[bougainvilleas] Hoping for tips on a prune/defoliation plan to "time" a flowering for fall (here in FL!)

[SU2]

I've got a ton of bougies that've been grown-out this summer and are just giant bushes-on-stumps right now, I want to push them to flower right before they hit their semi-dormant state (ie slow growth, they still grow just far slower, no leaf-drop or anything here!) and remember it being a ~2mo period from intervention to flowering but am a bit confused on a specific aspect: while I know it's the defoliation that will subsequently cause the push to bloom, would removing growing-tips at this same time do anything problematic / restrictive of flowering? I guess I'm unsure whether the IBA in the growing tips being present/absent as much effect here, if anything I have a feeling that pinching the tips of (partially)defoliated shoots would actually help here but am unsure and hoping for advice, thanks!!

(PS- any advice/tips on defoliation would be greatly appreciated, IE things like the pro's & con's of full-defoliation versus partial, or, if doing partial-defoliations, then the merits of defoliating the top part of a branch compared to the bottom, and anything that brings growing-tips&IBA&pinching into the picture!)

Again, thanks a lot!! Have sooo many big bougies, just bushes right now but want to setup for a beautiful pre-semi-dormancy flower show, am aware of dehydrating it / pumping phosphorous / etc when the blooms start setting-up but it's this initial intervention of defoliation (and perhaps some pinching and/or pruning) that I'm a bit unsteady on!

 

[choppychoppy]

Bloom initiation does not depend upon trimming – a bougainvillea has a bloom cycle followed by a rest period whether trimmed or not.

The bougainvillea has two distinct growth cycles.

Vegetative growth period for several weeks — when new leaves and stems grow. If the plant receives enough sunlight, the plant will form buds during this time. If there is not enough sunlight, the plant will remain in vegetative cycle and not progress to the blooming period.

Blooming period of several weeks when little or no vegetative growth occur, the more sun and heat, the better. With at least 5 hours of direct sunlight per day, a typical, healthy bougainvillea will remain in a blooming period for 3 to 5 weeks.

Bougainvilleas’ natural habitat is equatorial where day and night lengths are almost equal. Bougainvillea in these areas tend to bloom year round, but in North America, the best flowering occurs when the night length and day length are almost equal (in Spring or Fall).

 

[SU2]

Apologies in-advance for going ghost on the other thread(s?), hopefully will be back there today if time but it's been a hell of a month IRL so online bonsai is the first thing I have to cut :/

Bloom initiation does not depend upon trimming – a bougainvillea has a bloom cycle followed by a rest period whether trimmed or not.

The bougainvillea has two distinct growth cycles.

Vegetative growth period for several weeks — when new leaves and stems grow. If the plant receives enough sunlight, the plant will form buds during this time. If there is not enough sunlight, the plant will remain in vegetative cycle and not progress to the blooming period.

Blooming period of several weeks when little or no vegetative growth occur, the more sun and heat, the better. With at least 5 hours of direct sunlight per day, a typical, healthy bougainvillea will remain in a blooming period for 3 to 5 weeks.

Bougainvilleas’ natural habitat is equatorial where day and night lengths are almost equal. Bougainvillea in these areas tend to bloom year round, but in North America, the best flowering occurs when the night length and day length are almost equal (in Spring or Fall).

Oh we can get even longer here!! I guess I'm more interested in practical techniques for actual timing, specifically whether I'll be lengthening the tried&true 2mo-before-intended-flowering defoliation - the method Wigert uses 2mo before a show - what I'm not able to discern is whether or not the growing-tips come into-play here, my intuition is they don't but I'd sooner leave more tips in-place if it'll make a difference, this is actually my first attempt to "time" a bloom so want to get a feel for whether or not I can get it reliably like more advanced people do!

As you mention they basically reduce veg growth to 1/4 or 10% or less when in-flower (unless pot-bound, in which case veg basically stops...root-bound + water-restriction really helps ignite flowering if the specimen is close-enough, that + phos will be tools in the weeks leading-up to the expected flowering ), I've found that you can successfully get around that by simply removing flowers as they occur (as they're never the terminal tip, like on a crape, so you're not stopping that branch from growing - if you let the flowers/bracts develop to ~1" petioles, even 1/2" petioles, and then snip them, the shoot just keeps going, have actually tracked this w/ the measuring tape ), I usually want them in veg only but, since that's irrelevant when our tiny winter comes, I'm hoping to test whether I can get them all blooming in concert with each other right as winter hits (they seem to like blooming in winter here, last year my best flowering-specimen had its best show during the early winter-->mid-winter, right before our first real cold nights...we only hit 32 or lower a small # of times last year thankfully!)

 

[cbrshadow23]

Apologies in-advance for going ghost on the other thread(s?), hopefully will be back there today if time but it's been a hell of a month IRL so online bonsai is the first thing I have to cut :/



Oh we can get even longer here!! I guess I'm more interested in practical techniques for actual timing, specifically whether I'll be lengthening the tried&true 2mo-before-intended-flowering defoliation - the method Wigert uses 2mo before a show - what I'm not able to discern is whether or not the growing-tips come into-play here, my intuition is they don't but I'd sooner leave more tips in-place if it'll make a difference, this is actually my first attempt to "time" a bloom so want to get a feel for whether or not I can get it reliably like more advanced people do!

As you mention they basically reduce veg growth to 1/4 or 10% or less when in-flower (unless pot-bound, in which case veg basically stops...root-bound + water-restriction really helps ignite flowering if the specimen is close-enough, that + phos will be tools in the weeks leading-up to the expected flowering ), I've found that you can successfully get around that by simply removing flowers as they occur (as they're never the terminal tip, like on a crape, so you're not stopping that branch from growing - if you let the flowers/bracts develop to ~1" petioles, even 1/2" petioles, and then snip them, the shoot just keeps going, have actually tracked this w/ the measuring tape ), I usually want them in veg only but, since that's irrelevant when our tiny winter comes, I'm hoping to test whether I can get them all blooming in concert with each other right as winter hits (they seem to like blooming in winter here, last year my best flowering-specimen had its best show during the early winter-->mid-winter, right before our first real cold nights...we only hit 32 or lower a small # of times last year thankfully!)

I'm bringing this thread back to life because I'm in a similar situation (taking my bougies into winter, Northern California) and I'm interested in hearing how things went for you, or if you've learned any tips/tricks that you can share especially around defoliation.