Beginner Gardening: Fun with Baobabs, 0 by VA_Dave

VA_Dave wrote:
I have a couple of 3 year old African boababs on my windowsill that I grew from seed, and they are now over 5 feet high. My 2 year old boababs are about 2 feet high. I did not do anything to prepare the seeds except to put them in a coffee cup of water that had just come out of a microwave boil, and then let them soak overnight. About 50% sprouted in a few days to a few weeks. I am in Virginia so I can not leave them outside for the winter. I stop watering them after the first frost, and I do not water them again until the last frost of spring. They come back pretty quick after watering in the spring.

My biggest problem is white flies and little black bugs on the underside of the leaves that suck the sap and kill the leaves. I used to take each leaf and rub insecticidal soap on its underside to keep the bugs at bay for a couple of months. But now I am using a more potent insecticide. I have not noticed any problem with the detergent or the insecticide damaging the leaves. I water occasionally when they look dry and I try to avoid soaking the roots.

In 2010 my biggest baobabs are hitting the ceiling, and I have pruned them to a nice shape. And I am wondering who can I will them to so that they will live out their natural 500+ years?

Here is a November 2009 picture of one of my 3 year old, 6 ft tall Baobabs grown indoors next to a South facing window in Virginia:

/Baobab@home/Baobab-3yo-6ft-Nov08-2009.jpg

Around September each year I stop watering all my baobabs for the winter so that the leaves will fall off and they will go into hibernation until the spring when I will resume watering. This year I started watering them in May 2010 and they have all come back with new leaves. My largest baobabs did not lose all their leaves even while hibernating over the winter, but the small ones do.

This year I have some new seeds from Madagascar baobabs, and they are already growing on my windowsill.