2nd Hongkong Kumquat, Fortunella hindsii (Kinzu)

So here is my second Kinzu (Golden Bean kumquat). This was a surprise as the nursery sent a second one. I notified them and they said to just keep it Talk about your happy accidents! Not much to look at but you can't beat the price.

The root ball was much smaller (lots of fine roots) but a will one day be a triple trunk. It got a pretty harsh hair cut in hopes of some backbuding. I figured I would experiment just a little so it ended up in a 5" bulb pan as a trainer. (The other reason is I have no other pots handy and I'm nearly out of DE... sad face...)

Now I really am out of room...

They are long-internode, upright growing just like it looks now. All new growth will be perfectly vertical, -you could use it for a plumb-bob. By the time that new twig growth gets its 3rd pair of leaves at the tip big enough to pinch, that twig's first set of leaves will have an internode 1" long, and the second won't be much shorter. They are "open" in spite of having large leaves. The wood is very stiff and hard to train with wire, so start early, like now, and assume that you're going to rewire a given branch many times to get significant change. You also need to rig a guy wire system on the base to reconnect with over and over to pull those existing trunk apart.

I love citrus as bonsai. Yes, not just 'Kinzu', most have a tendency to be rigidly upright, long internodes and difficult to wire shape into them. Trick is to wire branches before they have totally hardened off and become brittle. Wire too soon and young branches are tender and break easy.

But down the road, they are wonderful as they mature.