My next raintree

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c54fun;

Thanks for starting this thread, I just got two small Raintrees (around 15mm at the base and 12cm high) to replace a few trees that I lost over the winter and spring. I had a higher than normal loss-rate last year, but thats to be expected sometimes. I ran across a tree that looked similar to yours a few years ago, but didn't realize what I was looking at. Between the exfoliating bark and unusual growth habits of the tree (and it only identifier being tagged as "tropical"), I thought $80.00 was too much even though it was on sale. Even now, I find it odd that the store even had one, but thinking back on it I'm 95% certain it was a Raintree. Anyway, these two have a lot of recovery to do after being beaten up at the nursery/store. I slipped the pots off and they are root bound, so I'm simply going to loosen the roots on the outer 2-4mm of the rootball and plop them into separate bulb pots with a Gaia Green prepared mix.

They seem to quite roughed, unlike a bougainvillea that I have. My boug, looks to be the same colour as the one that is in the corner of the picture in your last post. I'm struggling with ph at the moment, but it's survived this long, I'm sure that it will live until I can get it figured out.

Anyway, I thought your thread deserved a bump... it will take many years before mine will look anything like yours, but I guess the bright-side is that I'll be developing it right from the start.

Season's Greetings
 

c54fun

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c54fun;

Thanks for starting this thread, I just got two small Raintrees (around 15mm at the base and 12cm high) to replace a few trees that I lost over the winter and spring. I had a higher than normal loss-rate last year, but thats to be expected sometimes. I ran across a tree that looked similar to yours a few years ago, but didn't realize what I was looking at. Between the exfoliating bark and unusual growth habits of the tree (and it only identifier being tagged as "tropical"), I thought $80.00 was too much even though it was on sale. Even now, I find it odd that the store even had one, but thinking back on it I'm 95% certain it was a Raintree. Anyway, these two have a lot of recovery to do after being beaten up at the nursery/store. I slipped the pots off and they are root bound, so I'm simply going to loosen the roots on the outer 2-4mm of the rootball and plop them into separate bulb pots with a Gaia Green prepared mix.

They seem to quite roughed, unlike a bougainvillea that I have. My boug, looks to be the same colour as the one that is in the corner of the picture in your last post. I'm struggling with ph at the moment, but it's survived this long, I'm sure that it will live until I can get it figured out.

Anyway, I thought your thread deserved a bump... it will take many years before mine will look anything like yours, but I guess the bright-side is that I'll be developing it right from the start.

Season's Greetings
Seasons greeting to you too. I'm sure you will have fun with your raintrees. Working on them when they are small is great. You can develop them the way you want. Much harder to do when they get bigger.
Mine are stuck in a greenhouse for the winter which is short here in Dallas.
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Those are some awesome BRT. I’ve had one for 2 years now and will be doing another in May as a class at my local Bonsai nursery. The tree that got me back in to all this and signed up on here honestly. Figured I’d say hi to some fellow BRT lovers! :) And show you mine... tree that is lol

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These 2 are before some directional pruning
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This is after and back in a repurposed reptile vivarium since I still live in an apartment. But with it until I have room for a bigger display are a mallow plant, serissa and Chinese sweet plum.
Keep showing those great pictures of them awesome trees
 

c54fun

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Those are some awesome BRT. I’ve had one for 2 years now and will be doing another in May as a class at my local Bonsai nursery. The tree that got me back in to all this and signed up on here honestly. Figured I’d say hi to some fellow BRT lovers! :) And show you mine... tree that is lol

View attachment 173646
View attachment 173647
These 2 are before some directional pruning
View attachment 173648
This is after and back in a repurposed reptile vivarium since I still live in an apartment. But with it until I have room for a bigger display are a mallow plant, serissa and Chinese sweet plum.
Keep showing those great pictures of them awesome trees
Very nice. Glad you posted them. Lot of fun to work on.
 

Carol 83

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Those are some awesome BRT. I’ve had one for 2 years now and will be doing another in May as a class at my local Bonsai nursery. The tree that got me back in to all this and signed up on here honestly. Figured I’d say hi to some fellow BRT lovers! :) And show you mine... tree that is lol

View attachment 173646
View attachment 173647
These 2 are before some directional pruning
View attachment 173648
This is after and back in a repurposed reptile vivarium since I still live in an apartment. But with it until I have room for a bigger display are a mallow plant, serissa and Chinese sweet plum.
Keep showing those great pictures of them awesome trees
Nice. I love mine. The bigger one shed all it's leaves, when I brought it in, which gave me an opportunity to de-thorn it. The other one, sitting right beside it, never dropped a leaf. Glad you took that little fat guy out of the pot;).
 

c54fun

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Not much to report on this tree but the top is starting to round off nice after chopping it last year. Just needs to keep filling in this year. Not growing much in the winter but has good color.
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Much to my surprise, the BRTs that I have seem to be bullet proof... I think they will be really nice when they get to the same dimensions that yours are.

I seem to have two different "growth types", but I know that isn't the case. Three of mine are growing "well contained", with growth overall, and in lock-step with the rest of the tree. The other one (in particular) grows wild, with branches shooting everywhere... the reason for this can be seen when I water (IMHO). The "wild child", will not hold much water at all compared to the other three (about 1/2 as much). So, in my minds eye, I'd recommend a really fast draining soil if you want VERY vigourous (uncontrolled) growth, and a somewhat more compacted soil if you want to have a more controlled overall development. But, having the fast draining medium also means twice the watering regiment for that plant. I'm eager to see what the difference will be in the root development when I repot in 2019.

Take into account that I am new to BRTs, so these observations might not make much difference over the long haul.
 

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Yep, I'd say that yours grow roots real well... any nifty tricks for root pruning?
 

c54fun

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Yep, I'd say that yours grow roots real well... any nifty tricks for root pruning?

I just cut and trim as needed. This tree had been to one side for years so one side did not have a lot of roots. I wanted to up pot it and get it to grow and fill in the side with less roots. I'm pretty sure the pot is full of roots now.
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I like that.

Other than having compound leaves, they are pretty much the perfect indoor sub-tropical tree that anyone could ask for IMHO... and the character of the tree itself (leaf habit and size, bark, growth habit, etc.) make up for the compound leaf thing... plus, they could IMHO, be encouraged to take a multitude of shapes depending on how they started out in life.

I've read that they back-bud readily in the most unlikely of places throughout the tree... do you have to keep removing new growth from the trunk to maintain the clean lines on the lower portion of the tree, or is that a myth?
 

c54fun

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I like that.

Other than having compound leaves, they are pretty much the perfect indoor sub-tropical tree that anyone could ask for IMHO... and the character of the tree itself (leaf habit and size, bark, growth habit, etc.) make up for the compound leaf thing... plus, they could IMHO, be encouraged to take a multitude of shapes depending on how they started out in life.

I've read that they back-bud readily in the most unlikely of places throughout the tree... do you have to keep removing new growth from the trunk to maintain the clean lines on the lower portion of the tree, or is that a myth?
I have 1 that back buds on the trunk and the other 2 don't.
 

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Wow. I enjoy my rain trees, but that is really impressive. Did you grow it out in a large training pot, to get the girth on the trunk?
 

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The trunk line looks like how my back feels some days.
 

c54fun

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Wow. I enjoy my rain trees, but that is really impressive. Did you grow it out in a large training pot, to get the girth on the trunk?
Post #2 is how I bought it.
 
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