The Trinidad Scorpion Bonchi Project

[Jupiter]

The stems (or should I say trunks?) are roughly 2 cm in diameter!
 
Update. I've tried to tidy up the roots a bit by removing all the tiny surface roots and leaving just the thick woody ones. Fortunately, the TMS bonchi has survived bonchification and looks to be bushing up nicely! In fact, it will probably turn out to be a much nicer bonchi than the Chocolate Habanero since it already has thick, established branches and thick, woody roots.
 

 
The roots are still a little untidy but they're looking nicer than before. I am in love with the thick root on the left which is arching out from the trunk.

 

 

[Jupiter]

I woke up this morning to find the Chocolate Habanero in pretty poor condition. Hopefully it's just down to a lack of water (which I've now provided)!

In other news, the Trinidad Scorpion continues to look awesome:

 

[TheImpatientGardener]

So did you end up fertilizing right away or holding off?
 
Lookin good, I can't wait to get my plants big enough to do that!

 

[SichuaneseFoodFan]

Where did you get your bonzai pots?

 

[Balduvian]

im having trouble getting pots myself lol.. only bonsai place around here is an hour drive

 

[LawrenceJ2007]

You could try hobby lobby, or craft stores sometimes have them?

 

[ZenPepper]

im having trouble getting pots myself lol.. only bonsai place around here is an hour drive

If you are in Toronto, goto spinda China town, they havr really good bonsai pots for only 5-10 dollars. Those are very nice pots that normally would cost 40-50ish. Buy the ones made with black clay, those can absorb water and allow air to flow into the root system.

 

[Jupiter]

So did you end up fertilizing right away or holding off?
 

 
I did start using fertiliser right away and it seems to be working! (Unless that's what's causing the Chocolate Habanero to die)
 

Where did you get your bonzai pots?
 

 
There's a bonsai pot seller on Amazon but the seller only seems to stock the two types in the sizes I require!
 
EDIT: Just checked Amazon and the pots are no longer available :/

 

[SichuaneseFoodFan]

I hope your chocolate hab gets better. I'm not sure what that problem is - I've seen it on one of my plants but it went away with new growth. You might want to check water ph if you're not already.

What grow lights are you using?

 

[Jupiter]

Now that's a tricky one! The set-up is designed for my carnivorous plant collection so there are two fluorescent tubes, 24 inches long and 24W output each, one is I think 7000K and the other is something like 4800K (one focuses on the blue spectrum and the other focuses on the red).

 

[Balduvian]

Now that's a tricky one! The set-up is designed for my carnivorous plant collection so there are two fluorescent tubes, 24 inches long and 24W output each, one is I think 7000K and the other is something like 4800K (one focuses on the blue spectrum and the other focuses on the red).

those lights should be fine i like 6500K but 7000K isnt much of a difference, are they t5, t8? and how close do you have them to the plant?

 

[Jupiter]

They're T5 and I have them maybe 5 inches away from the bonsais, but I'll immediately increase the distance if I notice any of the upper leaves getting burned. I should also point out that I have reflectors attached to both of them, resulting in a 100% increase in the amount of light pointing down towards the plants.
 
Also, update: the Chocolate Habanero bonsai died. The shrivelling leaf discolouration continued until there were no leaves left on the plant and mould was beginning to develop on the surface of the soil (even though it's got good drainage). I've disposed of it and have replaced it with a second Trinidad Scorpion bonsai, photos of which I'll upload once I'm sure the plant has survived the process. No point in wasting time documenting another false start!

Here's the original Trinidad Scorpion bonsai. It's making great progress so far! You can also roughly judge how far the T5 tubes are from the leaves given the amount of reflection in the top of the photo.
 

 

[Nightshade]

I would get bonsai wire on that thing to shape it up more and I believe I saw some at home depot

 

[Jupiter]

I already have some bonsai wire but have no idea what I'd want to accomplish with it lol – the branches are already growing out the way!

 

[jonnyb]

Good thread, I'll be keen to see how you get on. I'm going to do this with a number of my plants once the season is over. Nice space efficient way of over wintering too.

 

[Jupiter]

I realised it's been ages since my last update, so here are the two Trinidad Scorpion bonsai plants today – one is even flowering!!
 
(I do plan to trim the roots of the plant in the green pot back further since it's still a bit lopsided.)

 

 
I've even had a go at wiring two branches to make them grow in an almost spiral direction relative to the trunk:
 

 

[Logrus9]

They look great. I can't wait to try this.

 

[Nightshade]

Excellent progress!!

 

[Balduvian]

what size bonsai planters are those, if you dont mind me asking

 

[Jupiter]

They're both 18 cm long and 13 cm wide!