thedreamking
Seed
Hi everyone, this will be my official first post on BonsaiNut, though I've been a reader here for about a year now (since I got my first trees). I apologize in advance if this post ends up being lengthy, I just figured its better to provided too much information than not enough!
So, today I'm posting with the hope of getting a bit of advice in regards to caring for my Brazilian rain tree. I first got the tree last August, and almost immediately after getting it home I had to fight off a fairly severe spider mite infestation that caused the tree to lose almost all of its foliage. By the time I had finished dispatching the little fiends it was fall, and with the tree showing signs of new growth and recovery I decided not to mess with it at all over the winter and just focused on keeping it alive indoors through a Canadian winter. I got a couple of grow lights (though I am almost certain my jerry-rigged setup is less than ideal) and a humidifier to accompany it on its desk beside a west-facing window that gets a pretty good amount of natural light through the day. To my relative surprise, it not only survived the winter, by the spring its branches had basically doubled in length, with only one setback where I gave it a bit of fertilizer halfway through the season and woke up the next day to a massive leaf drop (though its since recovered).
So, with objective 1 of "survive winter" being complete, I am now in a position where I think I know the tree needs some pruning, but I'm experiencing some of that newbie anxiety around taking some shears to it, and I feel a bit lost in regards to where to start. I guess I'm a bit concerned about hacking off too much, or making the mistake of removing a branch thats beneficial to the development of the tree. As you can see in the pictures its grown in a pretty... weird fashion (at least compared to most I've seen on here and elsewhere on the internet), I think mostly due to it "reaching" towards the edge of the window its beside. My instinct would be to just start cutting back those really leggy, extended branches to return the canopy to a more "normal" shape, but I thought I'd be better served checking in here for some advice before I go cutting things willy-nilly. ANY advice here would be welcome - even if it's just a "you're overthinking it, start cutting"
The other thing I've been pondering is repotting this guy. I have yet to fully take it out of the pot to inspect the roots since I got it (so almost a full year at this point), but from scraping away a tiny bit of the soil on top it looks like some of the roots are starting to reach the edge of the pot. That coupled with how much the canopy has grown since I got it has me thinking it could maybe use some more space. However, the tree has been dropping a fair amount of leaves the past week or so, which has me doubting if it's healthy enough for a repot. I'm not really sure what's been causing the leaf drop - I think I was overwatering for a period in the spring, and then I maybe under-watered it for a bit.. then I'm also unsure if I've been fertilizing too much or not enough, typical (I'm assuming) newbie behaviour. So again, crippled by indecision and second-guessing things.
So to kind of sum things up, I've been leaning towards a canopy trim and a repot/root trim, and in regards to feedback I'm hoping to hear either a "AH don't do that!!" or a "just go for it" or finally a "go for it, but here's some specific advice/things to keep in mind in regards to your situation"
Oh and if I've forgotten any useful info, or if you'd like more photos to help inform me, etc, just let me know!
Thanks for any and all feedback or advice you're able to provide - I really appreciate it!
So, today I'm posting with the hope of getting a bit of advice in regards to caring for my Brazilian rain tree. I first got the tree last August, and almost immediately after getting it home I had to fight off a fairly severe spider mite infestation that caused the tree to lose almost all of its foliage. By the time I had finished dispatching the little fiends it was fall, and with the tree showing signs of new growth and recovery I decided not to mess with it at all over the winter and just focused on keeping it alive indoors through a Canadian winter. I got a couple of grow lights (though I am almost certain my jerry-rigged setup is less than ideal) and a humidifier to accompany it on its desk beside a west-facing window that gets a pretty good amount of natural light through the day. To my relative surprise, it not only survived the winter, by the spring its branches had basically doubled in length, with only one setback where I gave it a bit of fertilizer halfway through the season and woke up the next day to a massive leaf drop (though its since recovered).
So, with objective 1 of "survive winter" being complete, I am now in a position where I think I know the tree needs some pruning, but I'm experiencing some of that newbie anxiety around taking some shears to it, and I feel a bit lost in regards to where to start. I guess I'm a bit concerned about hacking off too much, or making the mistake of removing a branch thats beneficial to the development of the tree. As you can see in the pictures its grown in a pretty... weird fashion (at least compared to most I've seen on here and elsewhere on the internet), I think mostly due to it "reaching" towards the edge of the window its beside. My instinct would be to just start cutting back those really leggy, extended branches to return the canopy to a more "normal" shape, but I thought I'd be better served checking in here for some advice before I go cutting things willy-nilly. ANY advice here would be welcome - even if it's just a "you're overthinking it, start cutting"
The other thing I've been pondering is repotting this guy. I have yet to fully take it out of the pot to inspect the roots since I got it (so almost a full year at this point), but from scraping away a tiny bit of the soil on top it looks like some of the roots are starting to reach the edge of the pot. That coupled with how much the canopy has grown since I got it has me thinking it could maybe use some more space. However, the tree has been dropping a fair amount of leaves the past week or so, which has me doubting if it's healthy enough for a repot. I'm not really sure what's been causing the leaf drop - I think I was overwatering for a period in the spring, and then I maybe under-watered it for a bit.. then I'm also unsure if I've been fertilizing too much or not enough, typical (I'm assuming) newbie behaviour. So again, crippled by indecision and second-guessing things.
So to kind of sum things up, I've been leaning towards a canopy trim and a repot/root trim, and in regards to feedback I'm hoping to hear either a "AH don't do that!!" or a "just go for it" or finally a "go for it, but here's some specific advice/things to keep in mind in regards to your situation"
Oh and if I've forgotten any useful info, or if you'd like more photos to help inform me, etc, just let me know!
Thanks for any and all feedback or advice you're able to provide - I really appreciate it!
