These are a few of my trees, , be kind, they are work in progress.

My Black Monkey thorn
Oct 2012



March 2012



My Ficus Burkei



Coral Tree group planting - They had a wood borer investation



A old fish tank with a small Ficus Natalensis (Root over rock training) and a lot of other stuff.

You have given me a great idea with the old fish tank. I hadn't thought of that for providing a more appropriate environment for some of my starters since I have very dense trees shading my yard. Thanks for the pics!

I also like the form you're producing in your ficus. Nice work!

Thanks. Glad I could help. My ficus is about 27 years old grown from seed, a family heirloom of sorts.

What type of lighting do you use in the tank? I was thinking of using some flourescent bulbs from Lowe's.

if you are going for florecents look for a full spectrum bulb,it replicates sunlight better than a plain old florecent .they cost a little more but the trees will grow better

I use normal CFLs on a 16 hours a day timer. I have two Acer Buergerianum seedlings, 7 Syzygium australe seedlings; one Polygala myrtifolia seedling and a two-year-old Ficus Natalensis I hope will grow over a beautiful rock.

Manofthetrees is correct that you should keep an eye on the colour temperature of the light that you use. I am currently using a 11W Cool white(4000K) (only one I had in the house), but my trees get a little bit of sunlight trough the window (1Hr in the summer, 3hr in the winter).

I would however recommend using a combined total of around 40W of florescent lights for best results. Then you wont necessarily have to give them 16 hours of light a day, like me. My trees grow very well with CFLs, but I do take care not to shock them with a sudden change, i.e. from lots of sunlight to CFLs. My big trees are however outside. I will keep them all in the tank until after winter (around August). The Natalensis I am planning to leave in the tank, and maybe the Polygala myrtifolia, its growing like there is no tomorrow.

Looking good Pieter!
You have some nice trees. I would like to ask what style are you going for with the acacia BMT?
And do you know how well the leaf of the coral tree reduces?

Thanks, Although I do have a final picture in mind for my Acacia Burkei, it is bound to be a little unconventional. I will rewire it soon (second wiring) in preparation for winter. It has a little damage from the first wiring, and maybe I will wait for it to heal a bit more, I haven't decided yet.

Coral tree leaf size reduction is very difficult. I can not miss a day of trimming. It does reduce with time, but I want it to flower. Leaf size is not that important to me, if I can get a flower.

Your BMT for sure looks unconventional...can not figure out yet where are you going with. Keep posting it to see how it turns out. You can wire it in the opposite direction maybe?
I have one coral tree in the garden...but dont want to be bothered with leaf reduction constantly. Will style it in the ground as a 80-100 cm tree and not do any leaf reduction at all. It is flowering already and I will have some fun with it.