Traken BRT

[Traken]

This past weekend I took a tropical workshop over at BC Bonsai, and I grabbed a brazilian rain tree. I've been wanting one for ages, so I'm glad I was finally able to pick one up to work on. In typical idiot me fashion, I didn't take any before pictures, since I never seem to think about it until we're halfway through working on it, but here's what we wound up with.







I forgot to put my can of seltzer next to it for scale, so here's an after the fact shot.



I wish I could get a better pic of it, but the trunk has really cool fluting on it. Here's a close up.



I'm super excited for this one to fill out. I love rain trees. There's something about those little compound leaves that are just really appealing.

 

[Carol 83]

Very cool trunk. I love them also, seem to have collected a few. One of my few tropical's that don't revolt when I bring them in for the winter. They'll shed a few leaves, then carry on. Growth gets a bit leggy, but they still grow. Nice tree!

 

[Traken]

Very cool trunk. I love them also, seem to have collected a few. One of my few tropical's that don't revolt when I bring them in for the winter. They'll shed a few leaves, then carry on. Growth gets a bit leggy, but they still grow. Nice tree!

Thanks, Carol. That's good to hear about moving them. I have a tropical mimosa that I've been to lazy to take pics of so far that also has the nice little compound leaves, and if you look at it wrong, it throws off all its leaves in disgust. lol. Move it around, drop leaves. Repotted it this summer, threw off every leaf it had and then regrew them all, just to mock me. Haha. Tropical are turning out to be really fun.

 

[Carol 83]

Not to derail your thread, but I picked up this little mimosa pudica at a craft fair for a couple of bucks. I don't know if it will make it through the winter inside, but it has fun flowers.

 

[Traken]

Not to derail your thread, but I picked up this little mimosa pudica at a craft fair for a couple of bucks. I don't know if it will make it through the winter inside, but it has fun flowers. View attachment 257695View attachment 257696

Nah, feel free to share. That'll be fun. The reactive leaves are cool, and the puffball flowers aways look neat. Here's an old garbage photo of mine. It's a Leucaena leucocephala, I believe, rather than the pudica or the Albizia julibrissin. It puts out white puffball flowers if I let it. I don't know if your pudica will behave similarly, but I brought this one home in November on a stupid cold day, got it under lights, and other than chucking some leaves off out of spite, it didn't seem to care much. It loves it outside during the summer, though.

 

[Carol 83]

How tall is your BRT? Just wondering, because of the fluted trunk. Nice you have close access to them. mine have all come from Florida.

 

[Traken]

How tall is your BRT? Just wondering, because of the fluted trunk. Nice you have close access to them. mine have all come from Florida.

I'm actually not 100% sure, but if a can is 5 inches, I'd eyeball it out at or just a hair under 24 inches or about 4 and a half cans. lol

I'm not actually sure where BC got the rain trees they had in stock at the time, but yeah, I was happy to see a few nice ones to choose from. Last time I was looking (last fall/winter), they were all rather small. When I saw this one, I knew I needed it. Heh.

 

[Carol 83]

I'm actually not 100% sure, but if a can is 5 inches, I'd eyeball it out at or just a hair under 24 inches or about 4 and a half cans. lol

I'm not actually sure where BC got the rain trees they had in stock at the time, but yeah, I was happy to see a few nice ones to choose from. Last time I was looking (last fall/winter), they were all rather small. When I saw this one, I knew I needed it. Heh.

Ah, much taller than mine. I don't have enough room indoors for alot of tall trees. But that sure is a nice one. I'm sure @LanceMac10 will chime in here. He has some really nice BRT's.

 

[Traken]

Ah, much taller than mine. I don't have enough room indoors for alot of tall trees. But that sure is a nice one. I'm sure @LanceMac10 will chime in here. He has some really nice BRT's.

Yeah, I’ll have to adjust my indoor setup a bit for this one. I have the space, but I’m going to have to add some more light to cover another shelf. It’s an addictions. Haha.

 

[LanceMac10]

Fantastic trunk and I'm excited your using the lower branching!! Most people bail and just go for the "flat-top" design. They do seem to dictate such a style as the growth is very conducive to said design.

Do you have a wider, shallower container for a re-pot handy? It has a nice basal flair that's relatively scarce with these. A flatter pot would direct roots out, pulling the trunk with it. Too long in this pot you might end up with "the claw" instead of lateral growth.

The upper branches wired in the crown I would take back to the first leaf/bud and start over. If your trying to keep lower branches, it helps to keep the apex "thin" to let light to your low keepers. Be ruthless on the top. It'll come back with finer growth you can work with/natural zig-zag movement of new growth. I prefer clip-n-grow with these, unless you love wiring, because you'll be taking it off and re-applying quite often!! Though it's a good idea to wire shoot to be a branch at a proper angle from the trunk.

Full sun, lot's of fert/water and it'll grow like a weed!!!!

Any further thoughts on your direction/plans and things of that nature? @Traken

 

[Traken]

Fantastic trunk and I'm excited your using the lower branching!! Most people bail and just go for the "flat-top" design. They do seem to dictate such a style as the growth is very conducive to said design.

Do you have a wider, shallower container for a re-pot handy? It has a nice basal flair that's relatively scarce with these. A flatter pot would direct roots out, pulling the trunk with it. Too long in this pot you might end up with "the claw" instead of lateral growth.

The upper branches wired in the crown I would take back to the first leaf/bud and start over. If your trying to keep lower branches, it helps to keep the apex "thin" to let light to your low keepers. Be ruthless on the top. It'll come back with finer growth you can work with/natural zig-zag movement of new growth. I prefer clip-n-grow with these, unless you love wiring, because you'll be taking it off and re-applying quite often!! Though it's a good idea to wire shoot to be a branch at a proper angle from the trunk.

Full sun, lot's of fert/water and it'll grow like a weed!!!!

Any further thoughts on your direction/plans and things of that nature? @Traken

Thanks, Lance. I don't have a container yet, as I was planning to do the repot a little bit into June next year, once it's really started ramping up again. I was contemplating just getting one of those firmer plastic training circles/ovals to move it into before then, as I wasn't entirely certain how drastically the roots can be reduced. Am I better off just saying heck with it and going into a pretty shallow pot rather than the step down approach?

The upper branches were actually brought back a fair bit (darn apical growth, lol), but yeah, I likely overlooked some of it. I know the tropicals are growing like weeds now, but sometimes I get wussy about doing too much at one time. I'll go back in and thin it a bit.

I'd definitely like to keep the low branches, though, since their spacing along the trunk was really nice. We did have to bring them quite a ways around to the front, though, as they were growing backwards. I think they have 5mm wire on them to make sure it holds. haha.

As far as styling, I'm not sure if I have a very specific direction, other than I'd love to see the lower branches fill out further and just get everything ramified. It's pretty sparse right now. Do you have any thoughts? I'm still in that phase where I don't often see things until someone points it out, or I make that first suggested cut, and then I wonder how I didn't see it in the first place. Haha.

Do you have a preferred fert for BRTs or is a balanced one just fine?

Thanks for the info!

 

[LanceMac10]

Any fert will do, really. I get organic pellets from Bonsai West, miracle-grow tomato food, fish...kelp....just use something and fairly regular while it's growing.

….how does it go? 'weakly weekly"......

 

[LanceMac10]

…...sad to say but don't think this is the flowering one....


….but the trunks of this type bulk up and flute out pretty quick....

...tough to see from the photo in regards to the low branches shape/movement 'cause of just the two dimensional aspect....but further down the road I would chop 'em back by at least half...

...but not before I wired the tips up higher than the crown for a season or two...trunk will leap in dimensions and contortion...not too long though, you'll weaken the ACTUAL crown...

...first priority is a wide and shallow container


….I have a bunch of BRT stuff/pictures in a thread, not sure if you had checked it out....plenty of pics if nothing else...isn't that what it's about?

 

[Traken]

…...sad to say but don't think this is the flowering one....

It's all good. Flowers are great, but I'm just happy to have the trunk and foliage.

….but the trunks of this type bulk up and flute out pretty quick....

...tough to see from the photo in regards to the low branches shape/movement 'cause of just the two dimensional aspect....but further down the road I would chop 'em back by at least half...

...but not before I wired the tips up higher than the crown for a season or two...trunk will leap in dimensions and contortion...not too long though, you'll weaken the ACTUAL crown...

Yeah, it's always so hard to show the 3d aspects, even with pics from all sides. I should make a rotating gif or video at some point.

...first priority is a wide and shallow container

Do you think waiting until June is a good call? I know tropicals like the summer repots, but I definitely want to be safe and not get overly aggressive. I don't have anything currently anyway, but the MWBS show is this weekend, and if a nice pot should turn up... Who knows? Haha. How shallow would you go?

….I have a bunch of BRT stuff/pictures in a thread, not sure if you had checked it out....plenty of pics if nothing else...isn't that what it's about?

I can't recall, so I'll make sure to check out your threads. Pics are always good. Haha.

 

[LanceMac10]

Slow hand until next June would probably be your best bet. Feed well this remaining outdoor season. Usually have a fine root system like Azaleas, with maybe a couple dominate woody roots.


....honestly you can be pretty aggressive in my experience, like down to near cutting type close...late May, June whenever the nights low is upper 50's, 60 and up could be even better.

 

[Traken]

Slow hand until next June would probably be your best bet. Feed well this remaining outdoor season. Usually have a fine root system like Azaleas, with maybe a couple dominate woody roots.


....honestly you can be pretty aggressive in my experience, like down to near cutting type close...late May, June whenever the nights low is upper 50's, 60 and up could be even better.

Sounds good. Not like I can't still look at potential pots. ;D

Looking through your twin trunk BRT thread now. Lotta cool trees in there. I especially like the slanting one you have.

 

[LanceMac10]

wire it in the container, right?


….I've gone "how didn't this die" shallow...how much you willing to water?

 

[Traken]

wire it in the container, right?


….I've gone "how didn't this die" shallow...how much you willing to water?

lol. I propose that as a new official measurement of pot height. Probably hard to know what size of pot to put it in until it gets pulled out of the container anyway, and I see what's going on down there. Guess I'll just have to buy a ton of different pots to be safe.

 

[Traken]

I was at the Midwest Bonsai Society show today, and I actually wound up grabbing a pot that I think is going to work pretty well for the BRT, and if not, hey, it’s a cool pot. I’ll find something for it. Haha. It’s actually made by @hometeamrocker here on bnut. All his pots were great. I wish I could have grabbed another.



Pics really don’t do it justice. The glaze is fantastic in person. It really reminds me of the bark on a BRT when it starts to flake off and you get the two different colors, and it has these hints of green in it that remind me of the foliage as well. A little more shallow might have been nice, but I’ll definitely feel safer reporting into this one with a little extra room, especially not knowing how the root situation is. Now to find the patience to leave it alone till June. Haha.

 

[Waldo Street Pottery]

I was at the Midwest Bonsai Society show today, and I actually wound up grabbing a pot that I think is going to work pretty well for the BRT, and if not, hey, it’s a cool pot. I’ll find something for it. Haha. It’s actually made by @hometeamrocker here on bnut. All his pots were great. I wish I could have grabbed another.

View attachment 258112

Pics really don’t do it justice. The glaze is fantastic in person. It really reminds me of the bark on a BRT when it starts to flake off and you get the two different colors, and it has these hints of green in it that remind me of the foliage as well. A little more shallow might have been nice, but I’ll definitely feel safer reporting into this one with a little extra room, especially not knowing how the root situation is. Now to find the patience to leave it alone till June. Haha.

Nice meeting you guys, hope the container works out.