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sam

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four months of progress - "supersize" purple bougainvillea.

I was fortunate to be able to collect 3 large bougainvillea in early October, 2010. one was a red, the second was a white and the third, the subject of this post, was a purple. sharing a series of pictures showing progress from collection on October 4, 2010, through today March 12, 2011.

best wishes, sam

October 4, 2010, collection
 

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sam

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the stump was planted in a plastic crate and responded quickly to good soil and daily watering. in a matter of 3 weeks, new buds appeared everywhere. preliminary trunk work was undertaken at about 4 weeks before the new growth got too thick. the tree was allowed to recover after which it was cut back hard again at 8 weeks, branches wired and another round of trunk work undertaken. at 13 weeks the tree was cut back a third time, rewired and work on the trunk completed. look at pictures 3 and 4 of this series to see the second branch gone. today, a little more than 4 months after collection, the tree was transplanted into its first real pot.
 

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sam

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the final picture is a back view. in 6 months the tree will be repotted again. at that time 4 or 5 inches will be cut from the very bottom of the stump so the tree sits properly in the pot.
 

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woodguy

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Nice progress Sam. These things must grow like crazy in HI.
 

Si Nguyen

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Great work Sam! I enjoyed seeing the progress of your trees. I've got a few big stumps here in California, but they don't grow as fast as yours. It seems like you are using the local dirt in your soil mix. It does not appear to be very loose or inorganic. But it must be working! I use a very loose and airy mix of 100% pumice and/or lava rocks for my new stumps, and my stumps all survive ok, but they don't seem to grow as fast as yours. I need to have more dirt in my mix?

We got a peek of the blue Pacific there in your last picture. Very nice view you have. It is kinda good to take our minds off of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan for a little bit. Thanks for your posts.
Si
 
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sam

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thanks wood and si

soil mix for collected trees comes from a recycle pile comprised of organic matter, cinder, kiryu, akadama, native soil, organic/chemical fertilizers, plus who knows what else, certainly nothing special, but it works. for si. I live very close to the ocean which has always played a large part in my life. there are occasional downsides, like spending the night in the car the other evening.

best wishes, sam
 

Mikee002

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Wow... quite a lot of progress in a very short time. I'm a bit confused though... it doesn't look like there's any small/fine roots on the stump, just the massive ones; when digging these is this all you need?

Thanks!
 

sam

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collected bougainvillea in hawaii have notoriously poor roots. the stump in this post is typical of what you get. fortunately, bougies are super hardy and have no problem recovering and growing strongly here. actually, they do better in pots, as far as developing nice roots, than in the ground. I recently collected 68 huge, 30+ year stumps, none with any fine roots, worked the stumps hard with pruning and carving and as expected, have !00% survival. look for posts about this project on this site.

best wishes, sam
 
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