My first collected tree, Bougainvillea

[evmibo]

Taken from an empty, largely vandalized lot. Seems to have once been in a ~10gallon nursery pot. I lost about a pint of blood getting this guy out (mosquitoes), but I think it was worth it I used ~75% turface and some "moisture control" (reluctantly, I was out of turface) soil in my mix (although the mc is primarily on top). Very minimal root prune and chopped back the largest leader. I had to share, this is an epic find for me.

 

[plant_dr]

It looks like your dog wanted to participate too! That made me laugh

 

[stacy allen muse]

??????????????

 

[evmibo]

plant dr - I added that picture to get some smiles, glad you thought it was funny!

Stacy - Thanks for the advice. I should be able to do the adjustments tomorrow. I'll update with some pictures then. We've been getting a lot of rain lately, I will be moving it's location to keep it a bit drier.

Evan

 

[Poink88]

Very nice.

If the flowers haven't fallen yet, you should remove those ASAP too. (just the flowers, not the branch).

 

[Jay Wilson]

plant dr - I added that picture to get some smiles, glad you thought it was funny!


Evan

I got a smile from the pup also. Love the critters....Great find too. Good luck with it.

 

[evmibo]

Very nice.

If the flowers haven't fallen yet, you should remove those ASAP too. (just the flowers, not the branch).

Forgive me but,
Do you mean the whole purple part with the white flowers at the tips or just the white flowers at the tips.

I got a smile from the pup also. Love the critters....Great find too. Good luck with it.

Her name is Chowder and she loves the hose, thanks - hopefully I can reserve the best (dead) part of it!

 

[Poink88]

While the purple part are technically leaves...they don't work as such so you need to remove them as well. They just transpire much needed water & (precious) energy right now.

 

[evmibo]

Thanks for clarifying Poink88, thats what I thought, so I removed them yesterday.

Here are some pictures of the live side (from yesterday) and a final picture of what it looks like today. I took out the mc as directed and added what Lowes calls pea pebbles, I wish they were a bit smaller but they should suffice. I decided to get a "firm" toothbrush instead of a wire brush since this stuff is so fragile, it seems to be doing the job. Unfortunately the lime sulfur won't be here for another day or two (order from amazon). I drove around town to several garden centers, etc and nobody had it. Upon arrival I will do a primary/final cleaning with the toothbrush and apply the lime sulfur. I picked up some latex gloves and already wear eyeglasses, I'm excited to work on this tree more. If you look closely to the last picture it resembles an elephant, at least it does to me



Evan

 

[stacy allen muse]

??????????????

 

[evmibo]

stacy,
thanks again for advice. I'll post some pictures when I can

 

[tmmason10]

Wow, pretty awesome free material. Great job.

 

[evmibo]

Tom, thanks man

Here are some pictures from yesterday (the first two) and a couple from today (last three). I wasn't able to add the lime sulfur until yesterday. I think I'm going to let this first "coat" dry for today and perhaps add some more to the smaller cracks and crannies later this week, tomorrow or Friday. If you would advise otherwise let me know.

This was my first time working with lime sulfur, I wore latex gloves and my hands still have the smell! This stuff is wild



Thanks, Evan

 

[evmibo]

Update

About 3 weeks after collection
2 weeks after applying lime sulfur
this guy throwing out a lot of growth

 

[Victrinia Ridgeway]

I know I'm late to the party... but I wanted to clarify one thing... Lime sulfur in and of itself does not prevent rot. It kills bacteria that causes rot, but only for a period of time, and only into the wood which it has penetrated. So that being said, with something as fragile as bougies, I would suggest that you use wood hardener on it. That's the only thing that's actually going to protect the wood's form in the long term. But you should be relatively content with it's form and appearance before doing so.

Nice collect though, they are stupidly easy to propagate, so it was good of you to try that one. My teacher sends them home from Hawaii as simple logs with no foliage and no roots, and is successful with them... and it's not illegal... lol

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

 

[evmibo]

thanks for chiming in Vic,

I've actually had this on my mind a bit (preserving the dead wood). It's a tough decision, but I think I'm going to have to lose the front "flap" of dead wood that is hanging there right above the soil - to ensure I preserve the rest properly. still much uncertainty, I just need to look at the material a bit more to get relatively content with the form, appearance and direction

thanks for the support and advice, I will definitely be using the wood hardener once I can decide on a direction with this one!

Evan

 

[evmibo]

Update

Long story short a friend of mine was keeping an eye on this tree since September. The good news is that it gave it time to get very leggy, but the bad news is that the rot continued. Most of the deadwood is gone, but what's left needs some tending to. I was able to repot it yesterday and drive it "home." The tree is somewhat two dimensional now but I think it is still very interesting.

I'm open to all feedback.

 

[tmmason10]

It's amazing how much can rot off the trunk, but these trees survive. I for one like the look, there is a similar bougie at NE bonsai that hardly has any trunk left.

 

[Poink88]

It lost a lot of character but the rot was probably too far advanced even during collection that you may not have any choice to begin with. The tree is still very nice but definitely different now (some may think it is even better and they could be right). It should make a nice bonsai still.

Good luck!!!

 

[evmibo]

2014 repot

- The tree had some wonderful growth over the last 11 months.
- I promise to take pictures when it's in full bloom again, it was great looking!
- The tree was defoliated about a month ago due to a caterpillar munch a great deal of the leafs (I normally wouldn't defoliate). The reason I defoliated was to first, find the caterpillar and to second keep growth somewhat "balanced."
- That being said, the two branches on the right have been left to grow since last summer and I will probably keep them until next spring or summer to thicken up.
- The deadwood was treated with elmers glue rot protection last summer, will probably reapply within a couple of weeks.
- Repotted today in an anderson flat, new buds started popping a week or two ago.