Ceiba speciosa project

hsaintandre

Yamadori
Messages
60
Reaction score
249
Location
French Alps
USDA Zone
9a
The silk floss tree is a common species in my homeland, Argentina. It reminds me of my childhood when my friends and I used to challenge each other to climb them despite their prickles. During my last visit, I saw them in full bloom, and they were so beautiful that I decided to honor my roots and give it a try.

Back in France, where I now live, I couldn’t find any stock material, but I did find seeds. They were relatively expensive since they are considered 'exotic,' so I ordered just 5g, which gave me about 25 seeds

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They don’t require stratification, and I was too excited to wait for the outdoor temperatures to rise (February 1st), so I started half of them indoors. I placed the seeds in small containers (250–400 ml) with a mix of blonde peat and pozzolan in a room at 20°C.

Ten days later, the first tip emerged, and by the third week, all the seeds had germinated.
The first set of leaves looked nothing like the adult ones. I had to wait until the third set to see the typical 5 to 7 leaflet leaves

sedling.jpg

It’s been 7 weeks since sowing and I have 12 cute seedlings.

tray.jpg

They are known for having a strong apical dominance and being hard to branch, so I wonder which styles would suit them best. I’ve seen some beautiful large specimens, but I feel they could also make interesting mame or small shohin.

I’ll be posting their progress in this thread periodically.
If you have experience with this species, I’d love to hear your insights!
 
That apical dominance is a wild challenge. Btw, awesome progress!!
 
Transition to outdoors was fairly okay. Most indoor leaves burned and some fell off, but new ones are appearing. The trunks are thickening and becoming stiffer.

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Wow! You got seeds to sprout!! I’ve tried a couple times to get Ceiba seeds to sprout without any luck! I have been growing a ceiba tree in a pot, not bonsai, for almost 12 years now and I have found that the only way to get it to branch is just cutting it back right before spring. I think I grew mine for almost 7 years as just a straight line till it started branching out.
 
The silk floss tree is a common species in my homeland, Argentina. It reminds me of my childhood when my friends and I used to challenge each other to climb them despite their prickles. During my last visit, I saw them in full bloom, and they were so beautiful that I decided to honor my roots and give it a try.

Back in France, where I now live, I couldn’t find any stock material, but I did find seeds. They were relatively expensive since they are considered 'exotic,' so I ordered just 5g, which gave me about 25 seeds

View attachment 587155

They don’t require stratification, and I was too excited to wait for the outdoor temperatures to rise (February 1st), so I started half of them indoors. I placed the seeds in small containers (250–400 ml) with a mix of blonde peat and pozzolan in a room at 20°C.

Ten days later, the first tip emerged, and by the third week, all the seeds had germinated.
The first set of leaves looked nothing like the adult ones. I had to wait until the third set to see the typical 5 to 7 leaflet leaves

View attachment 587293

It’s been 7 weeks since sowing and I have 12 cute seedlings.

View attachment 587292

They are known for having a strong apical dominance and being hard to branch, so I wonder which styles would suit them best. I’ve seen some beautiful large specimens, but I feel they could also make interesting mame or small shohin.

I’ll be posting their progress in this thread periodically.
If you have experience with this species, I’d love to hear your insights!
For the strong apical dominance you could go literati. I’ve thought about growing our local long needle pines sort of like a palm tree style. Last option I saw a friend do to make a cascade out of an apically dominant species, was to keep the pot upside down. It would grow up and he would flip it every once in a while. Since you have a few to play with.
 
in South Africa it is known as 'aap se moer' - loosely translated no way a monkey is going to climb it 🤣 ...
you must have been in a lot of pain trying to get up one...
personally i have grown a few over the years but ended up binning them...
they grow awesomely in containers but are difficult to keep small...
 
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