Bougainvillea...Seeking advise

[tree4me]

Here is another of my trees I got from a friend some years ago who left it behind a shed near a sprinkler. There was so much rotten, wet wood when I was given it I went on line and read as much as I could. Get rid of the rotting wood ASAP was the big thing so I broke out the power tools and you see what I have hear today. I'm going to repot this week end as she seems quite root bound and its been two years since the last time I repotted, probably why I didn't get much leafing nor blooms. Width at soil line is about 12" and height is about 20" from soil line. I apply lime sulfur twice a year as well as Min Wax wood hardener to stop any further rotting. All critiques welcome.

Thank you
Michael

 

[mat]

That trunk looks very nice. However, overall, the tree doesn't seem healthy. Hopefully the repot will help with that. Once it's settled and growing, you can worry about feeding it some bougain. I wouldn't think about styling and messing the branches until it has leaves and shoots coming out all over it.

I have one that's in a similar state of recovery. It had some pests chewing it up, which I've dealt with. Now I'm waiting for it to really get going before doing any work to it.

 

[Bensbonsaipots]

Nice looking tree. Be careful about pruning the roots on bougainvillea, they can be very sensitive to that, so remove less than you might for other species at any one time. Also they only bloom on new branches.

 

[Ang3lfir3]

Once it's settled and growing, you can worry about feeding it some bougain.

Bougain is pure bougie magic .... a couple of scoops once/twice a year makes ours go crazy ..... we cut back hard every year and just let it grow.... haven't repotted it ever actually and it doesn't seem to mind... then again we aren't in FL

for a little inspiration !!

the stand is about 2 1/2 ft wide