prismism said:

It will be at least ten years or more before the trunk becomes real fat. The ideal Baobab looks like an upside down tree. As if you planted a tree upside down and the roots are up in the air. As with any bonsai plant though, pruning is key. When you prune back the new growth year after year and keep the plant the same size two things will happen- One is that the trunk and branches grow
denser year after year. The other is a thing called ramification. Which basically means that you force the plant to grow more branches with smaller leaves by selectively pruning. When you prune branches back over and over the plant responds by growing new branches and smaller leaves. It takes many years to achieve this. That's what makes it such a great hobby.

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Solipsis said:

Hi,

I have a Baobab that is nearly 10 inches tall now - somewhere between 20-25 cm - growing under blue/white LED and doing very well, growing lush leaves..

How long should I wait / how big should it be before pruning or trimming? Do you prune when you notice it starts preparing for 'hibernation' (what is the ête equivalent of that?), every year, or does it first have to get a workable size and age that can withstand pruning etc?

Anyone who has success with this? I'm reading some bonsai rules for it, but they also say you should wait otherwise you just set it back..

I'd like to not be late with trying to make the trunk fat as possible... no real caudex at this point - but does have semi underground caudex, or rather that would be the tuber?

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Sorry for the late reply, I don't get on here as much anymore. I haven't done too much research for this project, so I guess you could say that I'm just winging it as best that I can. I try not to prune my bonsai plants more than once per growing season. I've noticed that when I overprune it tends to stall growth. It's tempting to keep pruning in order to achieve the shape that you want, but you need to refrain in order to get those new branches to thicken up, even if it doesn't look aesthetically pleasing during those earlier years. Right now, mine is growing tall and unkempt. I last pruned it back at the beginning of this spring when it was completely bare of leaves. I shaped it to the best of my ability. Since then it has grown like mad, and I want to cut it back, but I'll wait until next spring to do so. I want the new branches to gain some girth as well as the main trunk. Over the winter I only water mine once, maybe twice while it's dormant. The leaves always completely defoliate during this period. You can probably get away with trimming it at any point during the year as long as you don't do it too often.
Here's how mine looks currently. I will train the new branches with wire next spring, after I root prune, replant, and top the new growth.



Could you post some photographs of your plant?

prismism said:

Here's how mine looks currently. I will train the new branches with wire next spring, after I root prune, replant, and top the new growth.


Could you post some photographs of your plant?

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Thanks very much for the reply! It's good to see someone working with a baobab. Very nicely done.

Mine is very young though, so yeah I assume it will have to grow for several years and at least branch much more before even wiring becomes relevant... or messing with the roots, but mine has quite a big taproot that I doubt I could easily fit in a shallow bonsai pot.