AusBonsai

Inspired by Steven's recent post viewtopic.php?f=104&t=605&start=30 and his excellent trees, here is my first post of this kind. I am looking to develop this Melaleuca seedling I dug from a private garden on the 21st January into a shohin. I am unsure what species it is at present so if you want to take a punt, go for it.The tree was over 2m high when collected and dead straight. After I got it home I washed off all the old soil and trimmed the roots. Maybe I could have gone harder but I wasn't sure how much I could safely remove and I wanted to give it the best chance to recover. After a trunk chop and a token wiring effort, it went into a foam box. The scale shows how much I reduced the height. After three weeks sitting in a shallow water tray (thanks to the advice I read on this site - sorry can't remember who), buds have popped all over

Great result Terry ,a well presentedt pictorial for us to follow .Thanks John

I love the small rule for size reference, very considerate. Good pictorial and if you wouldn't mind could you give some updates as it continues its journey?

I'm still new to aussie natives and wouldn't mind one of these in my collection too - will definitely follow this ones progress!

Congrats Terry,

Well done.

I'll have a punt on the ID as a Melaleuca bracteata.
However, with the present photos my punt is more aligned to what it looks like rather than an accurate ID.

I noticed the Mels ground location was very close to a path / access way, I wouldn't imagine a nursery tree being planted that close.
So i'm thinking this tree has self seeded by either a larger mother tree close by or the seed was introduced within the garden mulch.
If there is a mother tree close by a picture of the Mels trunk, flowers and fruit would definitely aid in an accurate ID.

Good luck with this one, i'll be watching your progression updates too.

Kevin

Great post Terry, well done.

The work you did on the roots and the hard chop will setup a great framework for this tree.

Matt.

Thanks all for your words of encouragement.

@Watto - As a rank amateur, I find it helpful to get a sense of the size of the trees in photographs. While the beer standard works for the larger trees, I wanted something for the smaller trees. The scale I used is available from http://web.ncf.ca/jim/scale/ and simply printed on photographic paper. I need to mount it on something to keep it straight and maybe add a spike to stop it falling over.

Kevin wrote:I noticed the Mels ground location was very close to a path / access way, I wouldn't imagine a nursery tree being planted that close.
So i'm thinking this tree has self seeded by either a larger mother tree close by or the seed was introduced within the garden mulch.
If there is a mother tree close by a picture of the Mels trunk, flowers and fruit would definitely aid in an accurate ID.

@Kevin - This tree was definitely not planted and has germinated from seed. This is one of three I dug at the same time in addition to a Callistemon. There is a large Callistemon and two large Melaleuca on the property (one which looks like it might be the parent), however, this is the first time I have ever seen a seedling of either of these two species at this property and interestingly all had germinated in the same area well away from the putative parents. While the Callistemon flowers prolifically, I can't recall ever seeing flowers on either of the Mels. Will investigate further when I get a chance and see if I can find an ID for the Mels and a picture.

@Matt and John - I know you both have some lovely natives, so would be super happy to get any and all advice as this tree progresses

Terry

Kevin wrote:I'll have a punt on the ID as a Melaleuca bracteata.

Kevin, you are bang on the money I reckon
After some digging, turns out one of the large Mels is Melaleuca bracteata 'Revolution Gold'

A quick update. Has been growing strongly over the last 4 months. Same scale as previous images.

Impressive growth, you must be doing it right, congratulations.
A photo at the next "intervention" would be appreciated, but I am guessing that will be quite a few months away, like maybe 12 or 18?

mine is nearly completely yellow. Is this normal or a deficiency?

There is at least one Melaleuca variety that has been selected because it has golden leaves so if that's what you have it would be completely normal. If you have been feeding properly with a good 'complete' fertiliser don't worry.
Nitrogen, iron or Magnesium deficiency can all produce yellowish leaves as well so if you are not confident about your fert regime you could try additional feeding with a 'complete' liquid fert, which also includes trace elements, for a few weeks.

Cheers Neil. I give it thrive/ blood and bone when i remember roughly every 2 weeks give or take a month or so