bougainvillea re-work

[alpineart]

This is a bougy i purchased a couple of years ago .It has struggled along , lack of roots and damaged in transit , i all but gave up on it . I have just found out they don't like frosts , it got burnt severely and all the new flowers along with the leaves were damaged .

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I have decided it needs a bit of direction so i carved the old cut area out

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sealed it with Steri-prune and slipped a chunk of scoria into the hollowed section resembling the original huge trunk it had .

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It has been tilted over and re-potted back into the big pot . Now with some wire on the shoots , i had a few "OH BUGGER" moments by the way , and gave it a basic shape . Hopefully it will heal or it may be a few more years before i re-visit this again .

Cheers Alpineart

[Bougy Fan]

I love the way the trunk fits on the rock Ian - good solution to disgusing the scar

[Samegyed]

I agree gives it a strong tapered shape,
Great solution,

Sam

[Tony Bebb]

Nice work Alpine.

That bark should roll well and hopefully fit to the rock even better. It'll look like it swallowed it. Creates great taper

Plenty of those 'Oh Bugger' moments bending Bougs. Tough as.

Look forward to next update.

Tony

[alpineart]

I love the way the trunk fits on the rock Ian - good solution to disgusing the scar

Hi Bougy Fan , i looked long and hard at this for so long and this was the best solution for the design i hope to complete .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi Samegyed , its a close to the original shaped trunk i purchased it for .

Hi Tony , the base was a huge 350mm but due to the transport companies involved in getting it down here it was damaged .I didn't realize how little they do bend , even new growth has its limit . A slight OH BUGGER moment with the rock also , knocked the top off with the pick hammer , but it fits nicely on both sides .

Every problem has a solution , if you think out the square , anythings possible .

Cheers Guys Alpine

[bodhidharma]

Ya shoulda asked me Alpine I have lost three bougies due to frost and cold. Apparently they do not survive under 3 degrees or so. I love them but have decided to leave them in the tropics where they belong. Nice work with the rock idea. Keep it in a glass house this winter

[Matthew]

still got mine guys . it goes completly decidious loosing its leaves at this time. mine spends from may till spetember in the hothouse. 2-3 over a long period of time is the limit but one heavy frost can do them in. The best one ive seen in the country yet is up near newcastle belonging to a former member here. id sell my kid for it (if i had one so proberly best i dont )

[alpineart]

Ya shoulda asked me Alpine I have lost three bougies due to frost and cold. Apparently they do not survive under 3 degrees or so. I love them but have decided to leave them in the tropics where they belong. Nice work with the rock idea. Keep it in a glass house this winter

Hi Bodhi , mate i think i will bring it inside so it can keep the figs company . There is a monster Bougy 20-30 feet high i have seen from the road at Yackandanda . It seems to cope out there with bigger frosts than i get . Temperamental pussy cats they are .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

still got mine guys . it goes completly decidious loosing its leaves at this time. mine spends from may till spetember in the hothouse. 2-3 over a long period of time is the limit but one heavy frost can do them in. The best one ive seen in the country yet is up near newcastle belonging to a former member here. id sell my kid for it (if i had one so proberly best i dont )

Hi Mathew , if it goes deciduous i might just defol this to re-direct the energy to the new shoots .. Former member , tell him to get his butt back here and post a pic there not many good ones on google that tickle my fancy , that's for sure .

Cheers Alpine .

[Andrew F]

Id love to see a pic too if possible please Great work as always Alpine.

[Jarrod]

Some bougainville are hardy, most are not. Mine stays out all year and doesn't go deciduous, still has a couple of flowers kicking around.

I like what you have done with this however I am a bit concerned about water being trapped between the rock and trunk and causing rot. These will rot very quickly if water sits against the wood.

[alpineart]

Hi Jarrod , most people have said they root but this one hasn't . It went soft and mushy but no rot , probably too much moisture in the base , with no roots and no foliage to rid the excess moisture .. The dark section on the base is still solid , the carved section of the trunk had been sealed and the rock is embedded to the outer bark not the center wood . I see an issue with slaters hiding in the gap behind the rock but i will have to work on that . My thought was to seal the trunk and rock together and water proof the rock this would solve most issues , but its early days and in 2 years it hasn't had a rotting issue since cleaned , It wasn't sealed either .

Ultimately the plan was to make a rock like this saddle on Mt Buffalo

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and have the trunk growing completely over it . It would be moulded and completely sealed to the trunk hopefully alleviating any issues .I need a couple of seasons to see where all the roots will grow , then consider the new rock and slab construction .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Well this is going along nicely with 50 %of the flowers out now

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it will no doubt improve over the next few weeks . I haven't bothered to trim it as i'm after some serious root growth this year . I will wire the long shoots that i plan to keep , the rest will be sacrifice branches to produce roots . I love the colour of this Bougy now all i need is to find a bright red trunk that will be in the same league as this one .

[alpineart]

This has had a re-pot rework and wire job done for the Myrtleford Show , unfortunately it wasn't close to being in full flower .

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It still has another 1/3 to go for full flower/bract but the wind is knocking them off daily . The new custom made rock fits like a finger in a glove to the hollowed out damaged trunk

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. It is a cement render blend and was molded to the base . I'm very happy with its progress after the struggle it went through in the early days .

Cheers Alpineart