[Rory] Allocasuarina littoralis 1

[Rory]

• Species name : Allocasuarina littoralis
• Original height of stock : 89cm
• Obtained : Bonsai World, 51 Watagan Forest Drive, Jilliby NSW 2259
• Date purchased : Wednesday 18th May 2016
• Cost of stock : $35

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[Rory]

I hope the board doesn't mind, but I received some assistance from the Empire to assist with the initial cutting...

Take that, rebel tree scum!

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Saaay... about this high?

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With the help of The Dark Lord I have struck swiftly to hopefully promote some early ramification. For those curious, Darth Vader is made entirely out of Lego.
I have chosen not to repot just yet as although I have never had a problem repotting Casuarina over winter, I choose not to at this time. The main reason for this is that occasionally they can just sulk until Spring if you cut back the roots hard. Thus combined with cutting back branches, it can lead to die back. So instead I will keep the pot full of roots probably until about October - November.

I realize that reducing the head of hair on the tree will decrease its ability to access light for strong growth, but I am not interested in increasing the trunk size obviously. Instead I am merely encouraging the tree to produce more shoots. In my opinion the optimal time for a trunk chop on a Casuarina is usually November, but as this comp is 18 months I have decided to chop now and start the new shoots early.

This will take many years to heal the scars but will be worth it over time. To heal a scar on Casuarina is usually not difficult provided you allow a leader to extend and thicken for a year or two directly above the scar, which I don't have the luxury of. So it will be a slow healing process beyond the comp.

I have purposely left a fair amount of foliage on, as the tree wont get a lot of sunlight over the next few months. Once the tree is in full swing again in about Spring sometime I will cut back hard and reduce most branches to stubs. With most Casuarina I find that it is best to leave at least 1 or 2 shoots on the branch if possible. If you are cutting in Spring and the branch is about almost 5 or 6 mm then you should be sweet, but if it is thinner than this I wouldn't take the risk of cutting back with no growth on it until spring. Otherwise you are at the mercy of the "Die-back gods".

The main dilemma I faced with this tree was which trunk to go with. The trunk I have stuck with will result in a leaning tree. The other trunk would have been very interesting with a very sharp angled growth going horizontal and upwards. In hindsight I would probably have gone with the other trunk for originality, but I'm a sucker for a gentle lean with Casuarina. I am enjoying trying to envisage a natural style for these shohin but it will be hard no doubt.

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[Rory]

This one is going to be tricky, because of the height. Shohin is not my usual choice of art, and thus I will have to ramify it quite heavily up top to work within the 25cm guideline.
Once the tree has settled into its new pot I will angle back the thicker branch with cable tie. (I prefer cable ties because they are easier and less finicky/damaging than wire).
I use orchid pots for all my stock trees, because the benefits are so numerous: mainly for the fabulous drainage holes and anchor points on the rim.

At the second heavy cut, there will be 2 leaders. I hope to maintain these as a fork in the apex but keeping it under 25cm may not be possible to maintain the 2.

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[Rory]

So this one has had another hack attack. I decided that having two leaders up top was a great look for a larger bonsai with multi trunks, but common sense smacked me down realizing this is a shohin comp. Thus I have hacked off the higher leader and left just the one. This has also reduced the area that will scar now.
This will now be much easier to work within the shohin height limit by allowing the lower leader to remain.

I quite like this piece of material. It is a bit left of centre, but I am hoping that the final product will have a casuarinarish feel to it. I wont hold my breath on it though.

Next time I attempt a shohin competition I think I will try my hand at cunninghamiana or glauca. The more you reduce those, the more they develop a finer structure to work with and the thickening can be slowed down better than with the 2 species I have attempted.

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[Rory]

This tree has also put on a decent amount of growth in the last 4 weeks since the previous post. I have cut back on the thicker branches up top, and let other thin branches that I want thicker to grow uncut.
However, in a comp with a short time frame you also want ramification close to the trunk, so on branches that will thicken to the desired thickness in the next year I also cut them regardless to allow better ramification now.

I prefer to cut now rather than waiting till the end of Summer, because now is the optimal to get fast ramification from cutting back.
If I wait until the end of this strong growing period to make these cuts the branches will thicken more of course, but I find that you don't get anywhere near as many shoots forming and the time for new growth to develop tends to slow down if you wait until the end of Summer to cut. Thus I like to take advantage continuously of the fast growth formation you get now.

For this comp I felt it wise to choose stock that has the desired trunk size already, and then basically ramify it over 18 months. This way I'm not behind the 8 ball trying to juggle trunk thickening with cutting back for ramification. Having said that though, there is a few strategic branches being left on for certain areas to thicken, but not the base.

The large scar up the middle of the trunk was never going to heal in 18 months. I think I will have 3 branches coming off of the scar to visually take your eye away from it, but also to create a more natural look which is what happens in nature when a large branch breaks off - the tree produces a multitude of new shoots to replace it. When I originally cut the second trunk off I intentionally took out a little chunk from the middle/side of the scar to look like the branch had broken off and pulled a bit of the wood out with it like you often see.

I am okay with the decision to remove the second growing leader as it was bulging too much and would have resulted in a rather blobby look over time. As usual, with Casuarina you have to be a few steps ahead of the bulging and predict how to reduce/stop the bulging. Over years of growing Casuarina you tend to get better at preventing / dealing with it. I guess the trick is : making the bulging work for you, and on the other hand, knowing when and how to prevent it. When I finish writing my notes on 'Growing Casuarina', there is a section explaining how to deal with and/or prevent bulging.



BEFORE

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AFTER CUTTING BACK CERTAIN AREAS

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[Rory]

This is still my favourite Casuarina of the 3 entrants I've submitted.

There isn't much to report on this one, other than the development of a few areas of ramification. The picture doesn't allow you to see the top half very well, sorry. The tree has had quite a few shoots removed because it continually pushes out endless shoots all over. They are such wonderful material to work with.

It has just been a matter of removing the excess, and cutting back the wanted branches. There is bulging at the first junction, but it looks natural to me. I love the look of it and will show it more in future updates. I could easily remove the offending branch which is contributing to the bulge, but it is in a perfect position and the entire tree looks the most natural to me so it is staying.

I have also allowed new shoots to develop below the first junction. This is an attempt to thicken the trunk a bit more directly below the slight bulging.

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[Rory]

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I haven't worked on my trees in quite a while. This has just been cut back and not much else, just letting it do its thing over winter.

[Watto]

Probably needs a pot Rory. I know a bloke that has a few?

[Rory]

This is still my favourite of the 3 entries. It has started to push out a bit of new growth with Spring approaching and the weather getting warmer.
It would be silly to cut the roots and place into a bonsai pot now. I will wait until the end of the comp to do that, as it will slow down the growth somewhat, and is never a good idea to do this on a Casuarina before November.

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[dansai]

Hey Rory. All your entries are looking good.

A Question, in one of the entries there is a post from August last year in which you said you will repot it then as it gives you a better chance for it to settle before spring growth.

I have had good strong growth in the last few days on all my casuarina, so I have no worries about doing a repot now. There is an advantage to doing a repot now, in that it allows the recovery duration to be done with once Spring is in full swing.

In your extensive growing notes that you have posted you mention you repot at any time of year, but find warmer weather better. And at the end of each of you entries you mention it is not a good idea to repot before November. Is this because you are talking about putting in a Bonsai pot and therefore reducing roots considerably? Or have you found they respond much better in the warmer weather? Or is there another reason?

[Rory]

Hi dansai,

The bonsai pots they'll be going into are less than half the current pot size. It will be a very, very heavy root prune.
So just to be cautious I don't want to suff up the growth in spring in case they sulk badly.

Last year Two of my entries sulked, one really badly when I repotted them in late winter last year so I won't repeat that mistake. I thought because I had strong flushes of growth they'd be okay but they didn't respond as well as I'd hoped.
I guess I was trying to push the envelope too hard. I think I took off about 75% of the roots or something in that repot. Hard to know why, but some just respond better than others. But as this comp finishes in November I certainly will play it safe and take the smarter option of reportting right before the finish of the comp in November. I will only cut back the roots just enough so it perfectly fits inside the new pot as I don't want to place any undue stress on the tree. They will all survive but I'll be giving them the best care. The shohin pots will all be Pat Kennedy pots, and nice and deep (relative) so they'll have good protection from drying out over summer. Shallow bonsai pots may look good, but they can be a death sentence for Australian summers.

It has already started to push out new growth quickly. So root pruning now might stop the massive growth spurt these guys are getting now. As far as the competition goes it makes sense to do the repot a week before the competition ends to allow for maximum growth which equates to a lot of new ramification.

When I first got the stock, I wanted to repot and see what I was working on. 18 months was plenty of time to allow for growth at that time I remember thinking.

The best time for a heavy root prune is definitely November.
You can root prune these guys any time of year, but if you do it in winter it CAN really sulk badly and delay the initial start in spring. If you do a repot in autumn, I would suggest middle of autumn and not late autumn as it's too close to winter.

[dansai]

Thanks Rory. Glad I only did a couple the other day then. I'll leave the rest until later as they all need a good root prune.

[Rory]

Spring is now in full swing with my comp entries.

I plan on cutting back again probably about mid-late October to promote more ramification.
I'm very happy with this tree so far, being my favourite of the 3 entries. It has presented some wonderful branching all along the trunk.

Then I'll do the final cut back and repot in late November.

[delisea]

Is there a reason why you haven't covered the cuts?
Cheers,
Symon

[Rory]

Is there a reason why you haven't covered the cuts?
Cheers,
Symon

Hi mate,

I've never used a sealant and I have no need to.

A borer will get in anyway it wants to.
The cut will heal with or without a sealant.

So I see no need for it. They heal just fine in nature, so I let it go as Grant puts it 'Rambo style'
I prefer it to look natural and just like a broken branch stump would look.

I guess a big question I ask is..... would you use a sealant when you perform a trunk chop?
I never have and never will.

I actually love the raw look of the rolling cambium naturally encasing the wound over time.