Fuku Bonsai Schefflera #2

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I don’t think I’ve posted this tree here before which is a shame. I think it’s a nice tree. I purchased it in 2018 from Fuku bonsai nursery on a trip to Hawaii. I didn’t spend but about a half hour there and it was such a cool place and will be a forever memory. I’ve ditched all my tropicals except for my two Scheffleras and I keep these mainly because I’ll likely never afford to travel to Hawaii again and with the passing of Mr. Fukumoto who knows what the future is for the nursery.

Well enough backstory, let’s dive in.

The scheff as it stood on the shelf. Fuku bonsai advertised three main “styles” of scheff bonsai. The sumo, the roots, and the Hawaiian dragon. Of course I had to buy one in the Hawaiian dragon style.




Since it was December, of the package was them keeping the tree and shipping it to me later in the year. So let’s get to 2019.

Both images below depict the tree in 2019, the first pic as I received it from Hawaii sometime early summer and the second in November before I brought it in for the winter.



In 2020 I decided I wanted it in a different pot. Mr. Fukumoto recommended a 12” wide shallow round with lots of drainage he also recommended different planting angles for more dramatic movement.

Here we pulled it from its grow pot. The funny thing about the Fulu bonsai trees is they are pitted in 100% lava! I’m pretty sure dude was just digging it somewhere on his land. They mentioned in Hawaii that you shouldn’t take the lava rock due to pissing off Pele, but so far my life remains pretty good so I think she’s cool with it if a native son makes a buck in the process.



Here is the pot I chose. It’s one of those I just loved the colors of but never found a tree to use with. I thought it was a perfect match.



Didn’t do much but let it grow in ‘21

 

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Making this one a two parter due to amount of pictures.

In 2022 this tree won best tropical in my club show! That was a pretty good day.



Shortly after the show in 2022 during an argument, the tree fell from the bench and the pot shattered. It was my own fault, I yanked the hose over while mad and a coil just jumped and pulled it off the bench. I just stuck it in a commercial pot and ignored it for awhile. Later on I decided to put the pot back together as I liked the look so much.






Here is the tree in the generic pot sometime in ‘23




Finally, I got time today to repot and I wanted it back in its shallow container. It was a son of a bitch to get out of this pot.


Finally got it out and had a lot of fat roots to deal with.


I’ve decided to turn it back with the knot to the front. I think this has become less “Hawaiian Dragon” and more “Call of the Cthulhu” but I like the vibe. Reminds me of the Vietnamese trees that are styled to resemble animals.



I took enough root mass off that I don’t want this pot drying out or getting too hot in the sun. I wrapped foil around it and filled in with lava rock to provide the roots a cool and moist environment the next few weeks so they populate the pot quickly. I’ll remove it in two weeks or so.

 

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Very nice schefflera! Good work.