What are the care of the baobab bonsai?

Baobab bonsai

Image - Bonsaiclubofahmedabad.com

The baobab is a tree native to Africa and America that is characterized by having a very wide trunk and branches that are very short in proportion to it. When we search for images on the Internet or find them in a book, it is very common to see it without leaves, which could lead us to think that it does not have them, but we would be wrong, since its foliage is very beautiful as you can see in the image above.

But Is it possible to have a baobab bonsai? Some would say no, but I like (gardening) challenges. If you do too, below I will tell you what care you should provide to your tree that has been converted into bonsai.

When and how is it sown?

Let's start at the beginning. As it is not usual to find the baobab for sale, but it is relatively easy to find seeds in online stores, ideally buy these in spring or summer and proceed to do the following:

  1. First, we fill a thermal bottle with hot water - at about 38 or 39ºC-.
  2. Second, we put the seeds and leave them there for 4 hours.
  3. Third, we fill a 10,5cm pot with vermiculite and water.
  4. Fourth, we place 2-3 seeds on the pot and cover them with a thin layer of vermiculite.
  5. Fifth, we water again and place the pot outside, in full sun.
  6. Sixth, we are watering so that the vermiculite does not lose moisture.

They will germinate in a month at the most, but they should not be transplanted until 1 year has passed.

How to make bonsai?

To make a bonsai from baobab proceed as follows:

  1. After 3 years after sowing, in spring we will cut a little the taproot, which is the thickest of all, leaving roots at the top with a previously disinfected saw and sealing the cut with sublimated sulfur.
  2. Afterwards, we water it 2-3 times a week in summer and every 15-20 days the rest of the year (nothing in winter), and we pay it during the warm months with a specific fertilizer for liquid bonsai like this one from here.
  3. With 4-5 years we will be able to prune it, removing the branches that intersect, those that are directed towards us and cutting those that are growing too much. This work has to be done in late winter, before the tree sprouts.
  4. When the trunk is about 2-3cm thick we can transplant it to a bonsai tray with akadama mixed with 30% kiryuzuna at the end of winter.
  5. From here, we can work on it to give it the formal vertical style (straight trunk with a more or less triangular crown), which is the one that best suits. To do this, we will only have to cut the branches that are growing excessively and transplanting it every 3-4 years.

What did you think of this challenge? Do you dare to carry it out?


2 comments, leave yours

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.

  1.   martin goose said

    Hello, I have a potted baobab, it came from Senegal 15 years ago,
    It measures 33 cm in trunk circumference and 12 in diameter and 50 cm in height, not counting the buried part.

    the pot measures 25cm in diameter and 21 in height

    I never changed the soil or the pot or fertilized it, but I wanted to do it and I was afraid of spoiling it, well
    It is beautiful until winter when it loses its leaves and I take the opportunity to cut a branch that goes a little high, I have never seen the roots even though the pot is going to burst.

    I water it once a month with a liter of jet water and remove the excess that comes out from below.
    I don't know if I have to consider it bonsai and apply the advice you give on the page and
    I would like you to tell me what soil I have to put in to change the pot and the size of the new one.
    THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE ADVICE YOU GIVE ON THE PAGE
    PS. I HAVE PHOTOS IF YOU WANT TO SEE THEM
    A GREETING
    MARTIN

    1.    Monica Sanchez said

      Hello Martin.
      No, it can't be considered bonsai, because as far as you can tell it's still not in a bonsai tray (and even then, even if it were in one, it would need work).
      If your intention is to have it as a bonsai, you would have to plant it in a pot that is wider than it is tall. That is, in one that measures about 30cm in diameter and about 15-17cm in height. As a substrate you have to put a specific one for cacti and succulents, for example, or a mixture of peat with perlite in equal parts, since it does not tolerate excess water.

      In any case, it is a difficult tree as a bonsai, precisely because the trunk becomes very thick and because its roots are delicate. Personally, I would recommend planting it in a larger pot (about 35cm in diameter by 30cm in height more or less), but without touching the roots.

      A greeting.