Acacia burkei progression

I got this Acacia burkei as a nursery bag tree from another member of the Kai in 2009 when I started in the hobby:

The picture shows the tree in 2010. The red arrow indicates the branch that was grown in 2009 because I did not like the long clean trunk. At this stage the tree looked like Pierneef style Acacia.

This is the tree today styled in an open umbrella old Acacia tree style:

(The tree was defoliated November 2012 and all twigs cut back to two leaves up to now.)

Because it is autumn here now the leaves shows a little yellowing in some places.)

I would appreciate any honest critique.

(No critique on others critique please)

Lennard

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought about defoliating my monkey-thorns (Senegalia galpinii), but I will try it when they are more advanced. It obviously induces more compact foliage.
Iris

Looking good!

It filled out very nicely in two years Lennard. Great job.

Lig en Liefde
Andre

Very nice. A truly faithful tree tyo the sight of flat top trees that can be seen in africa - well, never been south of the Moroccan border, but to me it's an image of savannah from what I've seen on photos.

Nice to see species that are too hard to cultivate over here, great work: I'll bring a box of beers to share next time you invite me for a braai

bonsaisr wrote:Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought about defoliating my monkey-thorns (Senegalia galpinii), but I will try it when they are more advanced. It obviously induces more compact foliage.
Iris

It is going to be difficult to get use to the new Latin name- luckily when we talk about Acacia here in South Africa we call them Doringbome (Thorn trees).
I make it a habit now to cut back to the last two buds right from the beginning when building the crown. If one do not do that the crown will be too heavy for the trunk when the tree is mature. Defoliating the tree gets you toothpick thickness twiggy growth - will see if they survive this winter.

Thanks for the reply.

Lennard

Andre Beaurain wrote:It filled out very nicely in two years Lennard. Great job.

Lig en Liefde
Andre

Half rotted horse stable bedding and chicken manure pellets as a mulch gives you incredible growth!

Thanks

Lennard

AlainK wrote:Very nice. A truly faithful tree tyo the sight of flat top trees that can be seen in africa - well, never been south of the Moroccan border, but to me it's an image of savannah from what I've seen on photos.

Nice to see species that are too hard to cultivate over here, great work: I'll bring a box of beers to share next time you invite me for a braai

I will introduce you to POTJIEKOS(Translated it would be: Stew in an three legged cast iron black pot cooked over an open flame.) while we talk about the trees - beer/wine is one of the ingredients of this traditional stew.

Thanks for the reply.

Lennard

AlainK wrote:
Nice to see species that are too hard to cultivate over here,

How odd. They grow fine in NY State. A dry cool winter rest above freezing.
Iris

lennard wrote:
Half rotted horse stable bedding and chicken manure pellets as a mulch gives you incredible growth!
Lennard

In my basement? I'll try it this summer. How about Osmocote?
Iris

bonsaisr wrote:

lennard wrote:
Half rotted horse stable bedding and chicken manure pellets as a mulch gives you incredible growth!
Lennard

In my basement? I'll try it this summer. How about Osmocote?
Iris

I am using a very "natural" mix of garden loam, pool filter sand and compost - mulches and manure works well for fertilizing with this kind of soil mix.

What mix are you using?

Lennard

Remember I am living on a different planet from South Africa. Tropicals are outdoors in summer in pretty nearly full sun. Temperatures not often in the 30s C.
Winter till April or May under fluorescent lights.
My coarse mix, which I use for conifers, acacias, & Ficus, is about 2 parts expanded shale, 2 parts silica aquarium gravel, one part or less chopped fir bark, about one tenth or so charcoal, and acrylamide crystals. Particle size is more or less 2 to 6 cm.
Iris

Hi Lennard

Do you think it woult be ok to defoliate any of the acacia's durring the November period? (Assuming you also live near rustenburg South-Africa and that the tree is healthy with no recent major styling or repoting)

Thanks

Corne, to me defoliating Acacia is mainly to get back buds to grow. The normal process would be to let the twigs grow out to about 20-30cm before cutting them back to the last two buds. If you do not defoliate, most of the time you will only get the last bud going. Defoliating the whole tree will also get you mature buds lower down the branches and even the trunk to start growing. An added bonus, is that you will get smaller leaves when you have achieved a lot of twiggy growth.

Defoliating an Acacia is quite a natural process: game like Kudu eat the leaves and drought can also defoliate a tree.

A strong growing tree can easily be defoliated three times a year in our climate.

Lennard