Black Monkey Thorn, finally

It's Kev

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Well, this thing bounced back hard.
Considering the state the tree was in after transit, I didn’t do any root work at all. My pics didn’t show it, but this tree has never had root work done. So I just stuck it in the pot the best way it would fit.
So, when winter comes, gonna have to prune some roots and get my front

The sparse foliage pic was taken on the 21st, then suddenly it doubled in size
 

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leatherback

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Considering this is a.f.a.i.k. staple on the diet of all SA herbivores I think it will backbud like manic after pruning.
 

SeanS

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Will it be safe to do root work too? Or too late?
I’d say too late. I completely bare rooted and potted my acacia galpinii back in January when I bough it in a nursery bag (I’m in SA, so late summer) and it lost ALL of its leaves and small branchlets. It’s bounced back hard now and has leafed out fuller than it was before it lost everything. But I wouldn’t risk it again and therefore my advice is don’t do root work now if it’s already leafed out and growing.

Edit: on second thought, if you’re planning on cutting back to 2 leaves then maybe doing root work wouldn’t be so bad. It would theoretically be the same as my bare root and subsequent leave drop, you’d just be simulating the leaf drop manually yourself.It makes sense in my head but there’s still the risk the tree won’t bounce back and push like mine did.
 

jason biggs

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you dont need to do rootwork. The tree is small and the pot has a ton of space for growth...
Looking really healthy, nicely done. You can cut back as hard as you like it is a very forgiving species...
 

It's Kev

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Aight, not cutting back, gonna see how much growth I can get.
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Trunk is very deceiving because you think it’s thicker but then it’s just flakey, trying my best not to touch/tamper with it.

Anyway, this was incredibly interesting to see
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suddenly the new leaves at the ends are tiny AF

Maybe it just wants some coffee grounds

it’s taking an absolute thrashing from the sun every day, but the bigger pot helps and I water often, even dropped some leaf litter to help retain some moisture
 

SeanS

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My acacia galpinii has smaller leaves than your black monkey thorn in general but I’ve also noticed some tiny leaves on the ends of some of the newer shoots. I’ll get a photo later when it’s light out.

Where did you keep yours over your winter? Will I be ok keeping mine outside when it’s dormant? I’m in zone 9a (Johannesburg ZA).
 

It's Kev

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@SeanS South African winters aren’t so bad that you have to run indoors with your trees in the winter. These things can survive even Free State winters all on their own
 

fredman

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Yeah they actually need the cold cycle. Out in nature the soil temp don't go down that low. Bit different in a pot. In winter when there's moisture in the pot the roots can freeze. That's not a good thing for them.
 

It's Kev

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Yeah they actually need the cold cycle. Out in nature the soil temp don't go down that low. Bit different in a pot. In winter when there's moisture in the pot the roots can freeze. That's not a good thing for them.
this thing is a beast, almost waist high. I don't have to worry about frost, however, i'm considering keeping it semi shaded in the winter to ensure it does get that dormancy, also to make sure i get around to pruning it down again.

It looks pretty good in my opinion, and i don't want to ruin it with big cuts.
 

leatherback

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Really!? Wow!
From the pictures it looks only about 50cm / na 2ft tall!
 

fredman

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this thing is a beast, almost waist high. I don't have to worry about frost, however, i'm considering keeping it semi shaded in the winter to ensure it does get that dormancy, also to make sure i get around to pruning it down again.

It looks pretty good in my opinion, and i don't want to ruin it with big cuts.
I'm envious mate...very envious. I tried getting seed of them into NZ, but no luck. They do however allow karoo and the fever tree in...go figure :oops:
 

It's Kev

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Spend most of the last few months working in a different city and I suppose maintenance reckoned I’m part of the foreigners that left China, so they tossed my tree. Note, none of the others, just the one that was the most difficult to get...bastards.
Luckily though, they seem to have tossed it on the day I got back, or the day before. I spotted very familiar looking vegetation sticking out the garden refuse skip, and I managed to steal back my pot before it got repurposed.

Anyhow, it’s not dead, it was pushing new buds but a removed all snapped branches including the top part of the trunk.

It’s now down to about 300mm tall and got girth of almost 40mm. I wonder if I shouldn’t shorten it even more, maybe since it was such a beast, I could make that 1st right side branch the new leader and just let it grow crazy again.
Thoughts?
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Forsoothe!

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That's your Black Monkey Thorn? Take advantage of the negative situation and reduce it to where you'd rather have it. And if it survives, reduce the roots to suit.
 

It's Kev

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Just gave it a haircut, but I messed up the branching, gonna have to trim more cleverly to aim them upward and not sideways maybe
 

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