Pseudobombax ellipticum & Ficus abutifolia (Growing advice required)

[Chris L]

Bear in mind 99% of my plants are Cacti. I've grown these plants from seed and they live on the kitchen window sill and get the afternoon/evening sun. If I remember the Pseudobombax were sown in these big pots and have never been transplanted. The ficus may be the same. All three are growing in 50% JI2 and cat litter.

First off I am pleased with them as I don't normally grow things other than cacti, so anything non-cactus that grows for me I am happy with.

They have been struggling to put out leaves of late - and usually have only had one at a time. Thinking they might need feeding I sprinkled some Chempak 8 on the surface of the soil and watered in. Seems to have done them good.

I am thinking I might need to repot them into fresh compost and am wondering what the best compost is. The stuff they are in tends to get very dry, but then soaks up water really well when they are watered.

Any help appreciated, thanks.
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[Aiko]

Basically any succulent with foliage can take a lot of water on a regular basis when not dormant. So I would suggest to give it a regular splash of water. And I can also recommend to provide it with nutricient soil, so a lot of top soil in relation to the mineral content of your mix. More than you would give your cacti, probably.

[Chris L]

Basically any succulent with foliage can take a lot of water on a regular basis when not dormant. So I would suggest to give it a regular splash of water. And I can also recommend to provide it with nutricient soil, so a lot of top soil in relation to the mineral content of your mix. More than you would give your cacti, probably.

Hi Aiko,

The Pseudobombax ellipticum is from the seed I got from you. I am really pleased with them.

I think they have been in the wrong compost. I'll have a look at re-potting them into a normal "house plant"compost mix with a lot less cat litter in.

Depending on how deep the roots go, do you think they'd look better in shallow bowls or am I going to find a pot full of roots.

I also have a couple of Yucca seedlings and I think they should be in richer compost too.

[Aiko]

I also have a couple of Yucca seedlings and I think they should be in richer compost too.

I would advice the same. And again, these also like to have plenty of water when in growth.

[Tina]

Hi Chris,
They look fine, maybe a good feed &/or some new compost BUT what you could do to make them look better in the future is chop the main stem, it encourages the base to have multiple heads.
As you have a few you could experiment, I grew one of my seedlings in a shallow pan it now has a much more interesting caudex forming but it is slow, the other is in a normal pot, doesn't look as good but it may be more interestiong once I check out its base both had the heads chopped off.

I also did this to an older plant from Warren withers collection as it just had one stem now it looks much nicer, last time this was repotted its a big of an odd shape like a peanut so would probably like a bigger pot but I think it looks better in this one, maybe next year.

Seed sown 12/08, grown in a bonsai training pot

Same batch grown in a normal pot , free root run

Ex warren withers plant, showing scar