Raft Style

Tree species : White Lead Tree (Leucaena Leucocephala / Su-babul)
Collected on : mid Sept, 2015

I found this sapling growing like a bent coconut tree, with few leaves at the tip and nothing else. It was easily uprooted from a heap of sand, the roots pruned and the leaves at the tip removed completely but slowly over 1-2 weeks. This led to sufficient back branching. A small weight is added at the tip to keep the main trunk horizontal. This will be grown in a raft style. It is not a cascade style, though it might be mistaken for it, at present.

What it looked like when I collected :

What I want it to look like :

New leaf buds at the trunk tip are pinched off periodically so that the growth is channeled into the side branches. I plan to reduce the trunk length at a later time, as it is longer than what I need.  

Dec 16, 2015

 

Jan 25, 2016

The roots had escaped into a container of water kept below the pot. I prune the roots from time to time but want them to do this. I am now developing only 4 branches into trees, rest were pruned. The main horizontal trunk's length was also shortened.