Keep letting it grow?

[angesradieux]

Hi! I posted about a serissa about awhile ago and followed the suggestion of putting it in a larger pot and just letting it grow for a bit. I'm seeing lots of growth, buds, and flowers. So now my question is should I leave it be and just let it keep growing, or should I be pruning it? I posted two pictures of it now, and one of when I first got it.

 

[sorce]

Friggin Nice!

I don't know if your at a stage to need to train anything.

But it sits deep in that pot if you have to.

If anything, just cut the pot down and let it keep growing!

Good Growth!

Sorce

 

[Cypress187]

Friggin Nice!If anything, just cut the pot down and let it keep growing!

Is it perhaps a good idea to prune the flowers out to redirect energy in the braches?

 

[angesradieux]

Thanks for the reply. There are two shoots that are by far taller than the rest of the plant. Is that okay, or should I try doing something with them?

 

[Cypress187]

Thanks for the reply. There are two shoots that are by far taller than the rest of the plant. Is that okay, or should I try doing something with them?

I think you still need to let them grow, they will make the trunk bigger and make the plant more strong for next year.

 

[Nwaite]

Is it perhaps a good idea to prune the flowers out to redirect energy in the braches?

Is that somthing we should do on any flowing tree? Unless you really want to see the flowers.

 

[Cypress187]

Is that somthing we should do on any flowing tree? Unless you really want to see the flowers.

I did prune them on my plants, I saw it somewhere on youtube I think. I'm no professional that's why I asked, just to double check it.



Edit, I found this:

If your tree should flower too abundantly or bear a great number of fruit you should thin out the flowers and fruit in order to prevent the tree from getting weak. The flowers and fruit should be evenly distributed on the tree and of the same size. So take off flowers and fruit where too many are in one place and pluck the largest and smallest.

Source: (http://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/flowering-bonsai)

 

[sorce]

Is it perhaps a good idea to prune the flowers out to redirect energy in the braches?

I'm on the fence with that.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

@Mellow Mullet knows more about Serissa than I.

A wise man once said,
"Keep potential Problems at Bay".
I call it. PPB.

I don't know if Serissa is alternate or opposite, or what kind of problems in growth you need to keep at bay...

But you need a Plan for this tree...
In the mean time, practice PPB.

Now to find out what PPB is for Serissa!

Sorce

 

[Anthony]

Grow for trunk, it will happen.
Re-sprouts from all over.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Nwaite]

I'm on the fence with that.

Sorce

Ya the only thing I'm thinking about this it I know most flowering plants will keep trying to produce more flowers the more you pick them...
So is it saving energy ooorrrrr making the plant put more energy in to producing more ?

 

[Anthony]

The serissa s.,

is called, June Snow in China, because it wants to bloom around that time.

When you let it do as it wishes for May/June and prune back, thin out, it then redirects it's energy to
growing.
After some years [ say 1980 to now ] we moved away from the Japanese flora plena types, the varigaeta
,and the pink flowered as well,----------- for the simple Chinese type.

It presents a good bark, thickens [ saw 3 to 5 inch trunks in London] and has fine leaves.

For us flowering can be twice a year. The Chinese type rests by shorter days and is easy to train.
It is also a zone 7 shrub at around 8 feet+ in height.

As usual study - acclimation - where it is sold as an indoor shrub or tropical plant.

Additionally, lower the fertiliser where inducing flowering is concerned.
We use 1/3 strength Miracle Gro or Phostrogen lawn fertiliser.
Likes full sun as well.

The Japanese types also handled full sun as did the pinks etc.
Happy Trails
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Nwaite]

The serissa s.,

is called, June Snow in China, because it wants to bloom around that time.

When you let it do as it wishes for May/June and prune back, thin out, it then redirects it's energy to
growing.
After some years [ say 1980 to now ] we moved away from the Japanese flora plena types, the varigaeta
,and the pink flowered as well,----------- for the simple Chinese type.

It presents a good bark, thickens [ saw 3 to 5 inch trunks in London] and has fine leaves.

For us flowering can be twice a year. The Chinese type rests by shorter days and is easy to train.
It is also a zone 7 shrub at around 8 feet+ in height.

As usual study - acclimation - where it is sold as an indoor shrub or tropical plant.

Additionally, lower the fertiliser where inducing flowering is concerned.
We use 1/3 strength Miracle Gro or Phostrogen lawn fertiliser.
Likes full sun as well.

The Japanese types also handled full sun as did the pinks etc.
Happy Trails
Good Day
Anthony

God your just full of info. I love you guys!

I also love have wifi in this bar I'm at atm.
Yes I'm at the bar .... reading a bonsai forum. I'm super cool.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Don'the cut the flowers off, it is a myth, same as copper wire killing trees, poo ball nitrogen is better than miracle grow nitrogen, turface is worthlessm asnan substrate, etc. Enjoy the flowers.

I have the variety that you have, it has not shown me that it trunks up much, 1/2 inch is the most I get. Let it grow and select your trunk line in the spring.

John

 

[Anthony]

John,

good to see you responding - bows in your direction - master of the Serissa.

Perhaps what was suggested is copper wire interacting with acid soil can harm a plant ?
Good Day
Anthony

 

[GrimLore]

Is it perhaps a good idea to prune the flowers out to redirect energy in the braches?

Not where he lives for certain. These things grow at a really fast rate in these parts and require a LOT of trimming unless you want a huge shrub. I cut mine back a few times this year, far more then any other plants here right now.

Grimmy

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@angesradieux - Nice Serissa. Let it grow or chop? All depends on what YOU want. Bonsai spend much of their lives 5 or 10 times taller and wider than their final height as a "finished" bonsai. We usually let them grow out until the trunk is the diameter we want in the finished tree, even if growing out means letting it get 6 or more feet tall. Right now your trunk is still pretty thin. I would let it grow out, until it is time to bring it in for winter. Then cut it to just barely small enough to fit into your light garden or winter area for the tree. Back out in spring, and so on. You need at least a half inch trunk, to make a bonsai, one inch or larger would be cool, but Serissa tend to have thin trunks, unless you can let them grow out for a decade or more. It is the number of leaves the trunk supports that makes it thicken, not the height of the longest branch. You can "hedge prune" it for a few years, to get it bushy and supporting a lot of leaves, this will thicken the trunk. With deciduous trees that bud back well, it is very much the volume of leaves that thicken the trunk. (conifers the process is more complicated) Once you have the first 3 or 4 inches of trunk as thick as you want them, you can remove all the branches, reduce it to just the trunk, and it will back bud all over, giving you the branches.

Reading: Brent Walston - Growing Trunks for Bonsai (Evergreen Gardenworks website), Walter Pall's articles on Hedge Pruning for development. Walter Pall's Blog. Read the many articles about the use of "sacrifice branches" to thicken specific areas of trunks or branches.

I'd let yours grow a couple years more. It will give you more branches to choose from when you do finally decide to style it. And you will be able to take a 4 foot tall Serissa and cut it back to 4 or so inches and it will back bud on old wood.

Anything you cut off can be rooted to make more Serissa, the root easily from cuttings.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Whole point of using flowering trees for bonsai is the flowers, even if there is a minor metabolic cost to letting it flower, I need to let mine flower in order to keep my interest up. Otherwise I'd have nothing but junipers and boxwoods. Both bore me to tears. Let it bloom, you need to enjoy your plant while letting it get bushy.

 

[GrimLore]

So now my question is should I leave it be and just let it keep growing, or should I be pruning it?

We live in similar climates not far away - I strongly suggest you prune it now and let it grow out the remainder of the outdoor season here.

This is a picture of a variegated(they grow much slower) after it was taken outdoors at 28 inches tall and knocked down to eight inches overall and heavily thinned it. It grew back to 12 - 16 inches in the first picture in a couple of weeks and I hedged it again -

It is less then two and a half years old and in my possession a year as of now. It was started from a cutting far smaller then yours -



Today a few weeks later it filled in, grew back double in height while filling in very heavily. It now needs thinning as well as hedging -



Current base Semi-exposed, remember this is under 3 years old -



Bottom line it is never to early to cut, trim, work root, etc... on these - serious

Grimmy

 

[GrimLore]

Let it bloom, you need to enjoy your plant while letting it get bushy.

I agree to disagree to some extent Depending on your goal(s) for the plant you can have both a well designed plant AND wonderful blooms but may indeed have to sacrifice a year of blooms to actually be able to have a nice set of roots and a healthy plant to do so. The one I pictured has been in my possession 1 year and is under 3 years old... Next year it will begin to be transformed into a nicely shaped plant in a pot AND flower... Some things like the beauty of blooms take time while developing as in fruit trees - you can have both in three short years done properly.

Grimmy