Anonidium mannii guess

[Tropical Fruit Bonsai]

Hi to all experts, this is not an easy question since the specie is quite uncommon. Please take a look to the attached picture: this is one of 10 Anonidium mannii I have, all of them are in the same condition, I'm sure the plants are alive but I still don't know why they started drying from the top leaving the base in a sort of pause...



The question is: is there anybody who has a good idea to help resprout again this botanical rarity? Any suggestion also on ho to preserve the leaves in the future?

Many thanks in advance to all of you,

Giampaolo

[FlyingFoxFruits]

it appears as if the soil mixture you have chosen is not optimal.  It doesn't seem to have the capability to retain moisture, thus, your seedling dried out.

Also, the choice of container is not advisable....it's too shallow, and there is no space for the tap root to unfurl, which dampers the establishment of this species.

[fruitlovers]

Yes, this species has a very long tap root. I am surprised it even sprouted for you.

[Coconut]

Hi to all experts, this is not an easy question since the specie is quite uncommon. Please take a look to the attached picture: this is one of 10 Anonidium mannii I have, all of them are in the same condition, I'm sure the plants are alive but I still don't know why they started drying from the top leaving the base in a sort of pause...



The question is: is there anybody who has a good idea to help resprout again this botanical rarity? Any suggestion also on ho to preserve the leaves in the future?

Many thanks in advance to all of you,

Giampaolo

Don't throw that away, replant it in a wine barrel or a fifty gallon if you dont have a giant greenhouse with a 20 feet clearance at minimum.  Be very careful as it has deep tap root; its culture is very similiar to kepel.  Be patient as it often send up the first shoot and it died, it will send a second.. Taking to two years.   Optimal would be a deep 36 inch pot for bonsai.  Rich organic soil they thrive and give better cold resistant here in S. florida were hell does freeze over. The plant has evoled to take a lot of wildlife abuses and spend all its energy growing big at the bottom like an iceberg.  In Zaire I recalled juvenile elephants would rip them and eat the leaves or play with and the plant would rejuvenate after the beast migrate on during the dry season.  Its a second canopy tree as I recall and pymies make a medecine from roots. Make sure that the soil should have good drainage since they are not a big fan of wet feet.  Lets hope you have the sweet variety not the bitter rancid variety that the elephant enjoy and commonly sold among the seed trade!  Some plant are just not a good Bonsai candidate!😭

[stuartdaly88]

Best bonsai grow in huge pot or the ground for a year to get some nice size and then root prune and top prune to make it smaller. Some of the best bonsai ever were young seedlings found in the wild or even an air-layered gnarled branch:)
Don't know how this species would react to root pruning though!
Some species really are not bonsai friendly as Jack said!

[Tropical Fruit Bonsai]

Thank you very much to you all guys for your ideas,

I have 7 Anonidum manni (sweet one from Wirsy) and thanks to my russian friend Alex who gave me an interesting advice (simply put an half plastic bottle over the plant in order to recreate more humidity) it seems they started to benefit. Today I've seen one of them with stretched trunk in the upper part like it was trying to sprout again!

Cross fingers... 

By the way: there is an old japanese sentence saying that if you are a well trained bonsaist so you can make a bonsai of everything. Based on my personal experience, it's true: when sometimes I failed in the past it was only because I used wrong technics or wrong behaviour with very complicated specie..

Let's see..

Cheers,

Giampaolo

[Tropical Fruit Bonsai]

Hi Guys, who said that some plant are just not a good Bonsai candidate???!!!! 

Thanks to a smart method shared by my friend Alexander I had the best results I ever expected. More other A.manni are doing in the same way...Take a look at the photos:






This summer I'm going to sell some..

Thanks to you all for sharing your ideas, it always worth!!

Cheers,

Giampaolo

[micah]