Catalpa As Bonsai

vtbonsaichief

I've been wondering if anyone has ever tried training Catalpa as bonsai.
About a year ago I asked whether it could be done on another forum and all I got was negative feedback. Of course I didn't listen to them and have started to train a small seedling I found near my house. There doesn't seem to be any trees larger than two feet around here so I'm stuck with raising it from scratch.
If anyone has any info on other people with trained trees( or better yet, pictures)or with pruning techniques it'd be very helpful. I just want to add another North American species to the list of bonsaiable material.

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TreeBay

I think I have one of these, I'll have to get some photos later. It's not much, just a stump maybe 22" high. Very large leaves and interesting flowers. It was started as a cutting by a grower in Southern California. A cutting about six inches across!

I don't think raising them from scratch is the way to go unless you have a whole lot of time. On the downside, the leaves are huge. The flower buds come up looking like the tree is going to bloom in an impressive way, and then - that's it - they fall off shortly after they appear.

I found this -

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums...1658527711.html

And the following uncopyrighted photos from the USDA gallery


Images used with permission:
Robert H. Mohlenbrock @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA NRCS. 1995. Northeast wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. Northeast National Technical Center, Chester, PA.

Regards,

Matt

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vtbonsaichief

I'd love to see those pictures. Sounds like an interesting tree you have. Yeah, I know it has huge leaves, but I'm doing some research now on their reduction by pulling off leaves on a fully grown tree and seeing if they come back small- or at all.
I really don't have too much choice at the moment as to starter material since the seedlings are all I can find. It's a native tree but I have yet to find any in the wild, only trees growing in people's yards. Nursery trees are much too skinny and expensive(and rare) so I've ruled that out. If anyone lives near a grove or knows of a place with wild Catalpas, let me know.

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Adam_MA

Funny you should mention this tree.. I have one that I took out of my yard as a 2 year old sapling last July, chopped it down to about 6 inches tall, cut off most of the roots, and placed it into a nursery container. It rewarded me about 10 days later with about 2 dozen buds all around the chop, and put on about a foot and a half of growth before the fall came. This year, I took it out of the nursery container, cut off an inch and a half root that was growing down-wards, and put it into a grow box. The new leader on this tree is already about 3/4" thick and has put on more growth than I could have hoped for. Matt is right the leaves on this are huge! But I have a couple of 60-70 foot tall ones around my yard, and I have been playing with leaf reduction on them. I think it can be done to an extent, but to make a convincing bonsai the tree would have to be very large. I am at work now, but will see about posting up some pics for you tonight.

BTW, around here the common name for the tree is the "Indian Cigar" tree. This is because the seed pods grow off this tree and look almost like great big green beans, then turn brownish black like cigars.

Adam

Carcey

I've never tried a catalpa as a bonsai, but I can comment on the tree itself. Catalpa's were a pest on the farm back home...they grew EVERYWHERE! No matter how much we hacked at them, they kept coming back as long as there was a trace of root left. They grow VERY quickly, so a seedling shouldn't pose much problem to you. As far as the leaves reducing, we did everything to try and kill these trees, so you would think their leaves would've reduced, if nothing else...but, they didn't. Good luck with your project, but be ready for big leaves. Also, if you get blooms, clean them off the bench immediately after they drop...they turn into this caustic mush-stuff and will be tough to clean once they "mush up".

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OddManOut

The problem, as you have realized, is the size of the thing. The leaves are simply much too large to be suitable as bonsai and no technique can scale them down.

One member of the Bonsai Club of Košice (in Slovakia) displayed his catalpa a couple of years ago. It is about 1,3 metres tall and even at that it looks a bit top-heavy. Considering the size of the leaves, I can’t imagine that the catalpa can be nurture any smaller than that and be expected to have proportionally pleasing results.

So if you're really bent on having a catalpa as bonsai, you'll have to make it a large one. Sorry.

mordachai

it's funny, I've heard so many people saying you can't reduce the larger leaved specie in bonsai.
But it've seen seagrapes with leaves less than 1"(not cut, really reduced), sheffelera with leaves 2" or so, banyans with 1" leaves,royal poincianna about 4" long(the whole compound leaf, not the leaflets), and even magnoilia with 1" leaves.
and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head....

so, my advice is to ignore all the naysay`rs and go ahead and create a catalpa bonsai.
(the trees are all around my sisters house, next time I'm there, I will try to find a seedling too!)

|M|

acrouse

I can give you some encouragement I believe. The tree below is Catalpa, it was bought out of Louisiana. When I received it 4 years ago it was growing in a coconut fiber clay mix in a plastic 3 gallon nursery pot.The pot is 3" deep, the tree is approx 28" from the soil base to the top of the crown, the trunk is approx 1 3/4" diameter at the soil line. It grows happily in a basic commercial bonsai soil mix. It loves water! Last year I moved it to this training pot. I keep looking at it and want to chop it though ...maybe back to a grow box yet! It is now approx 8 yrs old.

oh....the leaves? When I got the tree they measured 12-14" . This year they measure 5 1/2" and they will get smaller with further training over time. I don't honestly know how small; only been doing this 6yrs, but you shouldn't give up if you really want a Catalpa. They're pretty forgiving too. If this tree were handled/trained by someone with more experience than I it would surely be a better tree today. I am learning with it. I say go for it!

Attached Images

Catalpa05122006.jpg (68.7 KB, 59 views)

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acrouse

I also have 7 Jacarandas and 1 Royal Poinciana (sp?) growing on too! And there is another tree out there that was given to me with a purchase and has now leafed out and I have no idea that it is! Might be an Ash, we wil see. Soon I need to post pics of it and ID it. But just because it has "bigger" leaves I don't intend to give up on it. Good Luck to you!

__________________
Never stop accepting change and never stop learning. Once you cease to be able to accept change and to learn; surely you will cease to exist. You see this in the trees? It applies personally as well.
Art