Bonsai from seed

JDubinski

Hey All,

I thought it would be a fun project to try to grow some of my own material. I went and bought some seeds for different kinds of trees that I thought could be fun and interesting to grow.

I purchased Chinese Elm, Coffee plant, African Baobab, Crape Myrtle, and Ficus Benghalensis (Banyan Ficus). Has anyone had any luck with growing any of these? The seeds weren't terribly expensive so I thought it could be something fun to try out.

Thanks for the tips.

j

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Joanie

Chinese elm grow pretty easily. I don't know about the rest.

Take a lot of time to learn how to treat the seedlings for future bonsai... such as removing the tap root if needed, to encourage radial roots. Wire movement when it's time, and encourage the small trees to grow into the kind of bonsai that is difficult to buy.

Good luck!
Joanie

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AndyWilson

Growing baobab from seed is an experience that might leave you frustrated for about twenty years... depending on which type of baobab were talking here, adansonia digitata? Thats the one we use, there is Mozambique baobab too and and australian variety i believe.

Notch the top of the coats, soak in warm water if you like, but be prepared to leave the tap root on until the trunk has acquired the right thickness, baobabs also develop little to no fine root while the tap is still on

Just some thoughts to ponder!

bisjoe

I planted 6 Banyan seeds, they were labeled "India Banyan" but were Benghalensis. It's tricky. What I did was to place them on the surface of the soil, and mist 3-4 times a day to keep moist and it took a little over 30 days for them to germinate. Even then only 4 came up. I now have 8 after doing trunk chops and rooting the cuttings. This is at age 18 months. The leaves on these are about 3" max, on the ones in larger growing pots they are over 6".

Attached Images

chop3.jpg (71.9 KB, 108 views)

JDubinski

Yup, I got the adansonia digitata. I just thought it was kind of neat. I really wanted to get some Madagascar Baobab seeds, but I wasn't able to find any. I think that tree is much more attractive that the African or Australian types.

I a hoping to grow the Chinese Elm and some of the Crape Myrtle as neagari/ exposed root style. I really like this style and have seen only a few for sale but are very expensive.

I would like make a sumo out of the baobabs, banyans out of the ficus, and not sure about the coffee.
I know that some if not most of these won't do much, but we'll see.

AndyWilson

Cool, and good luck with that:-) i found the link i was look for that has a brief explanation of baobab for bonsai its here http://www.saba.org.za/baobabs.htm

I am also a great fan of the exposed root style, good luck with that!

JDubinski

I have been pretty successful with my natal plum seeds so far. I have over a dozen that have sprouted and have their second set of leaves.

When is the best time to repot these little guys and when should I cut the tap root? I heard that you should cut the tap root in order to encourage other roots and nebari to develop?

Also, does anyone know of a book that might give me some pointers on raising seedlings?

Thanks for the advice.

Jeff

lagunamadre

I never tried any of those seeds, but last july I started 50 Texas Ebony seeds. I cut the tap roots twice in the first month and wired them this spring. There a lot of fun and already have tiny leaves.You can do things to a seedling and soon have a tree better than you can buy in a store.

anttal63

enjoy the adventure guys, you will definately learn heaps from it.and have some great material in future.

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Antonio . . .
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