Has anyone tried to make a bonsai out of the most poisonous tree in North America?

[BillsBayou]

The manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella), aka "the little apple of death", is poisonous from top to bottom. You can develop painful blisters if you stand under one when it is raining. Apparently, breathing around it is also dangerous. "Hey kids! Who wants to defoliate Daddy's bonsai?" It's one of those milky sap trees with more than the usual allotment of toxins.

I've only just found out about this species. So I thought there might be some "brave soul" out there who has tried to keep one in a little pot.

"Do Not Eat, Touch, Or Even Inhale the Air Around the Manchineel Tree"

 

[Gabler]

The manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella), aka "the little apple of death", is poisonous from top to bottom. You can develop painful blisters if you stand under one when it is raining. Apparently, breathing around it is also dangerous. "Hey kids! Who wants to defoliate Daddy's bonsai?" It's one of those milky sap trees with more than the usual allotment of toxins.

I've only just found out about this species. So I thought there might be some "brave soul" out there who has tried to keep one in a little pot.

"Do Not Eat, Touch, Or Even Inhale the Air Around the Manchineel Tree"

It's tropical, and I don't have a good place for one inside my house in the winter.

 

[The Barber]

The manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella), aka "the little apple of death", is poisonous from top to bottom. You can develop painful blisters if you stand under one when it is raining. Apparently, breathing around it is also dangerous. "Hey kids! Who wants to defoliate Daddy's bonsai?" It's one of those milky sap trees with more than the usual allotment of toxins.

I've only just found out about this species. So I thought there might be some "brave soul" out there who has tried to keep one in a little pot.

"Do Not Eat, Touch, Or Even Inhale the Air Around the Manchineel Tree"

Sheesh, I thought mountain laurel was bad stuff (even the honey bees make from the pollen is toxic) but at least laurel don't radiate poison into the general area. I thought the poison ivy bonsai guys were insane. Hard pass on the Manchineel tree.

 

[Cmd5235]

I was in the ABC’s this fall and I had no clue what the little green apples were on the ground. Picked one up, looked at it, gave it a squeeze, threw it back. An hour later everything I touched was burning and blistering. I ended up having to decon myself in two separate bathrooms in parks using a sink and hand soap (the first decon wasn’t enough).

These trees are no joke. I did think, and still do, about having one as a bonsai. But having gotten the blisters all over, I can confirm they are awful. I am so glad I didn’t rub my eyes.

 

[Oddly_Aude]

That sounds like one intense tree. Even if it was a thing people bonsaied, I still wouldn't do it. I'm just not responsible enough. Its why I'll never own a rattlesnake. Or go mushroom foraging.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

I would give it a go, honestly, if I had outside conditions and no kids. Its just too dangerous with the kids around or inside in the winter.

 

[BillsBayou]

It's tropical, and I don't have a good place for one inside my house in the winter.

I would give it a go, honestly, if I had outside conditions and no kids. Its just too dangerous with the kids around or inside in the winter.

INSIDE FOR THE WINTER?!? Jaysus Meddy and Choseph that's a bad idea.

But inside it's own climate-controlled negative-pressure fume house with those safety rubber gloves mounted in the walls? Maybe an incinerator chute for waste? A one-way pass-through for repotting? Then I might consider this tree for bonsai.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Knowing how expensive negative air machines are to rent doesnt make that option feasible either.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

This is a hard pass for me. So far, none of my trees have tried to kill me when I was murdering them. My family would prefer me to stick around.
At least until retirement kicks in.

 

[NMbonsai]

I love this bonsai hobby/addiction/compulsion, but I am not willing to give my life for it!

 

[Paradox]

Would not be willing to risk myself, husband and pets to such a plant

Plenty of good plants to use for bonsai without ones that could severely hurt or possibly kill you

 

[RobGA]

I imagine anyone cultivating this could become a candidate for the Darwin Award.

 

[Robert J. Baran]

It is in the Euphorbia family, but I don't have it included in my list of bonsai-tried specimens, https://www.magiminiland.org/BigPicture/BPADillen.html#Euphorbial . I don't think I'll be adding it, even though several of its applicable cousins "only" have toxic sap.