Orchid and Baobab Update

Here's an unknown type of Dendrobium (?spathulatum), in full bloom with 4 spikes. This is the most flowers it's ever had. This is the biggest orchid I grow and it needs to be repotted after these blooms are done.

Here's a picture of my little 4 year-old baobab bonsai, which just starting growing leaves again this past month. It's very happy in its hot and sunny windowsill after spending the winter dormant period in the basement. After this picture, I pruned all the growing stems back to only one leaf node, to promote further branching. I'll take another picture when it starts looking bushy.

For updates on the baobab, see July 9/09.

Update on Bonsai Baobab

There must be a shortage of web articles on baobab trees trained as bonsais, because my blog comes up just behind the South African Bonsai Society on a google search on "bonsai baobab". Quite funny that I'm here in northern Canada, a fair distance away from South Africa!

Here's my little baobab, having just started this year's growth a few weeks ago. It is a deciduous tree and it is critically important that it receive no water during the dormant season. That starts in the fall when the leaves start to yellow and fall off. Don't think your tree is dying when that happens, because that is normal. I think it's dead every winter and then it starts growing again every spring. I never cease to be amazed. At some point in October or November, I put the tree in the basement and completely neglect it. It's fine to put it on a shelf (does not need any light) and let it sit in dry dormancy for the winter; when you see green shoots in the spring, bring it back to a sunny place and water it regularly. One winter, it was stored under the pool table in the basement while we did renovations!

I started this tree from seed 4 years ago. Germination is not hard. You should soak the seed for 24 hours before sowing it, to help germination.

I cut the main stem last year to promote new growth, which worked very well. It triggered new shoots from the stem below the cut and around the circumference of the cut itself. I sealed the cut with Japanese cut paste, which can be purchased from bonsai dealers. I don't know what my plan is for future shaping of my tree, but I will figure that out as I go. It will probably be with me for many years!

Please leave a comment (and link, if you have one) if you have a baobab bonsai. There's not too many of them out there and I'd like to see what other ones look like.

For updates on the baobab, see July 9/09.

Bonsai Baobab Tree

See the 2009 update on my baobab here on my blog.

Taking a break from the stifling outdoors, here is an indoor project of mine:

I started this baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) from seed 3 years ago. I bought the huge seed from a mail order company and germinated it in warm conditions after soaking the seed. While baobabs have large leaves (which generally detract from the bonsai form), baobab bonsais are said to be attractive for their leafless form in the winter, when their large trunk and multiple branches look like a tree with its roots in the air.

I am working to increase branching by pruning this little tree. I rooted one of the larger cuttings last summer and I will try to make it into a bonsai as well. I grow it in a sunny window during the spring and summer. When the leaves start to yellow and fall off in autumn, I put it in the basement with no light or water for several months. Every year I wonder if it is dead (it spent about 5 months lying horizontally under the pool table during the winter a couple of years ago). Then to my amazement, it suddenly starts sprouting leaves and then I put it back upstairs in the sun. This one just started growing leaves ago a few weeks ago. It is a bit late this year because I pruned it too late last summer and it proceeded to make new growth rather than lose its leaves in October!