Most Baobabs loose their foliage every winter... totally normal.

Thank you! I actually don't have grow lights or the ability to go further outside than an open eastern-facing window. I just have a large window that gets lots of light from early morning to about 11am in the winter or 1pm in the summer. I used about 50% sand and 50% cactus mix for medium. It drains very quickly and needs to be watered frequently, but I've never had root rot. I've read to fertilize it only with diluted fertilizer, but I use a liquid supplement for succulents at full strength every other time I water or so. I suppose "full strength" is actually just a few droppers full in a jug of water, so I never saw any danger in that kind of full strength. I've trimmed it back several times pretty aggressively. The branching all resulted from removing all of the growing tips at once. It was neat to see leaves and branches just kind of pop out of nothing. I learned early how forgiving these plants are to pruning. After it finally goes dormant, I'll remove it from the medium completely and hang it up for a couple of months. I'm hoping I can repot it and wake it back up for the summer sun so I can sort of reset its internal clock (so to speak) and get it on a normal dormancy cycle. At That time, I plan on lopping off the top third of the tree and removing about a third of the roots and repotting it in a bonsai medium. I have a lot to learn until then, though. I'm sure I'll post on here regularly.

My two 4-year-olds are just now breaking dormancy. I decided to pull the trigger and give the smaller one a good root chop. I don't have much experience w/root pruning so it was a little traumatic for me. Here are some photos. I stopped watering this 6 months ago when dormancy started. Since then it has been bone-dry.

My setup:
{{gwi:16798}}

Bird's nest of roots:
{{gwi:16800}}

From the bottom:
{{gwi:16802}}

Post-cleavage. I cut the tap root w/wire cutters. It was really porous and still had quite a bit of moisture stored in it. These suckers can really withstand prolonged dryness. It really reminded me of cutting into a cassava root.
{{gwi:16804}}

I coated the cut with cinnamon (good idea?), repotted it, and gave it a good soak. Hopefully I didn't need to give it time to callous. One week after the repotting/watering the buds started popping out. I hope this means it is okay.
{{gwi:16806}}

Assuming this guy pulls through, I'll try root pruning my larger baobab next year.

Don't know if anyone will see this, but my baobab pics will be updated with this post.

I have two now, both Digitata, both started from seed.

The young one is just about a year old now. It went dormant with only a toothpick sticking out of the soil, and I feared that it would be too young to live, but aside from the bonsai soil drying out randomly, causing a few lower leaves to crisp up, it's growing well.

Due to its immediate dormancy, it's only got a few months of growth at this point, whereas the big one got the first year and a half to grow continuously in a controlled climate. Neither ever go outside.

I'll be hanging both in the air with the roots out of the soil when they do go dormant again this winter, or intend to. I was wondering when I should prune the roots and repot them. Do I just pick a month, prune to my heart's content, repot them in new media, add water and light and wait for it to come to life, or do I wait for buds to appear before I prune em and stick em in the dirt?

I'll be keeping both as small as possible. The big one isn't likely to ever change pots as long as I'm alive, and the small one will only be given aesthetic container updates. I'm enjoying growing these; they're pretty durable and forgiving within wide parameters. There are a few commandments that can't be broken, but I'm looking forward to starting another two or three plants out of the next hundred seeds I sow. Guess it can't all be easy.

I've noticed that as long as they keep getting bright light, clean water and nutrients, they don't go dormant. I think my utter withholding of water this past winter triggered it. Maybe I'm assuming I have more control over the cycle than I have, but as much as I like seeing the (for a baobab) explosive growth, I'll be "inducing" dormancy on them both by December, if they haven't picked up their own cycle by then.

On that same note, it seemed to me this April that both were clearly still dormant, (if not dead) but they came back as soon as I put them back in the window and watered them. I know that the natural cycle for many Baobabs is four months of growth and eight of dormancy. I'm wondering if I can alter that with controlled conditions. Early April is when I'd like to "wake" them up. I'd like to stop watering them in December and attempt to have them both dormant again by the new year.

This only allows for four to five months of dormancy, depending on how long it takes the tree to fall asleep and wake up again after adding or withholding light and water. Logically, the dormancy cycle of many Baobabs is necessarily relative to their environment. Trees that experience the monsoon-type climate would have a few months to flourish and the rest of the year to survive. I'm assuming the dormancy cycle is important for the tree's survival on some genetic level, but I'm wondering if limiting it too much will affect the plant's health. If the conditions for growth remain constant, will the tree ever go dormant?

Anyway, planning on hanging my dormant bare-root baobabs in a dark, dry place while dormant at the end of this season. I don't remember where I got the idea, what the circumstances of the article's writer's baobabs were or even if it's a good idea in mine, so looking for a little advice on that, if anyone has experience. I'll probably have to break this up into about five messages and post new questions. Anyway, in order to "induce" dormancy and leave clean, exposed roots for pruning when the time comes, I was thinking of killing two birds with one stone; after watering them one last time and letting the roots soften, I thought I'd basically rinse the soft soil (mostly sand, actually) out of the roots the next day, after the tree had gotten a good, long final drink, and let it dry out and go dormant from that point, hanging in a dark, dry closet.

Thinking the process through, I'd have a few dead leaves to deal with as they went dormant, but my intention with the final watering and rinse is to ensure that the roots are supple when the soil is removed to prevent as much damage as possible. Once they're dry, they have to stay that way, so hard, dry soil will also be hard to remove without damaging the roots further. It doesn't seem like a perfect plan. Maybe someone out there has tried this and can tell me whether or not I'm heading towards disaster.

Anyway, here are some pictures for anyone that might see this. Sf_rhino, if you've got any updates on your plants and see this, I'd love to see them!

Adam

--- having a little trouble with the pictures. I'm gonna post the text and work on the pictures.

-correction from a previous post - the photo labeled July 8th, 2015 is actually June 8th. My mistake.

BTW, inconsistencies in places are because I constantly pinch it back.

Here are some more photos.

Your Baobab trees looking amazing. I've never had one.....quit tempting me.

Nice photos, I'll try to remember to take some of mine and post them. My largest one (that I've yet to root prune) is probably around 4-5 ft tall now. I've been resisting pruning it at all just to see what it would do but unfortunately it puts out so much mass on top when it is growing that I have to stake it up or it will bend over. I just recently moved into a house (from a postage stamp apt) so I think I'm going to move my bigger one into a very big pot and try letting it go outside for the growing season. I keep having to increase the pot size every year b/c it grows so much.

I think I'm going to start getting more aggressive with pruning one of my smaller ones--I like the bushy look yours is getting.

As for dormancy, it took me a few years to get comfortable with the whole no water thing over the dormancy period but it really seems like the plants prefer it and I've yet so lose one from lack of water. Mine all broke dormancy really late this year, but I've moved and they are getting less overall light and only getting a tiny amount of direct light in the morning. I don't know how much control you have in getting them to break dormancy. I think it is more controlled by light than by moisture. I wouldn't water them at all when they have no leaves. I'd also be hesitant to rinse off the roots to remove the soil. You are using a loose soil anyway so it shouldn't really stick to the roots.

You can definitely extend the growing season by keeping them watered, but I like to take cues from the plants and stop watering as soon as the leaves start to yellow. Don't worry about giving them one last drink, they don't need it.

I've been root pruning just before they bud out. The buds swell tremendously before they break so you have a nice warning.

Also the leave are very tasty, especially the new ones so if you are pruning you might want to try them. I've only eaten them raw and they taste a bit like sugar peas.

looking great and moving along nicely only one suggestion I can think of for you is Considering a taller house.

Nomen_nudum, I think I'd prefer a different climate. I'd just do this stuff outside year-round.

Sf_rhino, that root looks amazing! Funny you say cassava (I think you said cassava) as I suspect I stabbed through my root with a skewer inadvertently. It was a while ago, and no harm came to it, but a difference in consistency that I hadn't felt before was apparent when I stuck the skewer I to the soil, and it was quite wet in that spot. You mentioned that yours wasn't branching. I was hoping mine would shoot straight up like yours did, but I'm pleased that I punched it off when I did. The bottom branches are getting really interesting. I expect I'll do it again when it wakes up. The little one is too small yet to pinch off. Both of mine are still going into dormancy. I haven't watered them for some time, but I'm getting more comfortable with the process. It's neat to watch the tree suck every last drop of moisture out of the leaves before dropping them. I'll post again when I have something interesting to say. Good luck!