I have two Italian cypress seedlings in bonsai soil. They are about a foot (30 cm) tall. They are fed more or less weekly with houseplant food. They are outdoors in full sun. They still have their baby foliage. I was told it will take about two years for them to grow adult foliage. Is there any way I can speed up the process?
Iris

On Jul 10, 8:57 pm, csd wrote:
I have two Italian cypress seedlings in bonsai soil. They are about a foot (30 cm) tall. They are fed more or less weekly with houseplant food. They are outdoors in full sun. They still have their baby foliage. I was told it will take about two years for them to grow adult foliage. Is there any way I can speed up the process?
Iris

Iris, plants grow "mature" foliage after environmental factors have
"turned on or off" certain genes. These environmental factors are
usually temperature and/or temperature induced dormancy. It could take
multiple seasons or a single season, it depends upon the species. That
is the long answer, the short answer is that unless one can manipulate
the environmental factors, no.

This is very analogous to plants in such genera as Hemerocallis
(Daylilies). Hemerocallis flowers on after it has grown for a season
vegetatively. Because they are perennial they do not "fall into" the
category of biennial, but, that is the same concept.

The advantage to the immature leaves is that they are going to be
better at collecting sunlight and producing carbohydrates for storage
to start the plant off more strongly next season. (The amount of
carbohydrates stored, an environmental factor in that it is determined
by how much light the leaves get. Thus, this may also affect the
genes.)