I wanna see a Rainbow Eucalyptus....

[Lumaca]

I am speaking from my experience in USA. I only spent 5 days in Malaysia (the peninsula) and 5 days in Singapore about 30 years ago, so my experience with your part of the world is near zero. I was not big into bonsai at the time I visited. Though I was quite taken with all the blooming Wightia religiosa planted around the landscapes in both countries.

Have you any of the Dalbergia species in your area of Indonesia? Rosewoods. It is a tree of great eco-biological & forestry interest because it is so very slow to reach sizes required for harvesting as lumber for cabinet work. The compound leaves will probably be an issue in attempting to style it for bonsai. But with its hard wood, it should hold shapes well once new growth has matured.

You should see our Bougainvilleas, which can grow 10m tall. Serissas do reach quite incredible height too, I've seen some that are 1.5 m tall at least.

I have to be honest, my interest in plants used to be limited to what I can eat/cook with until recently. As for bonsai, my interests are usually in conifers (since we don't get many of those around here).

A quick search shows that Dalbergia latifolia does grow wild in my island of Java, and it is cultivated. If it is cultivated, usually that means it is pretty easy/cheap to get seedlings. The most prized wood here is Tectona grandis though, for being termite resistant, but it has leaves that are half a meter long!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Big leaves are a problem for bonsai.

Tropical tolerant conifers are few and far between. Pinus radiata is the most commonly used pine in tropical climates.

 

[Lumaca]

Big leaves are a problem for bonsai.

Tropical tolerant conifers are few and far between. Pinus radiata is the most commonly used pine in tropical climates.

I'm nursing a (very) random selection of Juniper (rigida, chinensis), picea, cryptomeria, JBP to see what sticks.

Of course, pinus merkusii is a local pine, the only pine south of the equator. Agathis dammara is also a conifer. Podocarpus, is one of the most used tree here.

Anyway, sorry for going slightly out of topic, I might start my own thread to ask for opinions and advice on my trees. Here are my Deglupta:

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I'm nursing a (very) random selection of Juniper (rigida, chinensis), picea, cryptomeria, JBP to see what sticks.

Of course, pinus merkusii is a local pine, the only pine south of the equator. Agathis dammara is also a conifer. Podocarpus, is one of the most used tree here.

Anyway, sorry for going slightly out of topic, I might start my own thread to ask for opinions and advice on my trees. Here are my Deglupta:
View attachment 344498View attachment 344499

Nice, and do start a thread. I just saw a post, I forgot where, but we now have another new member from Indonesia, I think all together we have more than 5 from Indonesia, though lately you are the most active one on the forum.

 

[Peteyo1]

I know it's not anywhere near a complete bonsai but I like my rainbow eucalyptus. It is not easy to bend branches as they snap at the intersections easy. But it's a fun tree to play with. The speed of growth is extreme.

 

[LittleDingus]

I know it's not anywhere near a complete bonsai but I like my rainbow eucalyptus. It is not easy to bend branches as they snap at the intersections easy. But it's a fun tree to play with. The speed of growth is extreme. View attachment 345021View attachment 345020

@Peteyo1 , usually we tell new members to enter their location (nearest metro is close enough) and agricultural zone into their profile information so that members can give more targeted advice. I'm going to ask for it because I want to know where you are thatvyou were able to grow this thing If you enter your location, it will appear next to every post and people won't have to ask for it so often

For my edification, how old is this tree? What sort of general care has it received?

My oldest one's are only 2 years old. I started them from seed. They're only about 1/2" thick but I'm aiming for something about as thick as yours

I like your progress so far!

...and welcome to the forum

 

[Peteyo1]

Hi,
The tree is 4 years. It was grown in a large approx60cm wide 60cm tall pot with lots of water and compost. The pot is watered until it floods out the bottom once a day in a summer.
For the first 3 years whenever it got 6ft tall I would cut it back to about 50cm.
The tree received its first major root cut and and major cut back a year ago and was downsized into a 35cm pot.

 

[LittleDingus]

Hi,
The tree is 4 years. It was grown in a large approx60cm wide 60cm tall pot with lots of water and compost. The pot is watered until it floods out the bottom once a day in a summer.
For the first 3 years whenever it got 6ft tall I would cut it back to about 50cm.
The tree received its first major root cut and and major cut back a year ago and was downsized into a 35cm pot.

Mine are in diatomacious earth. Bought as oil dry here in the US, but I think people in Europe buy roughly the same product as a cat litter. It's an inorganic material that has a high water retention without getting muddy or allowing water to pool.

I've been debating adding some organic component for my rainbows...either miracle grow or compost next spring. I water them sometimes twice a day and they grow nice and dense but not particularly tall. They made it to about a meter tall this past growing season...they're 2nd year...but then I missed watering them for a weekend and they wilted and died back quite a bit They recovered, but never really got going again after that...and now they are inside with much less light until the spring. They are still putting out new leaves...but slowly. I was thinking they like water enough that adding some organics to the mix will hold more water and hopefully give me a little more cushion for the inevitable missed watering.

I've also read they don't color up when grown in pots like they do in their native range. That feels to me like a deficiency of some sort...they don't have the compounds they need to form the carotenoids that color the bark as it ages. The bark on mine has flaked in a couple of different places already. I get the bright greens underneath, but so far it ages directly to a red/brown without going through the blues and oranges that are so characteristic and attract everyone's attention I keep meaning to do more research on what specifically makes up the coloring to see if there is something that may need to be added to the soil to enhance the effect. I may be totally off base on all this...my wife spent a summer interning trying to engineer yeast to produce more carotenoids so that it could be fed to chickens to enhance their color: I know just enough about the science to be stupid

 

[Lumaca]

Here's a non-scientific experiment, this tree has been wilting a lot because of dryness. Let's see if this works.

 

[LittleDingus]

I think most people understand that the vivid pictures of these guys on the internet are enhanced. I took a close look at one of my (very) young trees this morning that has had some flaking bark and thought it showed enough variation to make some side-by-sides to help normalize people's expectations.

Both these images are the same original photo. The one on the left is a properly exposed raw image from a Nikon 7200 DSLR camera. The image on the right is the raw image enhanced in photoshop. The only enhancements made were to increase saturation and vibrance on the raw photo. This has the effect of making colors more "colorful" without changing their tint or shade. The colors are still "true"...reds aren't made more blue...for example) but they "pop" out more.



Hopefully this side-by-side will help people set their expectations for this species

 

[Forsoothe!]

I think most people understand that the vivid pictures of these guys on the internet are enhanced. I took a close look at one of my (very) young trees this morning that has had some flaking bark and thought it showed enough variation to make some side-by-sides to help normalize people's expectations.

Both these images are the same original photo. The one on the left is a properly exposed raw image from a Nikon 7200 DSLR camera. The image on the right is the raw image enhanced in photoshop. The only enhancements made were to increase saturation and vibrance on the raw photo. This has the effect of making colors more "colorful" without changing their tint or shade. The colors are still "true"...reds aren't made more blue...for example) but they "pop" out more.

View attachment 345393 View attachment 345392

Hopefully this side-by-side will help people set their expectations for this species

Spoken like someone who has never seen a Rainbow Euc in the flesh.

 

[LittleDingus]

Spoken like someone who has never seen a Rainbow Euc in the flesh.

...and now watch how your condescension fixes all that is wrong with the world

 

[Arlithrien]

Naw. It's one of those "exfoliating bark" species that... ... Because after all, if the tree was so beautiful and had no downsides, why would it not be planted everywhere?

So... Crape myrtle?

 

[Forsoothe!]

...and now watch how your condescension fixes all that is wrong with the world

Have you, or have you not seen one in the flesh? They are every bit as colorful as many pictures show them.

 

[LittleDingus]

Have you, or have you not seen one in the flesh? They are every bit as colorful as many pictures show them.

Oh, I've never denied they are colorful. In fact, a few posts prior I even mentioned that I wanted to research more on how to enhance their color when grown in a pot.

You had to make a decision when deciding to respond to my post: you could have opted to provide counter evidence and claims that show an alternate viewpoint that could then have been discussed in a rational manner, or you could have opted to be snide and denigrating and provide no objective information or even information that contributed at all to the discussion.

You made your choice. I wasn't impressed with it.

...and yes, I have seen them in person...it's why I decided to grow some.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Oh, I've never denied they are colorful. In fact, a few posts prior I even mentioned that I wanted to research more on how to enhance their color when grown in a pot.

You had to make a decision when deciding to respond to my post: you could have opted to provide counter evidence and claims that show an alternate viewpoint that could then have been discussed in a rational manner, or you could have opted to be snide and denigrating and provide no objective information or even information that contributed at all to the discussion.

You made your choice. I wasn't impressed with it.

...and yes, I have seen them in person...it's why I decided to grow some.

I think you've been waiting the wings to be offended by me, so you could cry wolf. I'm not certain whether I should be sorry for me or sorry for you. The discussion was about the colorfulness of these kinds of trees and you took exception to them being over-rated, perhaps because they were all photo shopped and people were really admiring the photo shopped version which was better than the real thing, or so I read your remarks. I corrected the record. There have been a whole slew of photos posted here of near relatives and non-relatives that are worthy of remark, but your remarks seemed to me to be downplaying the trees in favor of... you didn't say.

I tend to leave the obvious out of my remarks, especially the parts that have been stated and restated, assuming that most people will be able to have enough history of the thread under their belt to just add my tidbits to the whole and carry on. I'm sorry if you're not up to speed. And yes, when stuck at I strike back.

My interest in the tree stems from 2004 when I went to Fairchild Gardens south of Miami and took this picture of my brother-in-law next to a Rainbow. The photo doesn't do it justice.

I also have a nice professional photo stolen from somewhere that is among my computer background screens...

My original inquiry was for someone to show me a bonsai of same. Still waiting. Maybe it'll be me!

 

[leatherback]

 

[leatherback]

 

[Lumaca]

View attachment 345138
Here's a non-scientific experiment, this tree has been wilting a lot because of dryness. Let's see if this works.

Just wanna update this: the plant has never let any water remain in the little tray, EVEN in the rain! The peaty soil is always bone dry every morning too, thirstiest tree in my garden!

So I checked what the roots look like, and:


That's his new home, upsizing from 10 to 20 cm.

 

[LittleDingus]

I've played around with my delguptas a little more and have some observations to add for anyone who cares.

NOTE: I do not have a thread on these trees and don't really consider how I'm growing them "bonsai". I don't believe they are good "bonsai" material. But, they are fun plants And people do have a lot of interest in them...so here are my observations.

This is only the 3rd summer for my trees. I had 2 in 5 gallon grow bags. One I'm continuing to let grow out. The other I shoved in a tiny pot to see if it would live

The "rainbow" effect is due to oxidation in the bark layer. They shed their bark as they grow. When they shed in strips and patches, different levels of oxidation occur...and you get different colors. But, in young trees growing vigorously, the entire bark layer can pop off all at once That's what happened to one of mine this year.

The freshly exposed new bark is bright green and then changes color through reds and blues and purples. These 2 pictures are the same tree taken about a month apart.



The new bark is reddening up noticeably now. But, since it mostly all popped off at once, no fun patchiness

Well, mostly...I did find a spot where some bark had remained but was separated and ready to peel off. So I pulled it!



The bright green patch near the lower center is freshly exposed. The pinkish bark was freshly exposed about a month ago and has now "weathered".

If you can get the bark to peel in patches, you can start to get the "rainbow" effect...even at a young age.




I can see how on a thicker tree the bark would pop and peel in patches and strips to create the interesting coloration. But the bark is much less likely to peel in strips on younger trees. It seems that even leaving the bark "popped" but "attached" protects the new bark from some oxidation. Next year, if the bark pops all at once, I'm going to try ripping bits off while leaving as much on as I can still on the tree. I don't know how much that will help with creating a "rainbow" since it seems to be months to get into the blues...but, like I said...fun trees to play with

Here is my bigger tree today.



I'll continue to let that one grow out. There's an air layer in it's future sometime though...there's an ugly bar branch I need to take off.

I used to have dozens of these...they grow very well from seed and $5 of seed is about 10million seeds they are so tiny! I still have way too much seed left over! They also air layer really well...at least when young. Since they are so easy to get back, I downsized to just 2 plants over the past winter.

The second one I kept, I kept to shove in a tiny pot to see if it would live.



These guys do NOT do well when they wilt! There is a point beyond which old leaves will not recover. Wilted branches rarely ever return to full upright. Many of the sags in the branches of my trees were from wilting events I tend to overwater my plants...they don't always wilt due to lack of available water. It seems heat and wind can pull moisture out of the leaves faster than the roots can provide it sometimes.

This tree started a little smaller than the other one. I reduced the roots heavily to get it into this pot. I chopped the top heavily to compensate. I lost about half the foliage that I kept. The tree wilted within hours of being repotted. It wilted so bad that I moved the pot into a bucket of water for a few days. That helped...but it still wilted during mid day if it got too warm. The tree has since recovered and I'm not as worried it's going to die now. There are even signs of new growth!



My trees are pretty ugly They'll never be "bonsai". But they are quite entertaining to grow!