My largest Pemphis

Ka Pabling wrote:Hi Jolz,
A lot of our members are anxious to see what happened to this tree, I suggest you post pictures at your previous post, My largest Pemphis,
regards
ka pabling

that's true ka pabling and im one of those <EXCITED> to see the initial result! pleeeease be kind to update the development jolz

regards, totomng..

totomng wrote:

Ka Pabling wrote:Hi Jolz,
A lot of our members are anxious to see what happened to this tree, I suggest you post pictures at your previous post, My largest Pemphis,
regards
ka pabling

that's true ka pabling and im one of those <EXCITED> to see the initial result! pleeeease be kind to update the development jolz

regards, totomng..

WIth Jolz's approval I have merged the topics as suggested. When we do this, the posts appear in the date order they were posted so there may seem to be a bit of a "time lag" in places. I've kept the original thread titles so you can see which ones were which if you get confused. I personally think we're all too amazed by the tree itself to be worried about a couple of posts seeming out of sequence.

Well done - what a transformation.

Regards

Fiona

ndleong wrote:Is truly amazing. Is the tree transplant from forest?

Hi Ndleong,
There are no pemphis in the forest, it thrives in seashores, you have pemphis in your country too

Best regards
ka pabling

Ka Pabling wrote:
Hey guys, so many people are watching this thread but nobody wants to comment, I wonder why? I might as well; continue with my suggestions.
The time for spraying seawater is when there are leaves already, in the meantime you can use it to water the trunk alternately with fresh water, slowly reducing the volume of seawater and increasing fresh water.In its natural habitat, pemphis is splashed with seawater 24/7, When the growth of the
branches are about 5 inches, thats the time for you to spray seawater to the leaves.
When the leaves are about 6 or 7 inches, this will be the time for you to decide which of the branches you are going to retain, and cut those that you dont need to induce better growth for the branches you have chosen. It is good practice to leave an extra branch or two near your chosen branch, I call it the insurance branch.,if something happens to your chosen branch, then you will have a spare.

TO BE CONTINUED

Yep!!! This is great info. Below, a close up of one of my pemphis leaf clusters:

ka pabling
Exactly what benifits is accomplished by spraying sea water on Pemphis. Does it make it back bud more? Is it just healthy for this specie?

Jose
Would this also benifit Conocarpus Erectius ( Button Wood) ?

from a zone envey admirer I would to have a pemphis they look to fun to work with!

Mitch

Hi Jose,
Very healthy looking pemphis,!


Hi Mitch,
Pemphis in its natural habitat is being splashed with sea water specially during high tide. It has been our experience that pemphis sprayed with sea water are healthier than those that are not. Partial leaf pruning will make a pemphis back bud.
I dont think that button wood will benefit from sea water spraying, we will have to ask Jose Luis about this.
best wishes
ka pabling

Ka Pabling wrote:Hi Jose,
Very healthy looking pemphis,!


Hi Mitch,
Pemphis in its natural habitat is being splashed with sea water specially during high tide. It has been our experience that pemphis sprayed with sea water are healthier than those that are not. Partial leaf pruning will make a pemphis back bud.
I dont think that button wood will benefit from sea water spraying, we will have to ask Jose Luis about this.
best wishes
ka pabling

Conocarpus does not benefit from salt spray. In its native habitat, salt spray, in fact, damages the leaf stamens and causes brown spots on new growth. Whenever exposed to salt, Button wood stores salt in its leaves, which appear fleshy and thick, quite similar to a Portulacaria afra.

Pemphis and Suariana, on the other hand, benefit inmensely from it. Other people might say otherwise, but pemphis and suriana, in fact, like dirty water. I feed mine constantly with diluted fish emulsion daily.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

Thanks Jose'

Mitch

Ka Pabling,

One note about pemphis that has not been mentioned is te fact that their roots are quite brittle. Also, they require special root media, specifically 100% crushed lava cynder, crushed shell or river sand. They also like to be a bit dry between waterings ( the roots).

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

well ...i don t understund how and why but at my last post i didn t saw the work you ve done on your tree jolz
now it s done....
so ...i find your work good...now with wiring and patience you ll make something really nice
maybe your trunk will deserve also a wood work with scarification to increase somme movements
anyway...it is in a good direction

jrodriguez wrote:Ka Pabling,

One note about pemphis that has not been mentioned is te fact that their roots are quite brittle. Also, they require special root media, specifically 100% crushed lava cynder, crushed shell or river sand. They also like to be a bit dry between waterings ( the roots).

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

Hi Jose,
Youre right Jose, pemphis needs special media, for this tree, I recomended 1/2 to 3/4 vulcanic cynder and crushed sea shells which is available in their area and river sand. Dont use clay or garden soil.

Hi Cram,
I was with Jolz last saturday and we did some initial wiring, I will post pics this afternoon.

Best wishes
ka pabling

Hi,

Here is an update of the tree after initial wiring last Saturday.

good day ka jolz thanks to intertain our ka pabling company its me bhoy apostol thanks also you give me a aroma tree i like it i care this tree for a new found a good friend in batangas

Ka Pabling,

I have found that adding a bit of crushed lobster or shrimp shell helps strengthen the root system. Also, I eliminate the flower buds once the appear, as setting seeds takes a lot of energy from the branches.

Your friend,

Jose Luis

jrodriguez wrote:Ka Pabling,

I have found that adding a bit of crushed lobster or shrimp shell helps strengthen the root system. Also, I eliminate the flower buds once the appear, as setting seeds takes a lot of energy from the branches.

Your friend,
Jose Luis

Hi Jose,
Thats right, adding crushed lobster,crab and shrimp shell helps strenghten the root system and aside from that since the roots of pemphis is suseptible to nematodes, the fungus that attack crab,lobster and shrimp shells are the same fungus that attack these nematodes

I am expecting you on 2012 my friend
ka pabling

hi ka pabling , thank you for such an informative post, i have only 1 large pemphis and i,v only had it for 1 year so i,m still learning about them, i moved to thailand a few years ago but before i lived in england so had no experience with tropical trees . how far can you cut back into the foliage without losing it , can you totally remove all the foliage on a branch and it still bud back ?. i can,t get large volcanic rock here but can get pumice and also i,d thought about coral rock at 1 inch is that ok. i don,t live near the sea so i use aquarium sea salt mix . there is only 1 supplier of good pemphis in thailand and he plants them all in cocopeat i,v tried to explain about using volcanic rock etc but to no avail , and because he uses cocopeat everybody else does, but he has hundreds of pemphis and they are not dead so maybe he,s right and i,m wrong . kind regards john

Hi John,
Your trader in Thailand uses coco peat and his pemphis are alive, some use ordinary garden soil and their pemphis are also alive, but for bonsai we always give what is best for our trees and definitely cocopeat or ordinary garden soil is not the best for pemphis
Coral rocks and crushed sea shells are as good as vulcanic cinder perhaps better.sea water from petshops is good but tap water mixed with rock salt can also be used.
Totally removing of all the foliage is not a common practice for pemphis there is danger that it might not back bud.,but there is a technique which is a bit complicated and im sorry I cant explain it here, anyway you will only apply this when your tree is already "finished" or show ready.
Best regards
ka pabling

Ka Pabling wrote:Hi John,
Your trader in Thailand uses coco peat and his pemphis are alive, some use ordinary garden soil and their pemphis are also alive, but for bonsai we always give what is best for our trees and definitely cocopeat or ordinary garden soil is not the best for pemphis
Coral rocks and crushed sea shells are as good as vulcanic cinder perhaps better.sea water from petshops is good but tap water mixed with rock salt can also be used.
Totally removing of all the foliage is not a common practice for pemphis there is danger that it might not back bud.,but there is a technique which is a bit complicated and im sorry I cant explain it here, anyway you will only apply this when your tree is already "finished" or show ready.
Best regards
ka pabling

Well, Ka Pabling is right. Coco peat......well, they might live for a while, but they won't thrive. Usually, coco peat or spagnum moss (even better) is placed on top of the soil media to encourage root growth when establishing a newly collected tree or whenever hard pruning has been performed.

As far as performing hard cutting, it can be done, provided that you take some aftermath precautions. Usually, this is done to established bonsai. For example, sometimes, finished pemphis bonsai get a 'big head' (canopy is too large and disproportioned). If one where talking about ficus, you will simply cut of the excess growth. Unfortunately, with pemphis you have to do the following:

1) Cut the branches to the desired length (leaving some terminal leaf clusters is best, if not, it will also work)
2) After arranging the profile, place the tree in a shaded location.
3) Water the tree
4) Cover the plant with a plastic bag to create a 'green house effect'.
5) In 7 to 14 days, new leaves should emerge (do not take the plastic bag off!!!)
6) Once the leaves are of normal size, punch a few holes on the plastic as to gradually let outside air in
7) If you have subsequent rain days, remove the bag gradually until you can successfully remove it completely

The reason this technique works is as follows:

1) Pemphis' leaf buds are VERY tiny
2) If exposed to the sun and wind, they dehydrate quickly
3) The plastic bag ensures equal/constant temperature and safe protection against sudden heat waves and wind dehydration
4) High humidity is ensured on the tree's capillary system
5) Gradually exposing the tree to the outside air during rainy days, the difference between the bag temperature and the outside is not critical

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

Thanks Jose for explaining the technique
John, as explained by Jose the technique is a bit complicated but it could be done.,and apply this only when the tree is already established and healthy.

Best regards,
ka pabling

thanks jose and ka pabling, the problem i,v got now then is how to change the cocopeat, when i bought the tree it had been collected from the wild 1 year before and the roots are fairly established in the cocopeat, over the year in my possession i have very carefully tried to introduce coral sand and pumice into the soil, but there is still a lot of cocopeat still in there. i,v read many times on this site that pemphis do not like to have their roots disturbed , so how do i change the soil ??? . if it were any other tree i,d just wash it out and replant in fresh soil . i,m nervous about doing it because they are not easy to get here and very expensive. can i gradually change it over a few years or do i have to risk it and change it all now . kind regards john

Hi John,

Re potting pemphis is not really that difficult .I never had any mortality due to re potting .cocopeat is so easy to remove,
Just tilt the tree 90 degrees, hold the tree and the pot firmly , use water hose and wash away the coco peat out.Then put the the coral stones,sand, sea shells or whatever. its ok if about 10 or 15% of the cocopeat is retained with the roots
best wishes
ka pabling

Ka Pabling wrote: Hi John,

Re potting pemphis is not really that difficult .I never had any mortality due to re potting .cocopeat is so easy to remove,
Just tilt the tree 90 degrees, hold the tree and the pot firmly , use water hose and wash away the coco peat out.Then put the the coral stones,sand, sea shells or whatever. its ok if about 10 or 15% of the cocopeat is retained with the roots
best wishes
ka pabling

John,

Like Ka Pabling said, Pemphis has a unique replanting method. By tilting the tree in a 90 degree angle, use a garden hose to wash away the organic matter. You just can't simply raise the tree from its pot!!! If you do this, you will actually break the roots!!!


Once the organic matter is removed, place the new potting medium in the pot and settle it using the pressure from the garden hose. As needed, work the medium in with running water until you fill in all the gaps. Once finished, place the tree in a table and keep watering it until clean water runs from the drainage holes. If the water is not yet clear, keep adding water until it does. Only then, the repotting will be finished.

You might opt to place the tree in a shaded location until new leaves appear. If you follow these instructions carefully, you will not encounter any problems. Ahh, by the way, healthy pemphis roots are reddish in color. If some are necrotic, the water pressure will snap them out.

I am sure your tree will be fine.

Kind regards,

Jose Luis

thanks guys, regards john

Hi John,
Dont be nervous, I guarantee it will be ok, I have done it lot of times. Just follow the detailed instruction of Jose,
If you fail, I will change it when you come to Manila on May 2012 for the ABFF.
Best wishes
ka pabling

Hi Jolz,

Do you have update on this pemphis? Can you post the latest

Regards
aaapostol_8368