Pruning and repotting a clump style jabuticaba

For the last two years I’ve been working with a species that’s new to me – the jabuticaba (Plinia cauliflora). It’s a fruit tree native to Brazil that produces sweet fruit in summer.

Jabuticaba (also known as jaboticaba)

When I don’t know much about a species, I tend to proceed with caution until I learn a bit about how it grows in my area. Because the species is native to warm climates, it grows somewhat slowly in my garden. I can expect between one and three flushes of growth over the course of the growing season between 2″-8″ long.

The big question, for me, about the species is how well it buds when I cut back past healthy foliage. So far, it looks like I can get new buds to pop on old wood, but not always where I want the buds to break (similar to how oaks behave).

After doing minor cutback on and off over the past two years, I was ready to do a heavier cutback. In most cases I made sure to leave healthy foliage at the ends of the branches, but in a few cases I cut back into old wood.

After pruning

I’ll see how the tree responds to the work this year with an eye towards a much stronger cutback next year so I can remove a number of straight branches that aren’t a good fit for the informal design.

One thing I’ve learned well about the species is that they can produce a lot of roots quickly and they love akadama. I repotted the tree last year in a mix of 80% akadama and about 20% pumice. Just twelve months later, the roots were so dense that it was challenging to remove the tree from the pot.

I removed about half of the root ball and then rinsed the roots to see what might have led to two dark spots on the root ball. It turned out there was some old soil at the center of the root ball so I removed two wedge-shaped slices of roots to improve drainage and give new roots room to grow closer to the base of the trunk. I’ll look to remove more slices of roots the next time I repot – hopefully in about two years.

After removing a wedge of roots

A similar wedge on the back of the tree

I used a larger pot for the tree to prevent the roots from drying out so quickly and to help the tree generate enough vigor so I can further reduce the branches next year.

After repotting – 47″

Jabuticaba like sunny exposure in my garden so I returned to the tree to a sunny spot in the garden where I’ll start fertilizing it in about three weeks.

News & Updates

The submission period for the second Pacific Bonsai Expo will be open through the end of this month. If you’re thinking about submitting, visit the Expo website to learn how to start your submission.

We’re still working behind the scenes to figure out the details and hope to make tickets available before too long. Our next steps will be to follow up with vendors who are interested in participating in the event and identifying our volunteer needs. See this space for more updates to come!