Shaping you Mangrove This is a little advanced-so if you unsure I would search Google on wiring up bonsai. First thing is use
Aluminum wire as mangrove will scare very easily, and if you intend to use these in your aquarium-copper is a no no if you have anything but fish in your tank. If it’s for you aquarium I would still use aluminum as it’s softer, cheaper and much easier to work with. Here’s how you do it.
holding the wire start at the base of the branch and start going up at a 45 degree angle
Then go all the way up-i knocked off a leaf so yeah I even goof now and then
Then make your bends-just watch out do don't bend to much on old wood and you get splitting, and you don't want splits bigger then this
It’s best to leave the wire on for 2-3 month for the branch to set-to take the wire off get a good pair of wire snips and cut at the bottom of each wrap around and pull the little piece off.
Tips and tricks Mangroves grow very slow because a lot of their energy is spent dealing with salt and growing in a marine environment. If you want to speed up the growth of mangroves grow them in fresh water. You’ll get much faster growth.
Grow them outside in the summer if you can-nothing beat the sun for growth! Just make sure temp will not go below 41[sup]0 [/sup]*as that is the lowest temp they will tolerate and even then I don’t let them go below 60[sup]0[/sup].
View it as a long term project-Nothing good comes fast from neither bonsai nor this hobby. Maybe you’ll find it enjoyable and get into bonsai’s and become one with nature lol.
Here's what you can get if you follow these ideals-this is still a work in progress as it's one of my older mangroves and need's some work soon
If the mod wouldn't mine pinning this that would be cool as I think it's good info