This is just an aside from the watering/root issues. I once cut my small scheff. to the stalk in this manner. Some of the new shoots that came out were single-leaf shoots, not 5-7!. I was freaked out because I knew I had cut the right plant down. I thought it mutated on me. =0) Finally some of the regular leaves came out. Just prune the ones back that come out wrong and keep pruning back until they come out right. The hard thing with scheff. is they don't readily branch. You typically will only get one set of leaves on one stalk and it is difficult to get the ramification that one wants on a 'typical' bonsai. But since it's just an experiment, have fun with it and learn what this plant will do. IMO, which is by no means expert or even that knowledgable, you should be fine in you soil for the simple fact that you haven't really made your tree into a bonsai yet. It isn't in a bonsai pot, you haven't cut the roots, and you don't have any branches/leaves (which is why you think you don't have to water, but the xylem and phloem will still take water to the trunk of the tree). You are in training stages. Most would put it in the soil that it is going to grow in permanently, but I don't think it will kill it. I do have some bonsai books and I do have two bonsai scheffs. Both are in a 60/40 mix organic/inorganic, which is what the book said to do with tropicals. They both are happy and have been for some time. The peat is difficult to rewet, but I don't ever let it go bone dry before I water (at least not intentionally). Scheffs are actually quite forgiving. But like I said, I am only doing what a couple of my books said to do. There are thousands of books out there and thus thousands of opinions. I am not trying to contridict anyone who knows a lot more than I; these are only my experiences with my two trees.

Josh-- "I would love to try the Hydroton method, I just am not really sure where to buy it or the pots? I'm assuming online? Can you link me?" Sorry, no link, though I believe you can buy this stuff on Amazon. In fact I think many places sell it, but it becomes expensive to ship, especially with the USPS in its death-throes. Ha! But I can tell you that more and more places here in Colorado are selling it. Honestly, I think mostly because of Denver making pot legal. I personally do not partake in this type of gardening myself, though who am I to say what people can and cannot grow? Anyway, this has helped the hydroponics market here because of the high demand. In fact, once while in a hydro store, one of the fellow patrons asked me how I grow my plants and so I told him and he asked about my results-- when I told him how amazing my blooms were he was utterly confused. He thought I meant pot when really I was speaking on orchids. We all need our hobbies... So my suggestion to you is to call around. Search Google for a hydroponics supplier and if all those fail, there is Amazon and ebay. Buy a small bag and give it a try to decide if that's where you want to go with growing more plants this way. That's what I did. It started off with orchids and then I heard of the myriad of other plants people grew in this stuff and I gave it a whirl. As for the pot-- depends on what you want to grow it in. Easiest is plastic. Walmart has gallon-sized square storage containers-- in the isle where they have all their plastic food storage and lunch boxes etc. It's there "Main Stay" brand. Works perfectly for one hippie bulb (or one orchid, as the case may be). Below is a link on how to set up the rest. The creator of semi-hydroponics is Ray from First Rays Orchids in Pennsylvania, not far from my home town. Follow his instructions, but think "bigger" scale than the smaller containers he uses for orchids. Noni this goes for you too-- read Ray's page and let me know what questions you may have. His method is excellent but I've made adjustments according to my own growing environment. For instance, my reservoirs are deeper because at 10% relative humidity many times of the year plus windy conditions, the plants will use up a lot of their reservoir. As for fertilizer, I use Grow More's Phal fertilizer. I believe its something like 20-16-20 plus the micro nutrients-- I deliver the water via a hand-pumped pressurized tank that holds two gallons. I put at most a teaspoon of fertilizer in for those two gallons-- a weak solution but its given with every watering. I should mention though that the orchids get watered rarely. Each orchid goes through a freshwater flushing every few weeks. Hippies feed a bit heavier and get a flushing every few weeks and then some-- they don't seem to be bothered much by biproduct build up though during their growing season outside, they get flushed all the time by storms or by the garden hose. Orchids are much more sensitive to any mineral or fertilizer buildup. In general, if I see "crystals" forming on the hydroton, that pot gets flushed. Noni I never share water between plants, especially with the real possibility of viruses. I'm by no means an expert on this so please don't take anything I have to say to heart-- the only thing you can do is read up on the subject and figure it out for your conditions. With that said, I love this growing method and plan to keep on with it. ooooooooooooooook Gardenweb is totally lame and won't let me post the link.... so here it is in plain text, though I'm sure somewhere someone in Gardenweb is clenched and angry. Gawd this place has declined.... ok it won't even let me post it as plain text.... Isn't a forum supposed to be a place to learn and share and teach? If anyone is interested in this further, I urge you to go to the Landspro forum. Very disappointed, DR

Nice specimen Fion! Mine goes dormant during the winter but I'm in zone 7a (near Washington, DC). It starts dropping foliage when the hours of daylight shorten and temps cool down and will resume growth in the spring. I winter it over in a greenhouse. I read that it prefers being somewhat shaded and that will keep the caudex green like yours is. I've had mine in too much sun and the caudex is kind of bleached out looking (but still healthy). Next summer I'll keep it in filtered light. I don't see why you would have any problem growing it, on the contrary the dormancy period would probably be fairly short in your climate. I do reduce the amount of water mine gets during dormancy. 6' of vine doesn't sound unusual. Mine only has a single growth point on the caudex and if I didn't cut it back would just end up with 1 really long branch.

Hi there my question is about the cross vine's ( Bignonia Capreolata ) ability to withstand heat. Im looking to plant a Tangerine Beauty crossvine next to a young Shamel Ash tree, or adjacent to it, so it grows up the trunk of this young tree and protects its bare trunk from the sun, in adition to the white paint covering the trunk of course, which is standard practice out here to protect their trunks from being fried in the heat. Anyhow, regarding the Tangerine beauty vine growing on the trunk, it should be a symbiotic relationship, hope it works, but my question is will the Tangerine Beauty withstand our HOT Phoenix summers? and What about competition with the young Shamel Ash tree, is that a concern? Thanks to anyone that might know, best regards to all!!! :)