Jabily / Elephant tree

[penumbra]

Just pulled one out of the pot and cut it back. Tons of big fat tuberous roots to make new plants with. Training old plant over a rock. Took off about 90% of the roots. Will take pictures and document root cuttings procedure here. I want them to dry out and callus about a week.

 

[MarcDream]

Just pulled one out of the pot and cut it back. Tons of big fat tuberous roots to make new plants with. Training old plant over a rock. Took off about 90% of the roots. Will take pictures and document root cuttings procedure here. I want them to dry out and callus about a week.

Hi Penumbra,
Do you have any update on how the process went for you? I just bought a 12 year old Elephant tree that is in a 8” container pot , but I would like to try & make it into a Bonsai with a much more shallow pot. I was wondering if it’s ok to cut back majority of the root system to allow this transition to happen?

 

[penumbra]

It grew like a weed this summer despite me removing 90% of the roots. I will get a picture in the next couple of days.

 

[penumbra]

This is the re potted plant in a tall pot because it is planted on a tall jasper rock. The new shoots are about 10 inches long. The blue tray has 9 root cuttings as a result of the re-potting that are all growing well. Tallest is about 7-8 inches.

 

[hemmy]

PSA: Don’t leave your Operculicarya decaryi next to bougainvilleas in California! These bougainvillea loving caterpillars (somber carpet moth?) almost defoliated a larger tree. Mine is usually late to flower and leaf out, starting usually in June. So I didn’t immediately notice the defoliation of the new leaves. I pulled off 8 caterpillars on the large one and 3 on a smaller tree. There are 2 whole ones the bottom pic with a 3rd partially in frame. I wish I could post a video to show the insane camouflage.

 

[Caudex_life]

Good day to all.

If someone had a positive successful experience of growing operculicarya from stem cuttings, please tell us more.

1) what kind of cuttings is better to take?
2) what is cultivation technology?
3) when do the roots appear?

Thank you in advance.

 

[penumbra]

I have done stem cuttings in mid summer. I have used from about 1/16 to about 1/8 inch cuttings. Rooting takes several weeks. I get about 40% to take.
With root cuttings I use various sizes of roots usually 2 to 3 inches long. It can take a couple of months but I get close to 100%

 

[Caudex_life]

I have done stem cuttings in mid summer. I have used from about 1/16 to about 1/8 inch cuttings. Rooting takes several weeks. I get about 40% to take.
With root cuttings I use various sizes of roots usually 2 to 3 inches long. It can take a couple of months but I get close to 100%

Oh thank god)
I thought this topic was dead and no one would answer)

I have a lot of questions for you)

1) Perhaps you have a photo of plants obtained from such cuttings?
2) How important is humidity for effective rooting?
3) Do cuttings need to be dried before planting? How often did you water them?
4) how important is the lighting?
5) what kind of soil did you plant it in?

Thank you.

 

[penumbra]

1) Perhaps you have a photo of plants obtained from such cuttings?

Pictures already posted in this thread.

How important is humidity for effective rooting?

Its important not to be too humid I believe.

Do cuttings need to be dried before planting? How often did you water them?

I did not dry them but only water when dry.

how important is the lighting?

Don't know. All my lighting is above par.

what kind of soil did you plant it in?

Very loose and well draining about 50% perlite or DE.

 

[Caudex_life]

Pictures already posted in this thread.

Its important not to be too humid I believe.

I did not dry them but only water when dry.

Don't know. All my lighting is above par.

Very loose and well draining about 50% perlite or DE.

Thank you so much for your answers.

I will try to grow from stem cuttings since in Poland this is a very rare plant and it is extremely difficult to order seeds.

I had several cuttings available, 5 to 8 cm long and 2 to 5 mm thick. Some of them are woody.

I plan to grow cuttings in three options:

1) 100% Akadama (without moisture bag, sprayed every three days)
2) river sand (without package, with spraying every three days)
3) same options with the package

 

[penumbra]

Best of luck.

 

[Pixar]

I grew one of these and decide to put it outside in the winter ( then forgot about it over winter , can't find it now - must have died )

 

[Pixar]

Anyone got any seeds available ? I like to try again ( happy to exchange seeds from New Zealand )
PM if interested

 

[Adamski77]

Apologize for getting into dedicated thread but can see several knowledgeable BNuts on this particular tree family. I purchased something similar earlier this year... picture below... just bark is totally different... anybody here able to help me with identification.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Apologize for getting into dedicated thread but can see several knowledgeable BNuts on this particular tree family. I purchased something similar earlier this year... picture below... just bark is totally different... anybody here able to help me with identification.

Don't know what this tree is at first glance. More photos? Think about botanical plates. A nice close up of a leaf and twig. A close up of the bark. A view of whole tree/bush to get gestalt of growth habit. Close up of flowers if possible. The abcision scar where a leaf falls off, the pattern of vascular bundle scars in the abcision scar is diagnostic in some cases. So a good photo of a leaf scar helps. Also a photo of buds on twigs. The pattern of scales over the bud is diagnostic in some genera. The genus Opercularya has compound leaves, not sure your tree is showing compound leaves. It may take several seasons to get good enough photos to do a proper identification. I have had an orchid or two take a decade or more before identification became clear.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Anton_kar
Operculicarya does not seem to care about chemistry of substrate. But length of time for water retention is important. Pure akadama may remain moist for too long between watering. Ideally the substrate should go from wet to dry fairly quickly, certainly in less than 3 days. Coarse akadama might be acceptable due to the pore space allowing air movement. Sand is likely a bad choice because sand typically has small particle size. Small particles do not allow air movement or rapid drying. Descriptions of habitat soil is more or less a gravel, fairly coarse substrate.

Sift your media to eliminate fines, your media should look more like gravel. You can blend coarse akadama and quartzite or gravel. Eliminate fine particles smaller than 3 mm diameter.

 

[Adamski77]

Don't know what this tree is at first glance. More photos? Think about botanical plates. A nice close up of a leaf and twig. A close up of the bark. A view of whole tree/bush to get gestalt of growth habit. Close up of flowers if possible. The abcision scar where a leaf falls off, the pattern of vascular bundle scars in the abcision scar is diagnostic in some cases. So a good photo of a leaf scar helps. Also a photo of buds on twigs. The pattern of scales over the bud is diagnostic in some genera. The genus Opercularya has compound leaves, not sure your tree is showing compound leaves. It may take several seasons to get good enough photos to do a proper identification. I have had an orchid or two take a decade or more before identification became

Thanks for response… think I need to park the topic till spring when the leaves show up again (hopefully ) … but I’ll be back with all requested info. Didn’t even know so much needed but will do my best. Appreciated!

 

[Caudex_life]

Let's see what the new experiment will show....
So far, I can say the following based on an experiment 3 months ago:
1) It is better not to cover the cuttings (the mold will destroy them very quickly)
2) Spraying once a day in coarse sand helped (unfortunately in my case I realized this too late, so only this cutting survived, which gave new 2 leaves from the kidney. )

I have now divided the game into 3 parts:
1) small akadama (5 mm)
2) coarse sand
3) peat



The mother plant looks like this:


p.s. In the future, I will periodically post the results of the experiment.

 

[Caudex_life]

Reporting after 3 months..

Unfortunately, I failed with all cuttings(
I don't have any idea how you managed to root it from cuttings(

One month ago I got new cuttings, but only one of them grew new leaves....After I pulled out it there were no roots here...I despaired(( It is still green but I don't know when it will die...

 

[hemmy]

Unfortunately, I failed with all cuttings(
I don't have any idea how you managed to root it from cuttings

Me either. But maybe not mist them or water until you need new growth?

Did you use rooting hormone? Possibly try Hormex 8 or 16 the higher concentrations of IBA.

I’m about to take some soon, maybe I’ll get lucky in a few months. I’ve had 100% success (with root cuttings, lol).