Hi -

I am with Jo on the care instructions, and concur that it is probably my easiest pachycaul to grow. Since I am in MA, I bring mine in for the Fall/Winter and set it under a 600W HPS. I coax mine into dormancy with a progressively reduced watering schedule - by December/January I am watering it once a month.

It typically loses all its leaves by then - though it has not done so yet. I expect it to start yellowing and dropping any day now.

Great, tough plants!

T

Jeez Tom, another real beauty! How do you get such excellent ramification? In full sun and a tight bonsai pot, mine still has almost an inch between leaf nodes! Are you constantly pinching back?

Thanks, Jo. Mostly clip and grow, with a wire here and there. Ramification is tough on these guys. I find it very difficult to predict where they will bud from, and from where a new branch will form and extend. Sometimes they show up in the strangest places. Part of their charm, I guess.

I do not pinch back - just prune the new branch after it has extended a bit so that it fits within the canopy I am trying to develop.

This was it when I got it:

{{gwi:472218}}

T

Hey guys,
Thanks for the info! I'm really liking this plant, and don't want to screw it up. Sounds like it's fairly easy to keep going. I love that resinous sap smell, and the way new "woody" growth eventually bark peels to the green fat trunk.

Here's pics of my plant as promised!

The trunk is 5" wide:

Now that's a fatty! So, did the leaves turn yellow before they dropped, or just crisp up and fall? Can you tell if the bare branches are still alive?

If it is normal dormancy leaf drop, then I would continue to let it happen. Get it under bright lights - water maybe twice in November, once in December and January, twice in February...then pick it up when it starts to wake up. That is kind of what I do.

T

I don't know how to tell if the bare branches are still alive with a visual only inspection. I'd rather not make cuts to see if sap will come out.

The leaves are doing some of both. Yellowing, and some crisping here are there too. I'd say more yellowing though. When they yellow, after a day or so, if I touch them, they fall off. Maybe the crisped leaves are the ones farther away I'm not able to "test touch" daily. I try to inspect the plant daily. Also, there is still a very little new growth, but not much.

Mine sits absolutely drop-dead bone dry for the winter as it is now.....the 30F nights put it to bed a couple weeks ago.....it will see no water at all until next May......you absolutely can not get easier it seems than this......I only have a couple of caudex plants and this is one because everyone told me it was so trivial to grow.....seems to be true.....you will have no problems :o) Dan

Mine are still outside and we've had about 5days of rain so far, foliage is green but there is some yellowing starting to occur. I'll probably put them undercover by the end of the month and not water again till I see new growth. There are 4 in pots and 6 in the raised bed, the ones in the bed wick moisture up from the native soil with no detriment to the plant. These have all survived 20F for a 2wk duration.

Just read through all the older postings and was able to glean some very good cultural information. I too, have a Bursera fagaroides, in the "training" phase, and I suspect training these plants to become a respectable tree, will be a work-in-progress for many years. But, they grow fast, and I find them very easy to keep alive, especially through the dormancy period. Very low maintenance, plants.

I would like to know not only how to get the caudex portion to fatten, but also how to keep the plants from getting taller. I want a thick trunk and short branches. My plant is now about 24" tall, including branches. The thickening,tapered trunk is now roughly half of this height, and would much prefer that the branches be kept within these bounds, but with ramification. The trunk is bout 2" diameter at the base, and tapers, over 12", to about 1" diameter. Then the branches begin growing from this point. The trunk looks like a long, fat, carrot in shape.

I need cultural suggestions. Will growing these plants dry, hot and hard cause the trunk to fatten?

Frank

Hey, theres a picture of my bursera 7 yeara ago to the day!

Can you post a picture of yours, Frank? May help...

Tom-

I have no clue how to post any photos of my plants. I need to get some kid to show me how to actually use a PC...I only know the very basics. Embarrassing for me to admit.

Yes, I see the photos and I can see how the plant has changed....how the trunk got fatter while the branches are still short. You mention the Grow and Clip method. However, when do you clip back the branches for maximum back budding? After the plant goes dormant, I would imagine it's easier to see what needs to be eliminated, what needs to be kept, and what needs to be wired.

I hope that soon someone will guide me through the process of taking photos and then posting them.

Thanks for the interest.

Frank

B.f. Is a tricky plant to bonsai, in a traditional sense. It doesn't really cooperate, and puts out growth in random and strange places. I basically just prune what I don't like on mine, and hope for the best!

it is better to work on it after it drops its leaves...you can see what's going on better. Try to prune back to a dormant or active bud -- if you prune back and there is no bud the branch will no longer grow. Mine just fattens up on its own, really.

I'd love to see a picture when you master that part...I am not very good with this Houzz site either.

T

Mine fattened up on its own also. Very easy plant here in So Cal.

We just found a large one (a few spindly branches we’ll trim back later are ~5’ tall - most of the plant is about 3.5’) at a nursery and stuck it in the ground. Our conditions (foothills in Pasadena CA) are mostly in line with its natural habitat except our winters are somewhat rainy. We’ll see what happens!