Mats: Bougainvillea - 21J

Planted in a pot since time immemorial as per owner when he said, "My granny used to water that when I was still a kid". There used to be a "bunga" at its left side, now dead, and served as fertilizer for the tree.

My first thought was to make it an imperial/garden bonsai (1.2 meters above, correct me if I'm wrong, please) but it seems that 5 years will not be enough to have a proportionate secondary branches. The girth of this tree is 12 inches in diameter! I can fit it in my garden but will take at least 3 sqm which I do not want to spare for just one tree.

This tree did not come free, yet VERY CHEAP, and big thanks to my eldest sister for this gift.

Please check the captions per photo for further details. 

A palm tree used to be where the arrow is at. 

It's a big W. 

The chair is 1.1 mtrs tall, definitely this is an imperial bonsai, but the branches are too long and I don't want to wait 5 years for the soon-to-grow secondaries to grow big before styling it as bonsai.

Option 1. Tilt the tree to the right. 1st/right branch is thick, back/2nd branch is a given. 3rd/left branch is missing. There however is a branch behind where the red arrow points, where I can get a left branch.

That branch where the yellow arrow points kinda made me think. 1-2-3 sequence says CUT, but imagining a rather artistic approach if kept made me take a 2nd look.

Option 2. Slant the tree to the left and grow a branch where the apex will be taken from. It shall be faster than growing a thick left branch but then again, how long?

I used cow poop. 

Plus vermi-compost, worms included and more to be added.

So it's obvious, I went for the 1st option. The left branch shall be taken somewhere behind the trunk if none grows from the left. Just the basic 1-2-3 for this tree, hopefully I turn it into a beautiful bonsai someday. Estimated finished height is between 100-115cms.

No pot is available yet no problem for drainage. The tree behind it shall provide the shade and after 6-8 months, it can be transplanted to a better training pot. I measured 80x60x25cms for its final pot. I did not put anything under the cow poop, the Earth is my drainage.

And oh, those are cuttings. Some were already planted a day before where the tree was taken as a "Thank you, forget me not" token to the owner. I shall give him a bonsai out of these cuttings a year from now.

Cn: 21 Jewel, 21J, featherduster, popcorn, pink pixie bougie

Sn: Bougainvillea (glabra? spectabilis?)

#MangyanBonsai 

#hagodniDandoy 

#21j

Mats: Guava

    June 13, 2019, this tree was uprooted and planted using only pebbles. I had to leave the province to go back to work so I used whatever was available. 5 months ago when I came back I added cow dung on top of the pot to somehow add nutrients as the tree does not show improvements as expected though the roots came out already in search of better medium. 

   Fast forward to today, when I had the chance to remove almost half of the pebbles and I am not surprised to see that hair roots grew upwards to where the dung is and only the bigger ones were left below. Solution? Replace the removed pebbles with compost and vermicast and more dung.

   Note: about 3 inches of pebbles are still intact as bedding at the bottom of the pot.

     Please read the captions for more details.

Hunted June 13,2019 before the rainy season began Trunk is about 6 inches in diameter. This eventually was decided to be the back side of the tree.

Cow/carabao dung added on top of the pot around September 2019.

Pebbles used as potting medium.

This type of medium is NOT RECOMMENDED as it barely retains water, has very little to zero nutrients and is considered good only for beddings inside the pot. Would be better if mixed with riversand, compost, or vermicast. There is no pumice where it's at.

Root hairs grew in the manure because it has more nutrients. Bigger roots grew to about a foot outwards through the drain hole in search of better food supply.

Cn: Guava, Bayabas

Sn: Psidium guajava