Clementine Orange Bonsai

This is a tree I picked from a local shop, only it was meant to be repotted as a tree not a bonsai. But that's not going to stop me, is it :-) So I picked it as a special project and got it home. Only after a week I realized how much the critters love it. Half eaten leaves but I see no critter around. I could spray it with pesticides of all kinds but I will wait till the pruning. I water it in the morning now because the slugs and earwigs only make appearances at night. However, the eating seems the be happening in the day time.. hmmm.. Well anyways, I'll leave it be till I decide to prune it. Am a little nervous because the thing came in a biggie pot (1 gallon) and the roots have really grown into it and I'm not sure if Oranges can withstand a lot of pruning. I may decide to do it in two rounds- chop half off at once and the remaining at a later date.. any ideas folks? I know fall is a better time to do this for oranges. Not sure if I can wait another couple months :-D

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July 18th, 2011

Well I think it's the leaf cutter bees feasting on my little orange tree.. saw one of them buzzing by today.. Atleast its not bugs.. I'm going to wait till winter for major pruning, but in the meantime I will repot it with a little root pruning so it has room to grow.

Pics to come later this week
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July 23rd, 2011

Here are pics after some pruning. I was gonna wait till fall but the plant isn't showing much growth anyways so I decided to cut away. It has one little fruit and I left it hanging- hopefully i'll get to eat it some time later this year :-p~ Since I started with a potted plant the leaves are big right now- I expect the new growth to be smaller.


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July 28th
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This baby's doing quite well- new shoots coming out and all. Still the possibility of critters.. but looking good right now!

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August 17th
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Well, this one has gone dormant. Still alive but no more shoots. I think the soil I used was too wet so it lost a few leaves in the process. Am giving it less water now :-(





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