Cjr bougie progression

[Cajunrider]

Bought on clearance June 2018 repotted in 5 gal pot.

November 1st dropped all leaves and brought inside. December 1 Leaves coming back but pale green.

 

[Cajunrider]

Question for Bnutters: Since I don't have a desire for a big bougie bonsai, in the spring when it is warm and growing, can I put it in a bonsai pot?

 

[Carol 83]

Per my bougie mentor @milehigh_7, and what has worked for me. Best time to repot is when it's hot, summer instead of spring, when it is growing vigorously. I have a few with decent size trunks in 6 inch diameter pots.

 

[JoeH]

yeah did my two stumps in summer.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Sure, if you are happy with the diameter of the trunk, move it to a bonsai pot.

Depending on species, most trees do not thicken much once the roots are confined to a bonsai pot. Case in point. I had a pomegranate cutting that I kept in a bonsai pot for its entire 38 years. It took 38 years to go from less than a pencil diameter to just under 1 inch diameter. If it were in the ground, it easily could have been 6 or 8 inches in diameter.

By the way, some trees increase diameter in pots better than others. But in general, don't confine the roots of a tree a bonsai pot until the diameter of the trunk is reasonably close to the diameter you want.

 

[Cajunrider]

Sure, if you are happy with the diameter of the trunk, move it to a bonsai pot.

Depending on species, most trees do not thicken much once the roots are confined to a bonsai pot. Case in point. I had a pomegranate cutting that I kept in a bonsai pot for its entire 38 years. It took 38 years to go from less than a pencil diameter to just under 1 inch diameter. If it were in the ground, it easily could have been 6 or 8 inches in diameter.

By the way, some trees increase diameter in pots better than others. But in general, don't confine the roots of a tree a bonsai pot until the diameter of the trunk is reasonably close to the diameter you want.

Oh boy this puts me in a conundrum. I want to put one in pot so I can bring it in to the house but it's only half the diameter I want. Oh well I guess I'll have to keep it out another year.

 

[milehigh_7]

Your mix looks super wet. Bougies like to dry out a touch between waterings. In your zone, you should not need to bring it indoors. Bougs are fine into the 40's at least and lower depending on variety.

I would leave it be for now, cut it back to the lowest leaf nodes whenever bud break is for you then give it as much sun as you can till July and see where you are at.

 

[Cajunrider]

Your mix looks super wet. Bougies like to dry out a touch between waterings. In your zone, you should not need to bring it indoors. Bougs are fine into the 40's at least and lower depending on variety.

I would leave it be for now, cut it back to the lowest leaf nodes whenever bud break is for you then give it as much sun as you can till July and see where you are at.

I had a few nights when temperature was below freezing. That's why I had to bring it in. You are right the mix is wet. When I potted that in June it was super hot and I often had to travel, I had quite a bit of stuff to retain water while I'm gone for extended period. That mix worked well for me in the summer. Now that I got it inside, I use a water meter to keep myself from over-watering it. Even if I don't put it in a bonsai pot, I will still repot it next year to put it in a dryer mix.

PS: I just noticed that both pictures were taken right after I watered it. As a matter of fact, most of my pictures were right after I water my bonsai. Part of the routine

 

[Cajunrider]

Due to repeating budding near the same locations, my bougie has reverse taper in multiple spots. What should I do to get rid of them? I'm game for anything. Right now it is wintering in my heated basement with grow light and it is still growing. I'm planning what to do when it is much warmer.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Trunks (branches) fatten from any point where there is a branch and back down that stem to the roots, so if you have a lot of branches at any one place that will feed everywhere below it. They have a lot of buds surrounding the base of each branch at internodes so I suspect that all those secondary buds that are just dots take up some space making each old internode fatter. That, in conjunction with long, skinny bull cane growth makes them what they are: hard to style without some violence. Boogies send out bull canes when they start growing after the quiet period so they get these straight sections of branches that last forever. They wire badly. Every few years I think I'm smarter, break a few, and quit trying to wire anything not green or new. They always break at that internode. I wouldn't say that a "good" way to reduce the lumpy, bulbous internodes is to prune too deeply with a knob cutter (concave) rather than a flush cutter, but I do it anyway because eventually it will heal and close-up with a "straighter" surface. I didn't say it made it beautifuler, just... different. I prefer healed "wounds" to lumps. My tastes might be questionable.