Questions About Jaboticaba

[KayaMooney]

I have this Jaboticaba, well I guess you could call it two as it looks to be two trees that have grown together. I want to train the left one as a bonsai and keep the other mainly for fruit.

How well do these handle violent root work? If I wanted to train them as two separate trees I would most likely have to saw them in half where they emerge from the soil. Could they handle this?

Lastly, how well do they bud back and could it handle being chopped very low at the same time that it had this root work done?

 

[GrimLore]

That base is the base of the grape, I doubt it would do well "split". It does however have a good start as being a Bonsai. This article covers a lot of information on it and should give you a good understanding of the plant and answers your questions as well.

http://www.bonsaimary.com/Jaboticaba-Bonsai-Trees.html

Grimmy

 

[KayaMooney]

That base is the base of the grape, I doubt it would do well "split". It does however have a good start as being a Bonsai. This article covers a lot of information on it and should give you a good understanding of the plant and answers your questions as well.

http://www.bonsaimary.com/Jaboticaba-Bonsai-Trees.html

Grimmy

I've already read that but thanks for linking it anyways. What do you mean by "that base is the base of the grape"

 

[carp]

They don't like their roots being played with too much, but if you work on them at the right time of year (now) they will bounce back. They do backbud very well, but I don't know how it would handle a flat chop with no green growth. My conscious says that its a tropical tree, you live farther south than I do, and its almost summer time here in Florida; I think you would be fine chopping and working the roots. That's just intuition. I repotted my Jaboticaba last year sometime in August I think, I don't remember and because of how late in the season it was I didn't work the roots much. I bet if you worked the soil off the roots without disturbing them much and using a hose as much as possible you could separate the trees pretty easily. If you can't, just consider starting a twin trunk.