Neea buxifolia (Saltwood, Tropical boxwood)

[NaturalArt]

Just wanted to share my relatively new purchase.. I am in love with this little girl. All of her siblings had boring straight trunks with a topiary hat, I couldn't resist the crazy curvy trunk and exposed roots. I haven't done any styling and very minimal pruning (only removal of branches that pointed directly downward). This little girl is a whopping 4.5"L x 3.5"H x 3"W so I am going to keep her as a mame.

My idea is to leave well enough alone until spring or summer then remove the branches/ leaves directly in the center of the trunk, as well as the little branch lower on the trunk near the exposed roots. I am considering developing 2 foliage pads, one on the apex and a smaller one on the last major curve of the trunk... If anyone has any other thoughts or suggestions I would love to hear!

Thanks!

Z



Front (I THINK):


Back:

 

[penumbra]

Great find.

 

[NaturalArt]

Great find.

Thank you!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nea, you found a rare one - with bends and curves. Nice.

What size tree would you like to finish this tree at? That thought will drive the advice I give.

all those branches that are low, that you want to remove, I would reduce to just one at each location (looks like clusters of buds at each, if there is only one at each, that is fine) let these run long, don't worry about wiring them, they will be used as sacrifice branches to thicken the lowest part of the trunk. As long as they don't shade the ''keeper branches'' you can leave them. I would leave them for a couple years. Your basic plan seems okay, if you want the tree to get no bigger than it is right now.

Nea is a true tropical, native to places like Puerto Rico, where it is never less than 68 F, even in the coldest winter. (never less than 20 C). In Colorado, unless your home is pretty warm, it will mostly sit dormant, or semi-dormant most of the winter. Looks like it was in a warm greenhouse before you bought it, it is currently growing well. If your growing area is always above 68 F you could repot it now. It will keep growing. But if you are like most, and keep your apartment or home a bit on the cooler side, I would not do anything but keep it watered and give it as much sun as you can until spring. If your apartment is cool, it will suddenly slow down or stop growing. It will pick up again about 2 weeks or so after the weather warms back up. It is best to do all your repotting, pruning, and styling while these are in active growth. Wiring can be done in the winter doldrums. Most of these are grown as clip and grow, but they can be wired to shape.

I'm in the Chicago area, I can only keep warm blooded tropicals growing for about 8 to 12 weeks in the middle of summer. This means they don't bulk up as quick as someone growing in Texas or Florida, but they do grow, so I keep a few warm blooded tropicals.

I personally would repot the tree, and bury the roots as much as possible. This will help thicken the roots. If you expose too much of the roots and the nebari - where the trunk flares to the roots, you will slow down the development of the nebari. If you bury the roots they will thicken, if you keep them exposed there is a good chance they will die off, and lower on the trunk roots will take over. Only after the tree is ready for a show pot, a bonsai pot do you begin to expose the roots. (Nebari). Until then you keep them buried to develop.

Hope this helps.

 

[NaturalArt]

Nea, you found a rare one - with bends and curves. Nice.

What size tree would you like to finish this tree at? That thought will drive the advice I give.

all those branches that are low, that you want to remove, I would reduce to just one at each location (looks like clusters of buds at each, if there is only one at each, that is fine) let these run long, don't worry about wiring them, they will be used as sacrifice branches to thicken the lowest part of the trunk. As long as they don't shade the ''keeper branches'' you can leave them. I would leave them for a couple years. Your basic plan seems okay, if you want the tree to get no bigger than it is right now.

Nea is a true tropical, native to places like Puerto Rico, where it is never less than 68 F, even in the coldest winter. (never less than 20 C). In Colorado, unless your home is pretty warm, it will mostly sit dormant, or semi-dormant most of the winter. Looks like it was in a warm greenhouse before you bought it, it is currently growing well. If your growing area is always above 68 F you could repot it now. It will keep growing. But if you are like most, and keep your apartment or home a bit on the cooler side, I would not do anything but keep it watered and give it as much sun as you can until spring. If your apartment is cool, it will suddenly slow down or stop growing. It will pick up again about 2 weeks or so after the weather warms back up. It is best to do all your repotting, pruning, and styling while these are in active growth. Wiring can be done in the winter doldrums. Most of these are grown as clip and grow, but they can be wired to shape.

I'm in the Chicago area, I can only keep warm blooded tropicals growing for about 8 to 12 weeks in the middle of summer. This means they don't bulk up as quick as someone growing in Texas or Florida, but they do grow, so I keep a few warm blooded tropicals.

I personally would repot the tree, and bury the roots as much as possible. This will help thicken the roots. If you expose too much of the roots and the nebari - where the trunk flares to the roots, you will slow down the development of the nebari. If you bury the roots they will thicken, if you keep them exposed there is a good chance they will die off, and lower on the trunk roots will take over. Only after the tree is ready for a show pot, a bonsai pot do you begin to expose the roots. (Nebari). Until then you keep them buried to develop.

Hope this helps.

@Leo in N E Illinois thank you very much for the reply and advice! To answer your question, I was not planning on allowing it to get much larger then it already is. I think maximum height of the tree would be 4-5" (it is currently 3.5" tall from the top of the soil to the apex). I think it will make a fantastic mame/ shohin specimen, particularly with its small leaves.

I did begin to bury some of the roots for the fear of die back, these pictures were from a few days after I purchased it (I unfortunetly do not have a phone at the moment so I cannot take a current picture, but I will post one as soon as I can!) I would like the roots/ nebari to thicken as I think that will enhance the future design as I really want to highlight the curves of the trunk since that is definitely the trees best feature, and the exposed roots/ nebari are a bonus . Would you bury all the way to trunk? At the moment all the roots on the surface are buried, but the roots the come directly off the trunk are still half way exposed.

When you say remove the lower branches, are you talking about the cluster on the final curve of the trunk?

I will definitely follow a clip and grow technique as trying to wire would be a b**** with the thick random direction growing pattern.

I keep my apartment at 72 F, and it is currently resting about 1 1/2 feet from a western facing window. It is a bright location that gets about 3 hours of direct sunlight at the moment (this increases as the sun rises in the spring/summer but we have very early sunsets in Colorado in winter). You are correct, it was growing in a greenhouse when I purchased it. I have noticed very minimal die back (a few leaves here and there turn black and fall off, which I have read is common when the neea is brought inside) but as far as I can tell it is not actively growing anymore.

My plan was to repot in towards the end of April or May (weather depending), I am looking into getting a custom pot for it since it is so unique. I have read that it prefers to be slightly root bound and this will enhance flowering so when I do repot I plan to leave the roots mostly alone and do more of a slip pot technique.

Of course if you have any other suggestions I would love to hear!

Thank you!

Z

 

[badatusernames]

Nea, you found a rare one - with bends and curves. Nice.

What size tree would you like to finish this tree at? That thought will drive the advice I give.

all those branches that are low, that you want to remove, I would reduce to just one at each location (looks like clusters of buds at each, if there is only one at each, that is fine) let these run long, don't worry about wiring them, they will be used as sacrifice branches to thicken the lowest part of the trunk. As long as they don't shade the ''keeper branches'' you can leave them. I would leave them for a couple years. Your basic plan seems okay, if you want the tree to get no bigger than it is right now.

Nea is a true tropical, native to places like Puerto Rico, where it is never less than 68 F, even in the coldest winter. (never less than 20 C). In Colorado, unless your home is pretty warm, it will mostly sit dormant, or semi-dormant most of the winter. Looks like it was in a warm greenhouse before you bought it, it is currently growing well. If your growing area is always above 68 F you could repot it now. It will keep growing. But if you are like most, and keep your apartment or home a bit on the cooler side, I would not do anything but keep it watered and give it as much sun as you can until spring. If your apartment is cool, it will suddenly slow down or stop growing. It will pick up again about 2 weeks or so after the weather warms back up. It is best to do all your repotting, pruning, and styling while these are in active growth. Wiring can be done in the winter doldrums. Most of these are grown as clip and grow, but they can be wired to shape.

I'm in the Chicago area, I can only keep warm blooded tropicals growing for about 8 to 12 weeks in the middle of summer. This means they don't bulk up as quick as someone growing in Texas or Florida, but they do grow, so I keep a few warm blooded tropicals.

I personally would repot the tree, and bury the roots as much as possible. This will help thicken the roots. If you expose too much of the roots and the nebari - where the trunk flares to the roots, you will slow down the development of the nebari. If you bury the roots they will thicken, if you keep them exposed there is a good chance they will die off, and lower on the trunk roots will take over. Only after the tree is ready for a show pot, a bonsai pot do you begin to expose the roots. (Nebari). Until then you keep them buried to develop.

Hope this helps.

sounds like you have experience with these

how do they respond to pruning? do they back bud well? mine has a long branch with a pad at the end which ideally would be 1/2 the size, and i want to make sure i know what i’m doing before i do something to it... possibly other major cuts to be done too

 

[badatusernames]

here it is

i think the front is something more like this though

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

sounds like you have experience with these

how do they respond to pruning? do they back bud well? mine has a long branch with a pad at the end which ideally would be 1/2 the size, and i want to make sure i know what i’m doing before i do something to it... possibly other major cuts to be done too

I don't have a lot of experience with Nea, but definitely have some. I owned one for a few years, was talked into trading it away after 3 years. So I no longer own one.

They seem to respond well to pruning, and will back bud fairly well just about anywhere. I would only do pruning when the Nea is in active growth. I don't see new shoots on yours, so I would consider yours "semi-dormant" most likely because it is winter where you live in NE USA. I would wait until May to begin pruning. Let new shoots run, extend at least 6 or more nodes (leaves) then prune to style it and bring it back inside the silhouette you want. I would also do the repotting in May or June, during the early part of summer.

They like sun, at least a half day sun as a minimum. Indoors you should keep them in a south window, or under lights.

 

[badatusernames]

I don't have a lot of experience with Nea, but definitely have some. I owned one for a few years, was talked into trading it away after 3 years. So I no longer own one.

They seem to respond well to pruning, and will back bud fairly well just about anywhere. I would only do pruning when the Nea is in active growth. I don't see new shoots on yours, so I would consider yours "semi-dormant" most likely because it is winter where you live in NE USA. I would wait until May to begin pruning. Let new shoots run, extend at least 6 or more nodes (leaves) then prune to style it and bring it back inside the silhouette you want. I would also do the repotting in May or June, during the early part of summer.

They like sun, at least a half day sun as a minimum. Indoors you should keep them in a south window, or under lights.

Fantastic, thank you. I've got it under lights and near a large window. I gather they really like the moisture too (even more than some other tropicals)... I feel like I read someone comment "I dry I die" on a thread about them but I could be mistaken...

Definitely leaving it alone til it gets warmer. Thinking about putting it in a round pot for awhile so I can finalize a front while I work on it over time.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Mary Madison gave the name "I dry I die" to Nashia inaguensis, the Bahama berry. But the nick name could apply to Nea, and a dozen other species. The horticulture requirements for Nea and Nashia are similar, as they both come from the Caribbean, but they are not at all related to each other botanically.