Jump to content
The Corroboree
InnerPathsToOuterSpace

My mother in law pruned my caapi :(

Recommended Posts

So, my mother in law is visiting from New Zealand and has been staying with us. She is an avid gardener and has been doing a bit of stuff in the gardens around the house while she is here. One day I noticed my main caapi which I put in the ground around 6 months ago and was growing super well and had taken over a few pickets on our fence and was starting to grab onto some overhead tree branches, had been drastically cut back to maybe a foot or two above ground level :BANGHEAD2:

Do caapi take well to pruning, will she grow back bushier and stronger than before?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My mother in law has killed a few of my plants. I feel your pain

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

wrong person, sincere apologies :blush:

Edited by gem

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Do caapi take well to pruning, will she grow back bushier and stronger than before?

Yes they do, and I reckon it will. Put it this way- if it doesn't, I shall be surprised.

At least she didn't do it when it is any cooler here. Now is about as late as you can do it to really get Spring growth happening

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Caapi won't just survive pruning, it loves it. If the main stem on the remaining foot or two is at least pencil thick I'd take the opportunity to cut a few more nodes off to make some T cuts. http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26670 - ignore the debate over T vs L cuts, it makes very little practical difference. Just rough up the hardwood node with secateurs or your teeth before dipping in rooting hormone.

I just moved, and have one caapi I hacked back hard, dug out of the ground after 2-3 years, and stuck in a pot to bring with me. (Never fear I still left one in the ground in the tropics :) When I first stuck caapi in the ground I planted multiples without realising just how unnecessary that is!). After repotting, it was maybe 40cm with no remaining side branches or foliage - a couple of months of bare minimum attention later and it's exploding again.

Once it starts growing I recommend frequent tip pruning both to bush it up and to encourage the vine to thicken up :) I've heard of home grown caapi reaching 6"+ in diameter at the base when regularly pruned and fed well.

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the advice guys and for the detailed response endorfinder.

And touch'e Toast, ha ha, I should've checked, maybe she's an undercover psychonaut :lol:

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

ROFLMAO @ Toast's comment.

Your caapi will be fine mate.

Edited by mr b.caapi
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, man. I know your pain. I had my two caapi plants pruned the other day before I could say anything about it or move them. There would've been a bunch of material I could've used to make cuttings with but it got put on the verge for a pick up and taken away :'(

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Horrible! And they think that they are doing good by you. There are some cultures that have a Mother-In-Law-Taboo; sounds like a good idea...

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fuck, be the last time cuntz stay wit me if they chop me fuckin plants, put her in line and give her a spray, mother in law that is. They grow jus fine heck back but fuck you know if I want the cunt cut, I will be the one to do. It

  • Like 6

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Prune your mother in law yo, before she gets out of control

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Even me Phaemon's Dog can assure you B.caapi are real stimulated by cutting back in winter. Pat Uri's is a jungle with many new root crowns where the vine has trailed on the ground, taken root and shot up. Didn't know better you'd say it was many individual trees planted 5m away from eachother. The main's thicker than your leg. Roots like arms. Every winter it is cut back and everything that snaps away in your fingers removed. He's trained it into a great sheltered party area over a rock apache sweat lodge we got built under it. You can feel the power when you camp under it. Pruning stimulates flowering to.

Yet a mate of his planted same time (ten years ago), never cut his back and has only got a mass of spaghetti with nothing thicker than your finger.

The smoke off all the pruned off spaghetti stems and leaves - masses - look amazing under blacklights.

Don't worry at all - "where the spirit is strong it will grow".

Worth a mention = in traditional aboriginal culture your mother-in-law the most taboo person, distanced from and avoided as much as possible. She is never talked to, looked at and her name never used - she's called "that other old woman" or "old woman belonging to my missus*" if referred to at all. You never speak of her to anyone, not even to her own daughter. If she visits her daughter you leave well before and don't come back until she is gone. You are never invited to meeting she might attend - even her or wife's funeral. But this is men's business, I cannot speak woman's business...in other words she can say what she likes about you, and does, but it must never be repeated to you.

...Divorce is unknown amongst traditional aboriginals...

(*It sounds better in the actual Kreole dialect of aboriginal/English - "Gin'b'longa'missus" - later postnote edit)

Edited by Pat Uri
  • Like 7

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hopefully it survived and has put on some new growth the last few months?

I feel your pain. A couple of years ago at my folks place (I used to live there and had a few things planted), the supporting tree on my ~7 year old caapi was looking a bit sick so my folks got their arborist to removed the tree. The arborist also kindly removed the caapi. I can tell you that a 7 year old caapi is a rather large vine. As I'm sure you can imagine, I was a bit upset lol.

Edited by Alice
  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

PhaemonsDog here - what's the good word, InnerPathsToOuterSpace? "King Sun travels with the Scorpion" and "Orion Hunts at Night" - for readers who aren't astrologically literate that means it is earliest summer here in Australia - you should be getting a few new sprouts now?

Come on tell us - this is better than Miley Cyrus wears a bikini, surely. P'sDog

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Haha, thanks for all the interest guys!

She is springing back as we speak, lots of new shoots all over the place, madre aya is a tough one, that's for sure!

And definitely better than Miley Cyrus wearing a bikini... If only just :blush:

Edited by InnerPathsToOuterSpace
  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×