It is a common case with many people who grow indoor bonsai or even bonsai growers in general to disregard the schefflera bonsai because of its reluctance to branch and its long internodes. However, I think I may have found out why. Over the spring, I tried to grow some schefflera arboricola plants from seed. Believe it or not, most of the seedlings had tiny internodes and were relatively willing to branch, but not all. I will try to get some pictures here soon, but there is a huge difference between the growth characteristics of most of the seedlings.
The reason why most people have the long-internode schefflera is because it is such a common plant, that people don't bother to grow it from seed, and instead by their materials from the nursery. However, the nurseryman is more concerned with the faster growing, long internode scheffleras than the smaller ones, as the larger ones make a better profit. For this reason, small scheffleras are hard or impossible to come by in the current market. Therefore, I suggest to anyone who would like to try scheffleras as a bonsai to grow some from seed. You may be surprised.
As I said before, I'll try to get some pictures to show you the differences between each type. They are all from the same seed stock and were grown under identical conditions.
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bonsaiboy,
That's interesting but not altogether surprising when you stop to think about it. Sexual reproduction, in this case seedlings, is the source of the majority of diversity we see all around us.
Perhaps you can establish your own unofficial cultivar.
Although I imagine it will take several years to be sure that the more compact ones stay true to form.
BTW, glad to have you back.
Norm
P.S. Consider the possibility that this is simply a phenomenon of them being seedlings. I have some Japanese Maple seedlings that I have not forced to grow too quickly and they exhibit the same characteristic of compact internodes. Although I suppose genetics could be at play with them as well.
That's interesting but not altogether surprising when you stop to think about it. Sexual reproduction, in this case seedlings, is the source of the majority of diversity we see all around us.
Perhaps you can establish your own unofficial cultivar.
Although I imagine it will take several years to be sure that the more compact ones stay true to form.BTW, glad to have you back.
Norm
P.S. Consider the possibility that this is simply a phenomenon of them being seedlings. I have some Japanese Maple seedlings that I have not forced to grow too quickly and they exhibit the same characteristic of compact internodes. Although I suppose genetics could be at play with them as well.
Okay, so it's been half a year now, and the results are in...
Grown under identical conditions for one month, some scheffleras shot up and up, while others remained relatively small. These larger ones quickly outgrew their pots, and thus had to be repotted. Although the conditions were no longer identical, the scheffleras still received the same treatment (liquid fertilizer at the same time, same light, repotting when necessary...).
The smallest schefflera is four inches high with leaves less than an inch in diameter, and never outgrew it's original pot (although new soil was given). In fact, it could probably grow in one of those thimble-sized novelty pots. The largest schefflera was about 18 inches by the time I gave it away (which was about four weeks ago). The other schefflera plants fell somewhere in between, although I must admit most have shorter internodes than the typical nursery-grown plant (that could be because I'm not feeding them growth hormone). All scheffleras I might mention were growing the entire time, so it is as if one just refused to grow.
The results show that it is not necessarily the plant's fault it doesn't get good reviews from bonsai traditionalists. But rather, it is the way the plant is propagated, grown, and marketed.
Grown under identical conditions for one month, some scheffleras shot up and up, while others remained relatively small. These larger ones quickly outgrew their pots, and thus had to be repotted. Although the conditions were no longer identical, the scheffleras still received the same treatment (liquid fertilizer at the same time, same light, repotting when necessary...).
The smallest schefflera is four inches high with leaves less than an inch in diameter, and never outgrew it's original pot (although new soil was given). In fact, it could probably grow in one of those thimble-sized novelty pots. The largest schefflera was about 18 inches by the time I gave it away (which was about four weeks ago). The other schefflera plants fell somewhere in between, although I must admit most have shorter internodes than the typical nursery-grown plant (that could be because I'm not feeding them growth hormone). All scheffleras I might mention were growing the entire time, so it is as if one just refused to grow.
The results show that it is not necessarily the plant's fault it doesn't get good reviews from bonsai traditionalists. But rather, it is the way the plant is propagated, grown, and marketed.
I think that the leggyness isn't the only reason some people don't like them. I think a big turn off for some is the way the leaves grow. It's tough to have a "good" shohin schefflera because the leaf shape requires a dense canopy to kind of hide the big leaves.bonsaiboy wrote: The results show that it is not necessarily the plant's fault it doesn't get good reviews from bonsai traditionalists. But rather, it is the way the plant is propagated, grown, and marketed.
That said I personally love them because they are great practice material. If junipers, acers, and pine (traditional bonsai material) are considered canvasses or blocks of marble, scheffleras should be considered sketchpads. I'm not saying that scheffs can't be great bonsai, there are some spectacular ones out there, but they are different because they grow so quickly and easily that you can afford to be creative with them.
To bring things back to your original point. A great example of someone who is doing what you are doing (growing from seed and picking the ones that best suit your purposes) on a large scale is fuku bonsai.
I'm not sure what you mean by this, but I will agree with what else you said. I will, however, carry out more experiments with this super-miniature schefflera (unless it dies, which would be a shame indeed). When it comes to mutant plants, the most bazaar things can occur -- I once purchased a cultivar of the Ming Aralia (Polyscias fruticosa) that had leaves less than a centimeter, with internodes less than millimeters apart. This was its natural grow characteristic.JTred wrote:
It's tough to have a "good" shohin schefflera because the leaf shape requires a dense canopy to kind of hide the big leaves.
What I meant is that the long petioles and large(ish) leaves kind of prohibit you from creating dense pads of foliage in a smaller tree. You have to keep the foliage in a canopy to hide the size of each individual leaf. I guess what I should have said is its tough to have a "good" traditional style bonsai using scheff. I think as the banyan style continues to gain favor, so will the scheff. A thick, wide, umbrella like canopy with lots of banyan roots works well for this plant because it is a rain forest tree.