Money tree question

[dustbust]

I got a money tree from home depot. No it's not a braided malsai. Not sure what the company was going for but it's got a 3" base on it and it was chopped by the company. So I picked the strongest leader and cut the rest of the branches. My question is how small will the leaves reduce when the time comes. I want to know how large I should grow the trunk to fit the leaf size. Right now I'm thinking g along the lines of 20" for the trunk.

 

[dustbust]

Sorry its a schefflera!

 

[mat]

Which species of Schefflera? arbicola and actinophylla are both commonly sold as house plants. arbicola will have much smaller leaves. You can find examples of both being used for bonsai, but to me, only the arbicolas are convincing.

 

[dustbust]

man I couldn't even tell ya. Im guessing its the Schefflera actinophylla since the leaves are about as big as my hand. I think ive seen the other ones which are usually braided, have much smaller leaves and put in a pot with glued rocks and sold as bonsai.

 

[Kevster]

It is probably a schefflera arbicola. That's what most of the box store carry. Though yours may have large leaves it is probably due to the lack of proper lighting they were kept in.

I bought some from lowes last year and they too had huge leaves. After I chopped them back and grew them under either bright lighting (winter) or full sun (summer) their leaves came back about the diameter of a coke can. I'm sure I could get them even smaller but I don't want to slow down its growth by leaf pruning as that is the last stage to do.

Check out this site and do a search here. You will find some helpful information.
http://www.fukubonsai.com/

 

[Joedes3]

Check out the fukubonsai site. This has a great deal of info on these plants. I refer to it often.

Joe

 

[dustbust]

Perfect. Thanks guys. Good informative site. Lots to read.

I especially like the "micro lobsters" (they're cherry shrimp) : )