Hybridponic Rain Tree Seedling - Part 2

Tree Species : Rain Tree (Albizia Saman / Monkey Pod Tree / Vilayati Siris)
Sprouted On : May 15, 2016

UPDATE - Dec 9, 2016

This is Part 2. Read Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

Time for weekly cleanup of the container, change water & fertilize. I am following the "Kratky method" of hydroponics for the lower roots of the seedling. The smaller but main pot has sand in it. Water level was pretty low, as I had not topped up the water for a few days. The roots do not die. They "breathe" air. Many bonsai artists might find this to be a miracle, since they are usually very worried about air-pockets, while repotting :-)

By pinching the tip of the seedling's top, side branching was achieved, thus splitting the trunk into 2 branches. Extra leaves were removed so both the branch tips are exposed to light and can be seen clearly. Light = growth. Each of these 2 branches will soon be encouraged to split into 2 more branches. Some scale insects on the leaves were scraped off with an old toothbrush and then sprayed with neem oil mixed in water.

Trunk split is now clearly visible. New buds appearing on the trunk, are a good sign as more side branches can be expected. The aging of the trunk is pretty good for a 6 month old seedling, growing in the cap of a deo spray can !

The original wires used to suspend the brown pot got major rust damage & one was even discarded. The remaining wire was sagging due to its own rust damage & the weight of the pot. I melted more holes into the deo cap this time, and improved the the setup a bit. This time I coated the wires with acrylic paint to make it rust resistant and passed the wires on either side of the trunk. The original "+" design of the wire layout was a drawback as the plant needs to be at the center and the wire gets in the way. So, a double "+" is a better design, though I skipped one pair of wires. It seems to fine even without it.

  

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The water tank is finally cleaned, fresh water added and liquid NPK fertilizer mixed in. The foam balls block sunlight from top. This whole setup is covered in a newspaper roll to block light from the sides, to avoid algae growth in the water. It receives half day's sunlight on my balcony.

UPDATE - Jan 22, 2017