[Rory] Allocasuarina torulosa

[Pearcy001]

This one is going to be a cracker in a couple years, I'm looking forward to following all 3.

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[Rory]

This one is going to be a cracker in a couple years, I'm looking forward to following all 3.

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Thanks mate. I've never attempted a shohin bonsai before. It has been fun. I feel that my real learning will come from keeping it alive and minitiarised indefinitely. Thats the part I'm really looking forward to learning about. I have usually dismissed shohin bonsai as too small for my interests, but as Bodhi wisely pointed out to me many moons ago....the more you learn, the more your appreciation will change.

I may have shot myself in the foot completing shohin trees that are just short of 25cm for a casuarina, but I'll be interested to see how well I go at slowing down such a relatively fast growing genus for shohin.
In hindsight I should have put more thought into the species. If I had my time again I would attempt nana, cunninghamiana or glauca. There is less bulging for these species and I find they are not as fast to thicken. I may eventually place them into smaller Pat Kennedy pots to use in future to slow down the growth. But I was not going to risk the health of the tree to get them into smaller pots too soon. I think if there is another shohin comp I will attempt Kunzea, Melalueca or Leptospermum.

[Rory]

This has been my first attempt at growing shohin bonsai. Thanks to the MODS for running this comp, its been a blast and most importantly has taught me a lot about shohin.
The 1st rule of shohin club is: you don't cut back only 2 weeks before the final showing.
The 2nd rule of shohin club is: you don't cut back only 2 weeks before the final showing.

If you look very closely you can see all the new shoots sprouting all over the tree. So very shortly its going to look better.
All the branches you see that are left on the tree have tiny shoots coming out of them.

This is a cute little guy. I plan on reducing the long skinny branch at the base, as new shoots have shot all over it. But I was reluctant initially because of die back. So it has shot right in the middle, which is where you'd think you would have cut back initially. But sometimes it just doesn't work like that with Casys, so you leave more on and cut the end to see what shoots afterwards, then trim the ends later. (Well, I do anyway). So this will be cut back soon. It will need to be closely monitored every few weeks to stop any unnecessary bulging forming on such a small casuarina. I am reluctant to pot into a smaller pot, simply because of the danger in harsh summers. This depth is perfect as so many of Pat Kennedys pots are. Where would you be without Pat Kennedy.

At this stage I'm undecided if I'm going to grow it taller to look more natural. (probably will). I'm just going to continue the gradual taper over time, and promote more erratic branching all over the tree, to simulate its natural growth habit.

All my shohin comp entries I have submitted are in Pat Kennedy pots.