also straightened it, and it seems to have been an overall negative result. Do you have other plans for that branch? -forgive me if I am off track.

I've not tried it on a BRT branch so large, but is it possible to wire it and put some curve to it?

Thank you all!!! It's great to share this journey with you.

I'll post a photo update soon.

Precarious wrote:I've enjoyed your BRT evolution photos and am frankly amazed at the speed of growth- some of that is climate, but skill must account for quite a bit.  I am wondering about the bottom branch you pulled down (on the right in your most recent post).  In lowering it you've also straightened it, and it seems to have been an overall negative result.  Do you have other plans for that branch?  -forgive me if I am off track.

I've not tried it on a BRT branch so large, but is it possible to wire it and put some curve to it?

Thank you for the compliment!!! I have a greenhouse and feed much more than most people. The trunk has changed a bit; gotten a little bigger but mostly more contorted. The big thing I've done is let it run. If a branch is in the right place, I've noticed that letting it run doesn't ruin my design, it does increase width but not by a crazy amount. The right side is still very unbalanced and desperately needs to catch up with the left for the design to work; for my taste anyway. So while the left side is only allowed to run about six inches or so depending on what branch it comes off of, the right side is loosely wired into place and allowed to run a foot or maybe even more. I do the same thing for the left side if I need more thickness. I've cut this tree back about 3 times so far this year and it was defoliated in late May.

That particular branch is going away. Brazilian Raintree will die back on you if you don't cut to a node. I learned this the hard way on the roots which are just finally starting to heal over. It'll probably still take another few years for them to fully heal. You can see the wound in my pictures down by the nebari. I'm much more careful now. It was wired down to simply give more space and sun for the remaining branches while still helping the right side get a little bigger. That was my thinking anyway, which may have been wrong. The left side has more branches and better ramification. I thought that not doing this, the left side would pull more nutrients and would in the end leave me with an unbalanced tree.

I've cut it back to the first node, about a third of the length in the previous pictures and will wait until next year to remove completely. If any growth starts on that branch, I'll rub the buds off. You'll be able to see it in the new pictures.

I'm not sure if you can bend them when they're that large. Mine was fairly flexible (about pencil thickness) but bending it enough to put curves on it, I think would be tough. They have very thin cambium which can be easily damaged by heavy wire. It may be easier to cut to a node, wire the new soft shoot into place and get curves that way. I'm developing a seedling and that's what I have to wire to create the trunk line.

Show us a picture of yours.

Have a great week!!!
Sam

As asked, here is a picture of my BRT.  It has been in training twice as long as yours, and is yet not nearly as developed.  It spends nearly 7  months in my basement under T5 growlights.  In warm weather it gets approx 4 hrs direct sun in the morning, then shade after 1pm.  The wired branch curving down is where I hope to let it grow and thicken then cut off to create a jin, as if giraffes stripped it of both leaves and bark.  I don't know how the wood will take to that, but we'll see.  About 1 week ago I pruned it heavily and repotted it- it had been in a training pot until now.
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Ship it to me. I'll keep it for you for a year and then I'll ship it back to you twice as thick(ish)

I think you've got a great start there. What's your soil mixture and fertilizing schedule?

Better yet, I will bring it to you and... well... as long as I'm there... Go to the beach!

Thanks for the encouragement. My soil is 50/50 #1 chicken grit(smallest) and Soil Pep(sifted pine bark). I use Bonsai Pro as directed with each watering all year long. I use fish emulsion fertilizer once/month when outside for the warm months. Does this seem adequate?

Have you ever tried jins with BRT?

Please, any further critique/suggestions are welcome. I have been learning horticulture and this art for only eight years. There is so much to learn!

Hey, fellow BRT growers!! This will be my initial post after "lurking" on the site for several years. Sorry that I can't lay out my "mission statement" at the moment as I am at work and apologies for the juvenile avatar. Hopefully at some point I will be able to figure out how to post photos and the like, but honestly, I could be generously called "Computer Caveman" for all my expertise with these shiny devices!! I'll give you some of my experiences with this species. Sited on a marble slab adjacent to the pool in the backyard, my BRT is in full, glorious sun all day, as much as I can find it. It's a tropical species, why shade it. Temperatures on the slab have exceeded 105 degrees, (questionable digital thermometer aside)!! Surely the leaves reflex from the slight stress, but this tree has not missed a beat. Real strong grower. Of course watering daily, sometimes twice in high-summer, is required. The soil mix, if I recall, is a mix of turface, pine bark, grit, lava, sheesh, maybe even a little potting soil. Next summer I'll move away slightly from organic contents at repot. In regards to "Bonsai Pro" added to every watering, how often do you water? It would seem to be a bit overkill to feed at each watering, if in fact it is a fert. Perhaps you could use an organic, pelletized, surface fert for a constant, graduated feed? I have had good results with such products, supplemented every couple of weeks with tomato fert. BRT are hungry, and enjoy an abundance of nutrients. A good fish/kelp emulsion has shone great efficacy as well. If you don't mind the odor, and more than frequent visits from our various fury friends!! You could probably use that weekly if you were so inclined. Its fairly mild, even in somewhat large doses. As for that front branch? There are a preponderance of branches coming out of one small area right there, too many. In the future, if you let your branches run, that area will become swollen. This would ruin any taper and maybe look strange. And I don't think a "jin" would look good. That stuff is for conifers, not tropical. And as Sam mentioned, this material has die-back issues. As in a nasty dirty brown orange color wherever it has perished. That branch is right in front, if you let it go long, the resultant cut could look nasty. As for cutting unwanted branches, try to leave a bit of a stub and round it off at the cut point. Concave cutters leave an unsightly die-back issue. Use some cutpaste immediately, it helps a little.

Thanks, Lance. Reverse taper is very unsightly to me, and I see what you are saying. This could be worrisome, and I will have to think about what could be done. The trees develop wth a 'muscular' trunk. This can add to the sense of disproportion, or reverse taper. Does that muscular sort of uneven development fade as the trunk matures, or once there always there?

From what you are saying, I could definitely give my BRT more sun. You say yours is on a slab (would like to see pictures by the way)? How much/how deep is the soil?

As to Bonsai Pro, it is diluted considerably for daily use- 1/4 tsp in a gallon of water during the growing season. It is safe for foliar feeding, and it may be my imagination but the green on my plants seem much healthier as a general rule since I've started using it. I'm not averse to adding granular or cakes.

It's actually in a pot, sitting on a slab of marble. The marble slab is from a group of three procured from a local stone monument dealer. Marble slabs that were in fact rejected for use at Arlington National Cemetery because the "marbling" had too much black in it. They make for a nice spot to cite trees on. Once I figure out how to post photos, will do so. Taper issues are common with this species I believe. I'm not growing it in the "Pierneef" style, more like a broad, spreading maple. Sadly, the base lags far behind the branches in development, creating a bit of a precarious look. Over the next few repots, I hope to remove fine surface roots, down to the "true" base of the tree and hope there is a little more basal flair. The "muscular" look to the trunk and branches just gets better and better over time. Definitely read thru whatever Sam posts on his experience with this species, as he is having success. I believe he worked this tree a bit with Erik Wiegert, a well known grower down in Florida. And if I'm not mistaken, actually "wintered" the tree with Mr. Wiegert for a time. Sam's tree has a great foundation in place and I'm sure in a few years it will really begin to show results of his hard work. If there is a tree out there that can look good in the "Pierneef" style, it's the BRT!! As it is in a pot and not a slab, the pot dimensions include a width of 14 inches by 12 with a little over 4 inches of depth. It's shoe-horned in there pretty good and I had to mound the soil to cover the superficial, fine surface roots. Sam is correct in suggesting root-work should be a gradual, thoughtful process. Lots of fert, lots of sun and lots of water will reward you with lots of growth and relaxing Sunday pruning almost weekly during the growing season!!