Longer term strategy for Citrus trifoliata (Hardy Orange/Flying Dragon)

[jkennedy2316]

I recently discovered this species and immediately decided I had to have one. As a true beginner, I am not in a huge rush to hack this guy down and stick it into a bonsai pot. Happy to let this one develop slowly over time while I practice on more readily available/cheaper nursery stock. My plan was to plant it to let it develop more. Instead of planting straight in the ground, my idea was to plant in a large DIY planter box I made from pallets. I filled the bottom with landscape fabric but have not filled in the soil yet. I have some questions.

In terms of soil, I have heard conflicting advice in terms of the best soil mix to encourage trunk and root development. Some say plant directly into bonsai soil - even if not repotting to a bonsai pot - to develop nibari, while others say a more organic matter heavy soil is better for developing larger roots/trunk if not in a bonsai pot. I am nowhere near qualified enough to choose wrong from right here. Should I fill my planter box with regular potting mix or with a porous bonsai mix?

In terms of long-term development, my first inclination was work overtime towards a single trunk via pruning. I have since received some inspiration from "clump style" bonsai and thought that could also be an option. Clump style or single trunk? Or just stick it in some soil and decide later?


If a single trunk is recommended, should I wait to do that pruning until the plant has well-recovered from repotting (i.e. years from now)? Should that type of heavy pruning down to a single trunk be done incrimentally or in one fel swoop?

 

[Michael P]

I like this species and cultivar, but I don't have any direct experience with them. For that reason I will not give your any specific advice. Good luck with it and please keep us updated.

Did you buy this from a retail nursery? If so, the three "trunks" may be three separate trees. Growers for the retail market often plant multiple individuals in the same pot because this makes a full-looking saleable tree is less time. You won't know this until you repot the tree and can examine the root system(s) and bases of trunks. If they are separate trees, you can choose to separate them.

Personally I think the practice described above is deceptive and often causes serious problems in landscape trees as they mature. But keeping the trees together may not matter for bonsai.

 

[Shibui]

Regular potting mix is fine for larger containers. You can see that it works well in any commercial nursery.
More porous bonsai mix is designed for smaller and shallower containers but still works OK in larger planters provided you can maintain enough moisture to promote growth.
The choice is yours during this development stage. I suspect that most of the advocates for bonsai mix from the start are scared of the thought of replacing standard mix when it comes time to move to a smaller bonsai pot.

Clump style or single trunk? Or just stick it in some soil and decide later?

I don't usually make decisions too early. Trees can change quite a lot as they grow and thicken. What looks possible now may not be as attractive in a few years. You may like to have a plan, but be prepared to change track if circumstances and the tree change as it grows. I guess that means I'm in the decide later camp for this one. Just need to keep an eye on it for signs of anything getting out of control. Sometimes timely intervention can prevent catastrophe.

Note that multi trunks are way more difficult to achieve than single trunk trees. I've estimated that each extra trunk multiplies the difficulty by around 10 times so double trunk is 10 times harder than single but triple trunk is around 100 times more difficult. You only have to look at the relative numbers of each in shows to gauge how much harder good multi trunk is.
Aim for triple trunk but if that doesn't come off leave the option to reduce trunks.

If a single trunk is recommended, should I wait to do that pruning until the plant has well-recovered from repotting (i.e. years from now)? Should that type of heavy pruning down to a single trunk be done incrimentally or in one fel swoop?

If it takes years for a tree to recover from repotting you are doing something wrong. Most trees will have recovered in less than 6 months.
How to approach heavy pruning depends on many factors - species, size of the chop and strength of the different areas of the tree and more. In most cases you can cut in one go but when pruning very strong trunks I often go a bit slower to allow the tree to reroute sap flows. That seems to reduce chances of large die back.

I've tried Poncirus a few times but without much success. They don't seem to ramify very easily so all mine are very open and sparse. It is also hard to get motivated to work with a tree that bites as viciously as Poncirus.