teeny tiny fuschia

Debby

I had read of using fuschia for mame bonsai and so thought that I would give it a try with a variety that I came across in a nursery last week. The leaves looked small and I figured the flowers would probably be small too, you know maybe only an inch or so long so they wouldn't overpower a mame bonsai too much.

Well did I score on this one folks! I just noticed a couple flowers that have finally opened on this small plant as it stands in my window. And believe me, I did have to look very closely. These flowers can't be more than 1 cm in length (1/4"). Can you imagine how wonderful these little "trees" will be with their tiny flowers dangling from them like fabulous decorations.

I will let them grow in big pots for a couple years because the stems are very thin, but then maybe one in a broom style and perhaps one in a windswept style (to alllow room for the little flowers to dangle). I can hardly wait. And just think of all the cuttings and more plants.... It is so exciting!

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anttal63

they sound beautiful enjoy deb

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saurak

any pictures would be lovely

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grandma_deal

I received a Fuchsia Microphylla Hildalgensis yesterday from eBay. It's 5" tall now & had 1/4" bright pink flowers which fell off during shipping, will supposedly have purple berries. Only 2 little branches right now so I'm not sure what style to go with. Maybe next year will show more. Looking forward to hearing more about yours.

Debby

My little fuschias are covered with flowers right now. I have to be very careful that the tiny pots that they are growing in don't dry out. You see in two weeks, I will be loading up my car with my two dogs, and the plants that I have kept, my luggage, and oh yes, my husband, and we will be moving from Langley BC to Oxford NS. Even knowing I was going to be doing this move hasn't kept me from hanging around the nursery and being depressed because I cant buy plants. So these little fuschias and a few others have had to be left in their original pots so that I can cram everything into the car (it is a smallish car, and I still have a bunch of plants to take). But when we get there, then I will transplant things and then these little guys will have time to just grow and grow... And I will enjoy every day of it, and then I can begin to style them. How fun.

albek

If you’re small trees are in a training period and you want fatter trunks there are three important things to do to be successful.

Let one branch grow freely for two or more years until the trunk has fattened sufficiently. Keep the other branches trimmed in this period. When the trunk has fattened you can cut off the sacrifice branch.

Remove all flowers as soon as they emerge, to focus on vegetative growth. This will speed the process considerably.

Plant the tree in a colander in a fair draining soil. This will develop a good root system, and the growth of the tree will be stronger. Only repot every third year.

Regards
Morten Albek

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Debby

Thank you so much for the advice. These little branches are quite small and the "trunk to be" is pretty spindly at this point, and I was thinking of just sort of letting it go for a couple years, after putting it into a bigger pot of course. These were originally intended to be used in hanging baskets I guess and are in those tiny "basket stuffer" pots. I may have to chop the one though next winter, because the first branch is way too high to use in a mame bonsai. Then I would follow your suggestion of a sacrifice branch but keep the others trimmed.

And as far as I can see, there are no primary roots, just very fine fibrous ones so far. I am not sure though what you mean by planting it in a colander to develope the root system. How does that help?

Repotter

Debby, great find, I found some dwarf Fuschia in the nursery where I work as well.
They are the Rothschild variety, tiny 1/4 inch flowers, dark pink and the trunks are already woody but small. I was able to trim several into "tree like" forms and offer them for sale. Needless to say they sold in two days. They were only 4" tall but looked good.

Good luck with youir move and trees, ..Hec

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albek

A colander is very good when developing roots and thickening trunks for a number of reasons.
The small holes in the basket makes the roots stop growing when they reaches the sides of the colander, and new roots will develop further back. This produce a very good and dense root system.
You can leave the tree in the colander for a much longer time before repotting, speeding up the growth of trunk and branches.
Also the increased drainage and higher amount of oxygen available in the soil is beneficial for the growth.

Using a normal pot or container doesn’t have this effect. Here the roots will continue elongating, growing in circles around the pot inside, and not develop many new roots further back. Repotting more often is necessary, and this will slow down the development considerably.

Therefore a colander is a very good solution.

On the picture a Brazilian Cherry, Cerejeira. Here another pot is added outside to prevent the tree from drying out too fast in the heat of Brazil. Regurarely the outer pot is removed and the roots growing through the holes of the basket is cut, to keep the effect of the colander.
I made this tree at a recent workshop in Brazil.

Regards
Morten Albek

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Shohin-bonsai Europe
Morten Albek Bonsai