zeejet
Mame
[This was also posted on Reddit]
I want to start a climate-related deciduous flowering discussion for virtually no-chill regions like coastal SoCal (Zone 10b/11a with less than 100 hours under 45F).
To start, I've been trying to identify flowering species for bonsai (e.g. prunus, malus, and pyrus). The options are slim but so far I have found only a few candidates:
What bothers me however, is that all three supposedly have short lifespans and are prone to disease - some sources cite only around 20 years total lifespan. Does this apply only to landscape trees? Or are bonsai a bit different?
From another angle, I visited a nursery in my area selling apple and stone fruit trees that require 100-200 hours of chill (e.g. Tropic Snow, Desert Delight, Eva's Pride), which is still above what we get - however the employees said that the chill hours only apply to reliable fruiting and that they will still leaf and flower without the chill.
Is this true? If so, would airlayering a branch from one of these varieties (they are always grated to other rootstock) be suitable for a bonsai project? Or are they just trying to sell me product?
I want to start a climate-related deciduous flowering discussion for virtually no-chill regions like coastal SoCal (Zone 10b/11a with less than 100 hours under 45F).
To start, I've been trying to identify flowering species for bonsai (e.g. prunus, malus, and pyrus). The options are slim but so far I have found only a few candidates:
- Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana)
- Evergreen Pear (Pyrus kawakamii)
- Taiwan Cherry (Prunus campanulata)
What bothers me however, is that all three supposedly have short lifespans and are prone to disease - some sources cite only around 20 years total lifespan. Does this apply only to landscape trees? Or are bonsai a bit different?
From another angle, I visited a nursery in my area selling apple and stone fruit trees that require 100-200 hours of chill (e.g. Tropic Snow, Desert Delight, Eva's Pride), which is still above what we get - however the employees said that the chill hours only apply to reliable fruiting and that they will still leaf and flower without the chill.
Is this true? If so, would airlayering a branch from one of these varieties (they are always grated to other rootstock) be suitable for a bonsai project? Or are they just trying to sell me product?
