Making an indoor bonsai Paulownia tree experiment at home, free supplies and seeds

[KultureShock]

I've included all the information in this post in the FAQ

Originally Posted by Call_Me_Bob

interesting concept, but there are a few things ill mention.

mainly that as far as i know, it takes years for seeds to grow large enough to produce fruit, and thats outdoors with unrestricted growth. i imagine adding hormones that retard growth would just add to that time.

also, apple trees are deciduous and live in climates with a cold winter. so if growing them indoors all year long, they wont live long.

and as far as creating a "bonzi" (bonsai?) it can take YEARS to creat anything with substantial trunk maturity to have a good bonsai

Just thought i would give you a more indepth answer, i never once claimed that this was going to be a short project, The aim here is to educate you on the various roles of the hormones in the life cycle of plants while doing it in a way that makes it interesting and gives you something to show for your work,and yes it going to take time but all the best things do. With the aid of various hormones it is more then just possible to grow an apple tree year round indoor's its extremely simple and is a much faster process than would occure in nature. So for those of you who have patience and dont mind waiting to see results i think this is a great opportunity.

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by KultureShock

Just thought i would give you a more indepth answer, i never once claimed that this was going to be a short project, The aim here is to educate you on the various roles of the hormones in the life cycle of plants while doing it in a way that makes it interesting and gives you something to show for your work,and yes it going to take time but all the best things do. With the aid of various hormones it is more then just possible to grow an apple tree year round indoor's its extremely simple and is a much faster process than would occure in nature. So for those of you who have patience and dont mind waiting to see results i think this is a great opportunity.

i know you never said it would be a short project, i was just motioning that it wouldnt be short..

now as far as hormones that will allow a tree, that otherwise would need to be outdoors and have that winter "rest", to thrive indoors, i believe you if you say so, but can you explain how this works? which additional hormones that you add will alleviate this potential problem, and how?

[KultureShock]

Originally Posted by Call_Me_Bob

i know you never said it would be a short project, i was just motioning that it wouldnt be short..

now as far as hormones that will allow a tree, that otherwise would need to be outdoors and have that winter "rest", to thrive indoors, i believe you if you say so, but can you explain how this works? which additional hormones that you add will alleviate this potential problem, and how?

I was going to leave this for another months project and slowly describe the entire picture so as not to confuse things, but i'll give a short description now.
The hormone combination we use to help in this situation is: Brassinolide,Triacontinol and Indole-butyric Acid.
Brassinolide acts by strengthening the plants natural defense systems. causing increased resistance to drought,flooding,insect infestations(make leaves less penetrable),improves resistance to root rot, and when used in combination with Triacontinol allows plants that would normally require a dormancy period to keep growing without one.
Indole-butyric acid is useful in this situation because it eliminates symptoms of shock that can be caused by cold draft and temperature drops in the winter.

I will get into more detail once we get to that part of the project. As things are the baby tree's wont need any special dormancy treatment for the first year or so.
Also it is possible to induce dormancy in tree's grown indoors if you wanted to allow the plant to get its natural rest period.