Brazilian Ironwood Hydroponic Project

[sevan]

I learned about Brazilian Ironwood (libidibia ferrea) trees from an old thread and was really interested in finding one. However, being inappropriate for my zone, they don't seem to be easy to find, so I decided to order some seeds and see if I can make a long-term learning project out of it. I don't know how things will work out, but I decided to start this thread to track and share my results.

A few things that I considered when starting this journey:

1) These trees will not survive outdoors in my zone (7b). Luckily, I have a south facing sun room that gets lots of indirect light all year and I don't mind adding some grow lights to help them through the winter. Otherwise, I think they will be fine outside from May-Oct where I live.

2) I read that the bark gets its distinctive texture from rapid growth, but I can't plant them in the ground to grow quickly. So, I've decided to try growing them hydroponically to get more rapid growth and also learn about hydroponics! I haven't been able to find much info about the impact of hydroponics on nebari, so I have no idea what to expect with that, but hopefully they live long enough for me to find out.

Being new to bonsai AND horticulture, I'm not betting on anything, but I'm looking forward to learning!

Scott

 

[sevan]

The site I ordered from said the packages had 8 seeds and a 60% germination rate, so I ordered 2 packages. I received the packages of seeds on July 21 and actually got 23 total seeds.



I started one packet right away and held the other for a couple of weeks in case I screwed up on the first attempt. I clipped them with nail clippers and soaked them in water for 24+ hours before planting. These pictures are actually from the second batch because I forgot to take more photos with the first seeds.

 

[sevan]

I planted my first batch of seeds in coco coir on 7/22 and saw my first sprouts on 7/29.

 

[sevan]

The first batch of seeds has so far produced 4 seedlings and the second batch is currently at 5 seedlings, but they've only been planted since 8/3, so I'm hoping for a couple more yet.

 

[sevan]

I removed the first 4 seedlings from their soil on 8/12 and moved them to a DIY aeroponic system to develop their roots before their eventual home in a kratky hydroponic system (yet to be built). The bucket has 2 gallons of water and 2 teaspoons of MaxiGro nutrients. The second batch of seedlings are watching to see how things go before jumping in. This bucket isn't big enough for everyone to play in, so the biggest ones will need to hurry up and make room for the newest sprouts!

If enough seedlings survive, they might make a late entry into the Forest from Seeds competition, but right now the margin of error is pretty thin.

 

[sevan]

It has been 2 weeks since the first seedlings went into the aeroponic system and most of them have had some great growth. I trimmed the tap roots slightly on the strongest a week ago to encourage them to grow outward. Today I decided to move 2 of them to their new kratky home to see how they do before I try it with the rest.

I painted some 1 gallon glass jars to limit the amount of light on the inside. The 4" net cups are a perfect fit in the jar and I will be using hydroton to support the seedlings. I filled the jars a bit more than 3/4 full with water and added 1 teaspoon of MaxiGro to each jar. The water level leaves the net cups slightly submerged to expose the ends of the roots to the water.



This is one of the seedlings being moved over.



I gently spread the roots out a bit on a layer of the hydroton to try to get them to grow out the sides instead of just straight down. My biggest concern with this project is getting the roots back out of the net cup later. The gaps are fairly large and I trimmed off a few bits on the bottom to widen the narrowest holes, but there's a chance I'll need to cut away the plastic or some roots whenever I want to transplant to a larger container or to soil.



Here are the seedlings in their new home. One of them closed its leaves and got a bit droopy in the process, hopefully I did not damage it. The other looks pretty good at the moment. I'll likely keep them inside a few days (at least) to let them acclimate, then slowly start introducing them to the outdoors.

 

[sevan]

I ended up with 7 healthy seedlings out of 11 that germinated. The strongest one I applied a little wire to today to start giving the trunk some movement. I plan to give it a few days to see how it responds before trying the others.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Looking good

 

[Pixar]

I'll have to try this on my Tamarind tree

 

[Mapleminx]

Looking good so far!
I think Curtis ( @cmeg1 ) might be able to help with any questions that may come up. He has an absolute wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to growing from seed using “alternate methods”

 

[Pixar]

I tried this on my curry leaf tree ( just a small one ) haven't seen any success yet , all the leaves fell off and the thing is just a green stick . Wonder what I'm doing wrong ?

 

[sevan]

Here are a few new photos of some of the root development I'm getting after 6 weeks in the 1 gallon jars. I now have 5 of 7 of them wired and all are doing well. The smallest two are still catching up a bit before I chance it with wiring them, but I can probably get them in a week or two. The water is still perfectly clear, so the paint is doing a better job than I expected keeping the jars algae free. I might manage another month outside before these need to come inside, but I already have their winter home ready to go.

The first two photos are of the same tree from posts 6 and 7. The main root is now taller than the jar - I'll likely let the roots run at least until spring before I consider any more pruning.



And one other example. The roots on the rest of the trees are more evenly spread out than the first one.

 

[Mapleminx]

They are looking so good, I gotta admit I am a tad jelly at your growth speeds!

 

[sevan]

Thanks! That reminds me that I forgot to add some pictures of them in their winter home.

Two of them are already close to the grow lights, so I will probably need to do something about that before spring. I'll probably wire down the trunks a bit rather than raise the lights or trim back the growth.

Scott

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Your seedlings are taller than my three year-olds (grown in traditional mix) though my three year-olds are much beefier with more compact and denser growth.

I have never done anything with hydroponics. Does it work with deciduous cuttings?

 

[sevan]

The aeroponic system I used in post 5 should work very well to start anything that can be grown from cuttings. @cmeg1 has a way more advanced setup for cloning cuttings that I think works similarly. From there you can move to soil or another hydroponic system.

I think you would be able to grow pretty much any tree in hydroponics. The main limitations would be how large a tree you can support and potential winter freezing of the water, which would likely be a major problem for deciduous trees. Here's an example of someone growing a large pepper plant in a barrel.

One nice thing about the setup is that I have not watered them since I put them out 2 months ago. Next year I assume they will use a lot more water when they are more established. My plan is to let them grow as much as possible each year, then cut them back in the fall to move indoors.

I'm not sure yet how many years I will keep them in water before moving to soil and I have no clue what will happen with the nebari using this method. I started this more as a learning opportunity than anything else.

Scott

 

[sevan]

My trees did pretty well indoors over the winter. They grew so much that they outgrew the space I set up for them. I had to do some pruning to keep them confined and they ended the season with some pretty significant powdery mildew that was difficult to control in the space I had. Next winter I need to give them more room and airflow.

In April it finally got warm enough to trim off the rest of the damaged foliage and put them back outside. The next few pictures below are from late May with about a month of spring growth. Over the winter, I think I watered them twice. Now that they are in full growth I am topping up their water every 1-2 weeks and replacing the water with fresh water and fertilizer monthly(ish).

 

[sevan]

Obviously these trees are getting a bit leggy and I can't let them grow completely wild since they need to be inside for the winter. So, I'm starting to experiment with hard pruning to see how they respond.

The first picture below was my first experiment. About 4 weeks ago I cut everything back as far as I could while still leaving a few leaflets at the end of each branch. It has already had significant growth since then and I will leave it alone until fall now.



The next picture was an experiment with a trunk chop, I cut this one down below the lowest branch 2 weeks ago and am getting lots of new buds growing.



Based on my results so far, I am thinking about the timing for the rest of them. Right now I'm thinking of letting them go wild through the summer and chopping them early fall to let them get new growth before they come in for the winter.

 

[Katie0317]

They're growing fast and look good. I don't know how old mine is (it might give you an idea how long it takes to get a trunk that thick) but if I find out I'll let you know. Good luck.
I think you're using the same medium we use to grow our orchids...Leca balls?

 

[sevan]

I think they were called hydroton, they're fired clay about the size of a marble.