A customer recently brought me an acacia bonsai tree which had sustained some damage and had also been somewhat neglected. I was asked to restyle the tree and also to repot it. I am not a massive fan of the species but I saw it as a nice challenge and at the same time a bit of a change from my more favored pines and Chinese maples.
Image caption. The tree as it was given to me to work on.
Once you have found the "front" which best suits the tree, you might need to prop up the pot and tree with wooden blocks in order to change the planting angle; such as was needed in this case. The extreme leaning angle of the trunk did not make much sense to me as the iconic image I have of an acacia tree in my mind is one of a vertical tree standing erect and alone in the African savannah. This is not to say that you cannot have an acacia bonsai in any other style than an upright one, but I think it is just easier to capture the imagination of the viewer if you don't expect too much in the way of imagination from them.
The wild growth, the result of neglect would need to be reduced and of course the branches would need wiring and shaping. I started by removing all the dead growth and the growth which was clearly problematic, such as 3 branches growing from the same point and other such faults.
Image caption. The tree after working on it.
One always begins wiring and styling from the bottom branch. This tree was no exception. I had to use some wire stays also to change the angles of some of the more mature branches; this is a far less aggressive technique than using very thick wire which would also have damaged the bark. A branch jack makes it possible to gently and in a controlled manner open or close branch angles, once in the angle which is pleasing to you it can be frozen like that by wire.
Concave branch cutters come in very handy in eliminating unwanted branches cleanly, leaving a slight concave surface which, together with suitable sealer will heal over quickly and invisibly. I only used aluminium wire on this Acacia, aside from the stays which were done with copper as its considerably stronger in thinner gauges.
You will notice that there is yet movement in the tree, from right to left. I like trees with movement, but one must be cautious not to maintain balance or the tree appears to fall but creates a sense of uneasiness in the viewer. The visual mass of foliage, or branches at the moment, balances out the movement and the tree feels stable in the container.
I used several 4mm wires to securely anchor the tree into the pot, after I repotted it at the new angle. I used the Professional mix to replace the fine, sandy mix which it was growing in. This should produce good root development and ramification, which will be echoed in the canopy above ground also.
After treatment like this, it is best not to fertilize the tree until it shows clear signs of recovery.
It would also be wise to keep it out of wind if possible as instability in the pot could damage the young and tender new roots when they emerge. Morning sun or all day dappled shade would be good for the tree also.
The customer was happy and so as a result, I was happy.
12 Comments
Hi. My Acacia galpinii bonsai has lost all it’s leaves. Is this normal for this time of the year although I have another smaller one that still has all it’s leaves. The bard if I scratch on it is still green so that tells me the tree is still alive. What would I need to do in order to get the leaves growing again. I’m fairly new to this and would appreciate any assistance I can get.
Hi Malcolm! Acacia is not a species which I know too much about, although I have grown them for many years, they don’t feature very prominently in my collection. I would thus suggest that the best time of year to perform major design/pruning work on them if you want back budding is late spring once the new growth has hardened off. This tree was styled in winter though, which seems to be o.k especially if you plan on repotting. Generally speaking Acacia seem to be pretty hardy and I don’t think you can do any harm with styling them pretty much any time, however repotting should be done when the spring buds are swelling.
Hi Terry.
I’m coming in on this thread very late !! Have only just seen it.
I really like what you’ve done to that acacia. I have a couple that need some work. What is the best time of year to do something like that?
Thanks for the comment Graeme. I would agree with your assumption that this is a galpini. I do not have enough experience with the species to claim that I understand its growing characteristics that well but on the pierneef styled one which I have grown for many years I do not see this habit. However what I would say that when the branch gets to a certain age it tends to visually gain tremendous girth, rapidly. As I don’t know the history of this tree I would be guessing in saying that it is quite possible that the thick branches which you see were the original ones and the thinner branches are younger and the bark has not had as much time to thicken. In general I would imagine that if you want to counteract the thickening the only way would be to pinch those branches and allow the others to develop unhindered and in so doing balance the energy the way you want it to be. Please also bear in mind that were this my tree I might have changed it more radically and taken a longer term view, but when you are working with a customers trees you are not always at liberty to make such drastic decisions without asking and even if given permission the owner may still be upset with you afterwards, and never return in a worst case! :)
The changes to the Acacia are clearly an improvement. Once the leaves have formed a canopy it will have a clear and improved outline compared to the original. Although not mentioned, the tree appears to be an Acacia Galpini. It does display characteristics common to the Acacia species in that the second branch on the LHS as well as the uppermost branch on the RHS are noticeably thicker than the branches lower down. Do you have any practical advice on how to manage this situation?