Bottle Tree: December 2023 Update

by michaelruschena Posted on

After a prolonged period of little to no growth, at the start of year I applied some slow-release fertilizer. By April, this was showing some signs of growth, which was good. Let’s check in.

Here we are in August 2023:

Some continued growth of leaves, which is good. Not much ramification, which is bad.

And in late December 2023:

Honestly, this is just kind of silly.
The tree ends up with this array of star leaves, which is interesting.

It’s time for some cleanup, but also: I’ve seen some reference examples, and that’s not what this tree looks like. This particular tree has a large root system, so I don’t know if it’s something I can bonsai, but that is the aim here. Let’s try chopping back to get some growth.

Chopstick for scale. That base is really quite thick. And even aerial roots.
That’s probably still too high. But I need more branches. Hopefully the cut paste will encourage branching.
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