Baku's consolidated bougainvilleas progression thread

[Baku1875]

Another air layer success from my big old bougie!




90% pumice mix, 10% cocopeat just to fluff it up a bit, this seems to want to be a cascade or semi, but I didnt want to tie it down so i got it anchored over a coral rock and I'm gonna let the roots fill the pot. Mostly shade zone under crepe myrtle tree, it has some decent ramification so I'm excited about this one's development. This is the 2nd airlayer from my big bougie, the other one is the informal upright from previous posts that I propagated last year.

I like the gnarly branch turns that my big ol bougie produces in short periods of time, I might not bonsai it and simply 'guide' its growth using partial shade to continue making these air layers every year.

 

[Baku1875]

From the top. With a little bit of wire later this season, I can probably set this up for a good future. Already some natural movement.

 

[Baku1875]

Well, it got blown over by the wind, nothing broke, roots looked good, pot intact, repotted upright instead. might make a more interesting literati anyway...for now!










Progress on gro box bougie!





Progress on 2022 air layer bougie, top growing out fast after the chop. Giving it time to harden off, then going to prune the tip a bit when buds show up to try and get some side branches going. Partially sliced some of the bigger leaves at the far tips of the branches for energy distribution to come closer to the empty spots that were exposed by the wiring. Got the buds I was looking for.

Taking the process slow to keep energy positive, depending on whether I can get buds and keep the taper, I want to continue developing and sizing down, getting rid of bigger branches or jinning/carving/preserving them, and working on ramification. Probably 1 or 2 years away from a much smaller shallower pot.




Purple chunky 2 doing well in full sun, a little chlorotic but so was chunky 1 and it pulled thru.






Purple chunky 1 enjoying the solstice-eve sun, a healthy 2nd flush started around last week with back budding. Looking very symmetrical, but health first, it's only a month and a half old.



Some of the new buds down low that I'm hopefully going to make into primary branches, then pruning back the rest that are higher up.



A few casualties from the white/pink variety that I was looking forward to. the two long thinner ones are doing ok, but the chunkier one in the 4th pic isn't doing well. I think I used too much cocopeat in that mix. The pure perlite cuttings did much better.

 

[Baku1875]

growth update, and growbox bougie moved to full sun!



Extending a lot, box is warping but I can probably get it out of the box by September at this rate



2022 air bougie



partial leaf snipping seems to have helped balance things out, but the media has lost quite a bit of percolation, im probably going to try to get it out of this pot with root ball intact, prune the roots half an inch in every direction, add a bunch of pumice to the pot and put it back in. I may have over fertilized as well (some burn on tips)



buds on the inside, gonna prune these branches back a bit to balance



Chunky purple 2 extending more, chlorosis is clearing up







Chunky purple 3 (cup in a pot to try exposed root or mound later, experimenting)



Chunky purple 1 extending a lot as well



I figure that the root system/vascular system is healthy now that it can tolerate full sun 90-98F without drooping at all anymore





Top view

 

[Baku1875]

2022 airlayer bougie repot into same pot! Root mat was DENSE, that was what was probably causing the loss of drainage.



Root square nice and healthy, but had a lot of organic fertilizer residue on top.



Raked and pruned roots from the bottom, top and sides





Nebari has definitely improved, a long way to go, but a lite raking and yearly repot (this thing sends roots fast....) for a few more seasons and I'll see where this goes.








-Potted with straight pumice this time,
(tank's pumice, 1/4"-3/8" particle range, pretty consistent and not too much of the mix on the coarse side so it should do well, my bucidas are digging it and this bougie is a lot more forgiving)

-Rinsed out some of the residual organic fertilizer and original cocopeat, rotated the potting position to the new front, pruned about an inch and a half in every direction and potted it a bit elevated. Removed a lot of the coarse perlite and chopsticked the new pumice in.

-Previous mix was ~80/20 self sifted Viagro Coarse and Chunky Perlite (home depot)/coco coir, and some top dressing of well rinsed/sifted coarse sand (probably not gonna bother with that again), and a little TOO much loose Dr earth fertilizer (sticking to teabags from now on for deployment of organic fertilizer for trees nearing this stage and beyond to avoid cloggage)

Also, instead of a finer 1mm plastic mesh, i used 1/4 inch chicken wire for the 3 large drainage holes.




Complete! A little sphag around the trunk and around some of the exposed root areas to keep it moist temporarily, and clay saucer as humidity tray for a few days.

Sitting under crepe myrtle tree, partial morning sun, noon shade, and late afternoon sun between 4pm-8pm. Should be alright, this is already the 3rd repot in 14 months of this air layer's life. Gonna give it some mist twice a day as a precaution until the roots fully recover.

 

[Baku1875]

Back to work doing lite adjustments to the 2022 airlayer

(i think it's a Barbara Karst? if anyone can verify I would appreciate it. tiny, sparse thorns, almost none, and much wider leaves than my other bougies, bracts are between magenta and light purple, the mother tree is the one next to my dog in my avatar)



Put some of that recycled aluminum ground wire back on a pair of the lower rear left branches, got one wrapped forward towards the front, and much lower. The first upper front branch that goes up and diagonally to the left is gonna get pruned as it backbuds to prevent shading out of the newly positioned lower left branch.

Also got a nice side branch off the top shoot and I wired it to the left, havent decided exactly what kind of movement to give the top shoot it but I want to keep it subtle. Now if i can get one more branch to go to the right, then I can shorten some of the vertical ramification that is coming off the lower branches, and I think this tree is on its way to looking more interesting.



Color is starting to show up as well, and lots of interior buds. The repot was only 10 days ago too. I'll probably give it 3 teabags of organic fertilizer or Bougain to get it fed for the autumn growth.

I really like this bougie hybrid, I cant wait to work on the new air layer (the semi cascade looking one that got knocked over by the wind, then I repotted it upright) once it really gets settled into its pot.

 

[Baku1875]

Been a while, my doggo (the one in my avatar) passed away the last week of July, he was about to turn 14 in October and had osteosarcoma in his elbow. Been staying off social media, but leaning into the tree work as much as possible.

Chunky Bougie 1(cutting from ~April of this year), I guess we can call it 'Slingshot' because of the division in the trunk. I reduced the height of the thicker branch a bit. It's really starting to bloom, I up potted it from the training pot to a 10 inch terra cotta and added a bunch of pumice and LECA. Once it gets to where I want it to be, I'll take it to a smaller pot, I'm not sure how shallow because it's nice to be able to get decent blooms.





Gradually working on taper by snipping higher branches and letting lower ones catch up throughout the summer on all of the bougies. I allowed a few runners on top a week prior to the slip pot so the roots can dig in before the growing season ends, as per the 'auxin in the shoot tips helps grow the roots' theory.



Top View



The thickest of the first 3 (took root a bit later, blooms are starting to show up)




Similar idea on the taper work, gradual snips, runners on top to help the roots extend into the bigger pot (looking like a formal upright, or broom shohin down the road) Going to try some deadwood work on the knobby branches on top, lime sulfur and pc petrifier later on, will be building the branch structure based on the lowest pair's thickness from here.


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Top view



babara karst 2022 air layer, growth slowing down. The leaf count helped put on some girth this summer, and the mound repot into pumice seems to have boosted the nebari setup a bit. lots of healthy radial roots.


Rear
Top view This year's Barbara karst air layer doing well, I put some wire on it, got a lite snap while bending the branch on the middle right about 3 weeks ago, but it seems to be intact. It got me thinking that the tree might look better without it so that the trunk movement is more visible on the way to the top, but for now I want the roots to beef up in the 12 inch bowl pot.

Straight pumice, Dr earth ferts on top, constant rain since August ended has that algae going, gonna give the pot a scrubbing this week and rake the top soil a bit.


Side

 

[Carol 83]

Been a while, my doggo (the one in my avatar) passed away the last week of July, he was about to turn 14 in October and had osteosarcoma in his elbow. Been staying off social media, but leaning into the tree work as much as possible.

Chunky Bougie 1(cutting from ~April of this year), I guess we can call it 'Slingshot' because of the division in the trunk. I reduced the height of the thicker branch a bit. It's really starting to bloom, I up potted it from the training pot to a 10 inch terra cotta and added a bunch of pumice and LECA. Once it gets to where I want it to be, I'll take it to a smaller pot, I'm not sure how shallow because it's nice to be able to get decent blooms.


View attachment 510836
View attachment 510839

Gradually working on taper by snipping higher branches and letting lower ones catch up throughout the summer on all of the bougies. I allowed a few runners on top a week prior to the slip pot so the roots can dig in before the growing season ends, as per the 'auxin in the shoot tips helps grow the roots' theory.

View attachment 510840

Top View

View attachment 510841

The thickest of the first 3 (took root a bit later, blooms are starting to show up)

View attachment 510842


Similar idea on the taper work, gradual snips, runners on top to help the roots extend into the bigger pot (looking like a formal upright, or broom shohin down the road) Going to try some deadwood work on the knobby branches on top, lime sulfur and pc petrifier later on, will be building the branch structure based on the lowest pair's thickness from here.

View attachment 510843
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View attachment 510844

Top view

View attachment 510845

babara karst 2022 air layer, growth slowing down. The leaf count helped put on some girth this summer, and the mound repot into pumice seems to have boosted the nebari setup a bit. lots of healthy radial roots.

View attachment 510846
Rear
View attachment 510847Top viewView attachment 510848 This year's Barbara karst air layer doing well, I put some wire on it, got a lite snap while bending the branch on the middle right about 3 weeks ago, but it seems to be intact. It got me thinking that the tree might look better without it so that the trunk movement is more visible on the way to the top, but for now I want the roots to beef up in the 12 inch bowl pot.

Straight pumice, Dr earth ferts on top, constant rain since August ended has that algae going, gonna give the pot a scrubbing this week and rake the top soil a bit.
View attachment 510849

Side

View attachment 510851

So sorry to hear about your pup.

 

[Baku1875]

2 out of 5 white bougies made it, im considering making these into thread graft sources next spring to add white to my purple chunk trio




And the purple bougie in growbox doing really well, going to wait until next spring to put it in a big training pot



That's the thickest one


Also this purple chunk. Kind of an awkward angle to that thick branch on the side and it's same thickness as the trunk, im not sure whether i lop that off next year and get backbudding on the actual trunk instead. but for now it's really healthy.


I had used a solo cup to root this one, then i cut the bottom off and planted it high in this clay pot to try and get higher roots on the nebari and also to add-on more room for growth without disturbing the roots during its first growing season, it seems to have worked. I got a bit impatient and removed the cup around early July, but I think that if i left it place until October there would have been more thick radial roots at the base.

I have a few more experiments on bougies, ficus, barbados cherry 'cutting in solo cup > pot' method that I will be reporting on. it seems to have helped build a root foundation, then transfer that root tower undisturbed to a larger pot while preserving the height above the soil line (i used rocks to hold the cup in place until the roots came out the bottom.

then later one can cut the solo cup out, gently rake the roots back from the tower and keep the vigorous ones as a nebari head start of sorts.
Also handy because any failed cuttings only occupied a solo cup for the first months.

Inspired by Eric Shrader's method of doing exposed root pines using tall anderson flat pots, his video from last year gave me the idea to try the pot stacking.

 

[Baku1875]

Purple bougies are blooming for first time













This one has slowed down a lot, hit it with too much ferts two weeks ago



No more pruning this year or ferts. I'm happy with the progress on the silhouette and ramification, more progress to be made next season!

 

[Carol 83]

Purple bougies are blooming for first time

I was puzzled that mine didn't bloom off and on all the time like my others. Jason Schley from Schley Bonsai Nursery said the purple ones actually have a bloom season, unlike the others.

 

[LuZiKui]

The movement on the trunk of that first one is great. I'm still a noob with bougies but I find that they really just want to be straight as an arrow whenever possible. Nice looking stuff!

 

[Baku1875]

The movement on the trunk of that first one is great. I'm still a noob with bougies but I find that they really just want to be straight as an arrow whenever possible. Nice looking stuff!

The one in the box? that one was courtesy of the pole saw, lol. the weight of the branches from the giant bougie tree I have next door bends them naturally lol. I have a bunch overhanging the fence and permission to keep cutting so hopefully I can find some choice cuttings next spring again.

Here's how it's looking right now, I gave it a light pruning last week but I dont want to go too hard before winter so it doesnt get weak.

 

[Baku1875]

Here's the base of the trunk up close from yesterday's photos. I need to get my hands on some lime sulfur and cut that dead knob on the lower left to keep any rot from progressing and to preserve that 'shaved off' look.


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Here's the 2022 airlayer that I've been continuously working on. some things that I dont like about it at the moment, the straight sections, etc, and trying to keep the top roots from staying too soggy (despite being in 100% pumice, seems that the fine fine roots retain a lot of moisture, combined with any residual organic fertilizer from the teabags over time. It forms a green scummy algae, similar to what plagues my breathable terra cotta pots) Been using a tooth brush but im considering diluting some vinegar with water and giving that a go, especially on the lower trunk area.

Finally getting some blooms on it. Started guiding some of the top branches down and to the sides, but those sections might get chopped next year, I'll have to see where this goes. I have been trying to ride a fine line of giving the tree enough foliage and branches to thicken up and improve the nebari, while simultaneously styling and pruning but not too much, mostly for practice.

I find that in my zone, my bougies and bucida's new shoots appear and harden off so quickly that I need to stay on top of them in order to wire them with thin wire as early as possible. I screwed up some of the new shoots on my big bucida this year by waiting too long to wire them downward and I think i'll have to prune them back to a first node and hope it back buds, and then try again, repeat, etc until i get the desired 'shoulder angle' from the trunk.

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From the rear it's a bit of a mess, I'm considering removing vertical branching since now I'm committed to an informal upright style rather than broom stick (i was torn between the 2 initially). That bare spot in the upper half of the trunk, im hoping that it sends some buds out at some point.

 

[Baku1875]

And for good measure, took some photos of one of my favorites from this season, about 1 and a half inch thick trunk.


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I want to carefully saw off either at the blue lines or red line and then work with some fresh shoots. I'm happy with the ramification and thickening so far on the lowest branches, but the top is all over the place lol. Great for blooms though. If I cut low enough I can probably make the upper piece into a new cutting next season.

 

[Baku1875]

And the whole bougie collection family photo of course, all from this year other than the 2nd from the top right (2022 air layer) next to its younger sibling, this year's airlayer from the same momma tree. the 2022 one has been slow to bloom, perhaps because of fertilizing. I might give it a balanced liquid fert once a week nice and light and see if it decides to bloom more.

 

[Baku1875]

New activity! Cuttings and optimization time on the expansive Florida growing season!

Chopped my growbox bougie big time, got the cutting (sawwwing, used a fine toothed hand saw, steak knife-like) and wired it in securely to a terracotta pot with pumice, perlite, cocopeat, and securely wired around the top rim of the pot and anchored. I find that this makes it easier to lock cuttings into place securely and improves outcomes after trying it on a few ficuses.


post saw!



i added more cutpaste after that dried up and it should be fine. Just gave it a few sprays of light concentration neem oil, hydrogen peroxide, coppercide as preventative as my garden is going bonkers with new infestations. Going to repeat these sprayings every other day for a few weeks and prune any infested branches from trees. Last year was aphid and spider mite fest, this year will be health and vigor!

 

[Baku1875]

The cutting!

 

[Baku1875]

Anchored in tight and happy for now! fingers crossed




The cutting prior to anchoring it into the pot

 

[Baku1875]

A lot more content to come. I have my yearly purple bougie runners growing from a large hedge that I am going to harvest in the next few weeks, and some big ficus chops on my 3 large tiger barks, gonna be pivoting between threads.