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| I'm going to be doing a bonchi (bonsai chili pepper) with one of my bhut jolokia plants this year. Thing is, from what I've seen in pictures and from experience with other peppers, the leaves tend to get fairly large. Bigger than would be seemly for a bonsai, anyway.
Is there a trick to keeping the leaves miniature? Just got interested in this very recently, still learning the ins and outs. =) |
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| I'm not to familiar with pepper botanical names but it sounds like you are going to try a gost chili pepper the hottest on the skovile meter. Bonsai trees usually have there leaves shrunk by defoliation where the leaves are all removed, this can take sometimes up to few years t get the desired size (which for most species can be about 1/3 there original size. Keep in mind there are many ways the leaves can also be enlarged which is undesirable and can be done by over fertilizing, not enough sun etc.. Again I'm sure how Pepper plants work with leaf reduction but if you are interested in a chili Bonsai I recommend going with something which is naturally of smaller proportioned features such as The Bolivian Rainbow Chili (which I'm sure you've seen). Also if it is the ghost Chili keep in mind that the plant itself is very hot and most people that work with them wear gloves when doing so due to the fact that you don't want to touch your eyes later as well as it can be irritating to the skin for some as well. Reminds me of a Poison ivy Bonsai i saw once:) |
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- Posted by greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a (My Page) on Fri, Jul 15, 11 at 19:03
| Leaf reduction is very difficult with peppers. For this reason, peppers with small leaves tend to make "better" (more traditional) bonsai impressions. The other technique is to simply prune off the large leaves, which keeps a constant crop I prefer bonchi during the winter because the plants grow slowly.
Josh |
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| I grow peppers as well. I noticed if I grow Capsicum chinense in pot the peppers are few and small, smaller than they should be. I have an Aji limon that in a pot produces way more peppers, but it is more bushy. With C chinenses I get a nice woody trunk. i have not styled any, but a small pot will make the plant grow smaller leaves. But I would put peppers now in larger pots let them grow as much and get a thick woody trunk and I would do the Bonchi in October or November, when you can completely defoliate it, clean the roots and make sure you do not bring in any bugs. |
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