Bittersweet Nightshade Solanum dulcamara

[Gaea's listener]

Progress shots of this little bittersweet nightshade
From April 2021 till July 2021

I found it behind the vegetable garden and had no idea what it was but put it over a rock and waited for the leaves to show. It is fun watching it develop. It is very fast growing and easy to cultivate species. It responds very well to pruning with vigorous new growth. In a few months it developed an interesting shape and the flowers and berries on it are just adorable. I'd like to try a semi-cascade style for it eventually, for now it will just grow somewhat freely to thicken the trunk. I do cut the vertically growing branches eventually when they become too tall.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Cool! Just don't let anything eat those berries! I think they may be poisonous.

 

[Gaea's listener]

Cool! Just don't let anything eat those berries! I think they may be poisonous.

Thank you and yes on being poisonous, good call. Even though they are not deadly, they can be toxic to pets and small kids. Luckily no one like that has access to the one I'm growing. Wild birds and wild animals are unaffected by it and they actually like them. It's often mistaken with a deadly nightshade, Atropa Belladona, which has black berries, and, like the name suggests, can be deadly. Apparently even touching it with wounds on the skin can cause some issues. It is very rare around here but the one I found, Solanum Dulcamara is very common and not as dangerous. I always thought they are annual weeds that just grow from seeds each year but they can actually survive mild winters here and grow a trunk

 

[HorseloverFat]

Nice!

I’m working with one of these.. it’s surprisingly been a lot of fun.

The first year... i tried to train it how i would a tree.... but it is a VINE.... it needs “action” to develop basal swelling... vines don’t NEED too much “thickness” on any single trunk, naturally, because the chutes and new branches are supposed to be supported by “x” (whatever it’s climbing).. so this means MUCH more new growth needs to emerge the “main” stem to encourage it to “beef-up” for support..

This year I’ve grown out runners, pruned way back, and grow out runners and cut them back... and to be honest... it LOOKS like it’ll go one more “round” before I’m on “no-more temperate pruning work before dormancy” time. (After the first 10 days of August, for ME)

 

[HorseloverFat]

Oh.... and the Solanum is STILL detrimentally toxic at 2 berries for a 2-3 year old child. (Not from experience... but parroted from experience )

 

[hinmo24t]

i have this stuff all around my property and where i live. my mom and many people make winter wreaths and decorations from the dried berries on vines. i need to snoop around my back hedge sometime and find a thick one to dig up and bonsai sometime

 

[rockm]

FWIW, vines like bittersweet vine (Celastrus orbiculatus--which is NOT the species in the OP), wisteria and climbing hydrangea can generally be collected in big to huge sizes with very little problem, mostly just sawing off the tap root and yanking them out of the ground. Bittersweet and wisteria are both insanely invasive in the Eastern U.S. and sprawl over alot of woodlands. I collected the bittersweet trunk below by sawing it out of the ground one spring. The wisteria trunk next to it was collected in the D.C. area a few years ago-bigger wisteria like this one take a bit more finesse in getting them out without killing portions of the trunk. I guess what I'm trying to say is, "bigger is better" when it comes to vines for bonsai.

 

[Gaea's listener]

Nice!

I’m working with one of these.. it’s surprisingly been a lot of fun.

The first year... i tried to train it how i would a tree.... but it is a VINE.... it needs “action” to develop basal swelling... vines don’t NEED too much “thickness” on any single trunk, naturally, because the chutes and new branches are supposed to be supported by “x” (whatever it’s climbing).. so this means MUCH more new growth needs to emerge the “main” stem to encourage it to “beef-up” for support..

This year I’ve grown out runners, pruned way back, and grow out runners and cut them back... and to be honest... it LOOKS like it’ll go one more “round” before I’m on “no-more temperate pruning work before dormancy” time. (After the first 10 days of August, for ME)

do you have photos of yours? I like that it needs action lol, that's fun to watch and fun to trim

 

[Gaea's listener]

i have this stuff all around my property and where i live. my mom and many people make winter wreaths and decorations from the dried berries on vines. i need to snoop around my back hedge sometime and find a thick one to dig up and bonsai sometime

you may find some nice trunk ones then, that would be awesome. The one I found is the biggest I could find

 

[Gaea's listener]

FWIW, vines like bittersweet vine (Celastrus orbiculatus--which is NOT the species in the OP), wisteria and climbing hydrangea can generally be collected in big to huge sizes with very little problem, mostly just sawing off the tap root and yanking them out of the ground. Bittersweet and wisteria are both insanely invasive in the Eastern U.S. and sprawl over alot of woodlands. I collected the bittersweet trunk below by sawing it out of the ground one spring. The wisteria trunk next to it was collected in the D.C. area a few years ago-bigger wisteria like this one take a bit more finesse in getting them out without killing portions of the trunk. I guess what I'm trying to say is, "bigger is better" when it comes to vines for bonsai.

those are amazing trunks, maybe one day I too will be lucky to find or be gifted one like that. Did you just remove the trunk without any roots and it grew roots? That is really cool. I'll keep looking, so far in the areas I have access too I only found russian olive (which, for some reason, I don't want to collect), autumn olive (which I collected), maples and siberian elm- still looking for a decent one. Haven't seen any massive vines like the ones you're showing, the wisterias generally do poorly here. Quick search for oriental bittersweet shows it is invasive here in Ontario too so I may be able to scout one. Thank you for this info, now I will be on the lookout. Their berries look gorgeous, what's the leaf size on them?

 

[rockm]

those are amazing trunks, maybe one day I too will be lucky to find or be gifted one like that. Did you just remove the trunk without any roots and it grew roots? That is really cool. I'll keep looking, so far in the areas I have access too I only found russian olive (which, for some reason, I don't want to collect), autumn olive (which I collected), maples and siberian elm- still looking for a decent one. Haven't seen any massive vines like the ones you're showing, the wisterias generally do poorly here. Quick search for oriental bittersweet shows it is invasive here in Ontario too so I may be able to scout one. Thank you for this info, now I will be on the lookout. Their berries look gorgeous, what's the leaf size on them?

Bittersweet has small (ish) leaves. They don't reduce all that well. Wisteria has compound leaves which are pretty large and don't reduce all that much. To get the most out of large leaved spcies like these, big to huge trunks are needed to put the large leaf size (and in the case of wisteria two foot long flowers) into visual context. Small trunks simply look weird with huge leaves and physically they can topple over in a pot. With wisteria, you can collect without many roots at all in mid-spring just before they push new leaves. Plant in rich organic soil not straight bonsai soil. Bittersweet is much the same, although they appreciate a few feeders attached when they're collected. The secret is in the soil and how to get them to recover. Since both are forest-growing vines that use OTHER trees for physical support, they like a lot of sun on their upper portions, while their roots are shaded and kept moist. I usually shade the pots under newly-collected wisteria and bittersweet and allow their tops to get about five hours of morning sun...Takes a month or so and new growth pops on old wood.

Here's a list of vines that can be used for bonsai and found easily. Porcelain berry is a great subject too and here it is everywhere...Yes, poison ivy can be bonsaied--and it can be spectacular if you find an old trunk to work with (obviously gloves and alot of discretion is needed in having one as a bonsai).

https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES/DOCUMENTS/Publications/Fact_Sheets/Valley_Laboratory/WoodyVinesIdentificationandControlpdf.pdf?la=en

 

[HorseloverFat]

It is in my non-ideal thread.

the LAST post is the most recent picture of it.. jul 8th.

HorseloverFat’s 2020-2120 NON-ideal NONtest entries.

During my “battle” with seasonal pests this year, (I will be much more prepared NEXT season) I ended up taking a greater deal of time “up close and personal”.. bonding, if you will, with my plants.. which I now realized I had stopped doing as much. :( NEVER AGAIN! ... Anyways.. I noticed that...

www.bonsainut.com