Jacaranda Bonsai - The flood!

[Sabrem]

Okay, so I am going to start off by saying that I am not very good with plants. I certainly don't have the mythical (I like to believe it's mythical ) green thumb. I am very caring though, and over the last couple of years I have managed to somehow keep my orchid alive and well, and it even FLOWERED twice (I hear they can be very picky about that!).

Anyway, almost 2 years ago I was gifted some "bonsai jacaranda" seeds for Christmas. I knew that bonsai are particularly hard to maintain, and that jacarandas grow to ridiculously big and beautiful sizes. I live in Brisbane, Aus, so there are thousands of them all around the city - in fact, when they turn purple everyone knows it's exam time , there's a saying that if you haven't started studying by the time they turn then it's too late!

The point is that I decided I would try to grow them, and to maintain the plants as bonsai. They all got off to a good start. I had 8 of them at first. Unfortunately over the first year I lost 4 or 5 of them. Then over this year some of the others died away as well. I lived in an apartment and it was difficult to always get them a good amount of sunlight etc.

Now I live in a townhouse with an awesome little backyard. I brought the surviving two plants with me from the apartment. They are very healthy, and one of them has grown quite large- it's stem has even become quite a bit thicker now. They are THRIVING since the move. I put them outside on a table (under cover) where they get some great afternoon sun.
Recently, it's been very wet here in Brissy (though it's not wet season yet!) and during a storm I moved my plants indoors. My housemate accidentally closed some blinds on them, and gave the stem of one of them a pretty nasty knock. It cut a little bit of the outside layer, but didn't bend it or cut too deep.

I was very worried about the plant, but it's been a couple of weeks and I think it should be okay... but to add insult to injury, I moved the plants back outside yesterday (still under cover)... and then this morning it started raining really heavily. When I found the plants they'd been knocked over and flooded out and had a snail crawling all over them.
So naturally I freaked out. I carefully removed Mr. Snail, and I have now brought them inside by a window, removed them from their old soil and replanted them. Gave them a tiny bit of water with fertilizer to moisten the new soil.

I'm worried that the plants won't survive the flooding out they received . Have I done the right thing in completely replanting them? They don't look physically damaged but how much damage has the water done to them?
Does anyone have any ideas for ensuring they make it through?


I'm still learning! Any advice will be appreciated!

[BewilderedGreenyO.o]

Wow what a long post! lol and I thought I could type!

To start off bonsai seeds don't exsist. (lol what a horrible feeling its as though I've just told a child that santa doesn't exist rofl) The seeds you received were just regular jacaranda seeds decorated and called bonsai seeds to sell to people. A bonsai is a constant work of art in progress. A lot of what you do with a seedling will just be keeping it alive and watching as it grows.

I noticed throughout your post that you said you move your trees indoors and outdoors quite a bit.. or so it seems. Plants of any sort aren't meant to move around much.. normally they just seed up in some soil and stay there their whole lives. So moving them to high light to low light to high heat to low heat, from indoors to outdoors may not be the best thing for them. Try your best to keep them outdoors. Most plants especially trees love it outside rain or shine. If you get large storms try to give your plants some shelter.. I have a shade tent thing in my backyard that shelters mine from everything but the wind. The wind understandably is an issue. My only advice there would be to tie it down somehow. I'm not sure how bad your storms get there but just imagine the elements seedlings in nature have to withstand without any care what so ever from humans.

I think your plants will be fine. They may be in some shock but remember everything with plants is patience. I have a Jade vine that I swore wasn't going to make it after it was shipped to me from across the states but sure enough I waited patiently for about a month or two and now it is growing like crazy!!

I've actually got a Jacaranda seedling growing right now as well in my backyard in preparation to become an outstanding bonsai one day I am still learning and most likely always will be learning when it comes to gardening. I'm sure there are others on the forum that have much more experience then I do and will try to help you the best they can as well Good luck with your babies!

[Phil L.R]

Hello, Sabrem, and welcome to the world of bonsai! You've said that you have managed to grow some Jacaranda seedlings from "Bonsai seeds", well, I too fell for these when I started the art of bonsai, because in fact what you buyed were only normal seeds. But don't let that get you down because we learn from our actions.
As for the remaining two seedlings, from the original batch of five or more, I would like to say that you do have a "green thumb" went it comes to plants, but please remember that excess "atention" can become a "problem" when it involves anything we do. I'm not saying for you to ignore your plants, but, I usually maintain a "schedule" of mine, thus I can know the time to water or repot each and every plant.
What I can tell you about the survival of the two seedlings is that they can survive but for the time being let them "rest" and re-grow damaged plant tissue, which can be done in a week or more depending on the problem.
Jacarada are beautiful and strong plants but they too have limitations, so do your best to maintain them sheltered from wind or rain until they get stronger.
And I wish that your plants grow strong and that you learn from them the lessons that nature has to teach us.