Powder Puff pruning and shapeing

[victorC]

I live in South Florida so we have a good growing season nearly all year around. I acquired my first calliandra - powder puff - from a nursery this past winter. It was the healthiest of three to select from although it was tall and the branches were long and lush. I root trimmed it and repotted it into the only available pot at the time using a good tropical bonsai medium, (although it is totally the wrong pot for such a tree in formal upright). After a few weeks of shade it began to smile and blooms formed. I then chopped the top leader, wired a new one upwards and chopped one of the branches facing towards me trying to get at least some beginning control of it. The tree back budded beautifully and the new growth has gone nuts. I have left the new growth at the base as a sacrifice since I understand that an issue with this tree is thickening of the base.

I have the root system under control now but as you see the tree is long, tall and leggy. I know there is one crossing branch and others that shoot from the same place. I am unsure how to go about shaping and getting this tree under control so it begins to have some sort of form. I don't really know where to begin here. The branches are long and blow in the wind. I know the photos aren't the greatest for detail but I am hoping for some suggestions on how to prune it to take down the size and begin getting some shape. I know it will be nothing more than a stick in a pot for a long time but a designer stick would be satisfactory for me at this stage.

Thank you for any suggestions.
Vic

 

[M. Frary]

Hi Vic. I saw your post and that it hasn't been answered yet.
I'm sorry ,but I really don't know about your tree. I'm just bumping you so maybe you don't get lost in here.
Good luck.

 

[milehigh_7]

Here is some info from a wonderful lady that might get you headed in the right direction. http://www.bonsaimary.com/powder-puff-bonsai.html

 

[edprocoat]

There are tons of pics online about them but they all seem to be in Spanish. I guess its a tropical, at least more popular in the tropics. I seen some neat ones with pink, white and red "puffs" which looks like the seeds from a dandelion. Very pretty little trees and they seem to be mostly styled in broom form and way shorter then yours. I bet it makes a stunning display, wonder what color yours is ?

ed

 

[sorce]

Nice.

Sorce

 

[victorC]

Thanks everyone and thank you for bumping me Mike Frary.
The tree is indeed tropical but can be grown indoors easily from what I understand. I have read the article previously when I got the tree Rob. I have also seen the tree they refer to under the "how to make it bloom in 20 days for a show wherein it refers to the tree on exhibit at Morikami Museum grown from seed by the late Millie Cooper, also from my city. that specific one is of the nana variety which mine is obviously not. The article on blooming in 20 days is neat but there again they show no examples of how to actually prune it to do so. You can see in the photo that mine has the pink puffs. It was blooming when I got it, bloomed a few times after it recovered from root and top pruning (was terribly root bound to begin with) and now is blooming again. The blooms only last for one day.
My hope is to develop into the formal upright but possibly even hokidachi style. I am not even sure that the later is possible.

If I could only figure out how to begin to shape the formal upright. I am rather embarrassed by the square pot as it drastically deters from the beauty of the tree and probably should have went and gotten a better nursey pot to cut down and use. At this point it is solid in the pot and I fear to change it until it outgrows the pot which I fear won't be long at this rate.

On a secondary note there were actually two trees in the pot. A smaller one (shown here), had very long roots so I have planted it in a standard plastic pot over a rock which had a perfect crevice to embrace the main tap root. It too is growing crazy. Since the roots grow fast I thought it would be a great style to try.

There is a seed pod on it which I would be willing to trade out if anyone has interest in it. Seems like they are fast growers to me. Likewise I have a few other nice tropical saplings and seedlings I would love to trade.

 

[M. Frary]

We aim to please. And are not here for just the fun to be had but some of us like to help out.
I never heard of powder puff before.

 

[edprocoat]

Vic, looking again after you mentioned it I now see the pink puffs. I must have been tired as I did not notice them before.

ed

 

[BonsaiBetty71]

I took some cuttings from my powder puff and looking forward to some powder puff bonsa's. They propgate well. Any tips for me are greatly appreciated.