Dear All:
Since we are talking about tropicals (well, sort of)I did take my Baobab
plant out of the tree house and placed it on the dining room table.
Here is the story of my three year-old Baobab seedling (which has a ¾ of
an inch trunk at the soil level and is 14 inches tall.) It has been in
my tree house since August 2003, and has leafed out and is growing
beautifully. But knowing that it needs a dormancy period, and is quite
content to grow in my tree house, I am going to force it into Dormancy.
It appears to be on South African time. I say that because I correspond
with a woman in SA, and her Baobabs are now just starting to drop their
leaves. I made the decision it is time for this plant to sleep,
otherwise it will grow and grow. The winter of 2002 the tree went into
dormancy and after it dropped its leaves, I placed it a darkened bedroom
until the spring of 2003.
I just referred to my Bonsai dairy notes:
03/12/03 - I brought the plant down stairs from the bedroom and placed
it in the tree house. I have not given it any water as yet. THe weather
seemed to warm up, I placed it out doors on the deck.
05/08/03 - I had this tree out doors, but the weather has been too cold.
I brought the Baobab back into the tree house and put it into ICU (a
plastic covered box.
05/25/03 - the tree started to leaf out so I put it back outdoors in the
shade. a week later into the sun.
07/12/03 - The leaves just stopped growing and never completely
unfurled. I put the tree back in doors in ICU
08/31/03 - The leaves have unfurled indoors and the tree is doing fine
in the tree house!!!
From August 31, 2003 until March 22, 2004 the tree has been growing!
It has been thriving for 8 months in my greenhouse, I intend to let it
sleep until August of this year!
For the uninformed a Baobab is considered a seedling until it is 15
years old. a really fascinating plant!
Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7
http://bmee.net/rosner
http://www.jamesbaird.com/cgi-bin/Ja...d=00000068 48
http://www.jamesbaird.com/cgi-bin/Ja...d=00000068 48
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