Ok so I have had my money tree for about 5 months. All i ever did was water it every now and then and this is how tall it got. Well this week i decided to look up how to maintain a braided money tree and saw that my poor money tree was the child of a un-educated tree parent (myself) :( .. I want it to be a a full tree its almost 7 feet tall right now but i want the man trunk thick, as if it were growing wild! I also want to know Should i cut it all back and start from the beginning with the braiding or can I braid it as it is? I have attached an Image please help!! -Shawn
I'm not sure whether you are asking if you can braid the stems that have grown up on their own, or if you want it to look like a natural plant. I don't have one of these, but you could try to braid those stems if they are still pliable. Try gently twisting two together, and see what happens. You'd have to be very careful to avoid breakage and you won't get the tight look of the old braid, which has grown too much to duplicate, I'd think. To make it easier, you can cut off the leaves, as they will grow back. But if you want it to look natural, as it would in it's native habitat, I think it's a bit too late. Over time, the section of the trunk that is braided will literally grow together until it's all one piece. It'll look sort of rippled by then, but it will never look like a wild tree. Hope that helps.
I have two pachira glabra trees growing in pots though neither are plaited. I don't know anything about plaiting them but Furballs advice sounds about right and the stems will eventually merge together. Other than removing the leaves I wouldn't cut the trunk at all unless you want more branches but would, I think, ruin the main shape. For Pachira to bulk out it would be best to keep in full or near full sun. They will stay shorter and develop a thick trunk with age. My two Pachiras have been in pots for nearly 20 years, started as little seedlings. As they have always been in pots and were neglected for a few years when the kids were small they have been stunted a little and now are sort of bonsai-ed but have always been in near full sun. They now flower and produce 'fruit' nearly every year. I've attached photos of them. They are growing in big 40cm (16") diameter pots. These photos were taken a couple of years ago so taller now - one is now around 1.5m (5') tall, the other over 1.8m (6') tall.
The things I learn on this site. I had no idea these plants flowered, never mind set fruit. Nice pics !
When I bought these plants as seedlings they were labelled Boab bottle trees. I didn't really know what they were but thought they sounded interesting. It wasn't until they got bigger that I discovered they were Pachira then took a while to work out which one. There is another one which is bigger - bigger grower, bigger red flowers and bigger fruit. The flowers on mine are approx 15 - 20cm (6 - 8") across and the woody fruit is around 5 to 7cm long and round - looks a bit like a large walnut. Inside are several 'nuts' which are edible. The bigger one has much larger flowers that have a reddish colour and fruit can be nearly the size of a football. I've attached another picture of the flower with my hand near it for size. The flower opens at night and only stays open for a few hours in the morning - it is apparently pollinated by moths. The other picture is a half grown fruit on the tree. It goes brown and woody looking and splits open when ripe. I thought I had pictures of the ripe fruit but can't find them. People in poorer countries were encouraged to plant Pachira as they will grow in nearly any conditions - wet or dry - have nutritional 'fruit' and useful timber.
GailofOz, just wondering what you do to help yours to flower and produce fruit? Fertilizer? Withhold water at specific intervals? Would love to help mine flower/fruit, but not sure how to get there from here. :) Thanks!
Christyrm, I don't know how to make it fruit but would guess that maturity would be one of the factors. Mine were neglected badly for several years when my children were young. The plants were in pots sitting outside on concrete in full hot sun all day - average summer temps here around 30 to 35C, in winter night temps get down to 0C with light frosts 3 or 4 times a year. I only ever watered them when I remembered otherwise they survived on what little rain we had (drought for several years), I rarely fed them and they weren't repotted for several years. It is only in the last few years that they have had any care and that has only been the odd top up with potting mix (too big and heavy now for me to repot), more regular watering and a feed with a general purpose plant food once a year or so. I would presume that the plants would be much bigger and healthier looking if they had more care. The trees both started flowering at about 10yrs of age though I read somewhere that they can start flowering at 4 or 5yrs. Fruit doesn't set every year and then only seem to get 1 or 2 fruit at a time but that most likely is because of lack if a pollinator in my area - moths, small bats or small night animals. There seems to be a lot of information on the other Pachiras but not as much on P. glabra. Most ones that are sold as money trees are probably P. aquatica. It is only in the last few years that I have even managed to find out that much about them. Most of what I have learnt about them is from my own observations.
