My Big Bougainvillea in it's training pot

I love this tree, and I'm not afraid to say it. I believe it to have most potential of all my trees. And to think that I saved it from a trash pile.

Last Christmas, my fiancé gave me a pot specifically for it. I have to give her credit. I don't think I could have picked a better pot for it. The size, the shape, the color are all spot on (thanks honey).

Even though it's a little early for re-potting bougainvillea, it has started growing strong. A good sign that it may be okay to re-pot. Also, even though the soil it was in was only a year old, it had gathered a good deal of organic matter along the way, and now resembled a potting soil more that bonsai soil. That's not a good thing and I wanted to get it out of that as soon as safely possible.

Not many roots, but enough.

The first step in any successful venture, whether it be cooking, changing the oil in your car, or re-potting a bonsai, is prep! I can't stress that enough. Prep! Prep! Prep!

Get out the tools you know you are going to need, even the ones you may only possibly need. Have them laid out neatly so that you won't get confused when you need them.

Get your pot ready. This is vital. Cover the drainage holes with mesh and apply proper wire clips. I prefer "Z" clips, but butterfly clips are great too. Get your tie down wires in place. You do tie down your trees into the pot right?

Cleaned and ready to go.

Have your soil mixed and ready to go. Make sure it's a good mix for the tree you are dealing with. I vary my mix slightly depending on how much water the tree likes. For my thirstiest trees I add a little sphagnum peat moss to the mix. Not too much. About a handful.

For bougie keep your mix as fast draining, fast drying as you can. Bougie's like to dry out in between watering. The faster your soil dries, the happier your bougie will be.

Okay, now that we are prepped and ready it's time for the tree.

It's important to inspect your tree and get a good read on the state of your trees health. I knew my tree was growing well, but I was concerned about how wet it had been staying. This will turn out to have been a valid concern.

I took it to my repot area. There I lifted it out of it's pot and examined the root ball, or what should have been a root ball. My tree didn't really have many roots. Not what I expected anyway. I know that bougainvillea don't have very vigorous root systems to begin with. Couple that with a too wet environment and your bound to get few and week roots.

Make sure that your pot is ready to go before you start on the tree.

Cleaning the old soil off turned out to be a very simple task. Since there where few roots, it mostly fell away without much provocation. I used a single chopstick. After cleaning the majority away I used a jet of water to finish it off. I found a few pockets of dirt that had been hiding between the largest roots. I cleaned those out as well and found that I had reached clear through the base of the tree when my chopstick popped out from under the tree.

While cleaning one large root large portions of bark started coming off. It was slightly slimy. A clear indication that the root was dead. With very little effort that entire section was cleared of dead bark and the wood underneath exposed. While it's not something I would have done on purpose, the effect was actually very nice looking.

Just potted. It's time to water it well.

I think this root may not have actually been attached to the main trunk all this time and was surviving as it's own tree. Constant pinching of lower growth I think is what eventually did it in.

Since the base of this tree had been flat cut way back when I first found it, getting it to sit firmly in the pot was very easy. The first step was building up the soil level in the pot to where I wanted the tree to sit. It's very important to do that. Once you put the tree in the pot and fill it with soil that's pretty much where it will stay.

I actually had a little problem with this in that I didn't place it at just the right angle. It needs to be turned clockwise a few degrees to show off the curvature of the main trunk line. Right now it focuses on the shari and that's not necessarily the best feature.

Next, I tied firmly tied down the tree. Usually , I use just one tie wire to tie down a tree. Especially if it's a small tree. But with this guy I used two separate tie downs. Partly because it's a larger tree, but more importantly because it's not likely to produce enough roots to hold itself in the pot for quite some time.

Back on the bench and looking good.

Once it was tied in place, I filled the rest of the pot with soil. It looked good. I watered it very well. Then started treatment of the deadwood with limesulfer.

Be careful with this stuff. It can burn and, boy, does it stink. I used an artist brush to paint it on . In the future I think I'll use something a little stiffer to give me better control. Always wet the area you are going to work on with water first. Once it's wet, then apply the limesulfer. Protect anything that you are not directly applying it too. This includes leaves and the soil.

Once that process was complete, I moved on to wiring the branches. I had to be careful not to break any of the branches as I went. Alas, as careful as I was there where some breaks. It's okay. These trees grow so fast that those broken branches will soon be replaced.

And that's it. This tree is ready for another growing season. This year will consist of heavy feeding and a few defoliations. I am focusing on filling the branches with growth and creating a silhouette.