SHOWING A BRAZILLIAN RAINTREE

i will be putting my brazillian rain tree in the upcoming milwaukee bonsai society (MBS) show in 2 weeks and have a concern about the leafs being folded up due to lower light levels... the show room is a pretty typical room with 8' tall ceilings and fluorescent lighting (yawn)...

i have been contemplating building a small booth in which to show the tree with grow tubes in the roof of the structure, but i wonder if that is even necessary...

so, i guess my question is:

has anyone had any experience showing a BRT under "normal" ceiling florescent lighting ?
and if so, how did the leaves look ?

thanks !!!
(sam - you out there ? )

Brother Kevin. In my limited experience and talking with other members in FL there are only 2 things you can do: 1 is show up and try to get the brightest spot and hope for the best. The leaves will definitely close up and may reopen depending on how bright the spot is. The other thing you can do is bring the plant indoors between now and the show and try to simulate the level of light you think the plant will receive. Some people say they get used to this light level and will keep the leaves open. I have always done number 1 and they usually remain open enough for the show but I also always get the brightest spot by a large window; people always understand.

Ya got a photo?

thanks sam... windows are not an option at the show (in the basement)...

so i will either do #2 or build the light structure.

re: a picture, i will have one when i have the display finalized

THANKS !!!

Look out, Sam O sighting!! How's your flat-top doing? Got a kid yet? Mine just started pre-K!! Good to see ya'!!

lance - the wayward sammy has been busy doing a meadowlark lemon and trotting the globe

Option 3 - fugettaboutit. Seriously, the basement exhibit room is too dark, leaves will most likely fold up and stay that way all weekend.
3 - B - you could check attractiveness with folded leaves. Wait until dark. Then by flashlight prune off any folded leaf that moves to a spot that is out of place.

Option 4 - defoliate the tree. Show it with no leaves. Of course your branch structure has to be top notch. Can't hide anything behind the leaves if you defoliate. A healthy BRT can survive being defoliated several times a year I've been told. (don't know first hand, never grew a BRT).

Several years ago, someone showed a BRT at MKE, and its leaves remained folded all weekend. It needs to be very bright light to keep the leaves open. Your best bet is to forget about it, show the tree with folded leaves.

To keep the leaves open, you should use something bright, like 4 lamp fluorescent fixture with T-5 Lamps of at least 5200K, to 6500K. Anything less, and I am afraid they will not open. What ever architectural construction you engineer to hold up your lamps will have to meet the approval of the "SHOW CHAIR", and if the pool of light you create is too bright, the Show Chair may veto it because everything else will look like it is in the dark. I wish they would move the show to the Mitchell Domes. At least there you get natural sunlight.  

Path of least resistance = plan on them being closed.

DAMN LEO !!!
that just sounds like giving up

actually, the "pool of light" has been considered and will not have spill-over as the construct would be fully contained
with the hope of a silhouette on the side panels at most
(also the power-that-be has already been informed of my plan)

but you did make me thank that i should do a dry run with the intended lights before building the structure

A small but great discussion. I'm looking forward to a description of the process and of course pictures. Many of us would like to exhibit our BTs but hesitate. So thanks guys. Sam good to hear from you.

Best you could do, I suppose, would be to keep it in some shade leading up to the event. Acclimate it, so to speak. I used to defoliate when I bring it indoors and again when it goes outside. If you do, try to make sure there are some developed buds ready to take over and grow. You could possibly get away with maybe two defoliations during the growing season in your climate, but I wouldn't push it. Since I repotted into a much smaller container, the growth slows WAY down, (as most trees would). So next summer it will go into this 22"x16" battleship....


If any tree responds better to "over potting", I've yet to see it. Brother Johnny's....






Mine...




And after a bit of saw-zall action
[url=https://servimg.com/view/19136224/224][/ur

Johnny working his, May '14...


Mine in '13....


Mine '15

thanks for all the input...
i will be going with an enclosed structure with supplemental lighting and will do an in-depth post on how it works after the show.

(btw - nice pot choice on yours lance ! and nomad johnny's is a monster !)

ok... so this follow up post will not be as in-depth as i had intended (having taken pictures of the construction of the enclosure etc...   )
it really came down to the 11th hour for me, so i did not even have the time to do a dry run with the lights before committing to it and going to set it up...

BUT - it DID work and here are the results:

here is the completed display



the leaves cooperated alllll weekend long and it looked better under my lights than it does in the full sun
(hot days tend to make the leaves fold up too...)

the display was titled "The Broken Dame of Rio Takes Her Olympian Bow..."

the pot is by Linda Ippel http://www.lindaippelstudios.com/
and i made the accent tray (ceramic)
the creatures are appropriately enough, brazillian tapirs
the "stand" is 2 separate pieces of stone from the shores of lake superior
and the sides of the enclosure are made with nun wimple material... seriously.

couplafew detail shots







and the guest artist/judge Peter Tea saw fit to give it one of these (novice category):



as an aside, he said it would have been first place except he didnt like the sun...
oh well - i knew it was not a great sun, but it was the best i could draw in the time that i had...

stoked that the whole concept worked !!!

Congrats Kevin!!!!!!

Very well done!!!!!!!!!!!

So when you be going to China to study under Master Lee Rong Sun ?

Kidding aside, impressive.
Good to be your Internet friend.
Laters.
Khaimraj

I'll give a B-.......don't think the tree is quite ready for a show and something could be done to clean up the visuals created by the "mechanicals" of the lighting.
And I agree that the "sun" doesn't seem to enhance the image...... Maybe wrap your material around the frame so as to have less background angles/materials....
Pot is ballin'!!!! Very interesting and the accent is bionic!!!! Perfect!!! Great execution!!! Stand for the tree is very original, I dig it!! Nice composition going on!!!


I would cut back the top pretty hard. Your lowest branches could be getting shaded out or they just can't keep up with top. Great looking trunk!!! I'm kinda' unsure what direction and image your trying to create, so I'll eagerly await progress reports!!!!!

What is this "novice" jibber-jabber?!?! I seen the pic's of you wirin' with Marco!!!!

Careful, you might be gettin' good at this!!!

yeah mac... but time dictated what i could and could not do regarding the structure...
i made a "roof" which addressed some of that but it looked better without...

re: the tree itself... it was indeed ready to show in the novice category... remember - this is only my 5th growing season.
(at the milwaukee show there is novice, intermediate & advanced)

but you are correct in that anything above novice, the tree does need to move along more...

and i do appreciate the critical remarks... better than blowing sunshine up the backside...
and much better than "nice bonsai"

btw - curious if you have stuck a tree in a show yet, lance ?

and thanks and right back atcha khai !!!

Giving the ol' "Nice tree" get's lame after awhile. Anything critical I say, take with a grain of tabaccy!!! Heheheeee.....
I've never even been to a show, let alone have a tree that would be showable!!!! Maybe some day....I'll go to a show!!

I don't think your a novice and I mean that in a good way!!!
The B-? For me, that's a pretty good grade.....


as if ya' cared!!!

Keep peelin'!!!!!!!

Since Lance won't or can't.
Nice tree!
Really. And a congratulations too!
I really need to get somewhere to meet you guys in person.

Kevin you ended up with a great display, except for the sun. If you remove the tree itself, then the combination of colors and textures of the soil, pots, plants, tapers, etc. is uncommonly good. The accent pot and its contents is really great. Worth copying that's for sure. The theme has been used for the main object, but I have never seen it as an accent. Where did you get the idea? All in all great and thanks for sharing.

lance - yep !!!
i will take a B- any day of the week... just like back in high school

mike !!!
we hada chance in michigan but circumstances intervened...
i am sure another occasion will arise... it would be great to hang out with you...

doug... thank you very much !

the idea evolved quite a bit from initial conception... it was last year that i decided to show the tree this year without realizing the olympics were this year and were being held in Rio... once that dawned on me, i really wanted to take this in a controversial direction, juxtaposing the tree against the slums of Rio, calling it "Putting Lipstick on the Crippled Dame of Rio", because of how the IOC comes into a city, and in this case a very impoverished one, and puts make-up on it for the lights and cameras and then after the show, they just split town, leaving the same mess that was there, plus some... but that juxtapositioning would be too close to what i did last year... so i softened the concept... (and i have always pictured this tree as an elegant, but elderly woman with back bent by the ravages of time)

so in answer to your question, i guess i just got the idea from my somewhere between my ears...  

and i agree about the sun... i knew it was the weak link going in, but i literally ran out of time to do anything better...

beer city snake wrote:yeah mac...btw-curious if you have stuck a tree in a show yet, lance ?

I know, WTF am I!!
Love BRTs....love this one.....Brother Johnny would love hackin' at it, me too...
I hacked a lil' project recently. I got poor pic's but right kno I have to go out with WeeMac....

LanceMac10 wrote:Love BRTs....love this one.....Brother Johnny would love hackin' at it, me too...
I hacked a lil' project recently. I got poor pic's but right kno I have to go out with WeeMac....

wee macs always trump trunk hacks !!!
(say that 3x fast)

i am lucky in that my wee lasses are grown up and have given me 2 wee macs that get to go home with their parents when i am done having fun with them !!! (actually wee herrs would be more appropriate as my grandsons are known by me as the baby blitzkrieg boppers - hugo unt wolfgang !)