Question about chopping bougainvilleas

[bonsaichile]

Hi! So I have been meaning to grow a shohin bougainvillea for some time now. I live in Denver, zone 5a, so I know I will have to bring it indoors during winter. Which is fine: I could use a flowering plant to brighten things up! Anyways, I found a garden center that carries them, and got one, about four feet tall, and with a base of 2 inches. It is in a 1-gallon plastic nursery container and it has barely any soil left. I have been watering once a week or so and feeding it every 2 weeks for the last month, and it seems healthy. I would like to work on it, reducing the root ball and chopping it to stimulate some backbudding and start building the structure. My question: Can I do both at the same time?

Thanks!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Is it actively growing?, if you have new shoots and new leaves, then you can prune, or chop back hard if you like. A 2 inch diameter trunk could make a nice believable bonsai between 8 and 12 inches tall. I would cut it back to somewhere around 4 or so inches tall. But that is me, and without a photo I can not tell you whether this is really a good idea.

If you want a larger bonsai, let it get even taller. Don't chop it back until the trunk is over 3 inches in diameter.

 

[bonsaichile]

Thank you, Leo. I want it small so I will go ahead and chop it. Can I work the roots at the same time?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Does it need repotting? If so yes. If the pot and media are fine, then you don't need to.
You will get a somewhat more vigorous back budding response if you do not repot at the time of the chop. Put the repotting off to the following year.
However this effect is not a major effect, you can repot and chop all at once if there is a reason it needs to be moved out of its current container.

I would keep it in a ''grow out" size container until you have developed the primary branches. Save the bonsai pot until after the basic structure for the finished tree has been developed. Once you put it in a small bonsai pot, growth will slow way down, which will make it difficult to develop ramification.

 

[bonsai-ben]

In Orlando, where they grow in the ground, you try to collect them in the summer. You can just saw off chunks and they will root. And when I mean chunks I mean 3ft wide chunks. No need to bother with that now -- do it later, wait till July.

But be cautious on watering. Bougies do not like wet feet. Let the soil dry, then re-water. Scheduled watering of a freshly rooted repotted bougie can spell trouble fast. Water the soil, not the trunk, dont rot the trunk further. Needless to say, well draining soil is a must.

Branch-wise you can chop it HARD when repotting it. It'll bud out profusely when you do, and it will probably be your finest bloom until its fully styled in a few years.

This is my back yard advice in Orlando.

 

[JosephCooper]

Bouganvillea are pretty tough, I think you can do root pruning and major chopping if it's warm enough

(btw I used to live in Denver!)

 

[bonsaichile]

Does it need repotting? If so yes. If the pot and media are fine, then you don't need to.
You will get a somewhat more vigorous back budding response if you do not repot at the time of the chop. Put the repotting off to the following year.
However this effect is not a major effect, you can repot and chop all at once if there is a reason it needs to be moved out of its current container.

I would keep it in a ''grow out" size container until you have developed the primary branches. Save the bonsai pot until after the basic structure for the finished tree has been developed. Once you put it in a small bonsai pot, growth will slow way down, which will make it difficult to develop ramification.

I have nothing in a bonsai pot really! But this plant has virtually no soil left, just roots. I can wait until the summer, but since my growing season is shorter than in Florida, I was wondering if I could get away with it now.

 

[bonsaichile]

Bouganvillea are pretty tough, I think you can do root pruning and major chopping if it's warm enough

(btw I used to live in Denver!)

Where in denver? And what is warm enough? Lows in the 60s?

 

[Carol 83]

According to my bougie advisor @milehigh_7 , it's best to work them when it's hot.

 

[bonsai-ben]

I have nothing in a bonsai pot really! But this plant has virtually no soil left, just roots. I can wait until the summer, but since my growing season is shorter than in Florida, I was wondering if I could get away with it now.

If you just have a pile of roots, add some soil. Chopstick it down. Try to add bonsai soil, there's enough "dirt" in there already to retain water. You consider this an "emergency repot" and it's perfectly acceptable. The bougie will be fine, as long as it doesnt freeze.

I have a cousin who had a trunk in the back of his pickup truck in august, and september. Two months. Bougie, turned out to be red variegated. I just tossed it in some lava rock with the dead sticks up and sure enough it's rooting hard as hell and pushing. This tree was in full sun, no soil, no roots, for two months. And it lived. You'll be fine. It's just *preferred* to work them, in the summer, for root work.

 

[milehigh_7]

You can do cutbacks prior to initial growth of the season but leave the roots till the heat of summer.

 

[bonsaichile]

Thank you all for your responses. The plan now then will be: fill the pot with draining soil, cut it back to a stump, and leave the root work for July

 

[JosephCooper]

Where in denver? And what is warm enough? Lows in the 60s?

As long as it doesn't drop below 60, and it keeps warming up.

I lived in central denver, close enough to easily see downtown.

 

[Cadillactaste]

In July...yes. I question your watering. But it may have organic soil. (Making more sense)

You work them during their strong growing period up north. For one NE Ohio...that is usually July. Slight trimming is one thing...but a chop. I would wait until late June early July. When it's in its huge push of growth and soaking up the sun. Night temps are usually less temperamental and level out.

 

[milehigh_7]

As long as it doesn't drop below 60, and it keeps warming up.

I lived in central denver, close enough to easily see downtown.

You can never say that in Colorado. I have seen snow on July 4th...

 

[GrimLore]

I have nothing in a bonsai pot really! But this plant has virtually no soil left, just roots. I can wait until the summer, but since my growing season is shorter than in Florida, I was wondering if I could get away with it now.

They actually grow in no soil, happens by accident but they are ok given the roots see a bit of water. I would strongly recommend a slight up pot - they like root bound as you are experiencing. I use a heavy organic mix of peat moss and topsoil. I normally for growing purposes only go an inch or so wider then the present roots, you can take a small amount off the bottom. When? Whenever you feel it needs it, just put it in indirect Sun until it stops pouting - the leaf normally goes a little limp but recovers nicely. Another week later trim, don't chop, save that for Fall/Late Summer when it is a couple of weeks before it goes inside(here).

Anyways that's what works here - they are pretty but tough overall

Grimmy

 

[JosephCooper]

You can never say that in Colorado. I have seen snow on July 4th...

Jeez, the latest snow I ever saw was only in april...

 

[bonsaichile]

Yeah, with global warming, we have barely seen any snow this winter