Cutting Back a Silk Floss, and Cloning

[777thSunRay]

I have a fabric pot with two Ceiba Speciosa (Silk Floss - formerly Chorisia) which have shot up, very rapidly! haha

So they are at about two and a half feet. The upper trunk towards the growing tip is at about a pencil's thickness. I gather I should start cutting back the growing tip at some point, and allowing the base to thicken and taper. Ultimately I would like them to be pretty large Bonsai... I'm thinking one should be very stout, a bit extreme and gnarled and experimental (since the species is not a classic Bonsai as far as I know) the other I would like to be more traditional, still thick though.

At what height should I start cutting the tips, and should I keep cutting at that height as the trunk broadens? Should I maybe start cutting and keep cutting at the height I want, or just wing it? The trunk is green at the top, so will it scar, and do I need cut paste? I have read that vaseline or mineral oil are sufficient, or would scarring even be an issue? I am feeling that cutting them back is a bit of a pressing matter, because they might scar. Should this be a concern?

Finally, I have a Clone King with 24 sites, I would like to try out. The directions refer to rooting cuttings of branch or stem, and the trunk is not mentioned. However, a forum member who seemed knowledgeable told me that cuttings for a cloning machine should be about pencil thick. This would be towards the top of the trunk on these two trees, while the branches are less than 1/2 cm thick. Can a direct cutting of the trunk itself become rooted/have roots grown in a cloning machine? I should add that the 24 site Clone King has sites for thicker cuttings than the 36 site, which is why they're sold at the same rate, this is what I read on the sales page anyway.

Is it indeed pressing to cut the trunk back soon, because of scarring or other issues (like a chop mark which could remain on the tip, or will the very tip sprout new growth to preclude that possibility, especially since green?). Would it be okay to let the tip of the trunk get very thick before cutting (allowing branches to thicken to cloning size) or will this make the tree look 'chopped' at the tip. Hopefully at this point it's not too late to avoid that!

Apologies for such a long post Thanks in advance for any guidance!

 

[jeremy_norbury]

Growing Large Trunks for Bonsai

 

[777thSunRay]

Growing Large Trunks for Bonsai

Thank you very much for the great link! I will study it further.

 

[777thSunRay]

To cut down on all my questions, there are basically three things I wish to know.

Can I grow roots on a pencil-thick cutting of the trunk itself, rather than a branch, and can I grow roots on branches just 1/2cm thick?

With the Silk Floss's green upper trunk, how thick a point can I cut at, without marring the appearance of the tip, where it might look to have been chopped, rather than new growing tips growing from them?

Again, with a green trunk, is cut paste (or a home remedy like mineral oil) necessary for such a cut?

And any more answers to my initial post would be appreciated as well!

 

[Kdwy]

I wanted to comment because I absolutely love the silk floss trees! One of my favorite examples of bonsai (probably ever) is of a silk floss tree created by Nacho Marin that I was able to find a picture of online to share and I would recomend checking out if you haven’t already.

https://www.bonsai-bci.com/images/instructors/nacho-marin/nacho-marin.png

From my experience it’s really pretty hard to do a trunk chop without it being noticeable at first, with time it can callous over and not be noticeable but it can take several years which is why trees like this are often done as air layers to get the appropriate thickness without the issue oh having to hide all of the large “cut branches”

 

[777thSunRay]

I wanted to comment because I absolutely love the silk floss trees! One of my favorite examples of bonsai (probably ever) is of a silk floss tree created by Nacho Marin that I was able to find a picture of online to share and I would recomend checking out if you haven’t already.

https://www.bonsai-bci.com/images/instructors/nacho-marin/nacho-marin.png

From my experience it’s really pretty hard to do a trunk chop without it being noticeable at first, with time it can callous over and not be noticeable but it can take several years which is why trees like this are often done as air layers to get the appropriate thickness without the issue oh having to hide all of the large “cut branches”

Wow, that is a pretty cool Bonsai!

So I am a bit familiar with air layering. How is it used to thicken the trunk? My best guess would be that you let roots from lower branches grow down into the soil, to feed the lower trunk... Is it something like this? If not, how does it work?

 

[jason biggs]

for what it's worth, they aren't great trees for bonsai - i think the trees look stunning in nature but for whatever reason they stay awkward when grown in pots... if you are new to the hobby why not start with ficus or something else that will flourish in your environment...
i ended up throwing mine away - i just couldn't get them to look decent...

 

[jeremy_norbury]

for what it's worth, they aren't great trees for bonsai - i think the trees look stunning in nature but for whatever reason they stay awkward when grown in pots... if you are new to the hobby why not start with ficus or something else that will flourish in your environment...
i ended up throwing mine away - i just couldn't get them to look decent...

I'm convinced they're sold as if they are bonsai because they germinate reliably from (scam) bonsai kits and look cute in the first year before they die...

 

[Kdwy]

Wow, that is a pretty cool Bonsai!

So I am a bit familiar with air layering. How is it used to thicken the trunk? My best guess would be that you let roots from lower branches grow down into the soil, to feed the lower trunk... Is it something like this? If not, how does it work?

So air layering is form of propagation where you can turn a large branch of an established tree into its own separate tree. This allows you to get much larger trunks with lower branches because you can choose a new location for the rootball to be. Basically you can take any fun looking branch on a big tree and turn it into a bonsai.
You start by removing a small section of bark in a ring around a particular branch or along the trunk. You have to be careful to leave the cambium layer (green stuff under the bark) intact though. You then add moss (or dirt in a planter) around the ring of removed bark and water the moss regularly. After a couple weeks/ months the area with bark removed will grow roots into the moss and then you can completely cut the branch from the main tree. And the severed area will survive on its new roots.
My explanation isn’t the best so you might want to give it a google if it is hard to follow.