Nandina Bamboo

[cishepard]

Looks nice, thanks for the pictures! Did you do some burning on the carved areas? And I’m guessing that any wiring would be difficult/useless ... ?
Your reports of back budding plus the overall look of the tree is making me keen to do the chop on mine early next year : )

edit: just found your blog post about the carving workshop. A treasure trove! ThX!

 

[Cadillactaste]

@Vin these treated as a tropical? Thinking...might be so, since we have a cutting given to my son by the photographer for his senior photos. It's in the kitchen on a ledge with roots in a bottle of water and a cute tag about luck.

 

[Vin]

@Vin these treated as a tropical? Thinking...might be so, since we have a cutting given to my son by the photographer for his senior photos. It's in the kitchen on a ledge with roots in a bottle of water and a cute tag about luck.

They are definitely not tropical but I'm not sure how far up north they thrive. They can take some pretty cold temps and that's about all I can tell you. If for some reason yours doesn't make it I can send you many more.

 

[Cadillactaste]

They are definitely not tropical but I'm not sure how far up north they thrive. They can take some pretty cold temps and that's about all I can tell you. If for some reason yours doesn't make it I can send you many more.

Thanks Vin...Adair talked me off the ledge. Holding out for a nicer clump. Reminding myself...I want low numbers in my collection.

 

[Vin]

Thanks Vin...Adair talked me off the ledge. Holding out for a nicer clump. Reminding myself...I want low numbers in my collection.

There is an uncommon variety that may be worth looking for Nandina domestica 'Filamentosa'. Could make a nice accent.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I could see that @Vin ...thanks for the heads up.

 

[Elihatt]

I've since sold the tree but here is the last picture I took of it. Honestly liked the tree a lot. Had to give it up and some others to move to Japan.

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Hello sorry for the super late reply I wonder if you’re still active here. I just picked up a Nandina and can’t find much online about their care. Repot and prune in spring?

 

[Vin]

You don't really "prune" Nandina in the conventional sense. Nandina kind of grows in a sprig type pattern. If you prune the tips of the sprigs (stems) they may or may not produce new growth but it won't be outwardly from the side. It will continue on from the tip that was pruned. If you're fortunate to find one that has some sort of trunk then you may get some budding on the trunk as you prune the sprigs away. Repotting in the Spring is best. My suggestion, they make great accents but you have your work cut out for you if you're going to try and make a tree out of them. I have no idea where you're located but D&L Bonsai Nursery in Ocklawaha Florida used to have some pretty nice specimens.

 

[Bonsai_Bentley]

Glad that I found this thread. I recently put together a nandina forest from nursery stock plants. I'm trying to keep compact flat tops on skinny spires. I need to reduce some of the undergrowth. It's a bit too synonymous across the whole container.

 

[Ross]

I had a nandina about 10 years ago that I really liked. A hailstorm damaged it severely and it never recovered. The seasonal color was really nice though (green, yellow, red).

 

[Bonsai_Bentley]

I had a nandina about 10 years ago that I really liked. A hailstorm damaged it severely and it never recovered. The seasonal color was really nice though (green, yellow, red).

Dang, that was a nice one. Sucks that it didn't recover.

 

[Elihatt]

How do nandina respond to wiring or guy wiring? I bought this a few weeks ago and would like to eventually fan out the clump of branches a little and try to bring the foliage down through backbudding

 

[Bonsai_Bentley]

For props/stand-offs/spreaders I like to take a thick piece of copper, put a U at each end and then spin them in opposite directions with two pairs of pliers. That work hardens the copper. Then I cut the ends off at an angle to make both sides pointy. Then I use that to wedge two trunks/branches apart. Before I do that I'll use a piece of bamboo to determine the width just because it's easier/cheaper to make adjustments until I find the size I want. It makes for nice and discrete prop. Here's an example on my kotohime.



To answer your actual question; I've only wired one trunk on mine to get a minor bend at the top. So far, so good.

 

[Elihatt]

For props/stand-offs/spreaders I like to take a thick piece of copper, put a U at each end and then spin them in opposite directions with two pairs of pliers. That work hardens the copper. Then I cut the ends off at an angle to make both sides pointy. Then I use that to wedge two trunks/branches apart. Before I do that I'll use a piece of bamboo to determine the width just because it's easier/cheaper to make adjustments until I find the size I want. It makes for nice and discrete prop. Here's an example on my kotohime.

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To answer your actual question; I've only wired one trunk on mine to get a minor bend at the top. So far, so good.

Actually I think the answer you gave initially is what I really needed to hear. Since the branches I want to spread are so numerous and close to the base I think the spreader technique will be better suited to what I want to happen. Thanks so much I had seen people do this but it didn’t even cross my mind and I didn’t really know how it was done anyway

 

[niddyyo]

I realize this is an old thread, but I'm glad I found it nonetheless. I just found a nice specimen at a local nursery discount section. There is some good info here.