Ceiba Speciosa (Silk Floss, Paineira Rosa, Palo Borracho)

[PantoporosAporos]

Ceiba Speciosa seems to be a popular tree to bonsai in Brasil (where it's called Paineira Rosa) and Puerto Rico (Palo Borracho), but I've seen very little about it in English speaking forums or websites...

So, since I already have a Jaboticaba and a Pitanga (Surinam Cherry) pre-bonsai trees, a couple of weeks ago I decided to keep the Brazilian Tree theme going and bought this beautiful pre-bonsai Ceiba Speciosa from Wigert's Bonsai:


It lost all of its leaves in shipping (or due to FedEx leaving it upside down on my porch), but it started budding back really soon after. It's not really a big deal, and has happened with trees shipped from other nurseries as well. Anyway, I put it in freer flowing soil in a plastic pot (that now looks too small), and plan on leaving it be for a while. Unless I repot it in a pond basket, or tie-pot, or something. But I'm going to try to leave it be.

I'm going to keep the flat top design, hopefully with only minor pruning this year (to keep any of the branches from becoming dominant).

But I have a question for anyone experienced with this species: What should I do with the stubs left from previous pruning (see photo below)?


Ceiba seems to be very apically dominant, so I don't expect it to bud back there at all (but I'm new to this, so what do I know?). Should I cut them flat and flush, leave room for die back, or cut concave and flush? Should I seal it or plan on die back anyway (you can see the die back from a previous trunk chop in the photo above)?

Thanks in advance,

PA

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nice tree.
Those stubs, clearly when Weigert's prunes, they leave a long stub, then the stub dies back and dries out. Then you should go through and cut those stubs flush with the trunk. Probably no need to seal the fresh cuts, as the stubs are fairly small diameter. In the future, you should probably follow Weigert's lead, and leave a stub when pruning, rather than initially cutting flush when you prune. I don't know much about Ceiba, so I don't know if this is a "default technique" or a technique necessary for Ceiba in particular. If you are unsure of whether a tree will die back at a cut point, it is normal to leave a stub and then come back a year later and clean up the wound by cutting flush.

Some of the Ceiba at Weigerts were 2 or 3 men to lift them trees. Impressive.

 

[PantoporosAporos]

Thanks for the reply! That sounds like a solid plan.

I'd love to visit Wigert's some day... They seem to have a lot of very cool trees...

 

[ezer73]

Hello, I'm from Argentina and here the Palo Borracho is used a lot ... it has a lot of apical tendency and it costs a lot to branch, but not impossible.
this is an example. Search Sergio Luciani or Bonsai Wu for more information

 

[PantoporosAporos]

Hello, I'm from Argentina and here the Palo Borracho is used a lot ... it has a lot of apical tendency and it costs a lot to branch, but not impossible.
this is an example. Search Sergio Luciani or Bonsai Wu for more information

View attachment 302368

That's a beautiful tree! Thank you for the suggestions, I'll look them up!

I've found one or two sources of information in portuguese (my mother tongue) since posting here. Here's a good one (the discussion on the page is very helpful): chaddadbonsai.wordpress.com/paineiras/

Thanks again,
PA