Vachelia Caven

[dbonsaiw]

Very cooperative trees. Shoots out growth and backbuds quickly after a chop.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Brought them out today.

 

[dbonsaiw]

The vachelia got repots. Was able to get this one on a better angle. Branches pruned back to balance the roots. Roots were meh and need work. Lots of thick roots removed. No obvious nitrogen fixing nodules this time around. Now my sunroom smells like vachelia soil (sort of like spoiled petruli oil). Will likely wait 2 years for the next repot.

 

[dbonsaiw]

This guy seems unhappy about the repot. Its lost a lot of foliage in the past few days. Perhaps I removed too many roots. Hopefully a hiccup. The other one seems to be handling the repot much better.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Difference is quite obvious

 

[dbonsaiw]

Trees lost basically all their leaves and seem to be bouncing back. I will make a note to go softer in the roots next time around. Was reading somewhere that the related acacia doesn’t like invasive root work. Seems it’s similar for vachelia.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Thankfully, the trees seem to have bounced back and are growing well again.

 

[dbonsaiw]

It's been 2.5 years since these germinated and I'm getting antsy (I know, not so much time). At least one of the VCs is starting to speak to me and perhaps I have some direction. In the interim, this one is starting to develop a little taper down low thanks to the two lower shoots. I'll remove thorns and wire up the larger lower branch when I bring these inside.

I tried to root the cuttings from the summer trim, but all failed. Will try again.